Stayed in this very large impressive hotel for a long weekend and was allocated a room on the 18th floor the smaller of the 2 buildings. Room was to a good standard and the views of Benidorm spectacular.

Location of the Hotel is slightly on the outskirts of things. It was a good 30-min walk into the centre or an 8 Euro taxi ride.

Communal areas including the reception are very impressive but very large and impersonal.

Pools were large, but not that well maintained with sun lounges scattered around and large expanses of concrete with very little in the way of greenery to brake up the grey.

The restaurant was only partially open when we stayed, making it necessary to share tables with other guests. To be honest the whole restaurant experience was not that fanatistic, with the food being adequate, but fairly basic and quite repetitive

The hotel was very beautiful and very clean.

A very good location and very good buses every 15 mins.

Staff just could not smile to anyone. Entertainment was very good for dancing.

Food was absolutely atrocious caused a great amount of complaints but no change to food. Same menu every other night!

The hotel was appalling, looked great from the outside but looks can be deceiving.

The staff were unfriendly and rude, when complaining suddenly couldn't understand.

The food was dreadful, plates and cutlery dirty, waiters not collecting dirty ones. Tables never being laid so you have to sit at a table with other peoples left overs. The food stone cold and not much choice, can't say I ever went up for seconds for anything apart from the pickled onions (that came out of a jar)

Entertainment was poor, old Spanish singer every night, drinks expensive, 8 euros for a Bacardi and coke!

Found the cleaning staff rude, maid would just barge in at 7 in the morning without knocking, wouldn't clean the room properly or replace toilet rolls.

I would advise people not to stay at this hotel all in all, awful hotel, looks amazing but what can I say... don't go there.

We enjoyed our stay at this hotel, staff at reception were courteous and helpful.

Cleaners knocked and shouted hello before entering room
if you dont want them to come in then lock door from inside
staff in restaurant did not try to make conversation
but I felt this was because they were trying to get on with their work.

Aything at all we asked for was brought to the table as soon as possible. Table cloths were changed after each person. Dishes were collected from tables very quickly
the only dirty dishes I seen were from guests setting serving spoons on dishes. The food definitely was not warm enough, but there were microwaves available.

We all found a good enough variety of food that we were
always able to enjoy something even deserts available for diabetics.

Fr people who enjoy really good food a buffet style restaurant is not the best place to book a holiday.

It suited me because I really enjoy trying little bits and pieces of different things. Suited my husband as he likes meat well cooked and the meats that were fried were sliced thinly and therefore well cooked but you could take as many slices as you wanted.

If you were going away from the hotel at lunchtime they would pack you a lunch.

On the day of our departure we were leaving early and a cold breakfast was left for us in restaurant.

The air conditioning and heating signs on the controls were the opposite from we would expect. Therefore, we had a laugh as on the first evening there my husband and me were feeling cool even though we thought we had the heat switched on. His two sisters in the other room were complaining about being too hot and they thought they had the air con switched on

Would definitely visit this hotel again.

Its easy to be taken away by bright lights as I was. The Bali looks very imposing on the horizon and view from the top is amazing.The hotel has a large and impersonal reception area,we stayed in the annex which is not as high as the main building and the rooms are not as good (i asked to look at one).The pool was cold for september even though we were told it was heated.At weekends the hotel gets packed out with people from madrid as do most of the 4 star hotels in benidom.The food was not great better to eat out.Hotel location is very good in a quiet area with a great beach.

I went on my own with my youngest daughter who is 7. This hotel is the 'in place' for the Spanish, its the 'place to be seen'! Very grand, checked in quickly by friendly staff. Room was clean and cool from the air conditioning, small balcony, we were in the new building, balcony at the back of the older building looked larger. We over looked the pool area and the beach, on the 11th floor, had a lovely view. Hairdryer in bathroom so no need to take one. Was a sofa/bed in our room which if removed would have given us a little more room but at the end of the day all we did was wash and change in the room and sleep, we dont go away to spend hours in our hotel room.

Restaurants, there are 2, one on the same floor as the reception area, we only used this once towards the end of our holiday for breakfast and it was alot smaller than the restaurant on the lower floor, so we preferred the lower floor one. Staff were very welcoming in the restaurant as they got to know you.... we used to go down to dinner at 7.30pm when it opened as my little one was hungry, it got very busy later on so if you dont like the hussle and bussle i suggest you make it for around 7.30 to 8pm to go in for your dinner, you also have to show your room card/key on entering the restuarant.....we found it useful to purchase the drinks prior to sitting down then that way people can see your tables reserved and wont use it. Food was good, some evenings it wasnt that hot but i noticed people using microwaves to sometimes heat their food up, i wouldnt say it was cold but not always piping hot, however always plenty to choose from, we didnt go hungry. Also towards the end of our holiday we noticed stand up freezers at the sides of the restuarant with ice creams in, so make sure you check this out.

A word of warning, the floors in the hotel are very slippery, marble and always being polished so make sure you walk carefully, althought i didnt see anyone falling over i nearly went over when walking back to the table with a plate of food!

