The hotel was spotless and modern, however the room was a bit cramped as we had our youngest in a cot as well as the settee bed out.

We had a room on the 8th floor, so our 'balcony' was a hot concrete cell, with no view unless you stood on a wall. The view was only of the next door hotel anyway. Also the AC unit was out there so it was unsafe with our young children.

We tried the hotel food once or twice - it was o.k and not bad value. Speaking of the AC, the vent was placed above the bed, we had to sleep at the opposite end to avoid a stiff neck!

Pool is ok and we found the kids pool very good, it is small, but ideal with a toddler, plus it was nice and warm later in the day!(they closed it for one day to re-tile) People were down there at 10am to place their towels, then dissapeared, the policy was that you were not allowed to reserve, so you could remove them, although it would have been better if someone else did this to avoid confrontations!

The major thing that the hotel lacked was atmosphere.

Hardly anybody was downstairs later for the kids mini disco although the two entertainers based in the hotel did try their best and were enthusiastic.

The bar area was poorly laid out to be able to watch the entertainment on offer(which was adequate)

The previous reviews pretty well hit the nail on the head however there are one or two points that may be useful.

The hotel is halfway up a very steep bank but you can use the service / underground car park road to the left through the blue gate up till 8pm,there is a lift in there to all floors, CCTV operates in the car park and whereas I dont think they like you using this entrance they never stopped us.

If you are in the older age group you may appreciate the edge of developement location as it is quieter but the rooms near the main road could be a little noisy at night as the road is very busy. There is a "lidl" type supermarket to the right behind the petrol station about 3 mins away.

This hotel not one to book if you have mobility problems. The sunbeds will be a prob at high season as there are only 74 of them and even in April with the hotel only 1/4 full there was a "towel on bed " problem.

The food and cocktails in my opinion were very bland for the asking price, better deals along the road at the Alhoa Palace.

Myself and two friends Helen(40 and first time abroad!) and David stayed at this hotel for a wee weeks hoiliday in April. We went over for a friends 40th. The other party stayed in a hotel along the road not wanting to be showed up with our eating and drinking marathons! I was really pleased with our accomodation,although there was meant to be four of us in the one appartment, but was more suited for three.

Our balcony looked over the pool and we also had a sea view. My only complaint was there was never enough sunbeds and we had to wait eagerly on our balcony for somebody moving then run! It did not help that we were never up that early due to the fact we were getting in when the sun was coming up! The hill was a killer. We are all reasonably young and fit but it still took its toll on us(bent double over the handrail halfway up!)

Especially when we had all our shopping to carry from the great supermarket just 2 mins away from the hotel.

Ok - we moved here from the Timor Sol (review left)and the two are worlds apart. This hotel is to a very high standard. The reception area is spotless and staff on the desk speak very good English. They are very helpful and it would appear the owners (reckon we spotted one or two) have set very high expectations of their people.

The corridors to the rooms are equally as clean as reception and the rooms themselves (we had a 1 bed apartment)are well furnished, laid out and have lots of room. The bathroom was excellent and with aircon throughout you can relax with comfort.

The restaurant, although we never tried it, looked very welcoming and was well laid out. The pool area is well maintained and the pool itself was a good size with plenty of room.

Right next to the hotel is a faily good supermarket and the beach is about 100 - 150 yards away.
I really can't fault the hotel or it's staff.

Now for the bad bits.
It's up a hill - a steep hill - not that you can't get up the hill, purely that you will develop strong calf muscles while your there, and may want to start a base camp half way up. You can access via the carpark which removes the hill but this isn't allways open. My advice - if your not far away at night get a taxi and save the legs.
At the bottom of the hill there's a road - a main road with dual carraigeway - you need to cross this to get to the beach - not a big problem really but on the way back to the hotel via foot, you really want oxygen in your lungs, not the fumes of cars lorries and buses. As i said not a big problem but people with kids and disabilities need to be aware.

The Poolies - my nickname for those who go on holiday and get up at the crack of dawn to 'towel' a sun lounger at the pool. If you stay above the first three floors don't bother even attempting unless you want to do some early morning commando action to get one. You see there are rooms at the pool edge, whose occupants have the distinct advantage of bagging beds while the rest can't get near - this accounts for about a 3rd or more gone (depending on whether they need a bed each for their kids or not). Then you have those who queue waiting for access - to be honest the Benny Hill theme tune should have been pllayed during the rush - small kids pushed out of the way by grown men to get to a bed. These were not Germans i might add - they were British (I am also British for those who think i'm bias).

