This is a very large hotel and due to the number of guests, the buffet type offering is very chaotic and frantic.

Loads of choice at breakfast and would recommend the delicious freshly squeezed orange juice.

As we had had an early flight we indulged in the Aberdeen Angus burger which was delicious.

We had a large ceiling fan and air conditioning, didn`t really use the coffee machine..The breakfast buffet had a lot of choices

Food choice good, breakfast and dinner, great having a choice of dining room for breakfast, one lovely and quiet.

Breakfast had so much choice, everything clean again wonderfully presented.

We used the downstairs over-flow restaurant and enjoyed eating outdoors which is really recommended as breakfast can be busy.

We had breakfast every day outside on the terrace - sometimes serenaded by a clarinet player.

Breakfasts are very good , lots of choice and well organised.

Reception area is beautiful and very modern 
Didn't find much in the way of entertainment in the evening apart from a singer in reception one night 

We were Bed & Breakfast and the breakfast was buffet style and lots of choice something for everyone lovely.

There are bottles of water provided each day and there was  beer, coke and apples in room on arrival.

Breakfast is great with an array of items to choose from.

Breakfast also offers a wide selection and I especially enjoyed omelettes cooked to order.

The 360 bar was very inviting and the seating was plentiful & comfortable.

Quite sad, as many of the guests made an effort to dress more formally.

Be warned, though, that guests will be queuing for those loungers before 9:30 and if you’re not quick, you won’t get one, at least not one with some shade.

There is parking below the hotel for £14 a day reduced for guests if you are hiring a car.

Unfortunately you cannot help selfish and ignorant guests.

Those guests who didn't have a sea view or were in the shade would have been at a big disadvantage.

I did find a lot of the guests quite rude and a lot of them squabbled over the beds (not with us) which was quite entertaining to watch whilst sat on the side of the pool!

However their are major issues with the swimming pool area of the Hotel

There are not enough Beds for Hotel Guests.

The guests had an absolute blast and if I could do it all again tomorrow I would.

However a couple of issues people should be aware of, it’s a very big hotel the pool is not big enough for the amount of guests it was a rush every morning to get to the pool and grab a sun bed with parasol the pool doesn’t open till 9:30am.

If the service was as good as the food you would have hit the Jackpot 
You have to leave deposits for puttying anything on your bill to the room, i left £200 for drinks which was quickly swallowed  up with the Very Expensive costs and when it was depleted i felt very awkward and made to feel uncomfortable in front of many other Guest that you have no more money on your account.

The hotel is very busy with guests checking in & out all the time.

Although we did not get an upgraded room with our premier membership as other guests have reported, we did get the advertised discount of 5%.

We will no longer stay here or recommend this hotel to any of our clients in the future which is a sad shame as we have booked friends/family & clients to stay.

I imagine that it’d be nice to know how much the measures will affect your stay here so id like to point some things out for future guests so they can make a more informed decision on booking this hotel (or any in Spain) during COVID.

Only suggestion to make would be some entertainment during the week would be nice, particularly in winter when many guests do not want to venture out.

but offers hotel guests a discount and has access to the hotel lobby from the car park.

I spoke to other 2 other guests that had been upgraded for no charge?

Cleanliness is a 10/10

My only negative to this holiday was we hired a car from the airport to find out that we had to pay €14 a day just to pay our hotel in the hotel car park which took a little shine off the holiday as there was no where else to park and with being guests you would think this would come free. But otherwise Calpe you was a pleasure :)

They used to serve coffee in the morning now it comes from a machine with the Queue that involves.

Eggs had to queue as only 1 person doing omelette  abd eggs.pool area disappointing very small lack of space for size of hote

We had to throw the pizza away as that was cold and again long queues at the pasta bar whilst waiting for pasta to be cooked.

The only thing small point that I would pick up on is in the day the pool bar is very disorganised, staff don’t know if they are serving, or collecting glasses and you can be waiting ages.

but sometimes a bit of a queue if you want eggs / omelettes etc.

Check in is the slowest check in i have ever experienced with many people not queuing and simply pushing in with the hotel staff saying nothing, again leaving me feel uncomfortable.

Sometime there was a short queue to be served at one of the many serving stations.

Small things like at reception whilst standing queuing (and visible) on a couple of occasions the receptionists decided to answer the phone first

Asked for some new lettuce, 10min of waiting man came back said they have none left.

Huge queue at checkin , no welcome drink.I chose a sea view room as I know cyclists book the back cheaper rooms.Surprise, cyclists next door, continually pumping and letting air out on balcony and door in room noisy because of comunial door to access room from my side.

You are likely to queue for ages and then find there are no teapots and a very limited choice of tea.

The staff at the pool bar are extremely rude and most days leave you sitting waiting for at least 40 minutes before they serve you, then clearly make it seem like you are bothering them.

