Be Live Adults Only La Cala Boutique Hotel

"Stay: 5 days / 6 nights (14th–19th July) Guests: Mother & Daughter Board: Bed & Breakfast Transfers: 20 mins from airport • 15–20 mins into Palma Hotel Positives * Lovely exterior with beautiful greenery. * Modern, air-conditioned lounge with plenty of seating. * Beach access directly from the hotel. Negatives * Public toilets were outdated and looked dirty. * Most plug sockets in the lounge didn’t work. * Tiny lift (fits two people) with an unpleasant smell. * Stairwells looked neglected and stained. Beach & Pool Beach * Beautiful beach with direct access from the hotel. * Gets very busy every day. * Best time to swim is morning to early afternoon when the sea is calmer. Afternoon waves became very rough and made swimming unpleasant. * During the last few days there was a huge amount of seaweed and some rubbish in the water. Pool * Quite small and warmed up quickly, so it wasn’t very refreshing in the heat. * Plenty of sunbeds, but they get reserved early (we went down around 8am each day). * Some loungers, umbrellas and surrounding areas were stained, damaged and poorly maintained - Rubbish left by guests doesn’t get picked up by staff. We saw the same rubbish for our whole stay by the pool. Room (Superior Double - Room 2208) Positives * Air conditioning was excellent. * Comfortable beds (extra pillows in the wardrobe were useful). * Nice balcony with chairs. * Nespresso machine with tea and coffee provided. * A large complimentary bottle of water was replaced daily. Negatives * Very limited storage - hardly any drawers or shelf space. * No main bedroom light, only bedside lamps. * Bathroom offered no space for toiletries. * Shower had nowhere to place shampoo/shower gel except the floor. * Fridge was very small and only moderately effective. Cleanliness (Biggest Disappointment) Unfortunately, cleanliness was well below what I’d expect from a four-star hotel. * Room and balcony floors were never properly cleaned and always felt gritty. * Shower floor wasn’t cleaned during our stay. * Bedding eventually felt gritty, making us question whether sheets had actually been changed. * Housekeeping twice forgot essentials (toilet roll, water and coffee refills), requiring multiple trips to reception. * Coffee machine wasn’t cleaned after servicing. * Pool area appeared poorly maintained, with dirty loungers, broken umbrellas and debris in the pool (including a clump of hair). Resort This wasn’t the resort we expected. * Very few shops. * Mostly cafés that closed by late afternoon. * Limited restaurant choice. * Overall, very little entertainment or evening atmosphere. * Random unnecessary DJ that plays very loud YouTube remixes for a few hours on a Saturday. Palma * Around €13 by taxi each way. * Beautiful cathedral, but due to the extreme heat and humidity we only stayed around two hours before returning to the hotel. Breakfast * Fairly basic selection. * Drinks included coffee, water, orange juice and chocolate milk. * Plenty of meat options. * Limited vegetarian and vegan hot choices. * Bread, fruit, yoghurt, cereals, cheeses, pastries and cakes available. Other Things to Note * Strong smell of sewage around parts of the pool, along with cannabis at times. * Breakfast staff were efficient but rarely greeted guests or appeared particularly friendly. Check-out * Check-out is midday. * Luggage room available. The post-checkout shower facilities were disappointing. Guests have to use the neighbouring sister hotel, where two showers and a toilet share one small, non-ventilated room. It felt like a sauna, making it almost impossible to dry off without sweating again. We’d honestly recommend using the outdoor shower by the pool instead. Overall The beach and air conditioning were the highlights of our stay, and the complimentary daily bottled water was a nice touch. However, the poor cleanliness, lack of maintenance, limited resort amenities and inconsistent housekeeping meant the hotel didn’t feel deserving of its four-star rating. We still enjoyed our holiday, but we personally wouldn’t choose to stay here again. Three stars at most. Recommendations * ‘The Plant Shack’ - Amazing veg options. Açai bowls, salads, toasted sandwiches, smoothies and coffees. 🌟 * ‘Che Gelats!’ - Lovely ice cream. 4€ small tub x2 flavours, quite a big portion, lots of lovely flavours. We went 3 times. 🌟 * ‘Avocado’ - Nice cafe with some veg options. Smoothies are nice. Açai bowls only in the morning. Nachos are nice. * ‘Alubia Plant Power’ - Palma. Lovely veggie options. Big portions."

