Santa Barbara Golf & Ocean Golf Club

"Amazing Holiday – We'll Definitely Be Back! We travelled from 26th June to 7th July for an 11-night stay, and what an amazing holiday we had! Our airport taxi transfers were very reasonable, costing €23 to the hotel and €18 back to the airport at the end of our trip. We arrived at the hotel at around 7:30pm and were immediately impressed. As soon as we walked into reception, the hotel smelled lovely, and we received such a warm welcome from the reception staff. Everyone was friendly, professional, and happy to help with anything. It really set the tone for a fantastic holiday, so thank you to them. We were allocated Room 617, a one-bedroom apartment for myself, my fiance and our two children (aged 14 and 16). We were pleasantly surprised by how spacious it was, and the balcony had a beautiful sea view. After settling in, we headed to the hotel's restaurant, Barbara's. Once again, we were welcomed by incredibly friendly staff who happily talked us through the menu and made us feel at home from the very first evening. The food was delicious, with plenty of choice throughout our stay. The sports bar is right next to the restaurant, which was perfect for us as we love football and were able to watch the World Cup while we ate. There are also plenty of tables away from the sports bar if you prefer a quieter atmosphere. We ended up eating in the hotel restaurant almost every evening and never got bored. Even our two fussy teenagers always found something they enjoyed and even tried a few new dishes, which they loved. On our second day, we explored the hotel properly. It's a huge complex with lots of different areas to discover, and it took us a couple of days to find the quickest routes to everywhere. My 14-year-old son especially enjoyed the onsite gym, which was free to use and a great way for him to spend some time, we all loved the pool and food at the pool snack bar, especially the Cola slushies 😀 The pool area was excellent, and I absolutely loved the sunbed reservation system. It makes such a difference knowing you can book your sunbeds for the following day instead of getting up early to compete for one. There were plenty of sunbeds available throughout our stay. We missed booking on our first day, but when we went down the following morning, the pool staff happily found four sunbeds for us without any issues. The pool staff were excellent, and the entertainment team worked hard. The only thing I'd have liked was a few more pool games during the day, as the only organised activity we saw was aqua Zumba, which wasn't really for us. The main pool was a little chilly for the first couple of days but warmed up nicely after that. There's also a small heated outdoor spa pool, which was lovely. We visited Monkey Park, which was well worth a few hours of our time. Entry was only €10 per person, with taxis costing €25 there and €21 back. We also spent a fantastic day at Siam Park. We left the hotel by taxi at 9:00am, arriving before the crowds, and chose to visit on a Sunday, which turned out to be one of the quieter days. The taxi cost €32 there and €31 back. The hotel also has its own onsite supermarket, which was really convenient. It stocked freshly baked pastries for breakfast along with everything else you'd need for self-catering. There's another well-stocked supermarket just a two-minute walk away, and it's around a 15-minute walk to San Blas, where you'll find an even larger supermarket along with plenty of shops, bars, and restaurants. I genuinely have nothing negative to say about this hotel or its staff. Everyone, from reception to the restaurant team, cleaners, pool staff, and maintenance staff, were friendly, helpful, and hardworking. The hotel was spotless throughout our stay and, in my opinion, easily deserves its four-star rating. There are just a few minor points worth mentioning, but they certainly didn't affect our holiday or overall experience: The portion sizes for some pasta dishes varied from one visit to the next. Sometimes the portions were very generous, while on other occasions they were noticeably smaller. A little more consistency would be appreciated. Floats, balls, and other inflatable pool toys aren't allowed. I completely understand this is for safety reasons, but families with younger children should be aware. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a late checkout. Our flight wasn't until 10:25pm, so after checking out at 10:00am, it made for quite a long final day. However, the hotel kindly extended our room until 11:00am, provided an excellent courtesy room for showers before we left, and allowed us to continue using all the hotel facilities until it was time to head to the airport. It was peak holiday season, so this was completely understandable and certainly not the hotel's fault. Overall, our family had an absolutely fantastic holiday. A huge thank you to every member of staff for making our stay so enjoyable. We wouldn't hesitate to return and would happily recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a relaxing, family-friendly holiday."

"**A fantastic resort with an unbelievable cleaning crew!** **⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)** We just got back from a stay at the Santa Barbara Ocean and Golf Resort in Golf del Sur, and it was a really fantastic trip. The hotel has so much going for it, though there were a couple of small things that held it back from being absolutely perfect. **The Room, Housekeeping, & a Genius Pool Idea** Our room was brilliant and came with an amazing sea view. The housekeeping team was top-tier—always polite, meticulous, and genuinely lovely. And speaking of the pool area, the hotel’s sun lounger booking system is a total stroke of genius! It completely takes away the stress of the early morning "towel wars" you get at most resorts. It's a brilliant, fair idea that more hotels need to adopt. **An Absolute Superstar on Staff** Every single member of the cleaning and maintenance staff we crossed paths with was wonderful and took real pride in keeping the place spotless. But there was one absolute superstar I have to mention (I’m gutted I didn't get her name). She had black hair in a ponytail and wore a blue polo shirt with blue shorts. We saw her working non-stop around the pool first thing in the morning, and then she'd be grinding away in other parts of the resort later in the day. She is hands-down the hardest-working person I have ever seen in any hotel, anywhere. Give her a medal and a well-deserved pay rise! **Arrival & Reception** The reception team were perfectly professional, but the check-in process itself was painfully slow. After a long journey, standing around for a drawn-out check-in is the last thing you want, so hopefully they can speed this up in the future. **The One Letdown: The Pool Snack Bar** The only real dampener on the holiday was the attitude of the staff at the pool snack bar. Honestly, most of them were just rude and dismissive. You’d stand there waiting to be served and they'd barely acknowledge you—no smile, no friendliness, and they acted like you were massively putting them out just by ordering. To make matters worse, one of the male staff members seemed to only find his manners when he was chatting up the younger girls on site. It really let the side down. **The Verdict** Despite the snack bar souring things a bit, this is still a wonderful place to stay. If management can get the snack bar team up to the incredibly high customer care standards of the rest of the hotel staff, this place would be completely unstoppable. We'll definitely return!"

"Gorgeous 10/10 in every aspect. Can't recommend enough. 2 bed apartment spotless spacious and very modern. Staff very friendly. Pool cocktails lovely. Feel like we got a bargain. Dont understand why only 3 stars"