I have just returned from my second visit to the Holiday Village in Benalmadena with my two children and have to say I am just as impressed as last year.

I had no problems at all - the accommodation and the food are excellent but the best bit by far is the evening entertainment - a huge thank you needs to go to Matt and Jason as I can't imagine it being in the same league without these two guys.

The only small thing I would say is that I would have liked it to be a bit nearer some shops. My children did not want to go out as there is plenty to do on site so some local shops would have been nice. However, I did know that before I went.

I would have no hesitation in recommending the HV to anyone.

Keep up the good work!

I have just returned from my second visit to the Holiday Village in Benalmadena with my two children and have to say I am just as impressed as last year. I had no problems at all - the accommodation and the food are excellent but the best bit by far is the evening entertainment - a huge thank you needs to go to Matt and Jason as I can't imagine it being in the same league without these two guys.

The only small thing I would say is that I would have liked it to be a bit nearer some shops. My children did not want to go out as there is plenty to do on site so some local shops would have been nice. However, I did know that before I went.

I would have no hesitation in recommending the HV to anyone.

Keep up the good work!

For all-inclusive read very much some-inclusive. Lots of things are not included.

The 'fridge re-stocked daily' statement is a little misleading, you only get a couple of small bottles of soft drink.

In the main the complex is clean, certainly the rooms are, however, it took a number of complaints before our bath was cleaned and that was after being there for 11 days.

The location has been mentioned before and most people know that they are not going for the location. What I would say on this point is that the designers of the complex could have been a bit more sensitive to the needs of the local environment. The whole place is a concrete monstrosity, with little or no greenery anywhere.

The staff are ok, I found some of the Reps a bit snooty and lacking in basic Customer Service skills. I made a couple of complaints to the reception which we were not dealt with promptly, and I don't normally complain when I am on holiday, so they were genuine.

The entertainment varies. I object to the FC staff running football scratchcards at 1 euro a go, selling 30 teams and then only having a 20 euro prize, they can't tell me the other 10 euros goes on printing. That is well over 1000 euros profit during a Summer season. The Same applies to the bingo where it appeared a 'cut' was being taken on the tickets sold.

This is, by 4 star standard, a poor hotel. If you go SC it is going to cost you a fortune, drinks and food at the complex are extortionate.

Self, wife and 13 yr son stayed 17th July to 31st July 05.

Apartment - Very good. Nicely furnished. Spotlessly clean. Really nice big bathroom. Good beds. Cleaned every day.

Complex - Substantial investment. Huge commitment for First Choice who do the entertainment. At any one time there are about 8 reps/entertainers/etc from First Choice in attendance.

Entertainment - Great (by holiday standards) it's not the West end of London.

Buffet meal- good value and you will always find something for everyone.

They are building a small railway station outside the hotel. There is a nice quiet electric suburban train which runs about 30 metres from the hotel. This does not at all take from the hotel, but will add to its convenience. Generally very good.

But there is one big mistake. The shop in the hotel for self-catering people. They call is a supermarket. Imagine a supermarket with uncompetitive prices. Now imagine that they add 80% on to the already uncompetitive prices. Now imagine that most items do not have any price indication. You find out the price at the checkout. The items which have a paper sticky on them have no ink so that the price is illegible. I found in item which had the price actually marked on the shelf. However when I selected the item and went to the checkout they said the price was higher. I said the price was actually shown on the shelf. But they said that this didn't matter. The actual price was higher than shown. Take it or leave it.

Also, the only local beer in the bar is Cruz Campo.They had no San Miguel.

First Choice have a great facility but need to sort a few things out as a matter of urgency, otherwise they will not be getting repeat custom or recommendations.

The hotel as a building is good - the Beach Club, which Holiday Village guests have exclusive access to has been well thought out layout wise. There is a bridge connecting the two complexes - note that once at the Beach Club all drink/food has to be paid for.

Our room was fantastic - a spacious bathroom with separate shower and bath, twin beds that could easily accommodate a family of 4! The airconditioning was very good and the kitchen area was very clean and well stocked with clean/new crockery and cutlery. Our balcony was very big and had a fabulous view overlooking the pool/sea. The maid service every day cannot be faulted.

We were lucky as we were on the 4th floor. If anybody is allocated a room above the Piano Bar/entrance to the Irish pub then I would stongly suggest they ask to be moved straight away.

The food is ok. In the main restaurant, considering they have so many people staying, they do their best and I am sure most people can find something - even if some nights are better than others! They get themselves into problems by only having one area where the food is and a bottle neck soon accrues. They would be better off doing identical food each side of the restaurant to stop this happening.

A big negative is only one bar by the main swimming pool serves snacks/drinks and big queues form and resentment simmers. It is safe to say that some of the staff working at that bar should go on a Customer Service course! It would have been easy for the bar the other side of the pool to be opened up to all inclusive guests - but that was saved for paying people only!

