"We went as a family of three. DD, 1 month off being 18 (paid full price!). At the very start we were harshly TOLD by Isobella - Receptionist - DD was not allowed in adult pool area but allowed in the spa and gym as long as one of the adults went with her! Nice Greeting?! Hello to you too! Thanks for asking regarding accessibility! Now, if only she could have explained how to find our room, 2003, which was opposite the reception area, with the access door all the way around the other side of the building. She told us where to exit the reception, leading to us having to walk behind buildings to try to find our room. There were much easier routes we found which she could have told us about. Not good for someone with access needs! A map with a cross was all we were given and it was not obvious where we were standing 'You are here' could have sorted that out or where our room was. The map was very poor and we were unable to find out where anything was on it throughout our stay, it very much lacked much needed details. This was the start of the lack of information. We were not the only ones getting lost with cases in tow in the heat! In fact, we all started looking out for each other's rooms!
The hotel room was adequate. We booked an accessibility Junior suite - All inclusive PLUS. Air conditioning was limited to 22 degrees which was cool enough. There was a large bed as advertised and a pull out bed which blocked the windows right up to the patio door. There were plenty of clothes hangers - 19 or 20 - and plenty of shelves. The safe was easy to master. Slippers and dressing gowns were available. As was shampoo, shower gel, hand soap and toilet roll enough of everything for a week. Three large towels, 3 hand towels and 3 sunbed towels. The maids were lovely and very resourceful if you needed stocking up. There was a kettle, a couple of teas, and coffees but NO milk, sugar, or sweetener. The windows and patio looked onto the side of another building and onto the car park! The bathroom had a long sink to one side, a shower on the other side which lead to a translucent glass door toilet.
A small shop was a 30 second walk from reception and stocked a little bit of everything, including milk and water, water and sun lotion priced the same as the hotel. We feel as though it is a part of the business corporation, part of the hotel chain but have no proof of that apart from the limited amount of reduced sugar pop on sale and the same pricing strategy! The staff in the shop were very helpful and the bakery counter had a good selection and was cheap. However, it does close earlier than 10:30PM which was advertised. In the hotel, there was a boutique which sold a few extra things other than clothes, bags, bracelets, kids' inflatables and more. They also sell sun lotions, factor 30 was priced at 24 euro in both shops. I felt this was a bit steep but they do have a captured market! I would advise to take too much sun lotion rather than pay the £20+ that 24 euro equates to. Compare the ml as 400ml was sold at the same price as the 270ml spray.
Don't walk on the grass as you run the high risk of being bitten by mosquitos, speaking from experience. The many paths outside the hotel are concrete bumps of three or four (speed hump effect) which alternate between vertical and horizontal made into a design feature. You notice this when you have accessibility needs in the family. Select your footwear cautiously/accordingly.
The evening food was wonderful in the main restaurant! Plenty of choice and warm (not hot) although breakfasts were on the cool side and nothing exceptional. We did not go to the À la Carte restaurant - 'The Terrace', as it's not our thing, but it was up many stairs so definitely chose to give it a miss. I did see one member of staff using a lift next to the main restaurant which must have lead to the 'The Terrace'. This was the first I knew about the lift! The day before we left! As it was not our thing, I didn't bother looking into this. Again, we should have been informed of accessibility at the beginning of our stay. Another bit of information which would have been extremely useful (but they did not tell us about): They SELL bottled water for 2 euro, glass bottles in the main restaurant and plastic bottles in the Sports Bar which you can take to your room. Don't use the water fountain at the main bar would be my advice. Wish we had known to purchase bottled water at the start of the holiday! The other buffet 'restaurant' (a self serve snack bar) is in the splash park/pool. It gave you the basic type of food akin to a greasy spoon, chips, pizza and burgers. This was the all inclusive PLUS, out of normal hours service that make this a PLUS! Compared to the previous PLUS holiday hotels we have stayed in this is not of any standard at all! Please don't be fooled! Jet2 I will happily discuss when you contact.
The Sports Bar - a MASSIVE shout out to Arianna! She saved our holiday! She would talk to everyone and gave everyone the time they deserved. She was welcoming, kind and nothing was a bother. She could train at least one member of the reception team in customer service. Arianna (sorry if I have misspelt your name) was outstanding with the little things that make a holiday! The Sports Bar had multiple screens and as it's World Cup time, during the qualifiers, they showed simultaneous matches on screens right next to one another with only one speaker on, so everyone heard the same thing and where you sat was the level you heard it at. They also showed the later round of 32 matches when we were there.
