Villa del Mar Hotel

“Nice hotel in a good location”

We stayed at Villa del Mar recently. The hotel is in a good location, across the road from the beach near the old town. The breakfast was lovely with lots of variety. There are no balconies, which I knew before we left but I realised how useful they are when you don't have one. The pool area gets q… more

We stayed at Villa del Mar recently. The hotel is in a good location, across the road from the beach near the old town. The breakfast was lovely with lots of variety. There are no balconies, which I knew before we left but I realised how useful they are when you don't have one. The pool area gets quite crowded and all the sunbeds are taken quite early on, although most people come and go and sunbeds do become available throughout the day. We sunbathed in the children's play area underneath the pool as this was very quiet and more relaxed. I dried my swimming costume and towel in this area too as there is nowhere to hang your wet things apart from the bathroom. Overall a nice hotel in a good location with a few minor setbacks.

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“Sadly Disappointed”

We booked Benidorm as friends love it! We chose this hotel due to the location on the sea front and the All Inclusive option. When we arrived, we were greeted by Angelika on Reception, who was lovely. We had booked a premium jacuzzi sea view room and stayed in 308. It had a lovely view and the bed… more

We booked Benidorm as friends love it! We chose this hotel due to the location on the sea front and the All Inclusive option. When we arrived, we were greeted by Angelika on Reception, who was lovely. We had booked a premium jacuzzi sea view room and stayed in 308. It had a lovely view and the bed was comfy and linen clean. However, it is definitely due a refurb. Everything is a little shabby at the edges and our toilet seat was well worn, with the white scratched off in places. It just wasn't what we expected for the top priced rooms! The jacuzzi bath was lovely, but don't turn the jets on, as the stench was awful. Obviously stagnant water sitting in them. The windows are not great, as you can hear everything outside and the walls seem paper thin too, so sleep wasn't great and we often took an afternoon nap! The air con was really good though! The cocktails at the bars are all out of pre mixed cartons and not great quality either, but thankfully they had premium spirits. There are also fresh water dispensers on each floor, which was great! The swimming pool is extremely small, but looks a lot bigger in the pictures! The 2 lifts just aren't adequate. They are small and you wait for one and it's already full when it gets to you, so you end up walking the stairs! The one restaurant was quite small and they have a separate area for premium guests, which was a nice touch, although we were told off one day by a female staff member for sitting at apparently the wrong table!? The only member of staff in the restaurant who had a smile and sometimes banter and was super helpful was Ety!! He was fantastic!! Sadly, I cannot say the same for the others! They look like they don't want to be there, or huff and puff if you ask politely for anything! I was quite taken aback as I have never experienced this in any of the 10 other Spanish resorts I have been to! Do they just dislike the English there? The labels above the food are often wrong or missing altogether, so it's a bit of a 'lucky dip' of what you're eating! The food was quite disappointing, apart from the salad and the fresh bread was amazing! It all just seemed set out all wrong though. The bread was one side of the room, the butter was the other side!? It all just didn't flow well. All of the food gave us terrible trapped wind and bloating too! After a few days, we started eating out, which was much better and no side effects, so no idea what caused our tummy problems!? On our last day, I asked for a coffee at the bar, as I am lactose intolerant and couldn't use the machine, as nobody had come round like previous days and I was rudely told to go and get the milk myself at the cereal station, then after the lady made the coffee whilst huffing and puffing, she asked if I wanted white or brown sugar and then rudely pointed at it and said 'get it', even though it was closer to her! That just summed the week up sadly and I couldn't wait to leave! Also, nobody told us that because we were premium, we could have booked other restaurants in the hotel chain and I only found out by accident on the last day when talking to another guest! We would never go back to this hotel or chain again sadly. I have previously worked in hospitality and the way we were treated by most of the staff wasn't good at all. You put a smile on even if you're not feeling it! It's just unprofessional! We're really easy going people and we don't often complain about things, but this 'holiday' just seemed like a waste of money, especially paying for premium too!

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