The freeform swimming pool is of a good size - it is manned by 2/3 lifeguards (who looked for 14 days that they would rather be elsewhere!)

The supermarket is expensive and not well stocked - but it met our needs and they stock Cadbury's chocolate! Be warned that only The Sun and Daily Express are stocked as everyday English papers.

There is lots to do for young children. The Kids Club is well built and maintained and there are a choice of sessions which are pre-booked the previous evening.

There are many activities throughout the day run by the Entertainment team which kept my two young sons busy.

Very good security at the gates and in the hotel and I felt secure in letting my sons wander around.

Cleanliness could be stepped up. Although a man frequently empties the rubbish during the day, I can say that in the 2 weeks I was there, I never saw the area around the pool/sunbeds jet washed. Lifts needs to be cleaned - twice I stepped into lifts at 7.45 am to find urine and it had not been cleaned later in the day.


There are two problems that need immediate resolution:

Some of the teenagers are making the place a nightmare and spoil it for all other guests - parents are nowhere to be seen. In a way it is not their fault as there is nowhere for them to go. The hotel and First Choice has to take action on the number of complaints it is receiving regarding this problem. It is not fun to have young adults screaming down corridors at 2.30 am on luggage trolleys. Despite hotel appeals to "supervise" teenagers and children, they were still able to obtain alcohol and at times their physical presence was a little disturbing.

The other issue is the evening Entertainment - or lack of it. At 4 star hotels, one expects a certain level and HV certainly failed to deliver. Whether it is because of the location and there is a captive audience, I have no idea. But the standard is very very bad with the exception of Jason. I have never seen an Entertainment Team with such a lack of chemistry and happiness. An all time low has to on the evening that the "Holiday Reps" were allowed to be on stage and do a show before the main entertainment - it defied belief and was insulting to everybody who had paid good money to be there. The outside acts, bought in 3 times a week fail to add much needed "feel good" and a couple of the acts are frankly bizzare!

A real positive was Stage Coach run by Colin and Kelly. Two lovely people and my eldest son ended doing 10 hours practice and 3 shows. It is an additional cost but worth it.

The Soccer School was very expensive - 19 euros a day for 2 hours. My boys did 8 days and each day was the same! I will just say that out of the three coaches, Alex was by far the nicest!!!

Holiday Village has blue skies and sunshine on its side. It certainly should not be a 4 star hotel - or if it wants to retain that status, then First Choice need to send in a management team to work with the hotel to sort it out!

When we arrived the rooms were not ready and when we finally got into the room we discovered that the toilet had not been properly cleaned and there were dirty glasses left on the balcony. The plant troughs were full of cigarette ends and the windows had sticky finger prints on them. When we complained about this to reception they said they would send someone up right away, in fact it took until the following day for them to do anything about it. Not a great start.

Our room was a good size and well laid out. We were on east side of the complex and were shocked to find that it was so close to residential houses. We were sadly disappointed by the antics of some of the other guests in our block. There appeared to be an elderly lady living in the house immediately below and when she went into her garden there were shouts from at least one of the Hotel Holiday Village balconies overlooking her, and also I saw some people aiming empty beer cans at her swimming pool.

The food - Can be summed up by saying that there was enough of it but bland and monotonous. Many of the people including ourselves had a bug which apparently had been going on for some time.

All inclusive - That is very misleading. We seemed to be paying extra or over the top for everything. Things like the internet, we went to Benalmadena Centre and the internet there was half the price of the hotel. There was a hefty daily charge to park our hire car in the hotel. At the beach club we had to pay for all the drinks, which were by no means cheap.

Location - We had no choice but to hire a car, which we later discovered that we could have got much cheaper dealing directly with the car hire company, as the location was nowhere near any kind of amenities. We tried to catch the bus along with about 50 others trying to do the same. We waited for 3 buses before we could get on. Spanish timetable is also very unreliable.

The hotel should be described as a holiday complex with a dual carriageway running through the middle. The Beach Club is only accessible by a bridge over a motorway, and while it does have great sea views in effect it is no-where near a beach the name Beach Club should be altered to Cliff Club, as it perches on the cliffs above a very stony strip of shore. Beaches are miles away.

