"Honest Review: Disappointing Stay at Elba Carlota (October 2025)
Honestly, I wish I’d paid more attention to other guests’ feedback before booking this hotel. We decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, as we stayed next door at the Sheraton in 2023 and absolutely loved the area. The location itself is fantastic — being able to walk to the beach within minutes is a huge plus for us! The coastal path is brilliant, offering lovely walks to plenty of bars and restaurants heading toward the harbour.
Family of 3, visited 18th–28th October 2025.
Our second visit to Caleta de Fuste — and while we’d highly recommend the Sheraton next door, the Elba Carlota was a major disappointment. Unless you’re looking for a stressful break and a waste of your hard-earned money, I’d strongly suggest giving this one a miss. We stayed in Room 263, and here are our honest thoughts:
🏊♀️ Pool Area
Pros:
The animation team around the pool are fantastic — fun and engaging.
We enjoyed the foam party, floats pool party, water aerobics, and great music throughout the day.
Cons:
The tiles around the pool are filthy, and most sun loungers are dirty.
I tripped on an uneven tile walking back to our block and hurt my foot.
We saw cockroaches twice — likely due to poor hygiene around the pool area.
Many small tiles are missing in the pools, and several sun umbrellas are positioned too low — we saw multiple people get scratched on the face or head.
During our 10-day stay, we never saw proper pool cleaning or maintenance. The pool machine was used twice, but the water still had sand and debris at the bottom.
It can get very noisy and rowdy near the lifeguard’s chair, with loud bass-heavy music. Avoid that side if you want any peace.
Expect queues at the pool bar during the day.
🍽️ Food
Pros:
For three fussy eaters, the food was actually excellent!
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner all offered a great selection — tasty dishes cooked to a high standard by skilled chefs.
The quality stayed consistently good (except on Thursday and Friday evenings).
Cons:
Some restaurant staff were quite grumpy — though they did seem rushed off their feet.
The Italian restaurant by the pool was disappointing — poor service and mediocre food. We waited ages despite it not being busy, and eventually walked out without finishing our meals.
Room 263
Pros:
Comfortable adult beds and a powerful shower.
Cons:
Unfortunately, that’s where the positives end.
The room was filthy on arrival — we checked in late and found dirty sheets.
Towels and bedding had holes and stains.
The floor left our feet black, and glass surfaces were covered in grime.
Multiple maintenance issues — this was honestly the worst hotel room I’ve ever stayed in.
After complaining to reception and emailing the manager, we finally got the room cleaned and new bedding — but it took numerous complaints.
During one housekeeping visit, my daughter’s top was placed on a puddle of bleach and ruined.
Even after that, replacement towels were often forgotten — several times our used towels were taken but none were left, and we had to chase reception repeatedly.
Some maintenance work (like fixing a rusty shower screen) was eventually done, but they used a strong solvent that left the room reeking overnight. Completely inconsiderate.
The room also has waste pipes from another unit running behind the wall, so there’s loud gushing water noise at random times, day and night.
Daughter’s bed was a camp bed, extremely uncomfortable for her and she couldn’t even get in our bed as it was two singles pushed together that moved as on wheels!
We had booked a sea side view which looked onto workmen for the full 10 days. We could just about see the sea in the distance. We couldn’t have the balcony door open or sit out because of noise and dust.
I’ve given 1/2 stars but that’s because the food was great. Honestly, give this hotel a miss…I wish I’d of taken more notice of the reviews I read when booking but I just thought it was people being a “Karen”…trust me it’s not. You don’t go on holiday to deal with issues daily - you expect to relax and basics just happen."