Blue Sea Club Marthas

We booked Blue Sea Club Martha’s quite a while in advance at a really good price, but after booking we started seeing a lot of negative reviews, so we were quite worried about what to expect. Overall, it was actually better than we expected, although perhaps we were lucky as we didn’t experience some of the issues that other guests mentioned.

The rooms are spacious and the air conditioning worked well throughout our stay. The location is one of the best things about the hotel. There are plenty of bars and restaurants nearby, two beaches within walking distance, and the bus stop is around a 5–10 minute walk away, with buses into Cala d’Or centre. You can walk into the centre in around 35–40 minutes, although it was far too hot for us to do this during our stay.

The daytime entertainment team were good, although we didn’t watch any of the evening entertainment. The cleaning staff were also lovely. One thing we did find unusual was how early they sometimes came to clean, around 9am. As we had been out late, we were sometimes still asleep. If we didn’t answer the door after they knocked, they would sometimes enter anyway, and even when the door was locked they were able to get in.

We were self-catering rather than all-inclusive, so we can’t comment on the food or drinks.

Unfortunately, there were some negatives. The hotel didn’t feel particularly clean in the communal areas, with rubbish around the hotel and very dirty floors around the pools. The pool water also didn’t always look particularly clean. On one day, a pool light had been smashed and there was glass in the pool. Another guest reported this to the lifeguard, who unfortunately just shrugged and told them to speak to reception.

There were also queues at reception almost every day with guests complaining. These didn’t seem to be minor complaints, with people reporting issues such as ants in their rooms. Unfortunately, some reception staff came across as quite defensive rather than helpful, although other staff members were genuinely friendly.

There are also quite a lot of additional charges for things we would expect to be included in a 4-star hotel. You have to pay to use the safe, and when we asked about this there weren’t even enough keys available, so we had to wait for another guest to check out before we could get one. There is also a deposit for pool towels and a €7 charge per suitcase to store luggage on your final day. As we had five cases, this would have cost us €35. We chose not to pay and left our cases in the room with the lockers, as many other guests were doing, although this obviously didn’t feel particularly secure as anyone could walk into the room.

Our rooms also frequently had a drain-like smell and, despite being self-catering, there was no kettle provided. We had two rooms. Both balcony doors did not lock and could easily be opened from the outside. This would be a big security issue on the ground floor as anyone could get into your room.

We were fortunate not to have any ants in our room, but we heard several other guests complaining about ants, so this does seem to be an issue that the hotel needs to address.

Overall, I’d say this hotel is more of a 3-star than a 4-star. It has a lot of potential because the rooms are spacious, the location is excellent and some of the staff are lovely, but it needs better maintenance, cleaning and management of the facilities.

We had an enjoyable holiday overall and the hotel wasn’t as bad as the reviews had made us expect, but I think our expectations were already quite low by the time we arrived. If the hotel addressed the cleanliness, maintenance, customer service and additional charges, it could be a really good place to stay.

We had a great holiday at Club Martha's. After reading all the reviews before going, I emailed the hotel highlighting my worries. I received a very reassuring email back.

We arrived in the early hours of the morning, and was quickly checked in, and showed where to have a quick snack.

When we arrived in our apartment (block 6, room 6209), the aircons were on and the room was nice and cool. The aircons aren't great, but made sleeping more comfortable in the heat. The beds are quite low down, but very comfortable. Our room was clean, a few ants, but the mosquito spray we packed (didn't need it at all for mosquitos) took care of them. The room was cleaned everyday; now the cleaning could've been better, but we got clean sheets and towels every day. We had a massive balcony and enjoyed it in the evenings.

We spent most of our days at the pool (the kiddies one) and, yes for the first time ever on holiday, we had to reserve sunbeds in the morning, all though there are signs saying this is not allowed. Where we sat most days was clean, but there are some areas around the bigger pools that could do with a daily clean.

We stayed for 7 nights, all inclusive, and at each meal time we enjoyed the variety and quality of the food. The buffet has multiple aircons, so meal times were very comfortable. The coffee machines would play up some mornings, but there are 3 of them. We really enjoyed the sushi night and the afternoon BBQ food. One thing we didn't enjoy is the water out the dispensers has a bit of salty taste, so we bought water for the week.

We weren't too bothered by the entertainment, but it was lively and particulary enjoyed the Ethiopian Circus performance.

We booked a boat excursion at the front desk, and we can highly recommend it. Although we were told there were only 8 people going, but ended up with 12 people and it felt a bit cramped at first, but soon we were swimming and tubing. Lots of laughter and fun!

You need a €1 deposit for your all inclusive cups, each time we had a drink we got clean cups and obviously got our money back on the last day. We went to get some pool towels, but the deposit was something ridiculous, so popped to the little shop around the corner and bought 3 towels for €10. You need to pay to use the safe, we didn't use it though.

We enjoyed wondering around the shops a few minutes walk from the hotel, the market on Thursday evenings, we took the little land train into town and enjoyed a few afternoons at the beach about 10min walk from the hotel.

One thing, I do agree on, is that some staff could be more welcoming - a simple smile or greeting would go a long way.

We spoke to some other guests that were in smaller rooms/studios and they seemed quite unhappy with their rooms. When we booked, we did pay more for our room type, so would recommend doing the same.