I have recently completed my GCSE's and as a reward, my parents agreed to take me and 6 other 16 year olds away on holiday. We wanted a lively, clean hotel. It was also crucial that the price was affordable.

A few days before going, I decided that I would have a look at some of the reviews on the hotel. I came away worried and slightly downhearted after reading that the hotel was "unclean" and "overcrowded".

However, having stayed at the hotel for a week I saw a completly different side to the reviews. The hotel itself was extremely clean, the bed sheets were clean and changed daily. The bathroom towels were replaced so long as you left them on the floor every 2 days.

On the first night we certainly tested the hotels cleaners by literally throwing all the toliet paper around the room after having soaking it under the tap! But sure enough the room was clean the next day. So the reviews on the "unclean" rooms has even being sorted or was a one off.

The pool was reasonable, however they were fairly strict about blow up rings etc. But that wasn't a problem because you can use the pool across the road where they allow rings etc.

As with any hotel, there was a constant rush for the sun beds, but so long as you get up by 10 am you should be ok! In some of the reviews I have read people complained of the smell of sewage. We did smell this, but it wasn't a constant smell and you could only smell it when it was midday. And it was only around the pool area. We assumed that it was because of the intense heat we had during that week (with high's of 40 degrees C).

In many reviews I read that the food was repetative and that it was and discusting. Repetative it was, discusting it was not. The food, in my opinion is exactly what you would expect from a 3 star buffet style restaurant. It was relatively simple and some dishes did resemble English food. My friends and I didn't find the food all that great and often went to the local supermarket to buy a packet of crisps and a bar of chocolate. However my mum and dad found the food reasonable. The good thing about the restaurant was that they allowed you to swap you evening meal for a dinner meal if you wanted to go out to some restaurants in the center of Fuengirola, which broke up the repetative meals!

The hotel staff did seem slightly rude in my opinion but would have done anything to help if asked. This simply could have been because of their cultural differences.

The activites in the hotel were good, with 2 pool tables, an air hockey table, table tennis table, 2 tennis courts and daily activites taking place.

We chose the hotel because it was advertised to have English entertainment. This is completly untrue! The enterianment was in Spainish and we hardly ever went because it was full of old people! There were few people of our age, which thankfully didn't cause too big a problem because we had gone with our friends so we were able to entertain oursleves. Most of the hotel was full of 45 + people which was, in my opinion a false description in the brochure. It is certainly not a place for small children with no brothers or sisters! However the hotel did appear to have tried to solve this problem be setting up daily activities aimed at young children.

The situation of the hotel is exactly as the brochure states, it is on the outskirts of Fuengirola. This is probably better because we were able to travel into the center when we wanted to but escape to the quite outskirts throughout the day. And will certainly be appreciated during the high season. A couple of mintues walk away is the train station which can take you directly into Fuengirola, but dont rely on the train times! Another great half day out is the mountain village of Mijas, which can be easily accessed by bus and train.

A short walk along the beach and you can find a range of bars but if you want restaurants, its best to travel directly into the centre of Fuengirola. The front, is in need of repair, with missing pavements and a shabby look about it, but the beach is great. It stretches on for miles and is reasonably warm to swim in. And although we didn't take part in the beach activities, there were plenty.

To conclude, Fuengirola Park Hotel, is a clean, typical 3 star hotel. The entertainment is lacking and the food is reasonable. I wouldn't recommend it for young families because of the lack of youngsters around but it certainly doesn't deserve some of the poor reviews it has recieved in the past.

I quite agree with Will from Rotherham this hotel was on the outskirts of Fuengirola but the access to the train and a bus pick up just outside the hotel made getting about very easy.
The food is repetative but of a good standard the air conditioning in the rooms was very good (woke up most mornngs with our teeth chattering).

The pool at the start of our stay was very cold but soon warmed as the temperature were up in the 40's it was very well cleaned every morning, they even have a lifeguard on duty every day.

The rooms were spotlessly cleaned daily and towels were replaced if you left them on the floor daily.

The only fault we found was that we reqired a fridge as we had an infant in our party but the hotel has none.This hotel is a part of a group of 3 and they all use the main dining room and the main hall for entertainment.

When we stayed in this hotel not very long ago we were very disappointed in the standards. When we arrived we had booked a room for 3 people and a twin room for sole occupancy but to our surprise there were only 2 single beds in one room and 2 in the other so we had to complain to the staff on our arrival that we needed a family room or change hotel.

They claimed that we did not book a 3 bed room, we stayed at reception until they did something and we waited 1 hour until they decided to put another bed crammed into our twin room. We then decided to go see the rep to see if we could change hotel but to do so we would have had to pay a further

Room was clean comfortable and cleaned daily.
Throw your towels on the bathroom floor and they will be changed. Soundproofing in the rooms poor, the Spaniard next door kept us awake snoring!! But a bit of cotton wool in the ears cured that. Some dining room staff O.K. some others not.Food is not very good,little variety, Reception very disagreeable. We were in this hotel one year previously,and it was excellent, but apparently it has been taken over by Medhotels and is now very disappointing. No more for us.

Apparently this hotel was near the centre (not!!!).

I have a mobility problem and the only way to the beach was under an underpass with stairs or over an overpass with even more stairs or if I managed to walk up a hill I could get a train to another resort.

Our towels were removed on day 2 and not replaced until day 5 (despite repeated requests). In general the staff were not helpful.

The entertainment was aimed at 70+ europeans. The walls were paper thin and the cleanliness was not impressive.

The food was terrible we got food poisoning the 2nd day and the queues were terrible.

I would never go there again even if I was paid to!

The Hotel Fuengirola Park was advertised as being 'close to all town's amenities' which is correct, you cannot complain about its location, just a subway underneath the main road and all the shops, bars and restaurants are there. The hotel is in the Torreblanca region of Fuengirola. The beach is right opposite and isn't as packed as it is further up the coast in the centre of Fuengirola, and also doesnt smell of oil like the centre either, so in that aspect, it was very good. The Torreblanca railway station is 5 mins walk uphill towards the back of the hotel and gets you into the centre of Fuengirola or Malaga very easily indeed.
At the time we arrived after we had been greeted at Malaga airport by rain, but that didnt dampen our spirits, we came away to get away from Manchester, looked like we had brought Manchester's weather with us...

But it was Manchester's weather where the hotel fell short. They couldn't cope with a small downpour, there were leaks all over the lounge and parts of the restaurant had to be cordoned off as again there was a leak.

The food wasn't too bad, coming out of First Choice's bargain brochure - Sunstart, it wasn't great, but then again it was the end of the season and the purple rince brigade were out in force.

The FC rep wasn't too helpful either, she would always go missing when you need to talk to her and really didnt do First Choice Holidays any good at all. She was more concerned about selling her wares than helping out with a general query.

We had a 11 year old girl in tow, and if she hadnt had met other bored 11 year olds to play with, sorry 'hang out with' then the holiday would have been a complete wash out.

The Fuengirola Park has a pool advisertised in the brochure as having a stepping stone effect and looked lovely in the photos. Don't be fooled, the pool is freezing, and gets about approximately 1.5 hours or sun a day.

This hotel has potential, but the design was horrendous.

I would prefer to go to Benalmedena, which looked lovely.