Las Rosas de Capistrano

If I wrote this as a purely negative review, it would sound as though we hated our stay. That simply isn’t true, so it’s only fair to start with the many positives. We genuinely enjoyed our time at Las Rosas. The apartments are spacious, well-equipped and comfortable. The grounds are beautifully maintained, with the gardens watered daily and the plants regularly pruned, giving the whole complex a well-kept appearance. The pool area and pool bar are also very good. The food is excellent for a pool bar, the frozen pint glasses are a nice touch, and the entire area is kept clean and tidy. Nerja is around a 20-minute walk away if you choose to walk, but there’s also a reliable bus service that runs every hour on the half hour for just €1. There are two large supermarkets nearby and a sports bar directly across the road. All the ingredients are there for a fantastic family holiday. One thing worth mentioning, as it isn’t made particularly clear on either the hotel’s website or Booking.com, is that the complex is split into two sections by a small private road on a fairly steep hill. The larger pool and the pool bar are on one side, while the smaller pool is on the other. It’s not a major inconvenience, but the road surface is uneven in places and it’s something guests with young children, mobility issues or pushchairs may wish to be aware of before booking. Unfortunately, where the accommodation falls down is the level of service and some avoidable shortcomings. The biggest issue is reception. It only operates during normal business hours and is completely closed on Sundays. If you need assistance outside those times—or, as we did, arrive on a Sunday—you are entirely on your own. We managed, but other guests could easily find themselves in difficulty. The lack of air conditioning in the bedrooms was another major drawback. Both bedrooms have ceiling fans, which were adequate in the rear bedroom. However, the front-facing bedroom remained unbearably hot, with the fan simply circulating warm air around the room. After a week we gave up and moved into the living room, sleeping on the air-conditioned sofa bed for the remainder of our holiday. The hotel also provides no cleaning service during your stay. The beds are changed once a week, but in temperatures like these, sleeping in the same sweaty bed linen for seven nights isn’t ideal. There is no washing machine in the apartment either. Instead, there is just one washing machine for the entire complex, located in the public toilet block, costing €4 per load. While this was manageable most of the time, there were occasions when we had to wait for someone to finish using the toilet before we could access the machine. It’s also inconvenient that neither the pool bar nor the nearby supermarket was willing to provide the €1 coins needed to use it. Relocating the laundry facilities and introducing a token or card payment system instead of coins would be a simple but worthwhile improvement. The pool bar service was frustratingly inconsistent. Everything seemed to depend on the manager’s mood. At times he was friendly and attentive, while at others he could be abrupt, refusing to serve customers at the bar and insisting they sit down for table service instead. Unfortunately, that table service was often slow or simply never arrived, leaving you to return to the bar anyway, where you risked being waved away or spoken to sharply. The lack of shade around the main pool was another disappointment. There are only five fixed umbrellas for around eighteen heavy sunbeds. The beds are stacked away every evening, meaning guests have to carry them into position each morning, yet only a handful can actually be placed in the shade. We ended up buying our own umbrella simply to make spending time around the pool comfortable. One final point worth mentioning is that several items of our pale swimwear and light-coloured clothing developed a noticeable yellow discolouration after repeated use in the pool. We can’t say with certainty what caused it, but it coincided with time spent in the water and may indicate that the pool’s chemical balance could benefit from closer monitoring. It’s something worth bearing in mind if you’re bringing expensive or light-coloured swimwear. Since our stay, the complex has introduced a no-reservation policy for sunbeds rather than increasing the amount of shade or adding more umbrellas. While it’s understandable that management wants to prevent beds being left unused for long periods, the policy also means families can’t comfortably go out for lunch or spend time away from the pool without risking their towels being removed and losing their beds. It feels like the symptom has been addressed rather than the underlying problem. Overall, Las Rosas has so much going for it. The apartments, grounds, facilities and location make it an excellent place for a family holiday. However, a few relatively simple improvements—extended reception hours, air conditioning in the bedrooms, a basic cleaning service, more practical laundry facilities, additional shade around the pool and more consistent customer service—would transform what is currently a good stay into an outstanding one. Until then, I’d happily return for the apartments and location, but with a clear understanding of the compromises involved.

