Great location, very clean and friendly, we were on top floor (12th) and had a great view of the harbour and sea. The beach was only 100 yards away as was the harbour, shops and bars.

Food at the hotel was nicely presented and lots of variety although like a lot of reviews on this hotel the food was not very hot, although it was never cold. Staff were polite and there was never any hustle and bustle at all in the dining room.

Entertainment was not to our taste but its not what we do anyway. The free internet was poor, just one computer and in two weeks only managed to get on it once.

Outside the hotel was the harbour, at night a childrens fun fair, horse and carriage rides, mini super market and a few decent bars.

If you want a Spanish experiance whilst on holiday dont visit this hotel. Although the breakfast is OK the evening meal is like a badly cooked Sunday dinner every night and when they do the one theme night per week it is a badly done chinese event.

The pool is very small and overlooked and the main bar downstairs gets invaded every night by older Spanish people who come to ballroom dance the night away. The good bits are the hotel is well placed for the harbor where Scubies is a very nice place to sit and watch the world go by and if you want some nightlife all the livelier bars and clubs are not far away.The resort its self is dated and tatty and needs some money investing in it before it falls down around you.

have just returned from our 2nd visit to the florida spa and loved every second.this hotel has everything we want for a nice relaxing holiday.the rooms are nice with lovely views of the marina and spotless clean.the food is very good too never spent a penny on eating out.staff could not do enough for you always willing to help if they could.spoke to lots of other couples and they loved the hotel too and said they will be going back.only bad report i did hear was about the entertainment it is very geared up for the spanish but as we go off out every night it did not bother us.we will be back for our 3rd visit soon.

Just returned from the worst week's holiday we have ever had!

We regularly visit 4 and 5 star hotels, many being Thomson Platinum but believe me this was definitely NOT Platinum. Why Thomson have designated it as such is completely beyond me. If this hotel is the top rated in Fuengirola - there is completely no hope for the others!

Firstly the GOOD points:

ROOM - Modern, if a little small. Laminated flooring, flat screen wall mounted tv with some English channels. Free fridge, free safe and tea and coffee making facilities. Good aircon and also a ceiling fan. All rooms have either a sea view or pool view. The bathroom was a reasonable size, very clean and modern. Large walk-in marble shower cubicle.

STAFF - Were very friendly, particlarly the reception staff

The BAD points:

ROOM - The twin beds were extremely hard, not comfortable at all. This is also the first hotel where the bed linen was not changed the whole week we were there! The tea and coffee facilities were as most hotels supply but all the small milk portions were out of their use by date. After asking for replacements at reception, a further supply (in date) was sent up immediately.

FOOD - Hard to know where to start! It was all very bland, repetitive and mainly processed food. I have never had food this bad ever, anywhere.

Breakfast - The first morning another guest was helping themselves to a couple of slices of bread to put into the toasting machine and when they removed the slices, the one behind was completely mouldy!!! The cooked breakfast each day was exactly the same choice. The surprising thing to me was that although the south of Spain is a major producer of lovely fresh tomatoes, the ones supplied were tinned plum tomatoes. Everywhere else I have been abroad has lovely tasty grilled fresh tomatoes.

Dinner - Very limited choice, usually consisting of dried up roast meat joint or poultry portions, a couple of fish dishes plus accompanying vegetables. If you like tinned peas, tinned potatoes and tinned carrots together with frozen chips or croquettes then you will love this. The salad bar was actually quite good except the grated carrot and grated beetroot which were obviously from either a tin or a jar.

During our week we both had upset stomachs but whether this was as a result of something we ate we obviously cannot be sure.

POOL - The photo usually shown in the brochure or on reviews is taken from the pool looking towards the hotel rooms. The pool is on the first floor of the hotel on the roof of the reception and is only approx 10m x 8m. As you will see from my photos the pool area is surrounded by 5 tall, very close, apartment blocks so there is no privacy whatsoever.

TIPS:

Please read all reviews by all means but also check
1. The age of the reviewer and
2. How many reviews they have previously left
3. Check the standard of hotels they have stayed in previously

If your budget stretches to paying for a taxi transfer, do so. It is only a short walk from where the bus drops you off to the hotel entrance but on your return the to airport you have to stand with your luggage at the side of a busy road for 20-30 minutes until the bus picks you up. There is a taxi rank very close to the hotel and on the night before returning home we asked one of the drivers if he would pick us up the following morning at 9 a.m. He gave us his registered taxi number and his name and promised to pick us up from the hotel reception. He was good to his word (was actually a bit early too!) and we had a very pleasant journey to the airport - well worth the 32 euros.

Don't rush to get currency in the UK before you go - loads of places nearby all give better rates with no commission.

If you hire a car as we did - don't expect to visit Gibraltar unless you visit at the crack of dawn. It is about an hour drive away and when we got there mid morning, we queued for over an hour to move about 200 yards with no sight of the entrance - just cars bumper to bumper as far as the eye could see so we turned around and made our way back along the coast.

