“Excellent Family Friendly Hotel”

Just returned from an all inclusive week’s stay over half term. Family of six covering three generations. Arrived early in the day and received a welcome drink whilst checking in. Did have to wait for our two rooms to be ready until nearly 4pm which wasn’t ideal but used the facilities during thi... more

Just returned from an all inclusive week’s stay over half term. Family of six covering three generations. Arrived early in the day and received a welcome drink whilst checking in. Did have to wait for our two rooms to be ready until nearly 4pm which wasn’t ideal but used the facilities during this time. Rooms large and comfortable. Floor could have been cleaner. Bathroom towels not always changed even though left out to be changed. Restaurant overall as we expected for an All Inclusive hotel. Some of the food was lukewarm due to the wait. Could do with additional staff especially by the show cooking to avoid the delays. We received some undercooked fish one evening. All the staff worked extremely hard. Other than one evening we always managed to get the same table for 6 without a problem. No one checks you in at the restaurant or directs you to a table which would probably help. Food overall was ok and there was a reasonable choice. We went to the Tex Mex meal in the Toucan bar as our A La Carte night which was our worst meal of the holiday. Service was very very slow and quality of food not great. This is a shame as this is the Pool Bar during the day and is excellent. Pool and outside area is great. Sun beds were reserved early by the children’s pool which is expected but other areas were available. Our grandchildren aged 7 and 5 loved the animation team and enjoyed the mini club and disco. There was a wedding on the Saturday of our holiday which did disrupt the hotel. The pool bar was out of bounds all day as was the adult relaxation area and the Broadway bar in the evening Not sure if this is a regular occurrence but it meant having to go from the pool area to the upstairs bar if you wanted a drink during the day and put extra strain on the restaurant at lunch time as there was no alternative. Overall we had a great holiday and the position of the hotel is good. It has great access to the beach and is an easy walk to the centre or nearby mini golf. We went to the harbour where there is an oceanarium. You can feed fish, watch sea lions or book a number of trips from here. We paid €9 each for the kids to get up close to the sea lions and receive a kiss from them. Despite the few negatives we would all return.

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“A relaxing break in a good location”

We stayed here for 7 nights. Overall, a lovely hotel with clean and spacious rooms and a good pool area with plenty of sun beds. The cats were very cute and well-looked after! The only negative was that the food could be hit and miss and a couple of times I was given food that wasn’t properly c... more

We stayed here for 7 nights. Overall, a lovely hotel with clean and spacious rooms and a good pool area with plenty of sun beds. The cats were very cute and well-looked after! The only negative was that the food could be hit and miss and a couple of times I was given food that wasn’t properly cooked from the show cooking area. There were also limited cocktails on offer on the all inclusive menu.

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“Not 4 star, too many niggles”

Definitely not a 4 star hotel. We checked in at midnight on our first night to very unfriendly receptionists who were more bothered talking between themselves than telling us anything about the hotel. We were not offered a welcome drink or any food as they promise elsewhere. Overall set the tone ... more

Definitely not a 4 star hotel. We checked in at midnight on our first night to very unfriendly receptionists who were more bothered talking between themselves than telling us anything about the hotel. We were not offered a welcome drink or any food as they promise elsewhere. Overall set the tone for the week. Positives: Bedroom was a good size with a great size balcony but housekeeping could have been more vigilant - arrived to a dirty bathroom mirror that was only cleaned the day before we left. Beds were very comfy once we had asked for, and waited until the next evening, for extra pillows as only one person can give these out. The themed nights meant a variety of food although a lot were stews, some weird combinations, lukewarm or quite often run out with slow service to replace. My daughter enjoyed the kids disco although to adults it was very repetitive. Negatives: Too many little niggles like lights in the stairs had come out, communal areas were smeared or needed cleaning, the toilets near the restaurant were a disgrace with lack of toilet roll, doors not closing properly and the toilet roll holders fallen off the walls. Housekeeping kept taking towels but not replacing them so we were short or hanging up dirty towels we had left on the floor to replace. The ‘Mexican’ themed restaurant began with unlabelled help yourself starters very similar to the Mexican themed night before. The salmon I had was lovely, but we walked out without having dessert as the service was so slow. A lot of sunbeds, especially around the smaller, warmer pool, were reserved very early with people not turning up until the afternoon. We managed to get beds but away from this pool which my daughter preferred so we always had to go with her to the pool. Sun beds weren’t particularly comfortable either. Breakfast and dinner service was a nightmare to try to find a seat with tables that hadn’t been cleared and you felt like you were a burden to the staff who were supposed to be cleaning up. They did try one night to direct to tables which worked better but then didn’t carry it through. Staff ( except the entertainment staff) were miserable and not very engaging or friendly. Entertainment was a bit weird, quizzes played on mobile phones, although a couple of acts were very good but finished by 10pm. The seats in rows in the entertainment room were a bit strange, I’d rather sit around a table with my family than have strangers clambering over me. Everyone at 10pm moved to the upstairs bar where if you were lucky to get a seat, had to share again with strangers due to the layout unless you had a large party. Finally, we checked out at 12pm but didn’t get collected until 7pm for the airport. They insisted that our bands were cut off at this point, stating it was company policy and we couldn’t use All Inclusive anymore. Jet2 backed them up. They did eventually give us a voucher for lunch but wouldn’t give in. I’m a bit surprised to hear around the same time and following this, others visitors haven’t had this happen to them and they got to continue using AI until they left. Baring in mind we had nothing our first night, we didn’t actually get 7 days of AI. Also water from water fountains was the only water available during the day with glasses to carry around the hotel. I get saving the planet but the water didn’t taste very nice and wasn’t particularly cold. Overall this hotel has a lot of potential and could be a lot better. Unfortunately when we visited it wasn’t great and the way we were treated and all the niggles would not make me want to visit an Elba brand hotel again. Lots of hotel chains do it much better, especially for how much we paid to go.

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