I have written a long review on another site that I always use, but I happened upon this one and thought I should comment.

Some of the reviews here are nonsense! My husband and I have just spent 7 nights here, 2nd June to 9th June, on All Inclusive basis in a Ocean View Suite.

I would have rated it 5 out of 5 had it not been for some staff's nasty attitude towards the feral cats. (Not ti mention the overweight diners who kept complaining, perhaps worried they would take their share of food).As an animal lover and humanitarian, it disgusted me.If you do visit here, the cats are well fed in the Cat Cafe at the back of the grounds, through a UK charity called the Twinle Trust. If you wish to feed them, put cat food in this Cat Cafe (green dog kennel with sign on it) as too many people moaning means cats get culled in these countries.Do not throw scarps, they honestly do not need them. Best going the Spa next door buying a tin or so of food for the allocated area. We bought tins and small sacks of dry food for very cheap.

Perfect suite with large terrace balcony which got sun all day. Beautiful decor and massive bathroom. Maid service was wonderful, cleaned every day. Whole hotel bar pool toilets was clean. (Cleanliness is very important to me, our own home is spotless).
Wonderful quiet location, yet within walking distance of town. Commercial Centre right next door, so handy.

Perfect for young children, loads to do for them. Right on a lovely clean beach with safe sea (natural coves). Walkers paradise, you can wlak for miles and miles along natural rugges coastline.

Food? I am very very fussy, but I did not go hungry once. My husband loved the food. It does get boring after a week, as with any hotel with AI buffet. We went for a lazy week, so was not expecting gourmet dining.

10 mins if that from airport, cost 12 euros.

Gym was rubbish but we knew this before travel. There are 2 really good gyms nearby, 5 min walk. Loads of great glasses, like pilates on the beach, dance, etc.

We will go back.

Standard of cleanliness was poor - pool area cleaning consisted of someone rinsing the ground with a hose briefly in the morning. Room cleaning - well the maids were in and out of the room in 2 minutes. Towels were changed and bed sheets thrown up but not much else.

Plenty of sunbeds at the pool but not enough parasols - big plus was all the wifi hotspots round the pool - great if you've got an i-pod.

Standard of food was poorest we've had in any AI hotel. Worse than that - the crockery and cutlery weren't clean and the final straw was the piece of glass in my mojo sauce - after day 2 we ate out every lunch and dinner time. The dining room is dull and uninviting and not somewhere you'd want to spend any time in.

Location was as described - a nice long walk along the shore into the harbour, although didn't expect to have to do it twice a day to get some decent food. However, since the gym was dreadful at least we got some walking exercise !

The staff were all very helpful - there simply weren't enough of them - which perhaps explains the poor cleaning in the rooms.

I won't even comment on the entertainment - the score I give it should tell it's own story.

This hotel has a lot of potential but needs a good shake up - tiles missing from the bottom of the pool and a soft drinks machine in the pool bar which leaked from underneath meaning there were towels stuffed under it to stop people sliding on the floor - just a couple of the many little things which need addressed.

If you like fresh fish and meat the all inclusive is great for me as a vegitarian there wasnt much of a choice. Preprepared food was cold but the microwave came in handy! I always found something to eat but if you have children that like to eat at around 12 your stuck as the buffett does not open till 1 and you cant get anything till then. If you dont want to eat in the restaurant the more relaxed tucan bar has very little choice, you have a menu but most of it you have to pay for.

The pool area for children was not very safe. Many tiles on the floor broken off and the slope going into the pool was not very clean. If you do book leave your beach towels at home you can leave a deposit at reception and change them as many times as you like.

The reception staff didnt have a clue when we arrived at the hotel giving us keys for rooms that already had people in several times which was a bit embarrasing! Once we did get a room it was very nice except for the first night we actually had someone walk in our room with their cases and woke my little one up. We did get the safe free as we complained about not having much faith in reception not giving our keys away again.

The hotel in the last in the resort and it is not on the beach as reported you have to walk about 5 minutes to get to it which was a bit misleading as that is what I wanted for my little girl.

The entertainment was a bit hit and miss. The childrens club was great and the staff lovely that ran it.

did not like this hotel at all nothing there entertainment very poor food always cold would not recomend this hotel but go and see for yourself i would not go again

After reading reviews on this hotel we decided to book,for all inclusive for 2 week. The food was very repetetive,the Tucan bar was the best if you like pizza but it only opened when the main restaurent was closed.The rooms was cleaned every day and lovelly fresh towells.The entertainment was awfull theres better in the subway in Preston.The resort itself was ok the beach was lovelly and clean,the re isnt a lot to do for teenages and we was all fed up towards the end of the holiday wishing we was back in Preston how sad is that.Would we go back NO,and we would not reccomend the Elba Sara the Barcelo was outstanding last year and we wished we had bokeed for it instead of this one but could not get the dates. Time to do something about the food and entertainment Elba Sara.

