Valeria Madina Resort

Just got back from Valeria Medina and, overall, we had a really good holiday. The hotel itself is lovely, the pools are great, the food is decent and the staff are genuinely lovely. But there are definitely a few things I wish I’d known before going!

The animation situation needs explaining!

There are actually TWO animation teams – the Moroccan animation team and Club Marmara. Club Marmara is basically the French version of TUI, and their guests have different wristbands.

A few reviews complain that the Club Marmara team are “racist” because they don't speak to everyone. From what I saw, this really isn't the case. They are there to look after their own Club Marmara guests, while the Moroccan animation team is for everyone else and do speak English.

Sometimes Club Marmara put on evening entertainment for everyone, but this could get a little awkward when it's basically a room full of French people being entertained in French and you're sitting there thinking, “Well… this is lovely, no idea what's happening, but lovely.” 😂

Entertainment – don't get too excited!

This was probably the biggest disappointment for us.

Moroccan Night on Monday was genuinely good and the pool party was great.

There was karaoke, except it was basically children singing, followed by a talent show and then more children. If you're an adult looking for evening entertainment, there wasn't really much happening.

We ended up thinking, “Is this it?” 😂

Pools & water park

The pools are lovely and we really enjoyed them. The water park was good fun too, although they desperately need more inflatables. There were so few that I actually witnessed two grown men fighting over them. Nothing says relaxing family holiday quite like an inflatable-related turf war.

The queue management wasn't brilliant either. The guards weren't exactly running an Olympic-level queue system – they mostly just told everyone to get out of the pool!

Food

The actual food was good and we really enjoyed it. The panini bar was one of our favourites and the omelette station was a great touch.

The main restaurant, however, could be absolute carnage. Trying to find a glass, knife or fork sometimes felt like a treasure hunt. For the amount you're paying for the holiday, you really shouldn't have to embark on an expedition just to locate cutlery.

Top tip: get your drinks from the bar BEFORE going into the restaurant and take them with you. Saves a lot of faffing around.

Also, please put lids on the syrup!

There were regularly wasps inside the grenadine syrup because the containers were left open. I personally don't fancy a side of wasp with my holiday Sprite. 🐝😂 We actually saw staff hitting the syrup glasses/containers to get the wasps out, which was… interesting. Definitely something I think needs addressing.

Rooms

Our Riad was really nice – we were in the 600s – and the air conditioning worked perfectly.

We did have a shower flood one evening. After about five phone calls to reception it was eventually fixed a couple of hours later. So not ideal, but at least it was sorted.

The staff ❤️

The staff were absolutely lovely and this was one of the biggest positives for us. Everyone was friendly and helpful.

A special mention has to go to the nurse, who was fantastic with my son. He was incredibly caring, reassuring and looked after him really well. We were genuinely grateful for how kind he was.

One thing to be aware of with the reviews…

I personally witnessed the Moroccan animation team going around the main pool, particularly the front rows of sunbeds, asking people to leave 5-star reviews and specifically mention them by name.

This happened to the person right next to me. One of the team then approached me, but when they realised I didn't have my phone with me, suddenly I wasn't quite as interesting and they moved on to the next person! 😂

Obviously, I'm only commenting on what I personally witnessed, but it's worth knowing when reading reviews that are heavily focused on particular animation staff.

Trips

We did the souks, quad biking and a horse-and-carriage ride around the town, and all were really good fun.

I'd definitely shop around for prices though. We found the hotel operator was considerably more expensive for the quad biking, so look at local operators before booking anything through the hotel.

Overall

We genuinely had a good holiday. The hotel is lovely, the pools are great, the food is good and the staff are brilliant.

But it's definitely not perfect. The entertainment needs a serious upgrade, the restaurant can descend into complete chaos when everyone wants a knife and fork at the same time, and the wasps having an all-inclusive holiday of their own in the grenadine syrup probably isn't something that needs to be advertised as a hotel facility.

Would we go back? Possibly! We had a great time despite the little frustrations.

Just manage your expectations: you're not getting the West End every night, finding a glass in the restaurant may require the investigative skills of Sherlock Holmes, and if you want an inflatable at the water park, good luck, soldier.😂

Oh, and remember the three golden rules of Valeria Medina:

Get your drink before you enter the restaurant. Keep an eye on the grenadine. And NEVER, EVER get between two grown men fighting over the last inflatable.😂

All things considered, we'd still recommend it — just go prepared for a holiday that occasionally feels like Benidorm meets the Hunger Games… but with better weather. 😂

Houda has been amazing at looking after my daughter. She made her feel really comfortable and she has enjoyed all the children’s activities. This allowed me time to relax and enjoy my holiday as I knew she was being well taken care of. Houda also throws herself into the evening activities and makes the whole day fun.