Our second visit the Las Rosas. Lovely apartment. Clean and spacious. Everything we needed to make our stay great. Love having the 2 Supermarkets on ths door step for supplies. We love the walk into town and have got to know the owners of a few bars on the way . Rafael and Maria are very welcoming and nothing is a problem for them .. don't be afraid to ask advice on the area . The pool is clean and welcoming. Haven't eaten there but had drinks. We have booked to come back end of year and 2 times next year ... it really is our home from home

I read some reviews before I went and most seemed favourable. At no point ever did anyone mention there was no air con in the bedrooms (there is a review on now, but that was posted whilst we were there) We had quite a few issues but if there was air con we could have prob put up with some of the issues. So ……. Apartment - dated, needs a deep clean, lots of bugs which you get in hot countries but I think the maids should service more than than the once turnaround clean and this might help with this problem. On arrival there were approx 20 dead bugs on my daughter’s bed, This should have been resolved by a check by the management after the changeover clean. Kitchen is well equipped, Shower ok shower head isn’t that good. Beds are like laying on a slab of concrete with a bag of cement for a pillow The heat in the bedrooms is unbearable in 30’heat. The air con unit is in the living room and even with the bedroom doors open it does not serve the bedrooms. There is a fan in the bedrooms which blows the hot air around. I spent the first night sleeping on the settee which after paying £1800 I was not impressed at. The wardrobe doors come loose when you open. The small bedroom with the double bed is badly designed so you can’t access the wardrobe unless you crawl on top of the bed Or move the side table from the other side and move the bed. The first night when we arrived at 9pm we couldn’t get into our patio as the key wouldn’t work in the gate lock. My daughter had to climb over the fencing so she could open it from the patio. We resolved this by never locking the gate The door to the apartment is also tricky to open. Pool area The 2 pools were fine Bit of maintenance needed but ok. However it’s not ok to have only 4 fixed parasols at the main pool and 2 fixed parasols at the second pool. The owners should buy at least 6 more for each pool,Some sunbeds are broken but of course management know about this as some reviews have said this already. The walk into town was not 20-30 mins. There were 2 areas to visit one area might be that but the main part of Nerja where all the pretty streets and restaurants is much further and let’s be honest who wants to walk far in 30’heat. There is a bus near the apartments which is great but you can’t get one back so you have to get a taxi back every night. I telephoned the jet2 line approx 11pm and said I wanted to be moved. They said they would get the local rep to ring me the next day which she did. She found a hotel but said it would cost me a £1000.00 as the Rosa’s apartments wouldn’t contribute or waive part of what I’d paid as I hadn’t gone to them first. As they are aware they weren’t there They go home at 6pm. There was only one option and that was to ring jet2. When I spoke to the Rosa’s reception the next day she said I should have spoken to her. I explained again she wasn’t there and how could she possible put air con in the bedrooms? Or change the mattress etc she said he mattress are new. Im not sure why that means the mattresses are now not hard??? She said as did the jet 2 ref that it doesn’t say on the website the air con is in the bedrooms No it doesn’t it says there is air con. This means jet2 and the Rosa’s apartments are disingenuous. They deliberately didn’t say this. They moved us to a different apartment in the same block. This was slightly better as the main bedroom was very big so the hot air had more space to move around. One morning at 5am we were awoken by a group of Irish people who decided it would be nice to sit on their balcony for an hour and speak very loudly. I went out and told them to be quiet twice. This is not Rosa’s fault A woman there told us when she opened her wardrobe birds fell out. I don’t normally write bad reviews but I wasn’t happy after spending £1800 on this