Thanks for the update

i believe this is something that fergus hotels do in other hotels and i have seen coming this year; the food has changed this year to already resemble what is on offer at other AI hotels
this will change the whole client base for this hotel, and not for the better. this has always been a very laid back hotel, suitable for families and all age groups and you could get a good nights sleep as noise was minimal (due to the guests, not the design of the hotel)
i can't see the terrace staff still bringing drinks out to you and the culture shock for these staff will be enormous.
this is my preferred hotel in malgrat and if the price is right for next year i will give it a try. hopefully they will still remember that service counts and treating customers well is still the best way of doing business but.......

you are quite right in what you have said and we have thought exactly the same thing ourselves when we spoke just before we went in september dd you go to the plannamar or maripins in the end

i went to the maripins a couple of weeks ago and was due to go to the planamar this week with ferris.

however it appears that HTOP have done it again and closed the planamar early.

so now i am waiting to see if ferris are going to call me before i go -they are currently aware as they have stopped taking bookings for malgrat- or if they just tell me when i board the coach. this is one of the downsides of going early/late in the season. so, i am hoping for the royal sun, royal beach or amaika, but will probably get the olympic and then "grumpy old man" syndrome will kick in.

Ferris have it covered in their T&Cs which says that they can move you to any other hotel, in any resort,whenever they want and the only compensation you get is the difference in price if they downgrade you, but if you go early/late in the season they can move you to wherever they want without compensation.

however if you cancel within 8 weeks you lose all your money.

seems fair to me!!!

i looked at some prices for next year as we usually go to the planamar for our "jolly boys outings" and i use the maripins when i go on my own and it looks like the maripins is going to be dearer than the planamar. i am not convinced that the maripins will be worth the extra once they start AI as the main reasons for picking the maripins up to now have been the service the staff provide and the relatively civilised nature of the hotel and guests.

We too have done the olympic a few years ago first tme was ok second time never again from the reviews on the plannamar it looks as though things have improved there even though we have never been there we thought the food in the maripins was the best yet even though we have found it good other years.
Sadly the only thing to let the hotel down was the entertainment which we put in the questionare hopefully this wll be resolved next year.It was lovelly seeing all the old staff again as you say the hotel has a family feel and you never fail to make new friends there. we are in our 60s and it suits us fine with the location and it is not boisterous which sadly may change

Siestas new 2014 brochure still shows Maripins as Half Board and not AI ??

Maybe not all companies are doing it have seen ferris and travel republic so far ferris are also offering half board board and full board besides the all inclusive where before I think they only did half board

i was speaking to friends last week in malgrat and they tell me that the Maripins AI is not yet resolved as the local government do not want any more AI in the town.
as i understand it the hotel will only be allowed AI from noon to 8pm and this is subject to them paying an extra fee towards the police and ambulance service as the local government have worked out that there are increased costs involved in having AI in hotels as they have 70% more call outs than other hotels not offering AI.
we shall have to wait and see how it works out, but i cant see paying £60pw more for the Maripins than the Planamar for the same week will be worth it.
it looks like the passport scheme where you could pay something up front and then get a discount on drinks has finished, and i think they have always advertised sattelite TV but they still only had bbc 24 a couple of weeks ago.
i keep banging on at them to get a proper TV channel, as i like to see the news and it is handy on days when it is raining, but have had no joy so far. so again i think we may have to just wait and see.

Hi nice to catch you online jimd-f thanks for yopur reply hope you had a good time while you were away due to unfortunate circumstances 3 years ago we had to cance lour maripins booking due to my husbands health when we tried to book up later we could not get in and ended up in the monteplaya where they had satelite tv and a film 4 channel

sad to see that a wonderful hotel could be ruined.
we have been before and probably would not go again if they change it .
lets hope they do not change such a charming hotel.

Harryroffeyholidays are doing half board.

used them many times when they were Inland Travel, but for the last few years they have been very expensive compared to Ferris.they have used the maripins for over 50 years, but i think last year they only went to calella.
would love to use them again, but the last time i saw their coach in spain, the double decker, the leg room looked very limited and after travelling once in cattle class with ferris i swore never to do the journey again unless i could be sure of enough leg room

jimd-f, the brother that run Inland travel went to the wall, so the brother who runs Starline Coaches from Tonbridge, has opened up another side to the business, hence Roffeys Travel, he has a new coach, been on it for a couple of day trips, leg room is great, he has taken 6 seats out so that it is only 44 seats, you should have received a brochure from Roffey Travel if you used Inland Travel since 2006, as Chris mailed over 2,000 brochures last Wed/Thurs. if not look on the net or phone 01424 202002 or 01580879339 they will put one in the post to you. They are doing Calella, Pineda, Malgrat, Blanes, Full Board down to Camping. Cheers. Tonyt.