You will find many mixed reviews on this hotel. We have just returned from 2 weeks all inclusive and found the hotel to be excellent. It is not rowdy as all inclusive drinking stops at 11pm. It is clean and gives you exactly what it says it is going to do - there are no hidden clauses. Compared to other all inclusive holidays we have been on, we found the food in the restaurant to be good - so much so that we actually ate there every night. Granted it was a bit repetitive by the end of 2 weeks but then dining out every night for 2 weeks become repetitive also. There is limited entertainment in the hotel which is not very good and this is one of the things that lets it down but you know this before you go. There is a shopping centre next door with a few shops and a large spar and 10 minute walk along the beach takes you into the centre of the town. There is not much for teenagers in or around this hotel / resort and it is more family orientated. If you are looking for a relaxing stay in clean and comfortable surroundings then you cant go wrong with this hotel.

Great quality 4 Star Hotel, can't understand some previous poor reviews!

Rooms were excellent - clean and spacious all with great sea views. Most hotel staff were friendly and welcoming, especially reception staff.
Good position, close to excellent sandy beaches (better than in main resort) and shopping centre. Only a 10 min walk to main resort or free bus ride, but nothing much to see there anyway, other than usual tourist shops, bars, etc.

Heated Pool was a great help, otherwise most people wouldn't have lasted more than a few minutes in the pool!

Food was of good quality, choice was quite good, especially choice for breakfast.

Entertainment wasn't so great - mainly geared for families rather than adults, however kids enjoyed it. Miniclub was poor - was more like a drop-in centre where parents of younger kids (under 7) really needed to stay as no proper supervision. No childrens activities were arranged, other than what video did they want to watch today? Poor compared to UK tour operator-run clubs.
But kids were happier to play at pool and beach instead.

I would agree with the 4 Star rating - the rooms, food and pools were all of a good standard.

Top tip - leave the beach towels at home! For only a refundable deposit, you can obtain towels and exchange as many times as you need to.

The reception area is very impressive as you arrive, and the grounds and rooms are maintained to a good standard, however hardly had any sleep for the 10 nights as the beds were so uncomfortable!!!! The air conditioning was very poor and doesn't work after 11pm. The staff were great especially with the children. The food was of a good quality but was very repetitive, there should be another restuarant to dine in as the Tucan bar only serves snacks for 2 hours a day if you are all inclusive and is not open in the evening. The entertainment was very poor.

We enjoyed our stay at the Elba Sara but found several things that could be improved upon.
To start with the food was very repetitive and often cold especially the vegetables, of which there was hardly any variety.
The pool bar was extremely unimpressive and should have been an open design in such a warm climate and also situated at the other side of the pool. This bar was too large and obtrusive in the position it had been built. It was also quite dirty during the day with no-one clearing tables after use.
There were a lack of umbrellas around the pool making it very difficult to find shade in such a hot country. The pool was very impressive but far too cold.

For a new hotel the furniture in the downstairs entertainment area was rather grubby and the whole downstairs bar area lacked atmosphere - it was more like a children's play area than an adult entertainment area. When the entertainment was on the staff made no attempt to stop children from running around and playing games in front of the stage which was extremely off putting for everyone else trying to watch what entertainment there was. It would have been far better had there been an entertainment manager introducing the acts and taking complete charge of the area thereby avoiding the problems with the children and lack of atmosphere. Seating was far too distant from the stage and would have been made better had it been situated nearer.

The majority of staff were friendly and helpful and the entertainment staff around the pool worked hard in trying to involve everyone.

We felt with a little more work a very nice hotel could become an exceptional hotel.

We have just returned from a weeks stay in the Elba Sara, after reading reviews before we went i didnt really know what to expect.My daughter is 6 years old and she throughly enjoyed it.The cleanliness of the hotel was really good.The rooms are really big and bathroom had hairdryer, shaving/make up pull out mirror which was really good.And was also really clean.Only english tv channel was sky news which was a pain after a while, all other channels are spanish and german.The food here was a bit hit and miss, to be honest we were bored with it after a few days.Entertainment was a joke!! Kids disco at 8 30pm was good for my daughter but for adults it was just dead.Couple of nights were ok, an abba tribute night was about as good as it got.Service at the bar was also awful,took ages to get served.Sounds like i had an awful holiday reading this but to be honest we did have a nice time, we just wanted a relaxing week in the sun and thats what we got.