Noise - We were hoping for a good rest on this holiday as our lives are very busy and we work long hours. On the first morning we were awoken at 6 am by the first train passing by very close to the hotel. These trains continued every 20 minutes throughout the day and they sound their horn to warn the workmen, who are adding another track to the railway system. At 8 am the jack hammers started, as we discovered that they are now building another hotel immediately next to the Holiday Village. On a couple of the days it was very windy and whole hotel was covered in a fine dust which was stirred up by the earthworks next door.
Under this heading of "noise" we must add the entertainment, as that is the only word that we can think of to describe it. They remind us of amateur karaoke singers wearing the same clothes and singing the same songs every night, both of which were tasteless. They obviously also offend the people living nearby as we could hear loud horns being blown several times throughout the evening and people shouting "shut up". The hotel seemed to be expecting trouble with the guests as there was a rather large security presence. The behaviour of some of the guests was rather intimidating and drunkenness seemed to be the order of the day.

To sum up this hotel is, nowhere near what you would expect of a 4-star, it is at best a modern day version of Maplins (Hi-de-Hi), we would certainly never return to the Hotel Holiday Village.

We were impressed by the hotel layout on arrival.

Rooms are big and well presented. We found you could get all inclusive drinks at 2 bars in the Beach Club. Its just over a bridge,easy access.

The location of the hotel is bad,buses are very busy and some drive past(I notice they do that in the UK too) you can walk to the start of Fuengirola beach in 10-15 mins.

The food was not so good, I was very ill one night after eating in the Italian and we heard many complain about it. Entertainment was not very good,the First Choice reps tried hard and put on some good shows(I got dragged up in one)Jason is very funny. However, the resident duo need to be told to learn some new songs. Every night they played the same songs in the same order and dressed in the same outfits,everyone was laughing about it.

Now as adults we like to get involved in games during the day. I asked the reps what was for adults and all they had was football(you had to pay) and water polo. They said you could join in other games but beating 6 year olds is not going to be much fun now is it. They should organise for adults more. our boy who is 15 loved it. The place is great for kids.

The bars are hard to get served at,the staff are great but so short in numbers.Ramon,Felix and Estelle are good staff.

The maids where cheerful and the staff on reception are very nice and helpful. A big hello to Barbara who helped us so much with our trips to Ronda and Gibraltar. We booked our trips through reception,its cheaper than First Choice.

Benalmadena is nice in the centre, Mijas is well worth a visit. I know I sound negative but I like to be near places,this hotel is not close to anything. I also like a mix of cultures and everyone in the hotel is British except for the staf,but lots of people enjoyed it. Its just not my cup of tea.

One thing more is the bar by the beach employ 2 miserable girls,the young one will give you snotty looks all day. The food is horrible there,use it for drinks.

We arrived at 9.30 at night hungry and tired only to find that even though we were all inclusive there was nowhere to eat, If we wanted food we had to pay for it. They did however leave some meals in the room that had been put on the table but I would not have fed it to a dog, it looked disgusting.
We always ate in the buffet restaurant and the food in there was fantastic we even went back for more food. The staff in there were so friendly compared to the snack bar beside the pool.

The rooms were spacious and clean and had everything you needed although we didnt spend much time in them.

The kids loved the pool and the entertainment at night especially dancing in the piano bar.

We were not told that the pools over the road were all inclusive as it said in the brochure that drinks and food were not all inclusive there. We found out by accident one day when the barman asked us for our card.

There was not enough staff behind the bars and they were all miserable, they stopped half way through serving you to have a chat with each other. We found it quicker to order 3 drinks per person at one time.

All in all it was a great holiday and we would definitely go back.

Having booked self catering it did not take us long to realise that all inclusive was the way to go. The shop is very expensive. Nothing outside the complex unless you get a taxi or bus.

Hotel lovely, very clean, bright spacious. Lots to do. We didn't leave the place at all in the two weeks we were there. Food was fine, plenty of choice, Italian and Mexican were nice for a change, it was nice having your food handed to you instead of running around the dining room looking for cups and spoons.

I would recommend that children wear some sort of pool shoes when in the pool as my young boy cut his feet on broken tiles in the pool. I saw many other children in the same situation. Rooms are lovely.

Resident duo are a bit boring, but they try their best. Same songs and same outfits! Bar staff look a bit dispondent, maybe it's because it takes so long to get served that most people double up on their orders.

Very relaxing holiday. Kids loved it. Will visit again.

We arrived at 4am and on first appearance i thought the set up looked very impressive,reception and rooms etc. This is definetly a place that you would have to be ALL-INCLUSIVE as the location is very poor, we knew that it was isolated but not to the extreme that it actually is.

There isnt a shop ,bar or anything for miles add to that on a very dangerous road.Facilities are very good, the pools, cinema, and games room. But the drawback is the supermarket which is a complete rip-off.

The beach club was dissapointing not like it says on the brochure. I thought the complex was clean and the cleaning staff friendly.

The bar staff seemed a bit dispondent and ther was always ques at the bars.

The food was only ok, the mexican average and the italian poor. Entertainment was good, especially when Jason was involved. Overall this is a fine complex,but u felt it was not run as well as it could have been and because of this and its location I would not return.