Overall, this is a lovely hotel with great staff and a fantastic location, but it’s let down by the food and a few odd choices that don’t quite make sense.
The staff were genuinely excellent; friendly, welcoming, and really great with kids. When our son was unwell for a few days, they couldn’t have been kinder. At one point I was asked to pop by reception, it turned out they just wanted to check in and see how he was doing. The animation team were brilliant, the mini disco was a huge hit for our son - this was simply down to the engagement he received from the staff.
The evening entertainment was really good for an all-inclusive hotel. But it was a bit of a struggle to get seats sometimes, as the area gets busy quickly.
The location is superb. We enjoyed popping across the road to the beach. Also a nice place to grab a drink from one of the many bars and just soak up the sea view. There is a nice area just a 5-10min walk away where you can stroll along a promenade lined by some shops, bars and restaurants. Shout out to Nautilus which served great food. Also there is a pool bar on route called Maribel - this contains a kids soft play area which our kid loved.
Back to the Hotel - the food, unfortunately, was the biggest letdown. Presentation was lacking, with many meat dishes served in sauce without much visual appeal. Labelling was inconsistent or completely missing, which made it difficult to identify what was being served. There was a pizza and pasta station, but the options were limited.
Some evenings we struggled to find something appealing and actually ended up eating out three times during the week (which we hadn’t planned to do).
The themed nights were a nice idea in theory, but they felt a little underwhelming. A broader range of themed dishes would have helped, as would some promotional signage outside the restaurant to let guests know what to expect on each night. It just felt a bit pot luck - have to say that the Mexican night was good - probably the best food we had during our stay at the hotel.
In general, the chef station was a bit one-note, with the Chef generally cooking a single meat option.
The paella was a disappointment, different variations were available most nights, but the rice was generally congealed and clumped together. I witnessed a few people giving up on the idea after picking up the serving spoon and then struggling to get any rice to land on their plate.
Drinks at the bar were generally good, nice beer, alcohol free beer in bottles, a nice selection of cocktails, decent soft drinks but It was disappointing to see that there were no iced coffees available. The closest option was a frappe, which you had to pay for. The frappes were nice but they took time to prepare, which put pressure on the bar staff and held up other drink orders. I’d suggest the hotel considers offering a basic iced coffee, it’s a nice thing to enjoy especially after breakfast on a hot morning
The food at the snack bar was ok but repetitive—pizza, burgers, and hot dogs most days. A toastie would have been a nice addition, but oddly they were only available at breakfast, not in the afternoon.
They also served some basic cakes and fruit and there was a self-serve Mr Whippy-style machine, which is a nice touch. Great for kids as they could help themselves to a waffle cone or tub and decorate the ice cream with sprinkles and sauces. The only downside is that the ice cream itself was very bland—more like a sorbet in texture, and virtually no flavour.
The opening hours of the snack bar were a bit odd. With the exception of being open from 4pm - 6pm, the snack bar aligned to restaurant hours and closed during set periods throughout the day (when the restaurant was also shut). In other resorts I have been used to the snack bar open throughout the day so you can opt to grab a snack whether the restaurant is open or not.
The gym was a bit of a squeeze—only one person can use it at a time, so you have to book and then grab the key from reception. It’s a small space with a treadmill, cross trainer, spin bikes, and a few dumbbells (which only go up to 10kg), also there are no exercise mats. There’s a shower which is handy.
The safe in the room was a cost of €38 for the week(not a deposit), which felt excessive, especially considering it was just a basic safe tucked inside a wardrobe. I know charging for a safe is standard at some hotels, but it still feels a bit over the top to charge so much. It’s not like it generates any overhead whether you use it or not - you are essentially paying to use the key for a week. The hotel has already invested in the furnishings, fittings, tv etc for the room. Part of what you already pay for the room is to cover these costs - so why charge for the safe?
Sunbeds around the main pool were hard to come by, also they are not particularly comfortable due to a gap between the head rest and the main body of the bed - our son kept falling through this gap which wasn’t ideal. Just something to be aware of.
In all - we had a lovely holiday. It’s a really nice hotel and super clean. Probably being overly picky with some of the comments but figure some of the detail may be useful for others.
We had stayed at Cala en’Bosch in June at a fabulous hotel so our expectations had may have been heightened a bit too much by that experience.