"This is as usual ,my personal take on the hotel starting with the good and then the not so good.
Hotel is very clean,staff always working to keep it that way.
Showers in the room are very good and always hot no matter time of day. Some staff are very good,especially Marc who works breakfast and bar during the day,and the tall lady on reception but I didn’t get her name.
Position is very good,at the end of the street you are on the main strip,with plenty of shops bars etc. this leads you straight down to the beach which is 10-15 mins at sauntering pace.
Please note if you are eating/drinking out it is not cheap. Drinks cost us around £7 each for rum and coke ,so u will have to try find happy hour.
Despite being all-inclusive, we did need to eat and drink out which I will reveal why? Further in this review.
Reasons I did not like this hotel despite paying £352 per person for five of us.
At check-in, it took an hour for them to book us in. We got to the front desk and the lady just said to us wait here for my colleague and then she just left and we were stuck there like lemons waiting for her to come back . in the meantime other coaches were coming in and they were getting checked in before us, so that eventually we had to push to the front of the queue to say that we’ve been waiting for an hour ,this is unacceptable,and we weren’t the only ones this happened to.
Check-in is a shambles and I don’t blame the staff. I blame management as they should have the more organised.
Food choice is very limited,and we are not fussy, but it is greasy cafe quality not all inclusive quality. And if you are a vegetarian chips and salad seems to be your main option. This is why as a family we ate out quite a lot, which is unusual for us.
The hotel grounds are not big enough for half the hotel let alone if it’s full with families. The playground, you probably could get a dozen kids on there after that forget it.
The one swimming pool on site is not heated, and it was too cold while we were there in May for us to be able to swim and a lot of other kids didn’t go in either, others were brave. Again the swimming pool is not big enough if this hotel is full to capacity.
There are no quiet areas in this hotelthe public area consists of one big room with a bar and a couple of seats in reception. So if you don’t want to listen to the entertainment or kiddies club disco, you have nowhere to escape to. Ideally, you need two separate rooms ,one for entertainment and one where you can just sit chill relax and enjoy a drink and conversation.
Unfortunately,the noise levels are beyond a joke. especially if it rains and everyone comes inside the only peace and quiet you will get is inside your hotel room if you’re lucky.
Biggest bug bear of this hotel is that you were given a voucher to get a plastic cup from the bar which you have to keep with you for your entire holiday. You can exchange it for a clean cup, but you do have to keep it with you ,as you will not get another one and you will be refused to drink if you don’t show a plastic cup. However, if you are sitting inside ,in the one room they have and you go to the bar, you can get a drink in a glass, but this is not allowed to be taken outside. Which to be fair, I can understand..
So yes, you will be carting plastic cups around with you for the holiday this policy needs to be changed by the hotel.
Oh unfortunately if you are unlucky enough to have a family group or individuals from hell there will be no escape from them unless you go out.
Unsupervised children left in the hotel while the British parents go out on the booze, not the hotels fault, but the hotel should’ve acted sooner at reprimanding them. From what we could tell it took them about three days to tell the parents this was unacceptable behaviour.
Kids were throwing chairs, et cetera, into the pool at midnight, and whilst we never heard them as we were fast asleep so many people complained and some even paid of £400 to catch a flight back home after 3-4days holiday. Not a good look for a hotel to accept this for so long.
Some of the staff were miserable but I put this down to having to put up with some of the behaviour of some of the guests. The staff to work hard and it doesn’t help getting complaints from other guests about other guests..
Minky the tui rep does try your best, but when you are dealing with a hotel that is too small for the amount of people in it, awkward guests, and in adequate food, in adequate check-in, she’s fighting and losing battle.
This hotel is not conducive to all-inclusive, it really needs to be room only , as the amenities are inadequate.
However, accept the tickets which are freebies to go to Port Aventura theme park, because if this is your thing you will thoroughly enjoy it and you will need a whole day there.
Buses which are free for this literally go from the end of the street around the corner near the Calypso Hotel."
