I must say I was a little dubious staying here as I had not researched much about the hotel and booked it at a last minute holiday after the hotel I previously wanted was fully booked for the dates I could travel. The pictures of the hotel do not do it justice at all and they should maybe update them to more current photos. The hotel is extremely clean and rooms are made up daily and towels changed daily if you want them to. Food was ok great for breakfast (not english though which you should expect but some people don't and expect bacon and sausage like back home) but if you do want a English breakfast there is a English bar on the beach front called The Sportsman and you can get other traditional english meals from there. Also, they have the footie on and this was the only English bar we found. Lunch was good loads of fresh salad, cheeses, soup, fish and plenty more of variety oh and chips :-)! However, we did eat out most nights as we preferred to have waitress service and try a few of the restaurants along the sea front.

Staff at the hotel were friendly english can be a challenged but any problems we had got sorted not that we had many only one. One night when we came in about 1am we noticed a leak from the air conditioning unit. I reported this to the reception straight away as I wanted to make sure it was the air con and not the upstairs room and the ceiling would come caving in and they came up immediately and checked and then there was an engineer at the door by 10am the next morning to fix it. They even asked if we was ok to stay in the room that night which I didn't have a problem otherwise would of moved us.

There was some entertainment but I cannot comment as I did not go to watch any. The pool area is quite small but ok. It was really clean they have a life guard and other members of staff playing games and entertaining the children. You have to work out the best position to be in the sun all day as the hotel is a tall building with other tall apartments around it so some areas are in the shade for some part of the day. They play music in the background and in the evening they position the chairs and tables so you can sit outside. We use to do this to use the all inclusive up until 11pm and 11pm sharp they close the bar so make sure you get a drink before then we would head out. They only allow 2 drinks per person when you are going to the bar. This was ok as it was quite warm so your drinks would be warm if you ordered anymore for yourself.

The hotel mainly caters for Germans as they are the majority of visitors. This is not a fault of the hotel as the whole resort of El Arenal is mainly German or Dutch and when you walk along the sea front you will notice the bars are mainly German and Dutch. We did not have a problem with this however it would be nice to be around more English. We mainly visited The Sportsman and had a couple of nigths out to the other bars but we wasn't really on holiday to party it was more to relax.

There are a lot of youngsters at the hotel but we did not have a problem with this and was not disturbed by any of them messing around. They have a security guard on in the evening and other members of staff and will not tolerate any noise or fooling around at the hotel. But i think on holiday you are out of the norm and people are enjoying themselves and having a good time so I think you expect people to still be up till late. The clubs are open all night so it is great if you are young but me personally cannot handle it anymore :-).

The beach is only 2mins walk down the hill and was really nice and clean. It gets busy but you can find quieter less crowded spots if you walk further along. We spent most days at the beach as we found it too hot around the pool being 100 degrees and at the beach you get a umbrella and a nice sea breeze. The hotel will make you a pack lunch if you are going out for the day. We didn't take advantage of this as food along the sea front is relatively cheap for a snack during the day.

I will warn you though do not take part in the potato game. There are a group of people that set up a box with 3 half potatoes and you have to guess which one the ball is under. This is a scam and where we use to sit on the beach everyday we saw them everyday in the same spot. There are people in the crowd gambling with them and winning to entice you in and it is 50 euros a bet. We noticed the one performing the trick, 4 others around him gambling and 2 on watch not far away looking out for police. All of these people are in on it don't even think you can win you can't he moves the ball with a flick of the hand. He also shows where it is under the potato to begin with and the gang gambling will tell you which one so you think you know for definite then he moves them and the ball. It is so quick and so clever how its done but it is a scam.

On departing we had rubblish flights but the hotel has a locked luggage room and you can use one of the rooms for a shower and freshen up you just have to ask reception and book your room. You can keep your room for a small charge till around 7pm 8pm we did not bother with this as we was out all day so didn't see the point when we could have a shower and get changed in the room we had booked. You get to keep the use of the all inclusive after you have checked out up until it stops for drinks at 11pm.

Overall I had a really good time at this hotel and in El Arenal but it is not destination I would visit again as I would prefer to have a few more English people around to meet etc but don't let this put you off if it is coming up cheap as it is well worth the money.