Sol Palmanova - Mallorca

“Incredible Staff! Thank you.”

I just wanted to write a review solely to compliment the staff at this hotel. In particular Dani and Tomas within the restaurant, and Lucia, Olaf and another member (I can’t remember his name, but he had bleached hair and was amazing with the kids) within entertainment! Dani and Tomas went out of… more

I just wanted to write a review solely to compliment the staff at this hotel. In particular Dani and Tomas within the restaurant, and Lucia, Olaf and another member (I can’t remember his name, but he had bleached hair and was amazing with the kids) within entertainment! Dani and Tomas went out of their way to ease some difficult moments with our son in the restaurant. On one occasion my son accidentally smashed a plate - Tomas went out of his way to come over to the table to make sure he was ok, and brought him the croissants he was trying to get! Dani was lovely with both of our children on numerous occasions at the restaurant. The staff work incredibly hard and are true assets to the hotel.

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“Family friendly with pros and cons”

Just returned from a week's stay with my husband (no children). Very simply, I will list the pros and cons from our perspective, and hopefully this will help others considering this hotel. The hotel is in an excellent location, with a short (2 min) walk to the beach via the back exit. There are pl… more

Just returned from a week's stay with my husband (no children). Very simply, I will list the pros and cons from our perspective, and hopefully this will help others considering this hotel. The hotel is in an excellent location, with a short (2 min) walk to the beach via the back exit. There are plenty bars and restaurants in the local vicinity, and it is far enough from Magaluf that it feels distinguishable (for those who don't want to be at the party town epicentre!). Although there is plenty nearby, we had no real issues with external noise (we stayed on the 6th floor). There was the usual passing noise from neighbouring rooms and the outside corridor, but nothing significant to comment on. The staff were EXCELLENT: check in, catering, cleaning, bar staff - everyone was helpful and friendly. Particular credit to the entertainment team who facilitated activities throughout the day and I think also the kids club and mini disco at night, and who went the extra mile to get to know guests (just wandering around and having chats with people as they sunbathed). Activities during the day included pool spin, mat running (for want of a better phrase - running across a mat the length of the pool while the ents team tried to throw you off - very fun!), water aerobics, water polo, water baskets, sangria class, cornhole... the list goes on. You will not be bored (though I will return to this shortly..). The food was fine, sometimes good. It's an all-inclusive hotel so they are catering on a large scale. The fresh fruits and salads were amazing; some other stuff was less to our tastes (the vegetables were hugely overcooked, some of the meats and pastas were a little underwhelming). You can eat as healthily or as unhealthily as you like. There is a snack bar available when the restaurants serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner are closed, though note that you cannot take food away from there to the pool; it must be eaten in the snack area. The all inclusive drinks service works well: you begin with a token per person upon arrival, and you continually swap this in and out with your cup whenever you want/ are finished with a drink. Because of this, I have never seen a pool area so clear and void of empties, so it's a great plan. There are also no restrictions on the amount of drinks you can have during the day (or at least there wasn't when we were there; I know some AI hotels have limits). There is, however, a glaring issue with this hotel and that's in terms of space and sun loungers. There is not an entry time to reserve sun loungers, so I am not kidding when I say that the majority that have been pre-laid out are already taken by 6:30am, and all umbrellas are gone. There are plenty others available, but there's not a lot of space for them. Most frustratingly, though, is that nothing happens to those beds that are reserved with towels ALL DAY with people never appearing. Again, I am not kidding when I say that one day was spent next to 4 loungers with 2 umbrellas that were reserved all day and the people did not show. The hotel really needs to do something about this as others were walking around looking for somewhere to sit. it's completely ridiculous. Bear in mind, too, that the high season has not even started yet, so I dread to think what this situation will be like in July/ August. Towards the end of the holiday I started to feel very stressed about having to get down to the pool in the morning to reserve a lounger: unlike others, I went down at 7am and actually stayed there. This was the most peaceful part of the whole day. Good luck to those arriving in the next few weeks with the heat wave and no shade.. Returning to my point about not being bored - this is 100% a family friendly hotel. It is fun, loud and very child-centred. I was drawn in by the location, the pool, and to be honest, the all-inclusive offering. There were others there without children but the majority was families, and to be fair, the hotel promotes itself as being very family friendly. I have given this review 3 stars due to the sun lounger issue as this really impacted my ability to relax and look forward to the next day. As a childless couple, I would recommend choosing somewhere else if relaxing is a priority for you (though I appreciate this was my oversight).

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