"Reservation made in April, for 7 nights of summer family vacation, me, my husband and our two daughters aged 1 and 2, at the Izan Cavanna hotel. I've been coming to La Manga for 3 years, my husband for over 25 and my in-laws for over 40, it's a family tradition to spend the summer holidays here and we've always loved it, we've never had anything to complain about. So far. I will tell everything in detail so they understand why, if I could give less than 1 star, I would without a second thought.
After a car trip from Portugal of more than 10 hours, we arrived at the hotel on Saturday around 1:30 PM. I checked in, presented the citizen card of the 4 and the reservation, they gave us the room cards and said we could go up and have lunch.
We went up to the room, on the 10th floor, and as soon as I opened the door I was surprised by the size, they say on the website that the room is 25m², but never in my life. I take another step and see that there was only one small double bed, 1.40m. Besides having two daughters that wouldn't fit anywhere, my reservation explicitly said "Superior Double Room (2+2)", which is exactly how it appears online: "Double Room (+2 Extra Beds, 2 Adults + 2 Children) - 4 guests (1 Double Bed or 2 Single Beds + 2 extra/rollaway beds)."
I went down to reception to say that there was only one double bed, but the reservation was for a couple plus my two daughters. They immediately started implying that the girls were babies and that they didn't have the right to an extra bed, that if you wanted one you could pay for a crib at €9.50/night, each. I said that the reservation listed 2 adults, 1 baby, and 1 child, but that above all, the reservation said "Double Room with Extra Bed (2+2)", so it had to accommodate 4 people, with the right to extra beds. They said they were going to put, it was 2 PM. We went to lunch, returned at 4 pm and nothing was done yet, I insisted again, we went for a walk, we went to dinner, and when we returned at 9 pm and opened the room, there was only a single bed there. I already started getting annoyed there. We went down again, but there were many people at the reception, we went for another walk and at 11 pm I explained everything again, this time to another person, who understood the situation and asked a colleague to put the bed on hold. That employee said that at that time, he couldn't make noise assembling the platforms, and asked if he could put the two mattresses directly on the floor. I said there was no problem, I just wanted a place where my daughters could sleep. He himself commented that it made no sense, that the room had no space, and said that the next day we should go to reception to ask for a change to a larger room.
We spent the night like this. The next morning, when we left, the cleaning ladies asked if they could put the missing ladders. I said it didn't make sense, because if they put the platforms, I wouldn't even be able to get to my bed, I would have to go over the mattresses. They told me that this was impossible, that it was mandatory to have platforms, and that I had to go talk to the reception. And that's when everything fell apart.
As soon as I got to reception, I said that I was quite dissatisfied with the way they were handling the situation. The girl who was there immediately started looking at me from head to toe, with a superior air, but it was fine, I explained everything again, including what had happened the night before and what I had spoken to the maids. This lady, in a tone of laughter and glee, told me in Spanish, "So you booked a double room, they put two more beds in it, and you're still complaining?" and went to call a blonde, older colleague. And this lady was the most inappropriate, rude, and disrespectful person I have ever seen, talking to me as if I were a child, saying that my reservation was "double supplementary 2+2" because there were 2 adults and 2 babies. I said no, that this was the room type, and that the reservation stated 2 adults, 1 child, and 1 baby, but that the youngest is only 2 years old in December, no longer uses a crib, and is not a baby. She started to insinuate that I had lied about the reservation, which left me completely indignant. I explained that I only limited myself to putting the date of birth of the two children, and that if one of them is only turning 2 in December, it means they are still 1 year old, it was the system that assigned the room automatically. I asked again how they were going to solve it, and they told me that the floor beds couldn't stay and that I wasn't entitled to two extra beds. When I mentioned that the night shift employee had told me to ask for a room change, they told me that it was impossible, that he was "just a guard" who had done me a favor and that he didn't even have to do it, and that he didn't know what he was talking about. I started insisting again that the reservation said "Double Supplementary Room (2+2)", meaning double plus two supplements, and you started acting like I was an idiot, repeating the reservation in slow motion as if I couldn't understand. I was outraged and said that I would not accept being treated like an idiot, because I am not, and I know very well what I reserved.
So you called the boss and I explained everything again. He called the housekeeper, asked us to go up to the room to see what could be done, and the housekeeper rearranged the furniture, put the two beds with frames and a barrier. The space remained tiny, but at least it was possible to move around minimally. It turned out like this because deep down I just wanted a place for my daughters to sleep.
And then there is everything else that makes this hotel, at best, a weak 3 stars, never a 4 stars. And this with full board:
Breakfast, from 8 am to 10:30 am, almost without variety. The photos on the website, with the counters full of fruit, are just to "throw sand in the eyes"; in reality, they put 4 or 5 types of fruit scattered around and that's it. Several times I arrived at 10:00/10:15, because with two children the times are unpredictable, and there was only one counter open. More than three times that there weren't even scrambled eggs and they said they weren't restocking because it was late, the bacon was burnt, the fried eggs soaked in oil and burnt, zero variety of pastries. At 10:31 they were already taking everything, even the toaster was turning off. The milk cartons were left open on the countertops, bread on the floor, the floor dirtier than possible to describe.
Lunch from 1:30 PM to 3:30 PM, dinner from 8:30 PM to 10:30 PM, they open late like everything, and the same with zero variety. Unpleasant employees, with looks of disgust and contempt just for asking for water for the meal instead of paid drinks. Zero options for children, nothing minimally suitable for a child to eat.
We asked for a picnic for a day until dinner, they asked if it was for everyone, to which I said yes, when I went to pick it up, they gave me 4 bags, each with a tuna and tomato supermarket sandwich and another with cheese and ham, a banana, a spoiled milk juice with fruit, a small bottle of water, and a chocolate panike. This was their idea of a dinner replacement, putting things in without any notion for two 2-year-old children to eat.
Room with a horrible smell of sewage.
Bathroom with a shower that looked like it was bought from a Chinese store for €2 (didn't hold well to the wall, and one of the holders was broken), no pressure at all, and the hot water never got really hot. No check-in they only gave us 2 towels of each type, for 4 people, and they only put more on the second day of cleaning. We were 3 days without a bath towel. The shower didn't even have a place to put the shampoos, everything had to stay on the floor. The shower floor was slippery, my older daughter fell when entering the shower. The dryer had no power, not even to dry the children's hair, and the hose was all torn. Amenities practically nonexistent for a 4-star, just gel and shampoo.
The room cleaning was not done in good conditions. I have two babies who love grapes and sometimes a skin or another one fell on the floor, and it stayed there, they didn't clean it up. If I didn't throw the trash in the bin, it would be on the floor. The floor was full of sand every day, it never got really clean. The beds were just "tidied up" with the sheets as they were, they didn't even shake them. The balcony terrace was never cleaned.
In the pool, the sun loungers are ancient, old, dirty, and broken, and on top of that, they are paid, €1 per sun lounger, per day.
In a 4-star hotel, almost no one speaks English. I speak Spanish very well, but because I am Portuguese they pretend they don't understand me, the lack of respect is incredible.
A room without even having a kettle, nothing.
There are options for only breakfast, half board or full board, but they don't give bracelets to differentiate guests, you have to say the room number when entering the restaurant and wait for them to confirm. Result: queues of more than 20 meters to enter, with only 2 hours of meal service open, for a hotel that accommodates more than 800 people.
The reservation was not respected, I spent more than 30 hours insisting on having a bed for my daughters, and I was treated with a lack of respect and professionalism that I did not expect anywhere, much less in a 4-star hotel."