"Location : resort itself is horrible. Hardly any shops apart from convenience stores on a busy road, and eateries were pretty basic. No nightlife here if you like shopping, strolling and a nice restaurant. But, Palma is a quick taxi ride (about €12 in and €14 out) where there is an abundance. Location for the beautiful beach is perfect, literally walk from your sun bed by the pool and you’re in the sea within a minute Families/people are on the beach and in the sea until quite late, like 10pm, which is lovely. Beach slopes very very gently into the sea and you can go out quite a distance and still only be shoulder deep. Sea and beach was a highlight of the holiday. Hotel: boutique, so more individual than the chain hotels. We only had breakfast which was lovely and peaceful (adults only) and plentiful. We had a seafront superior with balcony. Compact room but nice. I wouldn’t have liked being in a room without the sea view, that makes all the difference for me. Cleaning done daily but judging by things being regularly missed, not very thorough (no loo roll, coffee machine not replenished) Don’t think the floor was cleaned in the week we were there as had sandy feet getting into bed all week. Bathroom has no privacy whatsoever as it’s open and glass. Good shower/hairdryer. They didn’t refill any of the soaps. Beds are very comfy and sleep came easily. We arrived 9am with check in at 3pm (and we didn’t get the room a minute earlier despite reception saying they’d call as soon as it was ready) First impression of only being able to use a rather grubby toilet in reception to change into beach clothes wasn’t the best intro Pool quite small (I’d guess it’s about as wide and long as a width in a swimming bath) but you are right next to the sea. Pool was clean and lovely and cool first thing, but like a warm bath by 3pm (it was in the 30’s). Pool area rarely cleaned, and rubbish not cleared by staff each day. Checkout at 12 but we didn’t leave until 11pm. Was able to use a shower room in the adjacent hotel on the last day, but lack of ventilation in there made it like a hot box, and was almost unbearable (but again the temps and humidity were consistently high) Overall I quite liked the hotel. Loved how peaceful it was. Only occasionally was the pool area what I would consider busy. Beds do get grabbed early but you could generally squeeze in somewhere. I wouldn’t go again as I hated the resort itself, but I did like the hotel."

"If you are after a lively atmosphere this hotel or indeed this resort, you are in the wrong place. If it's a beach holiday alone you are looking for, the beach is amazing. It is a very quiet hotel, no entertainment, and quiet on an evening, mainly spent watching the people on the beach which is directly infront of the hotel and easily accessible the through the side gate of the hotel. Entertainment I'd advertised at the sister hotel next door, but tjid is not great and poorly attended Staff are OK, depends who you get as to how pleasant they are. We were told on arrival that our evening meal would only be in our hotel 3 nights s week. The other nights we were to go to the neighbouring hotel, and/or the beach bar, which was on the beach, although the food was satisfactory in the hotel, the beach bar was basic as you would expect, my husband asked for an ice cream dessert and was given a magnum from the ice-cream fridge! Also, when dressed up to go out on holiday for dinner, I don't want to sit among people of the beach kicking balls, splashing sand and water, dragging beach equipment through the cafe. It's an inappropriate place for the two to mix. The restaurant in La Cala Be Live is very ambient but for people on half board there is only 3 choices of starter, 3 choices of Main Course and 2 for Dessert, the food was acceptable itself but limited choice for a 4 visits in 10 days. The menu we were told is always the same. The choices dont change. Breakfast had a great selection, beautiful fresh fruits and bread cheese ham and pastries in abundance. However constantly having to ask for the water to be topped up. Basic! As for cleanliness, The room felt grubby, items of clothes dropped to the floor were dusty when picked up. When wiping a finger along the surface it collects dust! They were very tatty, looks run down, dark wood too makes the rooms very dark it is in need of e refurbishment and freshen up. The room was constantly full of mozzies, we complained 3 times, finally the came and fumigated the room but they still kept coming. I was covered in bites after 4 days. I have no idea where they were getting in as we had no window open and never left the door.open at any point, because of this issue. There was a roof hatch in our room.tjat had a gap in it. It wasn't fully closed and we wondered if this was where mozzies were coming from. There was adequate wardrobe space but no drawer space so we ended up just hanging up what we could and then living out of our suitcase for the rest. It's a handy place for Palma, and Palmanova and Magaluf visits. But I won't go back, we booked a room in another hotel in palmanova after 4 nights because the mosquitoes and mealtime issues were getting us down. Travel company in this case TUI tried to help re locate but failed after 2 days trying we moved ourselves, as we were losing our holiday rapidly while we waited."