Puerto Palace Hotel

We’re a family of mum, dad and two children (11 & 8), and a grandma (nearly 80). This hotel ticked a lot of boxes for us. Firstly us English were in the minority at this hotel (meaning much better guest behaviour all round!), there was no issue getting a sunbed , even in the shade, at any point - an absolute winner particularly in August. Wifi was good enough, breakfast plentiful and fresh, rooms spacious and the hotel is spotless! Absolutely gorgeous grounds with some extra activities thrown in for free. We had several drinks at the bar where service was great, and ate dinner once after a very long day at Siam Park. Only gripe with dinner is that children over 2 are full price €20 per person. It got very busy Friday evening through till Sunday morning, mostly with Spanish guests visiting for the weekend but this created a lovely atmosphere (if a little busy at breakfast). The hotel is a bit of a walk down a very steep hill to the town but taxis are cheap. We ate at some fantastic restaurants (chat gpt is your friend for dinner recommendations). The hotel sent a bottle of fizz to my room on my birthday too! We’ve had a great holiday and much preferred the area to the neon of the typical tourist towns.

Having worked in luxury hospitality in the Middle East, I probably notice things that some guests might not, but I also think I have a fairly realistic understanding of what you should expect from a four-star hotel. I’m not someone who expects everything to be perfect, but there were quite a few things during our stay that I feel need to be mentioned.

The first issue was the room. I had emailed the hotel the day before to ask about an early check-in. The reply wasn’t particularly clear, but when we arrived, the lady who had replied to me confirmed that the room was ready, which was great.

Unfortunately, when we got into the room, there was a really unpleasant smell. I went into the bathroom and the drain was full of sludge and dirt, and when I looked under the bed there was a lot of dust and dirt, along with a toy which I assume had been left by a previous guest.

I took photos and went down to reception to show them. To be fair, they did respond and sent the engineering team up to deal with the drain, and housekeeping came in and cleaned the room properly. I appreciated that they dealt with it, but these are things that should have been picked up before the room was given to us in the first place.

There were also a few maintenance issues. The bathroom door was scraping against the floor tiles, which I reported at the same time, and maintenance did fix this. The shower was another issue. The water would go from cold to incredibly hot and then back to cold again. At times it was genuinely scalding, so I had to keep the temperature much cooler than I normally would just to avoid getting burned.

The toilet is also ridiculously loud when flushed. It sounds like a jet engine! It’s loud enough to wake someone up during the night, and you can hear toilets being flushed from the corridor as well.

The room itself is very dated. It’s quite bland and really needs some attention and investment. The balcony is a good size, which I appreciated, but there is visible humidity on the walls, with bubbling and areas that look like they are starting to deteriorate. It just gives the room a very tired feel.

Towards the end of our stay, I also noticed that the bedding had stains and holes. I didn’t notice this when we first arrived, so I don’t want to suggest that this was part of the initial cleanliness issue, but once I did notice it, it was obviously disappointing to see.

The Wi-Fi is also dismal. The connection in the room was so weak that we could really only connect near the entrance door. In the end, I had to buy an eSIM because the hotel Wi-Fi simply wasn’t reliable enough.

One thing I do want to say is that the housekeeping ladies were absolutely lovely. They were friendly, sweet and clearly doing their best. In fact, I got the impression that they were simply stretched too thin and were being asked to do too much. They need more support. I don’t think the issues are down to the individual housekeeping staff at all.

The hotel did also send a complimentary fruit basket and a bottle of wine to the room the day after I raised my concerns. It was a lovely gesture and I appreciated it, although of course it doesn’t really change the issues with the room and the hotel itself.

The pool area, on the other hand, is really lovely. It’s probably my favourite part of the hotel and a real positive.

I’m also disappointed that the gym isn’t included for hotel guests. It’s in a separate part of the property and you have to pay extra to use it. When I booked a hotel with a gym, I assumed it was one of the facilities available to guests, so this was disappointing.

Overall, I don’t think this is a bad hotel, and there are certainly some positives. The pool is lovely, the balcony is a good size, and the staff were generally helpful when I raised issues.

But for me, the biggest problem is that there seems to be a lack of attention to the basics. Cleanliness, maintenance and checking rooms properly before guests arrive should be the fundamentals of any four-star hotel.

I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect the basics to be right. Having worked in luxury hospitality, I can’t honestly say that the overall standard of this hotel feels like four-star at the moment. There is definitely potential here, but I think the property needs more attention, investment and support for the teams working there.