We have been staying at Hotel Cala Marsal for over 20 years. We first visited when our children were very young and had a real family holiday in the sun. We spent our days on the beach and hired a car to visit the Caves of Drach. As the children grew up we carried on visiting usually in May and October.
The hotel staff are friendly and helpful and the amenities are sufficient for holidays where you dont want to do much. There are 2 swimming pools and plenty of sun loungers. The beach is a few metres away and is clean and safe. There is a beach hut which sells cold drinks, ices and snacks.
The greatest test for me was to visit the hotel alone in May 2010 after my husband had recently died.I felt perfectly safe and comfortable and the staff were really attentive when I needed them. THey maintained a discreet distnce when they thought I needed my own time.
The hotel has been upgraded from 3* to 4* but I have always thought it adequate at whichever level it was and it is very good value for money.
One tip is that I have always booked direct with the hotel and booked flights separately. Last time I went I booked through Travel Replublic and saved over £50 for my 4 night stay!
Try the bus transfer too from the airport which can be booked through the TR agency..very cheap and efficient.

I was treated for a surprise weekend away in mid Oct. I was forced to relax as there is little else to do in the area and so i did just that! The hotel was very clean, the room was nice with a nice view over the bay and bed and breakfast suited us fine (not sure if i would have wanted to eat in the restaurant evry night). The hotel is situated in a great spot in a lovelly little bay with a superb sandy beach which is so close it almost felt like the hotels private beach, it had a nice little beach bar and a couple of bar/restaurants overlooking the beach, a lifeguard was on duty at all times and sitting on a sunbed reading a book and popping in and out of the sea for a swim was a lovelly way to spend a few days. Would not reccomend this hotel for anyone seeking any night life or other activities found in larger resorts but perfect for a relaxing break or long weekend.

We arrived back yesterday from 1 week half board. My husband and I went with our 1 year old daughter and my parents. First impression when we arrived at nearly 11pm was " wow, looks lovely" It was clean and modern in the lobby and we were greeted a very well english speaking receptionist. We were delighted to find out that there was a light snack waiting for us in he resturant, which we all agreed was a really good touch.
Our room was lovely and clean and was of a great size for us with a toddler and impressed we had a proper cot to but our daughter to sleep in and not a travel one. Was not so happy it was on the 7th floor though.
Food was a little dissappointing the first night but after that we were all quite impressed.
Great holiday if all you want is to relax as there is not much to do around this area. But the beach which was only across the road was beautiful and very clean. Perfect for our little girl. We all really enjoyed it and are looking to book again for next year.

we stayed half board for 2 weeks here. first impressions were that it was spotlessly clean as was our room. as we had an 8 month old boy with us we were kindly given a front corner room which was a good deal bigger than the normal rooms. i cant give an opinion of the size of a normal room as i only really saw them from the corridor looking in

the hotel is set in really nice grounds with plenty of facilities eg tennis, playpark, gym, squash (all free) and plenty activites organised by the animation team eg- archery, fitness, games (free as well) as well as the 4 different pools of differing size and depth

the hotels big trump card is its setting overlooking the lovely turquoise sandy cove of cala marcal. it is a very cosy and clean beach with good snorkelling and nipple biting fish (i heard one guy complain about that haha)

the beach wasnt too busy (september) and there was a nice quiet walk round the rocky coastline to neighbouring but much smaller coves

although there were other bars and a few other hotels this is a quiet corner of majorca so dont come here if you want a busy nightlife..

also the hotels patrons are about 75% french with the rest being german, italian, spanish...so if you dont like people (the french) sticking their bread in the toaster out of turn dont come here

the hotel was only let down by the restaurant which seemed to be slightly understaffed (eg quite often bowls and plates weren't available at breakfast)..and the food in the evening came in a reasonable variety (although the same or similar dishes were put out almost every evening) but the 2nd week was almost identical to the 1st week which was very tedious. it was also of canteen standard ( i think another reviewer said the same?) and not of restaurant standard.

the hotel is billed as 4 star and we felt in this area it was probably 3 star.

i dont say this to be nasty, as really, this was the hotels biggest (and maybe only ) weak point, everything else was great and i would still recommend it to others especially as it seemed to be reasonably priced for what you got.

the only other slight negative for us was the poolside music and announcments all morning and some of the afternoon (i think other reviewers had pointed this out aswell). i am only mentioning it as a passing comment and not a complaint as most people didnt seem bothered by it and besides we just headed down to the beach most days anyway.

evening entertainment was variable.. some nights they had outside acts in and other nights the staff (animation team) had us in tears whilst other nights it was a night for getting the scrabble out. but really not a problem..we just enjoyed relaxing

the hotel staff were really good and friendly as were the animation team (all staff seemed to work really hard) and the cleaners on our corridor were incredibly helpful..so all credit to everyone and thank you for a really nice holiday