The pool area was good, plenty of sunbeds, yes you get the towel brigade each morning but then people would be going down to the pool at 9am and still getting beds, annoying though when some people by us left their towels on sunbeds only to use the pool for 1 hour that day! a little unfair on people wanting to have the day there. I found the cleanliness round the pool a little poor, each morning the cleaners would hose down the floor area, but didnt brush away the dirt, so when you had walked by the pool and it was wet your feet were dirty. Cleaners in the evening about 5pm ish would come round picking rubbish up and there were bins about to put rubbish in but the odd plaster was hanging about, cigarette ends and what i was horrified to see was inbewteen the seating area and the pool there was bits of broken glass each morning, so beware of this and make sure you and your kids wear something on your feet if walking between the two pools. I saw on the last day 2 people tread on the glass and cut their feet. I did tell the lifeguard one day but he didnt really seem that interested. The lifeguard was there from about 10am till 7pm ish watching both pools, but he didnt really seem to be that bothered in keeping his eyes on kids/people in the pool he was too busy watching the water polo etc in the other pool, so make sure you keep an eye on your own kids at all times in the pool. Large childrens part of the pool, always went really quiet about 2pm when alot of the spanish went for lunch so was nice to have the pool to yourself.

Entertainment - my daughter didnt really join in any of the daytime things, the animation team were nice, but all the time they were announcing in spanish, i did have to tell them at one point when my daughter joined in that she was english to make sure they spoke in english for her which they were of course happy to do so. Evening entertainment was a little boring the same every night for 2 weeks, dancers on stage doing the same dances to the same tunes and a group who had 2 women dancing and singing who i didnt rate very highly, we tended to go out in the evening. If your stopping the the rooms on the pool side of the hotel the entertainment goes on till midnight and is rather loud but we got used to it.

Bar staff were sometimes struggling to understand english when ordering drinks so i suggest you brush up on your spanish a little but this was part of the holiday and we were in spain after all. Pool side bar staff very nice indeed.

Id defo go to this hotel again, as im sure many spanish people would.

My Partner and I Stayed at the Hotel Gran Bali between the 25th June and 2nd July 2005. We booked on Direct Holidays Website and had a Bargain at

This is the second time I have stayed at this Hotel and have found it excellent or would not have gone back. Unlike alot of the negative comments about this Hotel.

Staff are very friendly and yes it is a little bit outside Benidorm but when you have children sometimes it is better if you are away from the hussle and bussle of it all.

Hotel was great, food - there was something for everyone and a bonus if you like fish, but at the end of the day you are in Spain and the Spanish do like fish. There is a massive choice in the 2 restaurants one is on ground level and one on the lower floor, we found the lower floor a little quieter.

We had a room on the 20th floor of the new building and not in the annex building and the views were spectacular you see right across the whole of benidorm Poiniente Beach and Levante Beach.

There is a viewing platform in this Hotel and for Hotel guests you only pay 1Euro to go up to the top and see, what a view!!!! Tremendous.

I wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone. On arrival we were well impressed with the look of the place. We were given a room on the 4th floor which has a view of the back of the kebab shop.
The food was terrible everything tasted of grease even the veg and the queues were shocking too much plate nudging. There were not enough highchairs either we constantly had to wait for a highchair. After 2 days of grease we had enough and ate out all the time.
The staff attitude was unacceptable at times very arrogant.
The entertainment was OK if you speak Spanish and are over 60.This hotel had loads of different nationalities in it they could have done loads better.
I would never go back to this hotel miles out from levante where the entertainment is. We have stayed in far cleaner and friendlier 3* hotels.

We booked via a teletext deal(although my brother, his wife and little girl booked via Airtours direct as the child place was cheaper. We paid about 350 each for the flight and hotel (and a so called transfer so beware if your booking via teletext - the coach dropped us off in the middle of benidorm and we had to get a taxi to the hotel - my brother was ok as the airtours transfer took him straight there!

I had mixed views about this hotel prior to getting there from previous reports some of which were very unjust. At first glance the hotel is very impressive - you can see the 43 floor hotel for miles - we were very disapointed when we were placed in to the 18 floor building attached to it.

Out of all of the staff there there was only about 3 that were friendly - customer service isn't this hotel policy - I'm sure.

For cleaniness I don't think you can fault the Gran Bali.

I was very sceptical of the food due to previous reports but I disagree about it being catered more for the spanish.

Breakfast - good choice - bacon is streaky - sausage looked greasy, but cereals, fruits, yogurts, 2 choices of eggs, hash browns etc etc - coffee (hmmm) juice ok.

Lunch - didn't ever stop for lunch as we were always at the beach (temps between 22-29 March were 19 above - we all came back with good tans) - The Time The Place (english bar) just down the road from teh Gran Bali on the way to the beach serves good food and run by english couples.

Dinner (evening meal) served from 7.30pm until 9.45pm - plenty of choice, if you can't find something to eat then I'm sorry but I don't know what else you could expect - perhaps some more potatoes (rather than chips), food a bit hotter would improve the rating given for the food.

Location - I suppose it depends what you want - If your after a quietish location away from the hussle and bussle of all of the bars then this is ideal. Good beaches are a 10 minute short walk - there is a taxi rank outside of the hotel (although sometimes you need to ask reception to call you one) and to get to the old town is about 6-7 euros and about 8 - 9 euros to the new town. There is also a regular bus service.

Entertainment - hmmm - in the main bar very spanish - in the cafe bar - the same bloke and woman singing Green Green grass of home, Sweet Caroline, It's not usual (quite badly) - later on in the evening there is some other entertainment, another singer, strippers etc!! (didn't stay for those!)

I wouldn't go to this hotel again purely becuase we stayed at Hotel Levante Club in summer '04 and it just had that special something - Likely to stop at Hotel Levante again in November.