Aqua Hotel Silhouette and Spa

"Silhouette was lovely. Overall, we had a great holiday. We hired a car at Barcelona airport so it was nice and easy to find the hotel however on arrival it became apparent there was no available parking at the hotel. No bother - there is literally a massive, FREE car park literally across the road. A stones throw. We could see our car from our room balcony. I have no idea why the hotel don’t tell people this - we had to figure it out ourselves. On arrival we were met with a lovely gentleman on reception who with no prompting immediately upgraded us to a junior suite so we were thrilled about this. He also gave us a pass for a free afternoon in the spa, which we believed to be fab. The room itself was lovely. Really spacious, super king bed, double sink, massive shower, separate lounge area with sofa. The pool areas are really nice but were so busy. We accepted this as it was August but considering it’s adults only, other than teachers, we couldn’t fathom why so many couples, of all ages would choose to come in August. It was difficult to find a couple of sun loungers if without towels on (which are sometimes not returned to by guests, for hours and hours on end!) if you went out at 11am instead of 9am, put it that way. There was one occasion where we arrived down at the pool areas (there’s three large areas!) early afternoon after being out for the morning and we literally had to leave and go sit in the bar, as there was not a sun lounger without a towel on it, in sight. Not one. The restaurant is also always packed. From opening to closing it doesn’t seem to quieten down. But always plentiful tables and the staff in the restaurant are very attentive, quick to clear and clean and work hard. Food was great! Plentiful, loads of choice every day, I don’t think there was anything repeated. It was really nice food. And they let you load up your plate at dinner and take anything you’d like back to your room if you wanted. No problem. We did this every day with snacks, cheese, desserts and even pizza. Was great. Which brings me to the last note - the spa. Turns out we witnessed lots of people using “free spa afternoon” vouchers so we weren’t special after all. We booked a massage each day before we left. I had the hot stones massage and my partner had the “half body” massage which was basically back, neck and shoulders. The first random thing was my partner was given the man to massage him. He wasn’t best pleased with this, being the macho, big burly (straight) guy he is, but he went along with it, fine. But the male masseuse wasn’t the only masseuse on duty, there were other females so we couldn’t really work out why this was the case. Seemed odd. Then to mine - I had the hot stones massage. Now in my mid forties I’ve had many a massage and a few hot stones ones too. Never in my life, have I had such a weird, strange, and unrelaxing massage. It was like it was her first day on the job. With no training. And she just googled what to do, 5 minutes before I rocked up. Firstly she took ages to turn down the lights. It was bright light. Eventually she must have remembered after about 10 mins. Secondly I had to ask her to turn down the music!!! It was so loud. And not whale sounds, or relaxing waves crashing on to shore - she was blasting full on “Pan-pipe Moods Volume 23” into the room! It was so loud and off putting, I could t relax and literally had to sit up, half naked bar a pair of paper pants and say “Please can you turn that down! I can’t hear myself think, let alone relax!” That was when I realised there was a language barrier - she couldn’t understand me. She thought I was asking her to change the Pan pipe song, so she skipped it forward a couple. I had to use my hands, Ross Gellar from Friends style to indicate to her to turn it down! So that already ruined the whole ambiance. Then there was the stones in the “slow cooker” style pot. It’s a hot stone massage so needless to say she had to return to the pot a few times - at least ten. The problem with this was, every time she did it, a clattering would ensue that was reminiscent of me in my kitchen, banging around in my pan cupboard trying to find the wok - SO LOUD. Every time! Crash, bang, clatter, clatter… the most unrelaxing racket you can imagine. It was almost laughable. Like a scene from Fawlty Towers or the Two Ronnies, I felt like I was on some sort of prank show by the end of it. Anyway, I didn’t have the heart to tell her she was shockingly bad at her job. I just paid up and went about my day and me and my other half had a right old chuckle about it all after."

"Lovely hotel with some of the hardest working, efficient and friendly staff we've come across. All the public areas, pools bar and restaurants are absolutely spotless. Our room was never less than immaculate. My only gripe is those deckchair style chairs in the room - they do look quite stylish, but they're so uncomfortable. Pools have plenty of loungers which is always important and there was very little sign of guests putting towels down to reserve loungers. Excellent choice of food at all meals, I particularly loved the variety of seafood (can't remember there being less than 3/4 choices of fish or shellfish at every meal). It was particularly pleasing to see the kitchen and waiting staff replacing selections regularly - they obviously ensure that nothing is left out on hot plates for too long. For a 4 star hotel, drinks prices were remarkably inexpensive. Well done Aqua! Another plus point was at no time were we pressured into additional costs or activities. There is some aqua fit in the main pool at midday, but otherwise noise levels around the pools are kept to a minimum. Very relaxing. Evening entertainment was high quality with different acts every night of our stay, but if that's not your thing, there's a lovely terrace for those who prefer a quieter evening."

"A nice hotel with excellent facilities however I think the main thing that lets it down is some of the staff. Some reception staff can seem very abrupt and staff at the pool bar are downright rude, like it's a chore to serve guests. The lobby bar is lovely but it is hard to know if it's table service or go to the bar, either way you have to wait an awful long time to be served. All in all this is a nice hotel but would be excellent with a few tweaks"