"I would like to start on a positive note before we arrived i had read reviews to say the aircon did not work in the annexe building we where due to stay in. I contacted the hotel via email to ask that we where given a room with fully working aircon, and they responded quickly and said they where moving us inside the main building into a junior suite as this was the best way to provide this. With this query and other questions we had they dealt with them great and we had all the information we needed before we arrived, and therefore felt like potential problems where solved before arrival. We had spoke to a couple when we arrived who was staying in the annexe building and they said the aircon wasnt too bad just not the best as it wasnt very strong and wouldnt cover the whole space, and others said they had been provided with big fans instead as it didnt work at all, so the hotel defo seems like it it solves issues well, as not everyone can be moved inside as junior rooms only can fit 4 people max in them, (we where a 3 person family), and annexe rooms are bigger. We arrived near 10pm on our first night after a very easy no stress airport experience, we had informed the hotel of our late arrival before we travelled there. The restaurant had closed at 21:30 so there was no food avaliable. Its a shame that no food was kept back for late arrivals, even a sandwich or a plate of cold meats would of done, this had been provided in many other places we had stayed in. Only a vending machine with snacks and drinks inside, luckily we had a sandwich and snacks from the plane with us to eat. Check in was simple, just a quick form to fill in for each adult and passports to be checked. The room was very nice. Massive comfy bed with plenty of wardrobe space. And a sofa bed (that was out as just a bed all week for our daughter), with a tv and fridge at the other end of the room. The room was separated into two by a sort of type of roll across door, so felt like us two adults and our child had separate spaces, made better by a corridor along the side. So say if my daughter needed the toilet in the middle of the night she would not disturb us as she would go that way along to the bathroom. The bathroom was big, with two sinks, but the water would only run out on one set of taps on one of the sinks. There was a toilet, bath and the best shower i have used in a hotel, the water pressure was so good and a great temperture. We had a nice big balcony and lovely views (just to note that all rooms in the hotel main building all get good pool views). And there was plenty of plug sockets in the room. The aircon was great, could even get a bit chilly during the night when turned up to max. The all inclusive drinks run until 11pm then you have to pay if you want drinks after this. But it always seemed like it cleared out of people quite early on, in fact you could go there just when everything started and easy get a seat, there wasnt really many people there, but maybe thats just because parents had a long day out and about with there kids, we sat at tables outside as the aircon didnt seem to work great inside. The kids disco was on at 20:30 until 21:00. Then they have different entertainment on from 21:30 until 22:15. The kids disco was ok, but it just repeated same old every night and my daughter got very bored about 3 days in and wouldnt really get involved, she was 6, so maybe it would of kept her interested all week if she was younger, the animation staff tried there best tho and where very enthusiastic, they where even trying to get shy kids on stage so they wearnt left out. The main entertainment was ok, there was a quiz, some singers a magican and karaoke, not the worst but not the best. The inside bar in the entertainment bit wasnt very good, the outside one was better. I got drinks from the outside that where ok, but then ask for the same one inside and they tasted terrible. This was mainly to be said about the cocktails tho in genaral they where awful. For excample one day i got a strawberry daquiri from outside, was nice looked as it should then another day asked for the same drink inside, and it looked nothing like it and tasted horrible, the cocktails where all from a pre done machine, nothing against this as had this in other hotels and they have been ok, but not here. You also waited around alot for bar staff to appear inside, so often went outside to get drinks. The self serve was good, could get soft drinks yourself (this includes water, just cant get bottled) on all bars, and even beer which was amstel, wine and sangria etc in some places too. This would of helped the bar staff alot too, as well as everything was served in plastics, so kept the place tidy and from breakages as you could get rid of the plastics after you finished in many of the bins provided. But if you dont like your drink out of plastics not ideal. Also was just half glass plastics provided. Theres also a machine that does coffees and hot chocolate etc, the hot chocolate is really nice. I discovered the sky bar on the fourth floor, you use your room key to enter, its over 18s only. The views are amazing and each time i went up i was the only one there so it was like nobody else knew about it. Plenty of sunbeds and a self serve bar. Theres a luke warm hottub but you only get the hit of the bubbles on one bit of the hottub, its like the jets arent working on other parts.
