"The only positive is the beachfront location and poolside areas with many available sunbeds. Beyond that the experience is dire.
On arrival we were asked to sign a form re gastroenteritis. I enquired if there was an outbreak, to which the reception staff responded with “no, it’s the English who are making fake claims and if they do we are taking legal action.” What a welcome.
The buildings are run down, dilapidated and in a poor state of repair. The rooms, common areas etc aren’t clean. I tried to use the handrail going downstairs to the restaurant , (or should I say canteen as it certainly bears no resemblance to any quality restaurant), however they were just sticky and grimy so refrained from using them. The floor felt sticky in the restaurant and the bathroom was filthy and felt unhygienic to use. None of the areas were ever seen to be cleaned (apart from the bedrooms) and certainly felt dirty throughout.
In terms of the canteen, service was dreadful. Staff were miserable, rude and seemed completely disinterested and the last thing they wanted to do was clear tables or even set tables. For breakfast often crockery was missing, the self service drinks stations for tea/coffee etc were often closed so only one machine in use for all guests. Sometimes there were no breakfast teabags either. On some occasions the cups provided were filthy also having someone else’s lipstick all over cups. Only one set of cutlery would be given, so no chance if you wanted to return to select anything. Not that you would as the food was so poor. At lunch or evening meals, the plates weren’t cleared between courses. Staff spent time talking to each other but ignoring customers. The only one day when it appeared different was when a manager appeared to be present. He was only seen once and on that day, whilst not friendly, staff did occasionally clear some plates.
In terms of food choice it was poor quality, poor selection and mostly cold or tepid. Very often all areas were empty and took time to replace, so if you wanted rice or veg, salad, or potatoes to go with fish etc then you would have to walk several lengths of the restaurant and wait for each area to be restocked, by which time the rest of the food was cold. The breakfast fruit, apart from sliced oranges and a token banana comprised of what appeared to be mainly tinned fruit. Few cakes etc were home made and again were poor quality. In terms of main course meals at lunch or dinner , it was generally one cheap piece of fish or chewy pork. This would then be recycled for the next meal or meals. The food was just dreadful, to match the appalling service. We’ve never been to such a dreadful hotel canteen.
When we arrived at the hotel it was around 4pm ish and we hadn’t eaten so went to the pool snack bar. It comprised of cold nuggets, cold fries and cut up pieces of left over breakfast bacon. There were some prepared but uncooked pizzas which had birds sat directly on top of the pizzas. I counted 5 birds sat on prepared pizzas and no one tried to remove the birds and clear the now spoiled food. I am sure they will have been served, so we never returned to the snack bar. When I shared my concerns with the travel rep, their response was “well they wouldn’t have much at that time of day, the main restaurant opens at 6pm use that.” The indifference and lack of health and safety was very evident.
In terms of drinks, any cocktails were pre mixed and had a choice of Tequila sunrise, Love on the beach, Blue Acura o or Aperol Spritz. The wine, beer etc were self serve. The only exception to poor staff service was an older gentleman in the main hotel lobby bar. He was the only friendly, helpful, efficient member of staff seen all week and was always smiling and pleasant with everyone. That man deserves a medal and could teach all other staff how customer service should be.
On several occasions walking down the path to our room, I was nearly knocked out of the way by a man pushing a laundry cart. He made no attempt to control the cart or to let guests through. If i hadn’t moved out of the way swiftly, I would have been knocked out of the way. The house keeping service was equally poor. Our bathroom bin was only emptied on the penultimate day of the holiday. On the last morning or our stay, we were preparing to check out of our room and a member of staff let herself straight in and walked in looking surprised to see us there. All other days they didn’t clean the room until late afternoon so no idea why she thought she could let herself in unannounced. Check out time wasn’t until 11am and we were leaving early so is unacceptable to barge into a guest bedroom.
In terms of entertainment there are two main areas. One being the hotel lobby bar. Some of the singers here and the saxophone player were quite good. However although March (not school holidays) is not peak time, there certainly wasn’t enough seating. People had to sit with each other from different groups and sit at rep desks as there wasn’t enough seating for guests. The floor also had wet beach towels in the centre of the floor most days and nights as there was clearly a roof leak. Staff just put grey pool towels on the floor and then left them there all day. A tripping hazard and obviously no attempt to repair the roof.
The downstairs theatre was found walking through an arcade and sports bar. We visited to watch a violinist and a flamenco dancer. The dancer wore a flamenco dress and held a fan, beyond that there wasn’t much dancing. A very poor quality act which we left swiftly as it was clear how poor it was. Many other guests also left swiftly.
We arrived late on a Wednesday and by Thursday morning asked the travel company rep for a hotel change. I’ve never ever done that before in all our years of travel. Unfortunately we were only offered an acceptable alternative late on the Monday afternoon as we would be leaving early Wednesday morning. To change at that point with a nearly £800 charge to change for 36 hours just wasn’t worth it at that point. We had to write the whole holiday off. What should have been a relaxing break was actually a stressful week away. I actually felt sorry for any new arrivals and couldn’t wait to leave and go home.
We have stayed at Princess Hotels before and have always had a wonderful stay at high quality hotels. This hotel is actually damaging to the brand. The rep did say to us “you do know the hotel is closing don’t you?” I didn’t but apparently is closing in an October for a two year refurb. Regardless of the fact it will be closing, if they continue to sell holidays here, selling them as “platinum” breaks for a luxury, high quality hotel then that needs to be delivered. What actually is delivered is beyond a tired, run down hotel. It feels like nothing is repaired, staff are disinterested and rude and there is no management or culture of considering guest experience. This hotel either needs closing now or until October, urgent repairs carried out and staff training and management being put in place to change the poor culture of this hotel.
The holiday company reps are there all day and we heard many complaints from other guests both at reception and at the guest desk. I can’t say we received a satisfactory response from them. One rep told me food is subjective and that whenever she eats in the restaurant she had good service. I did point out that she was wearing a uniform so they probably would try and serve her. Having said that I never saw her eat in the “restaurant” /canteen, but did see her go to the local supermarket returning with food at lunchtime. Unfortunately this hotel is too far out to walk to other restaurants etc so eating out in the local area wasn’t even an option.
This hotel needs avoiding. I know that many others are writing similar reviews so is clearly not a fussy guest. I’m sure manage my will write to say they were sorry re the experience and they will use the comments to improve services. Unfortunately I have read that too many times over a protracted period of time so have little faith things will be acted upon until the hotel closes. I would never return to this hotel and had made me rethink Princess Hotels and Tui Platinum Hotels. I did share my concerns with the reps asking how does this reflect high quality, luxury standard. The response was that the hotel has separate adult and family areas and includes a certain number of bars etc. The luxury element was certainly not present anywhere at this hotel."
