Abora Catarina by Lopesan

Just back from the catrina spent a week with my daughter to just chill out, room was very nice spaceus clean (431) overlooking restaurant, staff very welcoming on reception, had a bad couple of nights because someone set of fire alarm at 5.55am and went on for a few hours then again at 1.20pm the following night someone put the window out at 1.45am think we had a loon on out floor !!! Food was ok but very repetitive lots of pasta pizza fish not a lot of meat to choose from, pool snack bar was good hot dogs beefburgers plenty of cakes fruit and good drinks to choose from. €10 deposit for pool towels and €2 a day for the safe.

We had a wonderful holiday as a family, and our children absolutely loved it. That is why I’m giving the hotel three stars. However, there were also a number of issues that I don’t think are acceptable, even for fairly basic accommodation, and there isn’t anything about the hotel that even hints at luxury.

I’ll start with the positives, because there genuinely were some good things about our stay.

The animation team were absolutely fantastic. They were brilliant with our children throughout the day and put so much effort into everything they did. They put on a full production in the evening on five of the seven nights we were there, as well as a kids’ disco, which our children absolutely loved. They were engaging, enthusiastic and genuinely seemed to care about the children having a good time. I cannot fault them.

One thing to note if you want to tip the animation team: they don’t appear to work on Mondays, so if you’re leaving on a Monday, make sure you tip them before then.

The kids’ area and pools were also great. Our children had a fantastic time and could happily spend most of the day swimming and playing. For us, this was the biggest positive of the hotel and ultimately why we had such a good holiday.

The front-of-house staff were also great. They were friendly and helpful throughout our stay. There was one older gentleman who worked outside in the buffet area who was particularly unwelcoming, but otherwise the rest of the staff team were fine, if not particularly memorable.

Unfortunately, the positives largely end there.

The food

The food really knocked our confidence in the all-inclusive offering.

On our first day, I had a piece of chicken that was undercooked. On another occasion, I had a spring roll that was completely frozen in the middle despite being burnt to a crisp on the outside. The food that wasn’t undercooked was often overcooked and generally very dry.

There was a lot of seafood on offer, which looked lovely, but after those experiences I simply didn’t feel confident eating it. The food was also quite generic overall, rather than feeling like a particularly good all-inclusive offering.

The beer lines were another concern. Every time we poured a beer, there appeared to be white sediment coming through the line. I pointed this out to a member of staff, who said they would look into it. Unfortunately, two or three days later, it was still happening.

The rooms and housekeeping

The rooms are extremely tired.

The decorative transfers shown on the walls on the hotel’s website are worn, faded and peeling away. The bathroom door in our room was rotten and looked as though it had been in that condition for years.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t just cosmetic. The bathroom door clearly wasn’t doing its job, and water leaked out onto the bathroom floor and then into the bedroom, even when we put towels down to try to contain it.

Housekeeping was another major disappointment.

Our room wasn’t cleaned at all during the first four days of our stay. When I asked whether it could be cleaned on the fourth day, I was told that it was scheduled for the following day. I explained that we had two small children and that our son had been sick, so having the room properly cleaned that day would be particularly helpful.

Someone eventually came in, emptied the bin and made the beds, but the floors weren’t swept or cleaned.

I then had to ask reception to make sure the room was properly cleaned the following day. Even then, there were still marks on the floor and visible dust, and the standard of cleaning was really poor.

We also found a stain on the duvet which appeared to be a period stain that had been washed but not completely removed. By this point, I was so tired of having to repeatedly ask for basic things that I simply folded it up and put it away rather than asking staff to replace it.

None of these individual things would necessarily ruin a holiday. But when you add them together, it becomes difficult to understand how the hotel maintains its rating.

To be clear, we still had a wonderful holiday.

Our children had an amazing time. They loved the pools, the kids’ area and, above all, the animation team. Those are the things they will remember — not the fact that the bathroom door was rotten or that our room wasn’t cleaned properly.

But I think it’s important to separate having a great family holiday from the quality of the hotel itself.

Three stars from us: a great place to make family memories, but the hotel itself has a lot of work to do.

I’ll be including photographs showing some of the issues mentioned above, including the stained bedding, bathroom door, sediment coming through the beer line and the faded/peeling wall transfers, as I think they illustrate the condition of the hotel better than words alone

Unfortunately the deluxe room was a big letdown. Poor cleanliness in rooms, accommodation corridors and lifts spoilt this holiday. Staff were really hard working however they were up against it. Tiles missing from pool sides, no cushions on sunbeds and food was quite repetitive. On the plus side, good location and the shower itself was really good, apart from the fact that the shower trays leaked and mould and dirt were evident. So much potential needs a massive cash injection for it to be 4 star with deluxe rooms.