All in all, it is a very nice place to stay, just suffers from a pit of an awkward location - would i go back - certainly but i might do two weeks at the gym before hand.

Just spent a fortnight in this hotel. The staff and the standard of cleanliness was excellent. The pool, I thought was very small, it was not marked with water depths at the side and therefore I could not take my eyes of my six year old son. The childrens pool was a joke - have seen bigger paddling pools. Unfortunately while we were there we had stag parties and hen parties staying. The language and behaviour from the stag party on the first weekend was such a disgrace that by 6 pm everyone had left the poolside as they had taken over the main pool and the kiddies pool. I was very disappointed that hotel management did not monitor this situation. The rooms are spacious and well appointed, ours was a one bedroom on the seventh floor. As for the promised sea view from all rooms, unless you had a rubber neck which could see around corners, our view was of the neighbouring hotels pool and a construction site for what is presumably a new hotel. We tried the restaurant the first morning for breakfast, needless to say we did not go back. It was fine for contential style but should you want a hot breakfast I would give it a miss, the food was not good and very expensive at 8 euro a head. The hill is very steep approaching the hotel, which we found a bit frustrating when our coach dropped us off at 12 midnight with our cases and told us to take a deep breath and just keep climbing. I know what he means, if you stop in the middle you are inclined to fall back down to the bottom! The entertainment was poor, with a very loud kiddies disco for half an hour followed by bingo most evenings. I can definately state that I would not stay in this hotel again.

We were aware that this hotel was on a hill prior to booking but didn`t expect the hill to be so steep! Luckily I am a bit of a "Munro Bagger" and coped with the shopping trips. My good lady, however, didn`t like it at all and it was really annoying that upon arrival and departure we had to get our luggage to / from the bottom of the hill. The rep said that the driver was unable to get his bus to the hotel but this was rubbish as we sat and watched many a coach reversing up the hill to the front door - I just think that they couldn`t be bothered.

For anyone thinking of staying here self catering ,don`t underestimate the hill as there is no supermarket at these apartments. You have an "Aldi" style supermarket about 200 yards from the bottom of the hill, but in general the supermarket to go for will be the one some 600 yards towards Fuengerola along the main road (also uphill. This supermarket has everything, including a pharmacy (which the other two don`t).

We tried to be sneaky and walked into the bottom carpark at the hotel and catch the lift but next day we found the access gate shut and had to walk the hill once again.

When we arrived we were allocated room 620. This is a room type to be aware of!! It would seem that a number of rooms were built in the roof space if you know what I mean - that is your balcony is part of the sloping roof and basically means you walk out into a 6 foot walled enclosure and to get any view of anything you have to stand on the concrete seat and peer over the side. We immediately demanded to be moved as you could not possibly enjoy sitting in "The cell" of an evening.

The air con unit is also housed on all balconies so even after switching the unit off, the enclosure was boiling hot. We were moved within two days but it did spoil the start of our holiday a bit.

The pool is tiny and on the few occasions I used it did not enjoy the experience as once in you basically had to stand still and await being "bombed" accidentally by one of the kids or being hit by the balls being thrown about. For the size of the hotel the number of available sunbeds is ridiculous and those on the ground and first floors always nabbed them unless you were willing to join the game and set the alarm!!

I was dissapointed by both our rep`s and the hotel inability to answer a basic question I asked "Is there a squash court in this resort?". The rep didn`t know & advised me to ask the reception staff who told me they didn`t know either and were too busy to find out. Eventually I went and found out myself by walking to one of the tourist info` places about half a mile away. The nearest courts and gymnasium by the way are at the Benal Beach Hotel - two glass backed courts which are ok but about a foot narrower than standard - 6 euro`s / person / hour.

We used the beaches all during our stay and in particular the one opposite the good supermarket. It is a bit of a hike but we found that on the way home we could buy some supplies.

In summary the apartments are clean and well appointed but be warned that you are unlikely to get a sea view and you may even get the horrible "enclosure" balcony with no view. The location is poor (we were moved to a room with the balcony overlooking the hill and had many a humerous moment watching families struggling up the hill with shopping & prams or both.