Sandos Benidorm Suites

This is a great hotel. Staff friendly, rooms big and clean, only let down was air con not very good. Food was amazing and the snack bar which was superb as all cooked fresh to order so nothing has been hanging about. The pool seems a bit small for the amount of people, couldn't move for people on li lo's, people playing ball etc. The main annoying thing was seeing people put towels down at 8.45am and then not return until gone 2pm and you would see young families looking around for loungers. One of the lifeguards the older one was amazing he would find the odd loungers and carry them to people along with the heavy umbrellas. I did say to him one day the 3 loungers that had been reserved with the Minion towels had not been sat on all day and it was now 3pm. He said nothing he can do. I find this very selfish, put towel down go for brekkie and then come back , but don't leave towels for 5 hrs. Entertainment was ok. Hotel was very clean. Chlorine in pool there is a lot so did make costumes turn green so make sure to shower after being in the pool. Drinks are good and the staff are excellent at remembering what you want and always happy. One night the dining room was really busy and had proper cotton napkins etc but no idea why this was or why so busy as nothing saying anything special. We were on floor 23 and the views are amazing. We will definitely return to this hotel.

We have just returned from our stay at the Sandos Benidorm Suites and I think it’s important to provide a true reflection of the hotel based on our experience from 18th August for 7 nights.

We are a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers (age 17 & 16). We booked 2 rooms through TUI on an all inclusive basis. The reviews we trawled through beforehand assured us we had made the right choice for our week away. Unfortunately, they didn’t reflect the experience we had.

The rooms weren’t ready when we arrived around 13:00, which we expected. It wasn’t a problem. We were able to store our luggage and had upgraded to the Select Club, which included access to the lounge which provided branded drinks, nice coffee and snacks (fruit, cake, pastries, crisps and biscuits) so we hung out in their - with good air conditioning - until our rooms were ready around 14:30. We were happy enough with the rooms but they were definitely dated. They were clean enough with plenty of space and we had a fridge which had water, fizzy drinks and a bottle of cava. The beds were really comfortable and had extra pillows. We liked that the bedroom was separate from the lounge and the balcony was a great size with a lovely pool view. The bathroom was OK but we couldn’t use the rainfall part of the shower because it flooded the bathroom. This was reported and the maintenance guy came to look but said it was fine. It wasn’t so we just used the smaller shower head, which was OK. The bathroom was dated and had limescale marks and the mirror was scratched with marks all over it. The towels were not changed daily and the turndown service wasn’t as described in the reviews I’d read. The cleaning seemed haphazard and, after identifying a foul smell in our room, which seemed to come from the fridge leaking, we had to report this twice before it was cleaned properly. The smell still seemed to be there after the clean though, which was unpleasant.

The pool area was well maintained however many of the beds had broken and didn’t sit up. In order to get a space around the pool you need to be queuing by 08:15-08:30 for the doors opening around 08:40. This wasn’t an issue for us but it was a bit of a stampede and the beds were piled up rather than being laid out so it felt a bit of a free-for-all to make sure they were well spaced. The entertainment team made sure there were plenty of activities around the pool each day, and you could join in or not, whatever suited you, which I liked. The team providing the day and evening entertainment were excellent. The staff at the bar were great and good fun. Our daughter had a burger from the snack bar one day and wasn’t particularly impressed but our other daughter had nuggets and chips and enjoyed them! Everything was cooked to order, which was nice. The one thing missing from the snack bar was ice creams. They had ice-pops but they weren’t particularly nice. It would have been nice to have a choice of ice-cream / lolly. There were tubs of ice-cream but the flavours weren’t particularly nice.

When we go to an all inclusive hotel, it’s important that the food is really great. The reviews we’d read before we went away were highly praising the food offerings. To say we were disappointed with the food would be an understatement. It is the worst food at an all inclusive hotel I have experienced. The restaurant itself was dark and dingy, the decor and furniture was extremely dated and the food was not well presented at all. It felt like a school canteen, certainly not a restaurant. There was pizza and an open grill with an option of meat / fish each night along with pasta and a choice of sauce but the rest of the food was really not appetising - we love food as a family but we practically lived on pizza, chips / wedges, pasta and bread. The meat was overcooked and the fish was raw on two occasions. The staff in the restaurant weren’t particularly friendly and not very quick at replenishing the food so a lot of the time there was the remnants of whatever the dish was rather than anything fresh. I feel like the location of the restaurant with no windows or natural light mad it feel rather uninviting.

This hotel is a 3-star at best - the lower end. It was disappointing for us on the food-front and also the cleanliness. The staff weren’t particularly friendly, other than the pool-bar staff and the entertainment team. The hotel itself is pleasant in terms of decor but the rooms are in desperate need of updating and refreshing. The restaurant needs to be completely refurbished and some natural light is needed. The presentation of the food offerings needs particular attention as it felt very much like a canteen. The location is nice enough with a 12 minute walk down to the beach / bars and restaurants. The entertainment was really good and the upgrade was worth the money for the drinks and borrowed water. The snacks in the lounge were a nice tough but were sometimes left all day so we were not wanting to eat the fruit.

I must close this review by confirming we don’t expect 5* service at 3* budget but this was advertised as a 4* and a high rating on TripAdvisor. I do not think this is accurate at all. We have stayed at many hotels rated similarly / less and they have been so much better in Benidorm and elsewhere. I think had our expectations been lower we wouldn’t have felt quite as disappointed but the reviews previously left seemed really positive.

I try to be fair and considering what we paid its excellent value for money. We were supprised just how good the food was . Different Meals every day. The whole hotel is very clean . A 10 min walk to the beach . Entertainment every day and evening

Apparently its ranked No 25 in Benidorm on Trip Advisor out of nearly 200 and considering it was the cheapest all inclusive hotel we could find . That's got to be a good indication of the quality of the hotel ..