Sandos Monaco Beach Hotel and Spa - Adults Only

Great location but this hotel gets it wrong at so many levels....see below

1. Reception too small for check in

2.Not enough staff overall 3. No evidence of patrolled security around the resort 4. Minimum age for all inclusive should be 18 AND NOT 16 who certainly cant take their drink to excess !!! 5 Smoking area right in front of entrance to pool area had to wade through tobacco smoke daily... awful !!! 6.no all inclusive basics such as soap in the bathroom coffee or tea bags or milk or tissues and one bottle of water in the fridge nothing else !!! 7. Absolutely no branded drinks at the bar you have to pay extra for them. 8. Internet wasn't constant Good points food was ok To summarie this hotel has so much potential but needs a management overhaul ASAP we won't be back im afraid .....uk couple review

It was our first time at the Sandos Monaco hotel, but we will certainly be going back. It had everything; the staff were all very friendly and helpful, and the bedroom was lovely and clean. The hotel was very relaxing, and the entertainment was top class. The dining room was spacious food was first class

Enough good points to be worthy of a positive review. However is everything five star ? No it is definately not.

To start, a very important piece of advice. Unlike rival hotels, the 'all inclusive' is only a small additional amount more than 'full board'. It is a much better deal.

This was our second visit this year (and my second review of the place). To be fair there had been 1 or 2 improvements.

The Sandos Monaco is situated in the middle of the Centro Area in Benidorm. One direction for the Old Town and the opposite direction for The Strip (British Zone). The Levante Beach is about a minute walk.

As with ouy previous visit we went "top of the range" again. This gave us a very spacious high floor room, all inclusive package, access to the self service mini lounge (snacks and branded drinks), 2 free visits to the spa area and 1 entry to the Indian Restaurant.

WHAT WAS GOOD/REALLY GOOD??

The room and the daily cleaning could not be faulted in any way. Big balconey with sea views. Safe. Air Conditioning. Flat screen TV. 2 very comfortable double beds. Fridge drinks included. Bath robes and slippers. Decent bathroom. Tea/Coffee facilities. The good cleaning was done every day, what ever time we left the room.

The special guest longe, much improved this time. The snacks were fresher and were topped up. Compete range of soft and alcholic drinks, hot beverages and draught beer. There was always enough glasses or cups.

The large terrace/pool area does get a lot of sun. It has a nice atmosphere. The "towells on chairs" problem was not as acute as previously.

The Spa area, is a very unique experience. I have not seen anything like it before. A huge heated indoor pool area. with many different water massage possibilities. Includes Jacuzzi, Steam Room, Sauna Etc,

WHAT WAS OK / BUT DEFINATELY NOT 5 STAR

Restaurant Lunch / Dinner operation. The hotel is big, so it is a massive operation for the staff. Most of the time, the food is of a acceptable standard and quality. Given the reputation and reviews of the hotel, most would expect better.

WHAT WAS NOT OK

I am not the first to mention it, but easy winner of this catagory is the breakfast operation. Easily the worst of the Benidorm 4 star hotels. Guests are mainly British, so the British style breakfast is popular. The bacon is always stone cold, sitting in a pool of grease. and in 35 years of reviewing I have never seen fried eggs that are served in such terrible condition. Damaged, overcooked, rock hard, it is hard to imagine them being worse. Rival hotels would not serve breakfast of this standard. I did mention this in previous review, the reply suggested this would be sorted, but it has not.

2 STRANGE INCIDENTS

The hotel does have a very laid back atmosphere, but two events that are worthy of mention. And both are connected to the Spa. Firstly, in the changing room area of the spa, I found a gold chain that had been left in the bottom of a locker. A very elegant and expensive looking piece and its weight suggested that it was almost certainly gold. I handed it in to reception and left our room number. The guy in reception seemed surprised that I handed it in, and also thought it was gold. We never heard another thing about it !!!!!!!!!!

Secondly, on the final day, my partner went back the Spa alone. There is no supervision inside the Spa area, only at the entry point. Unfortunately there was a lone male guest that followed her all around the area, and to each treatment. So she got out and left early.

Not sure how relevent the 2 above points are, but they both stick in the mind.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Big repuations and top reviews create very high expectations. Standards should be measured against the best hotels and not the worst ones. Be it noted there are many good positive reviews of this hotel. The hotels gets masses of reviews, and due to the new Trip Advisor format, the less than favourable reviews get quickly drowned out. Before, if you wanted, you could click on to only 5 star (or only 1 star) reviews, to get a full picture. Now you can not.