This hotel is very impressive. It is modern with a lot of glass, marble and high ceilings (some people don't like modern, open buildings). The rooms are lovely. The beds are kingsize, the bathrooms very nice with a lovely welcome pack (soap,shamphoo, toothbrush, sewing kit, shoe horn etc). They also have a free fridge and a free safe, both of which are very useful. The rooms were cleaned with fresh towels everyday and sheets changed every two days.
Whilst we were there because the hotel was quite empty the main restaurant wasn't open. We therefore ate in the Bistro. Starters and sweets were help yourself, however the main course was chosen from a list of four dishes and brought to you. We didn't have a problem with this, but some did (they like the help yourself to all you can buffet). Whilst the food wasn't fantastic we always found plenty to eat. Breakfast was fresh fruit, cold meats, cheeses, bread, cakes, sausages, juices, boiled and scrambled eggs, bacon. Some people complained they couldn't get a fried egg!
The entertainment consisted of a man on an organ several evenings, a group twice a week, and a magician occassionally. No bingo, quizes etc. so if thats what you like and entertainment within your hotel is important to you, this hotel is not for you.
The location is right on the beach, it has a lovely swimming pool, indoor swimming pool and a spa(20 euros). It also has a good childrens playground although there were no children there when we were there.
The hotel has a business/conference hotel feel about it and this didn't agree with some holiday makers. We however had a lovely time as the situation, room facilities and cleanliness are more important to us than entertainment and food.

We booked a three week holiday expecting 5 star services, boy where we disappointed. First problem was that we were allocated a room overlooking the children's play area and right across the road was the Playa Luna hotel and there was a constant drone of that hotel's air-conditioning system 24/7 which meant that we had to keep our windows closed both day and night.

Our second and most distressing problem occurred 10 days into our holiday when a group of 9 to 12 very drunk Scotsmen where allocated three rooms on the level beneath our 4th floor room.

The swearing and their aggressive behavior was intolerable and we asked to be transferred immediately to another room. So @ 9pm we packed our suitcases and were given the only room available which was on the ground floor overlooking the superb pool.

The problem was that we had to request the assistance of one of the as maintenance team to come to our ground floor room to replace/repair the electric plugs which were missing; the washing line which was also missing; the telephone which was broken; to provide us with a TV remote control which was missing and to repair a major leak in the bathroom - the shower head was faulty and the glass shower door was faulty.

We decided to put up with the constant 24/7 droning of the swimming pool's filtration system - all we wanted to use the room for was to sleep in and to use the bathroom facilities as for most of the time we were outside enjoying the lovely area of the Almeria coastline.

Three days before the end of our holiday at 10am in the morning whilst cleaning our rooms the maid drew our attention to the fact that the water leak was still causing a major BIG problem - the bathroom floor was flooded and all the skirting boards in our room were soaking wet.

We realized that this was a long standing problem as there was evidence of previous flooding as the skirting board all around the room showed signs of previous flooding. We realised that we had been allocated to a room which was not fir for human habitation when we saw that both of our beds were wet: - the valence, the bottom and top sheets including the mattresses. Both my husband and myself have spinal problems and I use a wheelchair to get around outside and we were horrified to see the state of our room - this was a 5 star rated hotel remember!!!!

My husband went to find the hotel's manager to make a complaint. He was kept waiting for nearly an hour whilst the manager was sitting in the bar area having a drink with a "client". My husband finally went over to the manager and politely requested that as the only senior member of staff in the hotel who was allowed to make decisions that he come to our room and see the flood damage.

The manager refused and became very aggressive and rude; when my husband said that in our opinion the Portobello did not deserve a 3 star let alone a 5 star rating- the manager's reply ( and I accurately quote his words) "Well if you don't like it you know where the door is". In conclusion our wet beds were not replaced; a maintenance man did come to replace the shower head. So we made the decision to obtain photographic evidence of all the flood damage on our mobile phones including the wet beds and bedding and to leave the hotel the following morning and stay in another hotel at our own expense.

The core problem with the Portobello hotel is that the nearby hotel the Golf Trinidad which is a 3 star hotel has been close since May 2007 and all guests who had previously booked with this hotel were being allocated at no extra costs to themselves rooms at the 5 star Portobello which is part of the same HOTHLG hotel chain.

There is only one manager at the Portobello and he obviously cannot cope with dealing with day-to-day running of the hotel as well as the needs of his paying guests.

This holiday was a disaster and we will be making an official complaint both to our travel agent and to HOTHLG senior management.

The attitude and behavior of the hotel's present manager is unacceptable, we will not be returning to this hotel ever again nor will we would recommend it to anyone else.

Apart from all of our problems the hotel lacks warmth and quality service, the staff did their very best but under such an incompetent manager they were put under such inexcusable pressure.