"I stayed here last week for 8 nights with my wife and 18 month old child, we were all inclusive and stayed in a junior suite.
The hotel is lovely. Very clean, spacious, bright, nicely decorated, very modern. The views are fantastic, from the main restaurant, the lobby bar, the roof top bar (not included in all inclusive), balcony, all overlooking the beach and sea. I would consider it to be a family hotel, there were lots of other children there (if you don’t want children at the hotel, look elsewhere). The pool is a short walk from the hotel, past the beach, to get to. It was pretty good, decent size, entertainment, a separate small baby pool which is good, a flume for kids, but if you want a lounger you need to be there before 11am. It gets very busy and you won’t get a lounger after this time. We didn’t mind the short walk to get to it, you walk along the side of the beach, it was straight forward with a pram. The “private” beach is lovely, it’s not really private as locals can use it, but it’s directly in front of the hotel. You have to pay to use a sun lounger on the beach.
The hotel is located at the far end of Benalmadena. There’s not much within walking distance, but there is a convenience store a few minutes walk away which is handy. You’ll probably need a bus or taxi to get into the main part of Benalmadena (which is lovely). There is a train station a 5 minute walk away, which easily takes you into places like Malaga, Fuengirola etc, we used it a couple of times and was very straightforward, good for a day trip. The bus service wasn’t as straightforward, we had a pram, but many of the buses are coaches which require you to climb up a set of stairs to get onboard, not great with a pram and very little space for a pram when onboard. If you are looking for somewhere where you can go for walks to other places, this is not the hotel for you.
The staff were pleasant enough, though didn’t really go out their way to make your stay special. The room got cleaned every day and the maid done a good job. The hotel in general was very clean.
The main “sea view” restaurant was nicely decorated, clean and great views if you can get a table at the window. The food choice was okay, not a massive selection, we’ve had better.
Overall, we enjoyed our stay and would recommend staying here, mainly for the views over the beach and sea and the cleanliness and modern decor within the hotel, but there were a few issues.
First of all, we paid on arrival. It was 10pm, I was tired after travelling all day. When paying by card, I was asked if I wanted to pay in GBP. I accepted without thinking about it too much. In hindsight, it would have been much cheaper to pay in euros and let my bank (Revolut) do the currency exchange. It worked out much more expensive to pay in GBP using the hotel’s third party provider. The exchange rate was crap and I had to pay a fee for the service. I still can’t work out how they converted the EUR price into GBP (I’m a financial advisor) but reckon it cost an extra £100. I think it’s poor that the hotel put you in this position in the first place, or the should make you more aware of your options.
The “all inclusive” isn’t really all inclusive. The rooftop bar isn’t included. The sunloungers on the beach are not included. The 2 other restaurants in the hotel (Thai and beach restaurants) are not included. There is no self service for soft drinks in the restaurant during meal times or anywhere in the hotel. You have to wait to be served to request a drink, then have to wait to be served to request another drink (including water and soft drinks). Surely you should be able to help yourself to a soft drink rather than having to wait to be served (which they don’t do after they take your first order). There should be more water and soft drink facilities around the hotel.
We stayed in room 639 which is a junior suite, the room was brilliant. However we were directly underneath the main restaurant. It was very noisy around 10pm when they start tidying the restaurant. Moving tables and chairs about etc. on the Friday night in particular, it was extremely noisy from between 10-11pm. Not great when you have an 18 month old trying to sleep. And we paid significantly more to stay in this room!
There are 4 lifts, but they are very small and you end up having to wait a while to get one. They can fit 4-5 people (only 3 with pram or wheelchair).
The timing of things was a bit odd. Dinner didn’t start until 7:30pm, which is a bit late if you have young children. Also, there is some entertainment for kids such as face painting etc which also starts at 7:30pm. So if you have a child, you have to choose between going for dinner or taking them to get their face painted! The main entertainment didn’t start until 10pm, which is late if you have young children. Think it would be better if it all started an hour earlier.
Overall, we still enjoyed it, but some improvements could make this a 5/5 hotel."
