We were twice there: for the first and the last time. At the first glance it seemed to be OK. An Andalusian village of multicoloured buildings situated on a gentle slope descending from the reception down to the main building with the restaurant and the pool and finally to a broad, sandy beach. But it was exactly that slope which caused a small catastrophe. Every path being paved, during a haevy rain in the night, water had no other outlet than into the bungalows. At 3 am we had 7cm water in the room. The room + bathroom was ca. 25m2 so the amount of water was over 1500l. When at 10am finally two sweepers arrived they collected just 6 buckets - all the rest drained into the floor and walls. Small wonder that the atmosphere was damp ever after. We were offered 3 alternative rooms, but all of them were flooded as well. Closer investigation showed that it was not an unique event as the staff claimed. We discovered traces of previous floods on the entrance door and furniture.
Someone here wrote earlier that - "it is in the middle of nowhere" - it is absolutely true. Without a car you are stranded.
There is an ample choice of tastless food. Members of the staff are friendly and very polite but speak virtually only Spanish. We have improved our sign language.
On top of all you are treated as a potential thief. There are plenty of posters informing what happens to you if you trespass any of numerous house rules.
On the other hand we should not grumble too much. We had no cockroaches, ants or centipedes as other people had and wasps nesting inside the frame of our window were not aggresive.

pretty rooms. the food is awful. the staff are sullen. bar is dead. entertainment diabolical -some lass showing her pants. miles from anywhere. all the taxi drivers make a living taking disgruntled guests into marbella itself for a decent meal. beach covered in dog dirt. circular door at reception nearly had my sons head off.

I am writing to complain about my staying in hotel Marbella Playa.I > couldn't imagine that my staying in this hotel would be so bad.I am > writing to express my dissapointment with the service I received. > Firstly,the service wasn't polite.Futhermore,chief of the bar near > swimming pool was rude and arrogant,clean service steal(they stole > from our wardrobe very expensive shoes),internet is working 3 days per > week,not 24 hours per day.Secondly, option all inclusive was ridiculous and > musn't be suggested.(can't be suggested) because we had to wait in the > queue in the bar 15 minutes to order drinks.Thirdly,In my room and my children > room was smelling not nice guest are coming in the evening to eat supper in shorts,to > eat breakfast and dinner in swim suits.However,only one beautiful thing in > this hotel was garden and young people who are doing animation and > beautiful flowers,but garden depends more on gardeners and sun that on > hotel.I absolutelly will not recommend this hotel to anyone,futhrmore > for that high price because it doesn't worth that

Hotel was changed at last minute as our hotel was not opening until April, we were changed from Play Bella in Esteponia, promised upgrade didnt happen, awful rooms just down from main entrance to hotel, on main pathway, patio a joke not enough room to sit, could not opencurtains of room or patio door as people were passing by all the time, and seats right outside second room we had, people sitting all day long smoking. As for getting food ques awful one chef on cooking five main courses, fries and crepes at same time. Very little english spoken by staff in hotel. Hotel to far awaw from anywhere to walk, luckily we had hired a car. Got upgrade on 4th day, Gabriella rep was very helpful. Hotel does not cater for english speaking people at all. Bar staff were great and friendly but the only ones who were. Would not recommend this hotel to anyone unless you make sure you have room in the main hotel or room in the blocks nearer the beach and you are prepared to use the local buses to travel anywhere. Trip to Grenanda was great, we also travelled to Gibralter but only because we had car.