Stephen Gallacher
We were a bit disappointed with our stay. Our room was located near the hotel’s storage area and the sports courts, so there wasn’t much of a view and we had to keep the door and curtains closed due to the constant noise of bouncing balls.
There was no hot water during our stay, and the room had a serious pest issue — ants, flies, and even cockroaches. The sofa bed for our daughter was broken and uncomfortable, making it hard to sleep or to relax as a family during the day.
Cleaning was inconsistent. Dirty sheets weren’t changed, towels weren’t replaced, and we had to repeatedly ask for fresh ones — not ideal when travelling with a baby and a young child.
On the plus side, the staff were lovely — especially the waiting staff, who were always very friendly and helpful. Our 10 month old was quite enamoured with some of the team!
The location is okay, with the beach and town centre within walking distance, 20-30 mins, and taxis costing under €5. If you are walking with children and / or a pram, it’s a little far though especially if it’s a hotter day.
Overall, the room conditions made the stay a bit stressful and uncomfortable and I wouldn’t return to Arena Beach. If we return to the island I’d stay closer to the beach and town centre.
Sam Parker
Spent 10nights at arena beach and that was probably enough.
The hotel its self was very practical as we found the kitchenette very useful during our stay. Room was enough space for 2 people with a good view balcony. Really comfortable beds.
Pool was a good size but did get overun as busyier periods. Despite typical "sunbed wars" we still managed to get one around lunch time.
All staff really friendly from some of the waiters, reception and entertainment.
The thing that really kills the stars on this review is food and beverages. I feel the chef hates food with a passion. Bland, cold and un-traditional dishes such a curried spaghetti on a "International themed menu".
A major note is we found not all dishes where accurately allergy displayed!
(i could go on...).
Other than this cocktails from a vending machine fail to impress me.
Also worth noting we was without hot water for the majority of our visit
In the local area (10mins) is a small shopping area with weekly handcraft markets, Sports bar and other restaurants. Otherwise the main shopping street for everything is 20>30min.
Be sure to check out the hoppyscooters to get around + the subscription!
Ian Maher
Great family hotel. The staff where amazing really friendly. The rooms where large and clean.20 minute walk to the main strip.
A Field
Best way to describe this hotel is you get what you pay for. It has some good point but some could be better. Check in was a bit slow but there was a large group in front of us. Staff apologise for the wait. The rooms could be fixed up a little and tidied a bit better. Hair on the walls in the bathroom. Few cobwebs and spiders. The food was very nice and always plenty of it. The pools are salt water but always plenty of sun beds. (Time of the year maybe?) Overall holiday was ok. No real problems.
Karen Williams
BEWARE OF BURGLARS!!
We recently spent a week at this hotel and on the second night of our holiday our ground floor apartment was broken into, with the burglar climbing in through the bedroom window whilst we were at dinner - we were only out of our room for 1 hour. Thankfully we had a safe, but the burglar went through all our belongings, stealing €28.40, some perfume and a pair of sunglasses. The response of the hotel to this incident was disappointing - whilst we received an apology from the receptionist to whom we initially reported it, we heard nothing from the hotel manager, to whom the receptionist told us she would report the incident. In addition, when maintenance checked the window and discovered that the lock was not working properly, they screwed the window shut so it could not be opened. We were told this would be a temporary solution and the window would be fixed the next day, but no one came to fix the window for the duration of the holiday. This meant that we spent 6 nights with a bedroom window out of which we could not escape, had we needed to in a fire or other emergency, which from a health and safety perspective was unacceptable.
On checking out of the hotel we expressed our disappointment to the reception staff that the window had not been looked at further, nor had the hotel manager spoken with us about the incident. We were disappointed to be greeted with a response of 'thank you for your communication' and nothing further. We are very disappointed that neither this incident, nor the distress it caused, appeared to be taken seriously by the hotel. During our stay we were made aware of two other incidents that occurred whilst we were there, therefore, what happened to us was not an isolated incident. If you choose to stay at this hotel please check the security of the windows and be on your guard - especially if on the ground floor.
In the interest of fairness, the hotel itself was nice; the bed was very comfortable, the facilities and most of the staff were good, especially the lady who serves drinks in the balcony/lobby bar - she always had a smiling, happy face. The food was also of a good standard for a 3 star hotel. We will definitely NOT be returning though!
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