Now the main bug bear. We do have accessibility needs which Jet2 were informed of and always have been informed of. Our room was at the very apex of a rectangle, the second room from last in the farthest away building above the adult pool. The all inclusive snack bar for its All inclusive PLUS service (HAHA) was at the total opposite, bottom Apex, on a diagonal farthest away point. This was the only place All inclusive guest could eat out of normal hours. This is not advertised anywhere. The main pool area that suited our needs best, had plenty of choice for CASH paying guests. There was a proper outdoor restaurant at this pool that we could not access as we were all-inclusive!! The cash-paying customer could place an order and receive service to their table, getting whatever they wanted. There is a small all-inclusive bar at this main pool which gives some drinks, salted crisps and one choice of ice lolly but the choice was that limited. We had paid cash before we left the UK!!! The All Inclusive GUESTS had to go further on to the splash pool snack bar to eat at the greasy spoon/snack bar if out of hours or ensure we ate in the main restaurants during set times. The route we first walked had steps to a dry river bed and steps up the other side to the splash pool (you'll need your room key to access) This is where the all-inclusive greasy spoon is situated. A total lack of information AGAIN! We later found there was another walk across a public footpath and board walk over the aforementioned dried riverbed, this path had a cycle path right in the middle! This added to the walking distance.
As a side note, the snack bar in the main pool had a stack of menus for paying clients. When we asked for an all inclusive menu - they could not find one. They have one somewhere! Having took 5 minutes for some staff to have a proper look and never find it shows the hotel managements strategy to focus on the paying customer rather than providing a customer service to all.
The splash park itself included a Lazy Circle (we laughed when calling it a river, it is not). The younger of the party loved but due to accessibility needs - we visited ONCE. We would not recommend this holiday and suggest you can find a better more all inclusive, all inclusive PLUS. If you have walking mobility issues think twice about booking this holiday. To all - do NOT go all inclusive as this restricts access to some facilities. Save the money and pay once you are there.
All daytime entertainment happens at the splash pool. Having only went once we cannot say much more on this. The kids' disco occurs at around 6:30pm in the main bar, where 4 reps are on a high stage showing the kids on the ground the moves. However the kids do not have the opportunity to take part due to all parents and kids looking up and watching on without any facility for them to dance. They, on two days, had bingo mid-afternoon in the main bar. The nighttime entertainment at the main bar is nothing to write home about. We took a pack of cards, paper and pens/pencil and entertained ourselves whilst watching football in the Sports Bar.
When there are no sunbeds in the main pool, and loads available in the Adult Only pool. (An adult only pool customer informed me of lots of available sunbeds and suggested we go there. She did not realising my DD was only 17 so we could not use that pool, she was waiting to speak to the Jet2 representative.) Seek out the Jet2 representative Petra - she will help you out! Use the old mantra 'the customer is always right!'. Mention there is a stock of beds in another location, she just could not understand or was not willing to understand and was not willing to work on a solution. I am more than happy to discuss all the above if anyone from Jet2 would like to contact me or the hotel management themselves :) We were advised by the aforementioned rep to get a sunbed in the Splash Pool because that was her solution to our problem! I did mention I was on holiday and that the sunbeds in the splash pool are old, well worn, seen better days and are of no standard at all. The sunbeds in the adult pool were decent and in the main pool you could use them and be comfortable without ending up with your derrière on the floor, this treat was reserved for the inadequate sunbeds in the Splash Pool!
It does seem like the Splash Pool is the poor cousin and this is where they desperately try to base their all-inclusive customers. I also mentioned to the Jet2 rep of the published case where a holiday company had to repay 900 Euro to a Mr Eggbert due to a lack of sunbeds, which occurred through the German courts. At this point, Petra took some action to help. Although, she said she could no longer understand what I was saying! She went to the hotel reception area for help and they found two sunbeds in the main pool and Petra told us to find a third still not taking ownership as the Jet2 representative! Later that day, 16:15, the security guard checked and threw out three non guests who were all on sunbeds. Two left taking their towels, one stayed somewhere and left his towel on the sunbed, we bumped into him much later and no one had moved his towel. The security guard should have been out much earlier.
My personal opinion having worked in customer service for years I always ask myself and the family: 1) Would we return to this hotel? Absolutely NOT, when we normally return to a good hotel 2 or 3 three times. Would I advise anyone else to visit this hotel? No. Is it value for money? No. Why? The corporation are more interested in the cash buyer, the ones with money in the pocket not the ones who have paid up front. Is it a quality service? The evening food was. The sun was glorious and the Sports Bar was our entertainment. However, you can get those elsewhere and as here, we made our own entertainment. There is NOTHING to bring us back to this hotel. The fact you have to pay for water left a sour taste as we are not drinkers! The fact is, we had less choice because we had paid in advance for all-inclusive.
Never again! I am unable to balance this hotel with Jet2 description of what a LUXE collection hotel is. It is definitely not a 4 star. It scrapes in as an all inclusive PLUS! Jet2 - why is this a LUXE Collection hotel? It may need a quality review or a quality assessment!"
