Barcelo Ponent Playa

We stayed for 4 nights in July for a sisters getaway and done all inclusive. The location is absolutely breath taking and you truly do switch off which I haven't been able to do for a long time. The hotel felt a little dated and for a 4* I expected a bit more. The lobby / reception area is really well decorated and wished this was more consistent around the rest of the hotel (I.e the corridors and stair areas). They felt a bit grubby and maybe I'm being a bit picky here but I'm used to tiled floors in hotels rather than carpets. Also it's a nightmare trying to get the lift! So be prepared to wait a while for one. The rooms however are really lovely and spacious and I'm pretty sure we were upgraded to a sea view room which honestly was one of the best views I've ever seen! People watching at its finest on this balcony I loved it, and reading my book was also *chefs kiss*! I was so impressed with the food also. We did do all inclusive and I loved the options every night. Although I fear staying for any longer they could get a bit repetitive - but plenty of options to eat out around the hotel area! The area is a great base and lots of places easily walkable - there's a stop right around the corner for the ting ting train which is a great way to get around. Overall it's a lovely hotel in a stunning location and we really did have an amazing time. Just maybe a few tweaks needed here and there. Great staff who were all very friendly, but I do think the all inclusive options could have been explained better and the app they use is quite temperamental.

Location was excellent the atmosphere very friendly and the place was nice. Room was a bit small/plain, but very clean .

I have to start with saying how I never usually leave negative reviews, but this stay disappointed me and my husband so much. We arrived here to start our honeymoon and on the day we arrived there was no running water in the hotel, although staff checking us in knew about this, they didn’t inform us of the issue, we found out from other guests complaining at reception. When we first got to our room we checked the water and aircon, the water spat our brown murky water then cut off, and of course the aircon wasn’t working. After going back down to reception and being told it would be back on within 30 minutes, we quickly found out they were just saying this to get us away from reception. Although the staff said it was an external issue, we checked with nearby businesses and no one else was experiencing this issue. We had a dinner reservation booked that night, and we couldn’t get washed in the shower, flush the toilet or wash our hands, it was extremely unhygienic and totally unacceptable. We had to get a bottle of water to fill up the sink and wash this way, not good at all. That night we had the most uncomfortable sleep with no air con and the fact we knew there was still no running water. On the second morning there was still no running water and at this point we knew we were going to move hotels otherwise this issue would have totally ruined our honeymoon. What I will say is when the manager came the next morning, she resolved our issue for us immediately and we were able to go elsewhere. Besides the water issue, the location and views that the hotel have to offer see excellent, but I fear that is the only good thing about this hotel, I would say it is a 2 star hotel with great views. We stayed in a superior sea view room and we didn’t feel that the money we paid was worth it at all. The room was small and cramped with not much storage room, there was rust all over the bathroom, there was mould growing on parts of the wall / ceiling and there was damp water marks on the ceiling. The room smelt musky, as did the corridors. As we only stayed here for a short time before moving to a new hotel we didn’t use the pool or restaurant so cannot comment on those. Overall, I would not recommend this hotel, we were largely disappointed and would never return.