Theres a sports bar too but it was not open when we arrived, this is peak August school holidays, so if its not open now not sure when it would be open, i do think everything should be open at this time of year. Theres also a shop, a salon, a spa which i believe you get to use once for free, but this was not advertised to us and we never used it. Shop was ok bit pricey but your paying for convenience of it being right there, man was a bit grumpy so never used it much just used the one about 5 mins down the road from the hotel in the san miguel centre, i would suggest getting inflatables at the resort shop as the hotel dosent allow certain inflatables in the pool for safety reasons so imagine all ones sold here our fine, and they do blow them up for you. The pools were a highlight of this hotel, pools are always cold abroad in my experience but these pools were lovely and warm and my daughter wanted to play in it every day for hours, there was also a sort of hottub in the middle that kids arent allowed in (but its more a luke warm one with bubbles), the one near the annexe building with small slides was freezing and my daughter never wanted to use that. Bring your own towels for the pool as you cant go to a towel room for excample to get any. The sunbed situation was fine at the start of the week, could go after 9 and get one easy but a few days in people arrived who like to be out early and reserve them, so it was a struggle to get one the rest of the week. Onto the wifi there wasnt really any, it picked up the best at the annexe bar, but not at all in rooms, you just got the odd where it would work now and again, but mostly had to just use my mobile data. My daughter loved kids club, (this was just at the back of the hotel near the annexe buildings and kids splash pool). She wanted to go all the time and all the staff where nice, I have to give high praise to Ernesto, Noidys, Lilith, Weronika and Nicolle they where just fab, i just think it could of been better, ive been to hotels where they have been rewarded certificates on stage in front of the parents for good behaviour, art they have done etc and been the star of the show at the entertainment later on, so just a little thing in my opinion that could of made it better, but thats not the fault of the staff thats something the owners could introduce. The hours where 10:30 until 12:45 and 14:00-16:00. And once you sign them in on the first day you just drop and pick them up without signing in and out the rest of the week, theres also a little mini park outside the kids club building. Theres not much going on during the day, i heard there used to be a foam party and also fireworks at night but this was stopped years ago which is a shame, tho the aqua fit and the large matt across the pool that you ran across and jumped in was fun. The hotel was very clean and the cleaners always cleaned our rooms well. The food was ok, breakfast was the best, the omelettes made and little chorizo sausages where nice, toast machine was terrible just slow and had to be put threw three times. Monday dinner had this mushroom sauce that was amazing and you got the odd really nice tasting thing but nothing amazing, italian night on the thursday was the best, the ravioli was really nice and the pizza was ok, tho this was on repeat along with a pasta in cheese sauce, so you could sick of it by the end of the week. There was little cakes and icecream was good. Theres a snack bar too, that does burgers, hotdogs, sandwiches etc, but this closed about 5pm so you just had the main buffett for tea so could not fall back on things from the snack bar if nothing took your fancy in the main buffett. My partner hated the food but i could always find something to eat, and my daughter is so picky, its a struggle to get her eating alot even at home, and you would usually see things from the evening back at lunch the next day, theres theme nights for the evening.
Theres a la-carte italian you get free once per 7 day stay, we never used it tho as we never wanted a sit down meal, a buffet was better for quickness for us as a family, please note most drinks are free but theres others they charge extra for even if your all inclusive. The staff where mostly friendly, not all but as a whole i would say mostly great. They worked hard, always got you a table quick and cleared plates very quickly. If you wish to head to the beach, its around 10-15 mins downhill, its hardwork getting back up especially in the heat or i imagine if you have a pram, theres also a nice market on Thursday and Saturday from 9am-2pm on your way down to the beach. Theres pool tables, grabby machines etc around the resort as well as a little football pitch. Theres a screen in reception you can use to book things like siam park which you get a receipt when booked and you just take it to reception staff and pay, its quite handy, also if your popping out and need a taxi, ask reception they will get you one quickly there very helpful. Also theres a circus called Zoopi just two minutes up from the hotel we noticed it second last day, and gutted we never got to go as was too late. Checkout of room on departure day is 12pm, you can keep your room until 2pm for 25 euros or 5pm for 45 euros based on how busy it was you just ask the day before you leave. We chose not to but made use of the shower room on floor O before we left (theres 4 floors total and theres lifts available), we booked it on checking out, this was free to use. Theres also a luggage room thats locked to put your luggage in until you leave. As we arrived late on day one we got to keep all inclusive until we left at 5pm on our last day, but i think if you dont miss lunch and dinner on the first day its cut of when you check out at 12pm on the last day, so therefore if you arent leaving then youll have to pay for food and drink in the hotel after this time. To sum up i wouldnt come back, it says its a 4 star hotel i would give it 3 at a push. i rarely go back to the same place twice anyway but even if i was back in this area I wouldnt return here, theres just not enough positives to bring us back as a family. Tho i will add the guests there our all lovely and friendly and we got chatting to lots of them, so the hotel does seem to attract the right sort of people!. And the hotel looks nice with good water features etc. so even tho its not for us thats not to say it wont be for other familys."