The only criticism we had was that the pool area is not big enough for the hotel so people were having to queue up for it opening to try and get beds the one day that we got beds there wasnt a sunshade to go with it which was no good for us.

New years eve was chaotic as it was very busy and tables weren't being cleared quickly so there was a big queue to get in.

For such a large hotel, the lifts are too small and there's not enough of them, so we invariably ended up constantly waiting for a lift.

but may as well have stayed there on the Gold Coast
Calpe & the SolyMar Hotel full of tourists, hotel
has a queue every morning for breakfast 
Service in public areas, like bar and cafes mediorce 
Would never come back in high season, other than beach, it’s boring, nothing to do

althought when the restaurant opened at 7.30pm,there was a long queue mostly from elderly people.

but sunbeds limited, many guests had to sit like vultures waiting for movement to get one.

Gran Hotel Sol y Mar

guest

queue

Paid private parking on-site

Free internet

Pool

Great outside facilities, good breakfast with plenty of choice and spacious very clean rooms.

Main restaurants offered excellent food choices and amazing breakfast buffet.

From the friendly, professional & helpful staff to the amazing breakfast buffet, the many swimming pools and immaculate public and private spaces, the Villa Gadea is a gem.

The food was good, the breakfast was excellent.

The breakfast very good and the garden is fantastic.

The breakfast was great as well, good taken care off full buffet, and never run out of things.

For me, the breakfast was good with a large variety of dishes and choice of hot or cold, or even both.

The buffet breakfast and supper offered a sumptuous array of delicious food.

We opted for the Full Board option, which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner (drinks not included).

The food in the buffet restaurant is excellent, so much choice and delicious too.

Outstanding breakfasts and exemplary staff.

We had breakfast included in our room rate which was plentiful

Breakfast is an easy stroll around the big buffet that includes it all….and is very tasty!

Breakfast was good with plenty of healthy choices.

The dinner buffet is just onderful, offering a great range of choices, with freshly cooked steaks, fish, pasta and cold meats.

Clean rooms, good service and friendly staff, excellent breakfast!

The only niggle during the 16 days we were at the Gadea was the poor wifi signal, which tripped out on several occasions.

but t v only news channel in English which is very poor as most places now have at least 2 British channels.

The hotel's response was extremely poor and disappointing.

Only one English tv channel, tea/coffee facilities poor - minor

For a 5 star hotel, the food is poor quality.

However, the choice of hot dishes for the evening meal was pretty poor, for a country with such rich cuisine as Spain, often pasta and sauce was the most appetising food on display!

Some of the hotel staff are extremely rude and uninterested, we found the bar service slow, no evening entertainment apart from Friday/Saturday which didn't start until 10.30pm and was poor.

The lobby bar was totally understaffed, the poor waiters didn’t seem to know if they were coming or going.

Overall I would not rate this hotel more than 3* the service was particularly poor and the room of a low standard.

The service was lacking, the place was now converted to a cafeteria / canteen atmosphere with noise and very poor acoustic, the food was terrible, the appetiser and main course was served at the same time and

Sometimes the lobby bar only had one staff member to cope with serving drinks and food which resulted in poor service for the hotel guests.

but is overcrowded, has ropey entertainment, and poor customer service.

Breakfast very good and staff very helpful and polite .Snack food in lobby bar very poor frozen pizza and sandwiches needs to improve not good .All in all had a great stay if the above had been in place would have gave it 5 stars shame

Food was very poor in the evening buffet.

So why only 4 star review - its all down to parking and some pretty poor service regarding parking.

The rooms are starting to get older (shower/power outlets/tv/toilet in our room for example were in poor shape/nearly broken) and are silently demanding an update.

Buy the poor pool side bartender a proper blending machine (blender) for making drinks.

Lunch at the poolside restaurant was poor.

One, while there is a path to the beach it is not "on the beach" and the other was the dinner which I thought was a bit pricey for the choices available,

The hotel offers parking  if you want to pay at €11 a day a bit steep I think it should be free to guests.

but also seemed surprised that we wished to check out, and request a refund of the monies paid.

-during checkout, they try to overcharge us 50% of the agreed price.

We paid the extra requested and we thought everything was solved.

Pool bar needs a better system so slow big ques and quite expensive some of the drinks

Definitely not a 5 star hotel and not worth the money you pay.

We finally arrived at the hotel in August 2021 having unbelievably  paid up front in 2019 with the intention of going in August 2020 until Covid events overtook us .

With the food in mind I don't think I will stay again and certainly not at the full price.

Very disappointed and probably wont go back as we are spa people and i think been charged to go in to the spa when you have paid for a massage is a rip off and it was empty.

Paid extra for slight upgrade to deluxe from standard room, I dread to think what the basic room is like.

Get off phones and serve that is what I think you are paid for .

