Last Easter I took my GF to Mallorca, to visit the island and also to stay in a nice 5* hotel called Hipocampo Palace. I made a package reservation on [--].

When we arrived at the reception, we were informed that Expedia had made a mistake and that the hotel was full. Expedia had therefore downgraded us to Hipocampo Playa.

Needless to say, they did not try to contact us although the trip had been booked for more then 3 weeks before departure. They did not call to apologize. I had to write a lengthy letter - there is no number to call ... - to explain how unhappy I was. (I'll never ever use them again, there are so many bad reviews on the web, I should have trusted them).

Back to the hotel now ...

The hotel we were downgraded to ("Hipocampo Playa") was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE, it's got 4 stars but honestly barely deserves 3 !!

- Information was extremely difficult to obtain from the reception given that they wouldn’t speak even Basic English. It is really German, even maids have basic German knowledge, no English at all.
- we were promissed some sort of compensation but never saw anything coming
- The indoor swimming pool was tiny
- The sauna had to be booked (!)
- The fitness room was ridiculous
- The room were not spacious
- The bed mattress was as hard as a rock
- It smelled cigarette smoke everywhere
- The diner was basic & the wine list was appalling
- The dining room was in fact a huge noisy cantina
- Kids were running and shouting everywhere
- Evening entertaining is laughable
- On the 1st night I had to call twice to get 2 bottles of water sent to the room
- On the 3rd night I asked for drinks to be sent to the room and the reception literally barked at me in Spanish and hung up on me. I had to go to the bar and order drinks and bring those upstairs myself. Needless to say I couldn't put the bill on the room for some obscure reason (!!!) and they wouldn't take card payments.

- The bar is really like a huge smoky pub were german tourists get drunk and smoke all night calling it entertainment - no dress code, quite low level.

I could write a novel ...

Just don't go there ... trust me ...

The palace is really good, we went there to the swimming pool and sauna and beauty / massage salon and really that's where we wanted to go in the first place. (There is a proper bar and lobby and strictly no smoking policy).

------------ Never again with Expedia, they took my money and then changed the rules in the middle of the game ------------