I'd read the reviews... I knew the line... But still my heart dropped when upon checkin an attempt was made to relegate us to the nearby Palmira Beach. Strangely enough the German couple ahead of us "Got in" with no apparent problems. I dug my heels in and accepted the "basement room" despite the hard sell of the sister hotel. So down to steerage we went. At first glance it wasn't too bad, a little pokey, and the incessant rain (in fairness, not the hotel's fault) did nothing to cheer us up. After almost forcibly removing the receptionist who was still bleating on about the Palmira Beach we settled down for a sulk and a nap... The sulking went according to plan, the nap unfortunately did not. The noise, oh God the noise!!! Turns out steerage is directly beneath the kitchen and set up of the evening meal had begun.
Delicious evening meal, the salad buffet was great, with a wide varied choice.. Hot food was lovely too, the all inclusive wine and beer went down a treat, my only gripe was the hour, there are two sittings for dinner depending on your room number and at 6.30pm I felt ours was a little early.
So later on to the Bar, I attempted to enjoy a bacardi and was met with a cheap knock off which in no way, shape or form resembled the original. I didn't think much of the cocktails either.
We ended up leaving the hotel and having drinks in a few of the local bars, the surrounding area is lovely and we found a great little beach bar in the middle of town (Don't ask)
Had a good night's sleep interupted at 6am by Breakfast preparations... I was fairly irrate by now and called reception, they told us that they had a room available at their sister hotel the Palmira Beach.. Aghhhhhhh.......
We eventually managed to find somebody to move us to a nice quiet (But tiny) room on the first floor.
To summarise, the hotel is beautiful, the public areas are lovely and very clean. The Spa area was a godsend as the weather for our entire stay was horrific. The food is good, the wine and beer are great, the spirits are terrible. If you're not German, chances are they WILL try to move you. The staff are 50/50 some can't do enough to help and others don't seem to care less. Paguera is a beautiful area and I would definately return but to a different hotel.... Maybe the Palmira beach..
