Palia La Roca

Reception very friendly esp Victoria, rooms cleaned daily with fresh towels and sheets, toiletries etc as needed, animation team helpful and keen, meals good - buffet style and plenty choice, restaurant manger , chatty and friendly, pity is is now shut for winter season, needs a rethink!!

Just returned from 10 day holiday (24th Sept to 4th Oct) and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Hotel comprises 2 sections - 3 storey and 6 storey and we had a room (235) on the second floor in the 3 storey section and had a good sea view. The main receptionist called Victoria was brilliant , so helpful. The room was fairly large, simply furnished and cleaned daily to a high standard, although could be improved with a general refurb and updating. The cleaning team did an excellent job of the communal areas and were around all day. All guests appeared to be on an all inclusive basis with the restaurant having an outdoor, partly shaded section. The food was of a decent standard and a good choice with several themed nights with show cooking of fresh omelettes and pancakes at breakfast and freshly grilled fish and meats at lunch and dinner. My wife has a food allergy with mushrooms and when notified the hotel manager and restaurant manager (Antonio ?) were always attentive to ensure there were no problems or cross contamination from adjoining food trays. Drinks were self serve beer/wines/soft drinks. The main bar which fronted the large patio area next to the pool area served a wide range of AI drinks until 11.00pm, served in recyclable plastic beakers. Apart from a rush at 10.45 pm to get the final AI drinks round, queues were usually only for a couple of minutes - we found everyone who worked the bar to be friendly and pleasant, especially Jessica. Tea & Coffee was available self-service from a machine at the side of the bar and available 24 hours. In the bar area burgers & salad were available at lunchtime and fresh crepes in the afternoon. The hotel had a very good system to avoid early morning reservations of sunbeds as the pool area was cordoned off in the evening for the entertainment and not reopened until 10.00am by the lifeguard. Apart from a dozen or so who then walked quickly to bag their preferred sunbeds there were no problems getting a sunbed throughout the day. The pool area also had a substantial no-smoking section which appeared to be observed. The entertainment team worked tirelessly with a wide range of daytime activities and although they came round asking if you would like to join in they were not pushy. They also put on a number of evening shows which were supplemented on several nights with different singers, and a flamenco act. Outside, the hotel is on a up a small side street a 2 minute walk from the main coast road where there is an underpass leading down to the promenade on the opposite side from which you can walk 20 minutes to the marina.

The food wasn't that good. I lived on the same thing - virtually a continental breakfast. I had two rooms; the first one had an adjoining door which meant I could hear everything that went on. I had to complain about the noise and when I was trying to sleep I could hear the person in the room snoring. The second room I moved to was very small. There was no where to store all my clothes so I lived out of my suitcase for 10 days. The suitcase had to go on the bed. The room was very noisy as it overlooked the street and was situated behind the lift. On the day I was leaving workmens tools were left outside my door for over two hours, even though I reported the problem. It was a health and safety issue because I had to step over the tools and could have easily slipped. My room wasn't serviced - when it was all they did was remove the rubbish, clean the toilet and supply fresh towels. I had no clean bed clothes for the 10 days I was there and the bed was never made. When I ran out of toilet paper it wasn;t replaced. Solo travellers weren't catered for or acknowledged. It would have been nice to have been placed at a table just for solo travellers. Apart from the staff no-one spoke to me.