The only fault was dinner we paid one night €29 per head for the buffet .

We stayed in room 1210 which was just perfect (a tad bit expensive though

Paid £1200 for a superior room not all inclusive.

but we got confused with the prices, he replied " what do you expect for that price" indicating one of the bottle was more expensive.

This room rate did not include tea/coffee making facilities.

Two sun beds and an umbrella on the beach costs 18 Euro’s per day and there a couple of places hiring out kayaks, paddle boards, pedaloes etc.

but this service is very infrequent and you can get a taxi which costs about 8 euros so can quickly add up with regular usage.

Hotel SH Villa Gadea

price

poor

Free public parking nearby

Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)

I had booked bed and breakfast as I was looking forward to visiting local restaurants for my evening meal.

The meals, both breakfast and dinner, were satisfactory

Breakfast & evening meals had a great variety,

We was on half board which was ideal as it give us the bulk of the day to explore and return for dinner whilst stocked up post breakfast.

but the dinner buffet had plenty of choice and breakfast was similar.

We were bed & breakfast and this was ok nothing bad good choice and nicely presented.

Breakfast was excellent - lots of choice for vegetarians.

Buffet breakfast and evening meal were perfect something for everyone.

The sea by the hotel is pebbly so wear your special shoes !! Breakfast.

The dining room with buffet service was excellent and the food choice was really good and well prepared even to the cook- to-order tortilla at breakfast.

The restaurant was superb well stocked and plentiful and the quality and variety was second to none.

Excellent hotel, great beach location with easy walk into Altea seafront and old town Very clean, staff friendly, stayed B&B, breakfast buffet  was good with plenty to choose from.

Much enjoyed this friendly hotel with its lovely landscaping, cool décor, extensive buffets, big pool, big balconies and smiley staff.

Breakfast was excellent, so much choice, we were having three course meals every day!

It was very cold the week we were there so we never went near the pool

The only thing that could be better was where the bar is and the entertainment it’s cold we would have stayed longer to listen to the singer as he was very good

The hotel got very cold at night due to the amount of glass.

but that included changing time also and the jacuzzi was cold, the steam room also was not up to temperature as was the sauna.

* One consequence was that we regularly had to sit near to the restaurant door and subjected to very cold (January) draughts.

I see that visitors have been complaining for years  now that the food is cold and yet you still haven't resolved  what is a pretty big issue.

However, as another reviewer has pointed out - the situation with the cold food has made the stay much less enjoyable.

Cold food, wearing gloves and queuing is too much for what should be a restful mealtime.

The hotel was lovely staff were very helpful, food was good ,my only complaint would be that the food was not hot enough,sometimes it was just cold [they clearly are aware of this as there were microwaves set up to use!]

but dinner is terrible on Saturday night we went in for dinner at 8.30 the trays where empty when we asked if more food was coming out we got a shug eventually when the food was brought out it was cold not very impressed as this is supposed to be 4 star hotel wont be back

Cold water - was probably warmer in the sea.

Too cold water in the pool, perhaps only 14-15 *

although previous reviews have said food was cold.

We went down for dinner staff struggled to find us a table (got one eventually) the are tables so close together felt like I was in a school canteen and the food was like school dinners really bad quality cold and poor quality.

If you can improve things the usual problem in Spanish hotels with the hot buffet food being a trifle cold, difficult to improve we know.However, there are  a couple of microwaves we could use.If the price remains similar next winter we will be back again.

However, if you want to take this bus costing €1.60 pp then walk out from the hotel, turn left, over the bridge, at the 4th set of traffic lights turn right and look for the No.10 heading towards Benidorm on the front of the bus.

but you might want ear-plugs, or to keep the air con on, if you’re a light sleeper, due to traffic noise.

There is music playing, you can hear it more if you’re closer to the pool bar

Bed slid around on floor every time moved and could hear scraping sounds from upstairs (probably their bed), room bland

but the noise and how busy the dining room was put us off a little  .

although a bit noisy if you want a window open.

They did this by sitting around the guests and being very noisy unapologetically.

but I don’t understand why the same jet - still sucking in air - was in action the remainder of the holiday.

Being able to speak some limited Spanish I was shocked to hear a waitress moan to her colleague about how my party of guests had been told to wait a moment for the wine menu

The only slight problem I would say would be the entertainment on a night, it was so so loud, luckily we turned the tv up and couldn’t really hear it

Also dinner was starting at 7:30 which with a small baby (10 months) can be challenging to keep them awake, so maybe changing that to 7, would be good.

It was very noisy and drilling started early some mornings (8am!).

I stayed here for 4 nights as its in a quiet part of northern Benidorm after Id spent 4 nights in the old town, I simply couldnt fault it, I booked a Premier side seaview room as I wanted to get the late evening sun.

We were a party of 4 couples,  one couple unfortunately had a room directly over the car park, so a bit noisy due to the main road.

