4R Playa Park

“We had an enjoyable stay, but the hotel is not particularly inclusive of the English”

For the price went paid, I cant really complain. Positives: - no getting up at the cracking of dawn to get sunbeds, - very clean, - beds and pillows are very comfortable, - never had to wait long for a lift, - bathrooms and adequate size, - the food at dinner was nice only 1 night out of 8 i strug… more

For the price went paid, I cant really complain. Positives: - no getting up at the cracking of dawn to get sunbeds, - very clean, - beds and pillows are very comfortable, - never had to wait long for a lift, - bathrooms and adequate size, - the food at dinner was nice only 1 night out of 8 i struggled, although not a great selection for children, - the drinks were reasonably priced, - English tv channels for the children, - location to beach and town was good - but not if you have mobility issues (youre on top of a hill). Negatives: - breakfast was poor quality, cold and the dining room was overcrowded, with everyone pushing and generally being rude, - entertainment was aimed at Spanish. Even the disney show played all the disney songs in Spainish! - on arrival they tried charging us the tourist tax on our 3 children under 8, then pleaded ignorance when I highlighted this- total con, there is no way they didnt know it wasnt payable by minors, - there isnt many English in the hotel and you're generally looked down on, it felt uncomfortable at times, - pool didnt open until 11am - kids entertainment didnt start until 9.30pm.

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“Good, but watch for teen school trips…”

Location – hotel is on a hill, but this does make for some impressive sea views from some rooms. It’s about a 5 min walk downhill to Hotel Best Mediterraneo area for bus stops, supermarkets and a Bus Plana office for bus passes and excursions. Only a couple of minutes to the nearest bar, and only a… more

Location – hotel is on a hill, but this does make for some impressive sea views from some rooms. It’s about a 5 min walk downhill to Hotel Best Mediterraneo area for bus stops, supermarkets and a Bus Plana office for bus passes and excursions. Only a couple of minutes to the nearest bar, and only about 5 mins downhill to the pretty little natural beach cove (no bar sunbeds or facilities) of LLenguadets. Capellans and Platja Llarga are two larger more organised beaches which are still very close by. You can walk to Salou prom or the strip, but buses are available very close by if walking doesn’t appeal. Food – I found the buffet to be of a decent variety – breakfast had plenty of pastries, breads, cakes, cold meat & cheese, cereal, yoghurt & full English available. Occasionally, hash browns and pancakes were available. Dinner offered a variety of meat dishes (roasted, grilled or stew-style in sauce) , pasta (with optional sauce), potatoes, vegetables, salads, breads, pizza slices, a varied dessert selection, and ice cream tubs in basic flavours. There’s a kids area with nuggets, burgers, chips etc. The indoor buffet is quite large, and can get noisy especially if there are large groups. Thankfully there’s a small restaurant terrace area which overlooks the pool, unfortunately sometimes they have to close the terrace due to high winds. Special thanks to Alex, Margarita? and to the manageress in the purple shirt. Rooms – I was impressed with the refurbished rooms. The TV had channels in many European languages and include BBC1,BBC2,BBC3 and BBC4. The balconies are a good size, have good quality balcony furniture, and a pull-out airer for towels etc. Be careful in the shower – the shower cubicle floor can be slippy. Also, the hotel don’t seem to have bath mats so I repeatedly had to use a hand towel as a bath mat. Safe was 17.50 for a week plus 10E returnable deposit. The safe is “old style” and they give you a key….and the lock itself! It’s a bit of a knack to actually figure out how to shut the safe securely without the lock falling out or the door coming back open. There’s a charge to use the fridge, which is locked on arrival. I had medication so use of the fridge was free, however I do think fridge use should be included as standard. Pools – the larger irregular shaped one (which has roman steps & “jacuzzi” at certain times) is monitored by the lifeguard, the small rectangular one (ladders only) at the back isn’t, unless he’s doing a random walk-by. Plenty of loungers & parasols (all good quality), I never struggled to find a lounger free in early June. Currently the rear pool (and any north facing rooms) experience some visual/noise disturbance as a nearby building is having it’s façade refurbished, but it didn’t seem too constant. Entertainment – there is daily evening entertainment, a mix of singers, acrobats, dancing displays. In early June the weather was good but for some reason the entertainment still took place inside, despite the existence of an outdoor stage. This meant you either had to sit inside, or have a slightly restricted view of the entertainment from the terrace. Bar prices didn’t seem too bad. There’s a “happy” 45 mins around teatime. Now here come the criticisms. This hotel hosts HUGE groups of kids & teens, some on school trips, others on sporting trips. They seem to have little adult supervision (if any) and this leads to problems. The younger kids on the sporting trips were jumping into the pool repeatedly, causing a danger to other pool users, and one was using a megaphone(!) whilst on the small football pitch, disturbing the peace. The teens (easily over 100 of them) were shouting from their balconies at times, and on arrival completely blocked the hotel entrance with their sheer number, and their cases – their supervisors made no attempt to get them to stand to one side on the pavement to allow other guests to enter the hotel. That same group also dined all together at the same time each night, creating a large amount of noise in the buffet, blocking the buffet entrance, and of course arriving at the buffet all in one go meant all the food disappeared in one go. I was forced into eating earlier in the evening to ensure I could pick from a variety of food, and to get some peace whilst I ate. The restaurant staff do their best, but it’s a difficult situation. Thankfully none of these groups were in rooms anywhere near mine, so my sleep was not disturbed. I suspect my review would have been more critical if that had been the case. If the hotel must accept these groups, they need to work with the organisers and ensure the kids are suitably supervised at all times to prevent excessive noise or disruption to other guests. Spanish staff of the hotel were lovely (including Mayte on reception) but the Russian staff members (particularly on reception) need to smile more– they may not realise it, but they come across as unwelcoming and this is presumably not the impression the hotel management would want them to provide. The hotel does not offer a “take away breakfast box” for those leaving early, but if you ask at reception, they will open the buffet restaurant early and provide cold breakfast options. I believe you can swap dinner for lunch if you ask at reception the day before. Salou itself is quite large – it has a long promenade with bars and restaurants (and lots of fountains which come alive with music and colour at night), there is also a lively “strip” a couple of roads inland. There’s also a coastal path round to the lighthouse – some sections are paved & stepped, others are only for the very confident. Easy day trips include Cambrils, Port Aventura theme park, Tarragona, Reus. The local T10 bus pass is excellent value – pick one up at any Bus Plana shop (you’ll see plenty of them) with the initial card costing about 11E and includes 10 journeys of any distance. Top-ups at any BP shop for another 10 journeys are about 8E. Buses were pretty reliable and run till quite late. In short – this hotel offers a good base for exploring the surrounding area – but they do need to manage the large groups better.

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“Clean with a good breakfast”

Positives - Nice and clean, room cleaned everyday with fresh towels. Staff friendly. Breakfast nice and varied. Nice bar area and lounge area to relax before heading home with luggage storage and somewhere to have a shower. Get a sea view it’s worth it. Negatives - air conditioning not sufficient a… more

Positives - Nice and clean, room cleaned everyday with fresh towels. Staff friendly. Breakfast nice and varied. Nice bar area and lounge area to relax before heading home with luggage storage and somewhere to have a shower. Get a sea view it’s worth it. Negatives - air conditioning not sufficient and noisy. Safe lock broke so not used. Busy at breakfast and it was like a free for all. If you like sun round the pool all day long it’s not for you, only a hand full of beds get the sun from 1030 have to wait until around 1300 to 1330 for the other beds to get the sun due to height of building/position of the sun.

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