Bear in mind the time of year you travel to the Costa del Sol - although we are in our early and mid 50s, we must've been the youngest guests for most of the week. In fact the day we arrived most of the guests were actually ballroom dancing in the mainbar. The entertainment also tended to be aimed at those of at least pensionable age.

Needless to say, I do not think we will return to this part of Spain and certainly not to this hotel.

this hotel in our view is the best,we loved it and cannot wait to go back in june 10.we have been to fuengirola about 20 times but this tops all the places we have stayed,rooms great,sea view,lovely pool and pool area,good food and very clean, what more could you ask for.we have been spoiled with this one and hope to stay here from now on. just fab

Fantastic Spa Hotel, guests get 30 minutes per day in Spa(excluding treatments). Rooms really nice some with Bath & shower all have a fridge, tea & coffee making facilities, plasma television & free bath robes. Food very good & rooms exceptionally clean, the staff are the best I have come across so far in Spain, all very friendly.
The Pool is not very deep but more than adequate. Stayed with my daughter & grand children (15,13 & 10) the entertainment provided by the hotel is more suitable for the older guest so we went out to Linda's bar(around the corner from the Hotel and the Waterfront by the Marina. Would not hesitate to recommend it to others, we traveled from the Malaga Airport by train as taxis will only take 4 and its very cheap less than 10 euros for 5, the hotel is about 10 minutes walk from Fungerola station or a taxi will cost about 6 euros.

We returned today from the Hotel florida spa, cant fault it in any way.we overlooked the marina and beach,the room was very modern and clean, and the bathroom exceptional, very large walk in shower. all the staff were great, especially the bar staff Diago and his team of girls were good fun and the service was second to none.
Only downside if you are a swimmer is the small pool which was also very cold, its heated apparently from February. but as the beach is accross the road and only charges 8 euros for 2 beds and umbrella the pool is not really a problem. We had one of the best 2 weeks we have ever had and we being retired go away at least 5 times a year, highly reccomended by us

The hotel is excellent. The standard of cleanliness was very high in all areas. We had booked a superior room of which the main feature was that the seafacing wall is entirely glass giving wonderful views. We were on the 7th floor but for even better views from the balcony I would suggest asking for the 8th floor or higher (12 floors). We had clean towels twice (twice!) a day and the bedsheets were changed every other day. Very effective aircon and a fantastic walk in shower (no bath).
The standard and variety of food was the highest hotel standard that we have had for some time. The only improvement we suggested was a better variety of breads. If anyone is offended by shorts in the dining room at dinner they might not like the hotel but we thought thoroughly enjoyed it and for the first time in years we only eat outside the hotel once (usually 4 or 5 times in two weeks).
The hotel is right on the seafront only a minute from the beach and a couple of minutes to the resort centre (particularly the bus and train station).
Access to the beach will I think will be needed to use the sunbeds and parasols (8 euros for 2 beds and parasol) because the only problem we saw with the hotel is the pool area. The pool is really only a plungepool (only 1.4 metres at the deepest) and there were only 80 beds (about 25 parasols) so with 180 rooms the maths say a lot of people will have to go to the beach if they want a sunbed.
The staff we had contact with were excellent and very helpful.
Although we did not stay in every night the entertainment that we saw was excellent. However it was very much based on music to dance to. The flamenco and ballet (yes ballet) shows were wonderful.
Although Thomson don't appear to book children into the hotel children are allowed, however we saw no facilities for children and whilst you could possibly entertain children for a week I think any longer could become quite difficult (and expensive) for a family with children.
With regard to hotel prices I think the hotel compared well with all the bars in the area (e.g. 3 euros pint beer, 5 euros gin and tonic, 2 euros coffee). It however should be noted that smoking is allowed in the bar and entertainment area - my wife quite enjoyed that.

The hotel was very clean, maid service eveyday and change of linnen evey two days. bar and food areas where spottless. Food was fantastic with good selection but not much for kids. location was good eveything was right on your doorstep. Staff where all helpfull and friendly. Entertainment was for older people so we tended to venture out with having children with us. pool area was on the small size but afficiate i would deffinatly reccomend this hotel.

The hotel is excellent as per previous reports. Staff friendly & helpful, food good, clean & comfortable rooms - my husband found the bed very uncomfortable as they were far too hard. The little extra's; tea & coffee making facilities, bath robes, shower gels etc. towels for the pool, fridge & safe were good finishing touches. There were 2 things that that we felt let the hotel down - the pool was very small not big enough to swim in more like a plunge pool though there were plenty of sun beds available any time of the day and the bar in the evenings whilst we are not big on being entertained you could not get into the bar/entertainment area for the spanish locals who 'hogged' all the seats even though there was a sign saying hotel guests only after 8:30pm. As the entertainment was included in the price of the holiday the choice to sit and watch would have been nice.