We stayed at hotel cap negret almost one week, leaving one day before our planned vacation cause we were sick and tired of the horrible noisy entertainment running every night from 10 to 12, sometimes 12:30am right in front of our room.

She claimed that we hadn't behaved and that all 40 people had been partying loudly until 4am last night and treated the hotel staff unkindly.

You can hear the busy main road when on balcony.

Hotel Cap Negret

quietness

cold

Free parking

Excellent stay in Hotel Diamante Beach, I enjoyed 3 nights incl breakfast, dinner and Spa treatments.

although the breakfast and dinner menus (we were half-board) were varied and plentiful, we were surprised that dinner drinks had to be paid for - no water, juices or hot drinks were available as standard.

the Wifi and breakfast have gone from excellent in the past 6 visits to this hotel , to average at best.

The food at breakfast and dinner buffets had a great choice

Dinner is lukewarm
Breakfast is good
Hotel would not supply ice to take to room 
No water with dinner
But overall a good example
Swimming pool nice

Very very clean overall, comfortable temps, friendly staff, especially the cleaning team, good entertainment round the pool and in the evening (worth noting you do need to be able to understand Spanish to follow) few minor things -lifts could operate better to reduce waiting times, algae needs cleaning from pool side rim so you don’t have to sit in it, slightly long wait at breakfast time,

The food was delicious with plenty of choice for the whole family (youngest was 6).

Good breakfast and dinner buffets with wide choice of good quality dishes.

however a good selection of salads, and the breakfast omelettes were the best omelettes I have ever eaten – so fluffy and well cooked, absolutely delicious (thank you Omelette chef x).

- Secondly, the restaurant was all buffet style which for inclusive, we expected like we have at other resorts.

The beach is within walking distance.The breakfast is simply amazing.

The buffet was okay I would say there was a lot of meat choices

Early bird catches the worm - sun beds- eggs at breakfast - prawns at dinner 
Food was very good in general - restaurant got very busy 
Chamber maids worked very hard and always cheery - you might share a lift with a bike at times

They promise a kids buffet at meal times, NO KIDS BUFFET IS PROVIDED!!

The buffet was really good, and had a great assortment of options.

Coffee and tea are only available at breakfast.

The food in the hotel was of a good standard, we were all inclusive and found the selection of food at breakfast, lunch and dinner to be very good at the weekend and a bit more limited during the week,

Food is really good, varied and plentiful.

The food in the Buffet is incredibly varied.

but very cold water, as expected in Nov. Spa being renovated so closed at the mo.

but there was no cold buffet available for late arrivals (I did contact Central Customer Services the week before, but their answer arrived after we left for the airport).

although was generally on the cold side as was the food at lunch time.

Food 
We stayed full board and honestly the food in the restaurant was not the best, the things that the kids liked fries nuggets etc were absolutely stone cold they are just out out in a basket and not kept warm we ended up eating out a lot.

but we didn't get the opportunity to use it and lovely outdoor pools which are mostly too cold to use in the Winter months.

My main complaint was the food was dried up and often cold.

It was hard to get hot food- often lukewarm or even cold.

If you go down any later than the stated opening time of 19:30 the food is cold and picked over, and there are a mixture of uninterested cooks floating about occasionally pouring hot food on top of cold - I do wonder if Jet2 have done any kind of mystery shopper here as usually they do ask for pretty high standards when it comes to food.

Breakfast is not what it was pre covid
Staff can’t be bothered 
Scolding hot water in shower followed by cold please don’t put children in the shower unattended 
They cater more now for Spaniards and cyclists 
Spa is full of adolescence teenagers 
Screaming kids late at night running down the corridor 

We have come here 3 times a year both spring and summer it’s just not the same place  time to move on

- Sometimes the food would be sat at the buffet for a while, and so goes cold with no fresh replacement if asked for or warming up.

The  hot food section at breakfast was cold one toaster for the whole restaurant that has seen better days  simply would not toast bread.

but unfortunately dinner was not good very bland and I was a bit concerned about eating cooked fish that had been left out and gone cold.

also food on other hot counter in middle of room food often cold and there is no microwave to reheat.

The kitchen staff work very hard to keep the dishes stocked and my only small niggle would be that maybe the quantity of food put out cold be a little bigger as you can spend some time working your way past the staff who are replenishing the food.

Opportunities for improvement
Very poor internet: Complex 2-stage log-on process, frequent dropouts, frequent requests to login again, very slow (when working) at 1.5 mbs ie.

Spa was closed for 5 days straight and the gym is poor.

My main point is I never felt Important and standards poor unless there was a big party or function on.

although busy no queues after that choice was less appealing, some items were not cooked through, like pork raw in middle other items like roast ham and beef seemed as if had been cooked in a steamer so texture was poor and there was no flavour.

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