AluaSun Flamingo

What a lovely surprise they realised it was my birthday and sent a lovely message and cake to my room. Blown away that even with all the guest here that I mattered on this day what a lovely gift. I can’t fault the hotel it’s clean the staff are very friendly, room was lovely and it’s in the centre of everything. Breakfast is very well presented with choices for all tastes. Great value for money and nice and quiet so slept well which mattered most as we needed the rest.

Pros:

• Breakfast was nice. Good selection and the food itself was nice. Only came here B&B so never sampled evening food for half board guests. Pool side bar food was OK as well, no real complaints here.
• Hotel overall clean and tidy enough. Staff helpful and friendly. Room was cleaned daily.
• Good location, close to shopping areas and only a 10-15 min walk to beach.
• Vending machine in lobby with all essentials in case you forget anything. This was quite handy for us.
• Pool entertainment. During our stay they had a short saxophone set from a young man. This was really good and a pleasant unexpected surprise. They should pay him for longer sets as everyone else appeared to really enjoy it too and was gutted when it ended.

Cons:

• Sun bed situation is ridiculous. The pool area is far too small for the size of the hotel. People queuing up by the doors at 9am waiting for the pool area to open at 0930. Even witnessed someone fall over running to get the best bed! Beds with towels on them all day that never seemed to be touched! Far too stressful that most days we went to the beach instead to avoid the carnage of ridiculous people!
• Breakfast area by cooked food. I said on day one that it was a hazard because to get to the back dishes, you have to reach under the heaters to get to the spoons (that are also too hot to hold) On day 2, my friend actually burnt her hand on these exact heaters and has a large burn to her thumb!
• Only hotel that iv never been able to get a late checkout. Can't ask until the morning of your departure so that was a pain for us not leaving until later on in the day with nowhere to change/get ready or anything.
• Very noisy! We were at the end of the corridor right next to the emergency exit that housekeeping staff used to get to their cupboard. The door unfortunately for us was very creaky and very heavy so from the crack of dawn we were woken to constant creaking and slamming of the door. In addition to issues with noise, our air-conditioning unit was stupidly noisy. It rattled, clanged all night which again interrupted our nights sleep but it was either that or wake up sweating! We considered complaining about it but knew that there was no other large room to move to after hearing the last room be given to another customer who wanted to change.
• The lifts seem to take forever when you press button to call them.

I recently stayed at Hotel Costa Málaga and unfortunately had a mixed experience.

For a 4-star hotel that was quite expensive, I expected a much higher standard. Unfortunately, the experience did not reflect either the star rating or the price we paid.

When we first arrived, the room was very basic and looked nothing like the photos advertised on the website. The images are quite misleading compared to what you actually receive when booking a standard room. The mini fridge wasn’t working and there wasn’t even any complimentary water in the fridge on arrival. The balcony was tiny, and the bed was missing a leg, making it unstable and very uncomfortable to sleep on. The room was also very noisy.

A maintenance worker came to look at the room, removed the mini fridge and looked under the bed, saying he would be back. After waiting an entire day with no update or repair, we had to go to reception ourselves to ask what was happening. We were then moved to what was described as a “better” room. In reality, the room was almost identical to the first one. The bed was in better condition, but the plugs beside the bed didn’t work, which was another inconvenience.

The biggest disappointment was the pool area. It was almost impossible to get a sun lounger because guests were reserving them early in the morning and leaving them unattended for long periods. The hotel staff did nothing to enforce any rules or stop this behaviour, meaning we were forced to go to the beach every day and pay to hire sun loungers there instead.

On a positive note, the rooms were clean, and the breakfast offered a good variety of food with plenty of choice to suit most tastes. The staff were also helpful and did their best.

Overall, while the cleanliness of the hotel and the breakfast were positives, the misleading room photos, poor maintenance, lack of follow-up from staff, and the unmanaged sun lounger situation, For the price and 4-star rating, I expected far better. I don’t feel the hotel offered good value for money, these all significantly impacted our holiday Unfortunately, I wouldn’t choose to stay here again unless these issues were addressed and would advise booking elsewhere.