Gavimar Ariel Chico Club & Resort

1st off was directed to an extremely dingy unwelcoming cramped studio room when I had booked 2 one bed apartments due to late arrival and night porter on desk left to sort in morning. Beds extremely hard woke most nights. Patio door handle not screwed on so couldn't open door and worse was waking up to find cockroach on suitcase next to bed.
Spoke with jet2 rep Lynn next morning and was move to the correct sized booked accommodation. Overall not a great hotel amenities/food drink think its move location your paying for. I understand the €1 deposit asked for bar glass (polycarbonate) and plate as means pool/outside not littered with dirty utensils however charge for beach towels along with a deposit bring your own (i paid £6 for 2 beach towels). If staying in main building you have to cross the road to access main pool entertainment area which isn't mentioned on Jet2 Hotel is made up of 2 older premises (see photos) Waiters in restaurant work hard at clearing/wiping tables and Chris on reception friendly but also extremely helpful. Unfortunately I would not return and would definitely not recommend. PLEASE REFER TO PHOTOS!

Pool doesn’t open until 10am closes at 6pm If you want to go on a diet then this hotel is for you the food is repetitive and disgusting everyone was moaning about the food we were all inclusive and we had to pay to go out 3 nights at least due to the food being awful Bar after 1045pm you have to pay for the drinks The restaurant doesn’t open until 7pm and closes at 930pm Had to check ourselves all in by scanning each passport giving address etc after waiting for an hour for the transfer coach then another hour travelling so wasn’t impressed with having to self check in while the people at reception sat and watched us and did nothing. Pay €1 euro each for plate and cups can’t pay by card for the cups etc only cash you do get the euro back when you hand the cups back No floaties allowed in the pool Pool across the road from the hotel so the hotel is into halves half is located one side of the road the other half with the pool and entertainment was on the other side which I found really odd as it doesn’t state this anywhere before I booked Room always smells foulsty and old constantly it hits you as soon as you walk in . The air Con if you can call it that isn’t great it only fills one part of the room which is where its placed in the ceiling it’s doesn’t fill the rest of the room you can’t even notice it’s on The WiFi is shocking Entertainment is from 945pm for an hour for adults children can stay too but it’s more for adults there is a mini disco at 830pm for kids first but an hour entrainment a night isn’t good then there’s nothing no music and you pay for drinks after 11pm Same snacks everyday burgers hotdogs and chips No doubt the hotel will read this and say I’m sorry you weren’t happy we will take your comments on board not really good enough we only have one good day a year and paid quite a lot for it and it was a disappointment the reception staff were also rude I would not go back to this hotel again.

The lowest mark I have ever given on trip advisor. Safe to say, we enjoyed our holiday, attributed to the company we had, incredibly little to do with this hotel. Yes we did complain to front desk and the rep.

You are paying purely for the location of this hotel, it is outdated and sub standard.

The first night we arrived late after a delayed flight, first impressions were ok, a basic reception area but friendly enough staff to greet us.

We got to our room, 1006, a ground floor studio. It was incredibly hot in the room, the air conditioning was broken, telling us it was 26 degrees but clearly not. I just sobbed at the room, it was like a prison cell with damage everywhere, ants coming out of cracks in the wall, not a single space for keeping luggage other than a small set back in the wall, dated furniture, damaged cot, no space in the bathroom, windows that wouldn’t unlock and significant safety issues, the door to leave the room couldn’t be locked from the inside. With a toddler, this is incredibly unsettling and as soon as she figured out she could open the door, every second was an attempt to leave the room. The ‘terrace’ was located next to a sheer 5ft drop onto a volleyball court, another safety issue with a toddler. Under no circumstances were the 4 of us going to stay in this room. After being told there was nowhere else to go, and begging to be changed hotels, we were moved rooms later in the day to the main building where the room was a bit more modern and had space for our luggage- still damage to the cot I may add and generally not the cleanest but it would do. How they could every justify charging the same money for both rooms is beyond me

The food is limited, I’ve never spent any money on food when on an all inclusive but had to this holiday, for a few days there was no appropriate cereal for children, no pots of yoghurt, chips and carrots for breakfast of course. I had mixed feelings about the food, often put off by the little flies all over the salad. We ate out twice and just felt that the food was limited. The restaurant staff are friendly and great with children however.

The drinks selection is ok, the bar area is grubby and staff are hit and miss.

Pool area, this is not cleaned well enough, rubbish left from the day before was still on the floor and the floor was quite grubby however the pool itself was so warm, plenty of fun and was our highlight of the week. Opening at 10am felt a bit late but we could understand the queuing, there were sun beds as long as you were queuing from around ten to ten. Many of them are broken and there are many that don’t have the function to change the seating position so you can only lay almost flat on them or sit with no support. The lifeguards it quite far away and the male lifeguard seemed far more interested in hosting a group of friends and flirting with the girls, often not looking at the people in the pool. The female lifeguard was more attentive. Balls and floats are not allowed in the big pool.

We didn’t get to use the adult only pool but the area is nice and clean, modern and looked great, shame the rest of the hotel can’t be of the same standard.

We had a leak from the air conditioning in our room on day 6, they came to fix it but left our bathroom floor covered in mud and towels with mud on, it was very disrespectful.

The entertainment team were fun, the kids club was not taken advantage of enough, it’s very run down but has everything they need. I would question the safeguarding consideration of allowing one adult member of staff to be alone with children. The entertainment team is made up of 4 very fun, hard working guys. They are fantastic with the children, make balloon shapes every night for the kids, do great at the mini disco and the entertainment at night sure is fun. The entertainment team were a highlight of the holiday.

Under no circumstances will we return and will be raising with jet2 that the accommodation we were sent to was not good enough for the cost and classification. You are simply paying for the location which is one of the best at the beautiful resort of Cala d’or, with plenty of restaurants, shops and beautiful beaches nearby.

Pictures are of the first room (sorry about the luggage everywhere but literally nowhere to put things and a toddler who liked to pull things out of the case), and pictures of the new room which was marginally more modern.