Bull Dorado Beach and Spa

Having recently returned from this hotel, I can honestly say it was one of the most disappointing holidays my family has experienced.

To begin with, we booked and paid extra for the All Inclusive Plus package, yet once we arrived it appeared not to exist. No member of staff could explain what it included or acknowledge that we’d booked it. After speaking to several other British guests, we discovered they had experienced exactly the same issue. It felt very misleading.

The hotel itself is clean enough and the pool was warm, which the children enjoyed. The indoor soft play area was also useful during the hottest part of the day. Unfortunately, that’s where the positives ended for us.

The food was genuinely some of the poorest I’ve experienced at an all-inclusive hotel. I travel to all-inclusive resorts regularly, so I don’t expect Michelin-star quality, but this was on another level. Much of it was either repetitive, cold or simply inedible. My children barely ate during the week, and we ended up paying to eat out several evenings despite having already paid for an all-inclusive holiday. Almost every British family we spoke to made similar comments.

The atmosphere was also disappointing. Although a handful of staff were friendly, most came across as dismissive and uninterested whenever we needed help. The hotel is clearly aimed at Spanish guests, which isn’t an issue in itself, but we were often made to feel like second-class customers. We spoke to several other British families who felt exactly the same, with one family even leaving three days early because they were so unhappy.

One particularly concerning incident involved a group of men openly taking drugs (they were clearly Spanish) in the hotel toilets. We reported this to both reception and hotel staff, but no action appeared to be taken. As parents travelling with young children, this was incredibly worrying.

We also had our hired pool towels stolen. When we reported it, nobody was interested in helping and we were left out of pocket having to pay for replacements.

Another major frustration was the sunbed situation. By around 7:00am almost every sunbed had already been reserved with towels, despite many remaining empty until late morning. Despite several complaints, the hotel did nothing to manage the situation.

Our final disappointment came on the last evening when England were playing Norway in the FIFA World Cup . Earlier in the day we were told the match would be shown, but when kick-off arrived the hotel refused to put it on and instead suggested we leave if we wanted to watch it. This wouldn’t normally be worth mentioning, except the hotel had happily shown every other football match throughout the tournament and had even rearranged entertainment when Spain were playing. The inconsistency spoke volumes. We eventually watched the match in a nearby Norwegian bar, where both we and the Norwegian supporters received a genuinely warm welcome.

Overall, the hotel itself has potential, but the poor food, lack of customer service, misleading All Inclusive Plus package and the general feeling of being unwelcome meant this was not an enjoyable holiday.

Sadly, I wouldn’t return and couldn’t recommend this hotel to other British families based on our experience.

We loved this hotel, beautiful location and very clean. The staff all worked so hard, from the pool attendants to reception to restaurant and bar and could not fault the effort made every day Having access to the gym and spa for the whole family was excellent Food was great and we had a couple of options within the hotel If I could make one recommendation it would be to have more activities on during the day and more music / variety around the pool