Zafiro Palace Andratx

"We travelled in October half term and it was our first visit to a Zaffiro hotel and Mallorca. Mallorca was beautiful and we would definitely return. We got a car and enjoyed having a few days out and everywhere we ate was very good. The hotel was also lovely. It was spotlessly clean, the staff were fantastic, the food and drinks were very good and the scenery and hotel itself were really great; it felt five star and we were very pleasantly surprised as we had not known what to expect. I had thought that there were so many beds that it couldn't possibly feel overcrowded so I was quite surprised to read reviews saying that in peak time it was too busy and there were no beds available. But on consideration I could see how when the hotel was at capacity it would feel crowded. In October it was very quiet (we joked about The Shining) and there were times where you felt like you were rattling around in an empty hotel. But I could see that at peak times the pools and buffet would become unbearably busy, as would the towns and villages in the area. Although I thought the service, location, etc, were five star, I have rated it as a four star as we felt overall that there was something lacking a little from the hotel; we are used to bigger hotels with a beach bar/coffee bar, etc and the only proper bar didn't open until 5 and then played some very odd music, so it felt a lot of the time like there wasn't much to do in the hotel. It would have been nice to have somewhere else to go, especially on the days when the weather wasn't nice enough to sit outside."

"We returned here as we do every year. The hotel is quiet, well positioned, with great restaurants. The staff are fantastic from arrival to departure. Most of the staff have been there for the 5 years we have been going, they remember you which is nice. It’s a short walk to the beach where you can find nice tapas bars and a fabulous fish restaurant on its own island in the bay, with a small bridge to access it. The golf course is a stones throw with a great restaurant. Highly recommend"

"This was our second visit to Zafiro Andtrax. The first time we stayed was May Half Term - it was busy but we could usually get sunbeds. This time round in August it was much busier and at times there was nowhere to sit by the pool and going for breakfast was not a relaxing experience. We witnessed several arguments over the sunbed situation and when we complained to the management they’re said they would introduce signs and a policy to stop people reserving the beds but by the time we left there was no evidence of this. Meanwhile the newer ‘club’ area has plenty of empty sunbeds. The situation is exacerbated because they don’t have a towel station or bin to put dirty towels in so when people leave their beds they leave their towels and it’s hard to tell whether they are coming back. The adults pool is more serene but it doesn’t have views and most beds there are doubles and hanging beds. The hotel should reconfigure this area to create more spaces for single sunbeds and create more privacy as it’s near the lift so there’s families with kids walking/running past. The staff were nice but customer service is patchy and getting drinks from one of the vans near the pool can be tricky. When there are issues the staff don’t know how to resolve them quickly. The rooms are a decent size and beds comfy. Our air conditioning only worked on one side of the bed and was freezing cold even though we turned it down. The balcony was tiny and overlooked the dining hall so we kept our curtains closed at all times. There was not enough space on the balcony to dry clothes. We ate out every night - we would have felt a bit trapped to have evening meals there. The quality of breakfast is really good but there were too many people and it takes a long time to get a drink. This is a nice hotel but when it’s at full capacity they struggle to cope and they don’t have enough space or staff. It’s not a five star experience."