In September 2011 my husband and I visited the Barcelo Punto Umbria with Saga Holidays. I had a bad fall outside the front of the hotel due entirely to the lack of lighting. I sustained a broken little finger, deep bruising and cut to my right arm and a cut to the bridge of my nose. Neither the hotel nor Saga feel they owe me any obligation - legal or moral - so I would like to warn visitors to this hotel to be very careful.

This is a review of the Barcelo Punta Umbria Hotel, not of the Barcelo Punta Umbria Beach Resort. The former is a self-contained part of the latter (which is across the dual carriageway and not on the beach).

This 500-bedroom hotel has been built alongside the huge sandy beach a mile or so outside the small town of Punta Umbria. The architecture is pleasing, the hotel forming three sides around a central pool/garden area with the fourth side open to the sea. Rooms facing the sea have a splendid view of the big waves of the Atlantic, but many rooms face the roundabout or dual carriageway (not much traffic) at the back of the hotel.

We had a "de luxe seaview" room. So what was it like? It certainly had a wonderful view of the sea across the pool, and a huge balcony/terrace with excellent furniture. The room was quite small, dominated by a very comfortable kingsize bed and with an item of furniture which was either a very large armchair or a very small sofa. The bathroom was tiny, with the washbasin in an alcove of the bedroom. The lower half of the bathroom and the washbasin area were tiled in bright colours, and the walls painted bright red; there was plenty of red paint on the tiles and the grout and the floor, too. The ceiling was painted white and there was white paint on the door etc. The plasterwork was of poor quality. Barcelo should have refused to accept it from the builders. The floor throughout was of rustic tiles.

The corridor outside was tiled, too, and dark. It was off-season, and they didn't bother to light the staircase or the balconies (like others, we dragged our standard lamp on to the balcony). By mid-afternoon, the corridor smelled strongly of fish and cooking.

The lobby area was huge and very white, a bit like an upmarket private hospital, with impressive furniture in dubious taste. Front desk staff were charmless.

Breakfast and dinner were buffet-style, with a limited choice of generally stale food. A buffet is okay for an occasional meal, but especially when the hotel is quiet, is a disaster for residents staying more than one day. There were probably no more than one-fifth of the rooms occupied (November) and Saga Holidays contributed most of the residents.

Parking was 10 euros a day, though WiFi in the lobby area was free. Bedroom "luxuries" were few - one small bar of soap, no tissues, no little bottles of smelly stuff, no robes. This was our third large four-star Spanish hotel on this holiday, and easily the least luxurious.

The beach was huge and sandy, reached by a boardwalk across some low dunes. The view from our room, in all weathers, was wonderful, but I wouldn't dream of going back.

The SAGA review says "Stay and Relax Classic" but be aware, things change within a day.

Last year my wife and I stayed at the hotel and enjoyed every moment, the hotel setting and services and the other guests made the holiday relaxing and memorable for the right reasons.

On the basis of satisfaction we re booked for the same period this year.(11th-25th 2011)

On arriving at the hotel everything seemed to be in line with the previous year.Within 4 days it was obvious that the hotel was being changed into a "Theme Park" to celebrate Halloween?. A promotion had been undertaken and had sold every available room to local families a high volume of children under the age of say 5 years rendered the hotel into a noisy chaotic unpleasant experience.

The children ran out of control until the early hours of the morning, then the parents posted Do not Disturb signs on their doors so that they could sleep in until 10-00 and the have siestas in the afternoon.

The dining room was a battle field with hygiene not a consideration.

The hotel management stated "They were not able to ensure any standards of any of the non SAGA guests as it was the responsibility of the parents"

We have traveled with SAGA for many years for several reasons, one of which was to travel with like minded persons, if you have no input from the hotel management to protect your basic rights, what chance have you?

SAGA were aware of the planned Halloween celebration (2 weeks) but did not advise us of the potential change of ambiance.

Last holiday with SAGA ,they have lost their ethics and unique selling point.

On arriving in Huelva, the taxi driver dropped us off at the Barcelo Hotel - only for us to find that it was the Barcelo Punt Umbria Mar - just up the road from the Barcelo Punt Umbria Beach Resort. We walked to the Punta Umbria Beach Resort, only then to find that we had to walk to another reception - in fact the Punta Umbria Beach Resort has 3 separate receptions (it's like 3 hotels joined together), but we eventually got checked in! Phew! The hotel was very clean and we had a nice room. Decent size, air conditioning and a bathroom with bath.
There was a fridge in the room and also an in-room safe (although you were charged to use this).
It was about 4pm when we got there so we went to find something to eat and although we were all-inclusive, we could not get anything. The hotel is really geared for the Spanish, along with Germans and Russians mainly, so English was not widely spoken and it was difficult to nitially get to grips with the all inclusive concept. We had been given a card on arrival, which we then noticed showed which lunch and dinner times we had been allocated - 3pm until 4pm for lunch and 10pm until 11pm for dinner. I'm sure this was fine for the locals, but it was a bit late for us. We went to reception and they brought this forward to earlier sittings with no problem.
There were 2 pools, and there was no problem getting sunbeds. The only problem here was that the 'sunbed police' were constantly luring and if they found a sunbed with a towel on and nobody sitting on it, they put a sticker on it. If there was nobody on it 30 minues later they took the towel etc off it. So you had to be careful if you went for lunch or a snack.- despite the fact that at least half of the sunbeds were empty!
However, the staff were friendly, and the drinks available at the bars was probably the best selection that I have had at an all inclusive. Cocktails, chilled cava, cool beer, resonable wine and pretty much any spirit you could want.
Language was a bit of a problem as this hotel is not at all geared for Brits and I don't think that we met another English person while we were there - but everyone was very friendly.
Once we got to grips with the times of meals etc it was very relaxing.The activities staff did loads for kids, and there was waterpolo, water areobics etc if you wanted to join in.
The beach was a 5 minute walk across the road, and it was a very long stretch of beach, but very uncommercial (no ice cream shops, toilets or anything). Very pretty early in the morning or in the early evening.
There were a few shops opposite the hotel and a cinema (but obviously all the films were dubbed in Spanish). Apart from that there was not much there.
My wife and I did have a relaxing time, but it is not somewhere that I would probably return to - mainly because there was not much to around Huelva, and not because of the hotel - which on the hotel was quite nice.
Pros: Great drinks selection, nice rooms, clean and good selection of food.
Against: Way too many small children! Not much to do in this area.