SALT of Palmar

My wife and I booked this as the relaxing second leg to our honeymoon following a safari. The hotel itself on entry is really cool and modern, a lot of thought into the interior and the overall vibe was great! The first signal of disappointment was when we were asked to produce our wedding certificate to prove this was a honeymoon (we had missed it in small print) - nothing would suffice beyond a certificate which thankfully we got a copy of but it took two days. This ultimately delayed us getting access to the “Honeymoon Package” - our travel agent had booked things on certain days as part of the package but that was basically thrown to the side and we were instructed to rebook directly with the hotel. Essentially we were disbelieved until we could produce a certificate, this essentially took the excitement and shine off things, despite having timestamped images of our wedding / document signing. The package didn’t actually give anything special to the trip either. The honeymoon package itself doesn’t make you feel at all special, it’s those honeymooners I would dissuade. Having been to the Safari before this, we were treated like royalty, petals, customised bottles for the trips, romantic items and touches that made us so so happy - this place provided none and essentially just gave us a few credits to book stuff ourselves, special wasn’t what I would describe it as. When we did get the certificate to them, one of the things was a romantic dinner. We had no guidance regarding this, no menu shown, no specific place or time to be, just the usual restaurant which is fine - however when it’s lobster night and you are served chicken breast you don’t feel overly special. Turns out we were meant to be given a menu but some admin errors meant someone (staff) had chosen our meals for us. Combined with having to wait an hour to get a main course and going with empty glasses for 40 minutes, we had a terrible evening on the whole. The chef was extremely good in sorting this out, rectified everything he could but the damage had been done. The following day my wife had to wait nearly an hour for avocado on toast - turns out it had been made just not taken to our table and thus had to be remade. We aren’t the kind of couple to make complaints, quite the opposite often to our own detriment, but the evening, we had to say something. This has tainted my perception of the stay a bit, but when you are seeing such hype on Instagram, tripadvisor etc about 4.9 out of 5 - I have to disagree. By no means is this a bad hotel with rude staff, far from it - but having stayed in similar rated places, it doesn’t reach the heights for me or even get close to. Our room was nice, but the aircon persistently dripped leaving a pool of water and the doors make a loud racket from the wind, due to fairly low quality of door. The maids, are excellent and do a great job. There is no fridge, and the flooring is essentially LVT which has come away from the adhesive making a bubbly floor basically. But the bed is exceptional, shower fantastic and the worktops excellent too. The staff are polite barring maybe the odd one on a bad day, rest assured. They work tremendously hard, but again just seem to miss some form of priority, a guest with an empty glass / finished plates gets deprioritised to prepare other tables for morning service. Both need doing, but that’s what elevates a hotel to that gold standard for me. The food is very good, again, nothing out of this world but very good. However to say you’re staying all inclusive, is in itself a bit false. This is key for people looking to book - do NOT think that you are all inclusive in the purest form. A lot of items, whether it be drink or food have an (*) next to them. They are charged even when on all inclusive. This narrows down what appears on the face to be a brilliant menu, which it definitely is, but things like smoothies on a hot day, chargeable. I understand that high end items are going to be treated differently to your normal stuff, i get it, but when half the menu is off limits when you’ve spent a lot of money to be ‘all inclusive’ it seems a bit false. The beaches are extremely windy and lathered in seaweed which the team do a good job of clearing much of it up, but if you want to go in the sea you have to go down the way a little, a far cry from what it appears online unfortunately. But the hotel can’t help nature… Oh and good look getting around the pool unless you get up and reserve at 07:00 there’s room for roughly 20-30 guests. The rest have to settle for the windy beach or conventional pool chairs near the bar. A good feature is removal of towels and items if a person is away from the bed for more than 45 mins, keeps people from taking the Micky. The premise of this review may seem negative, it’s not. There are many good comments which I agree with, this just gives a little context to people looking to book that maybe there are other elements to consider should you be used to 5* accommodation. We had a good time, but I would just temper expectations if you are used to other 5* hotels, particularly if you are looking to use a honeymoon package. When I raised this with staff about the package not being very special at all, their explanation was that people had told the hotel it was their honeymoon falsely - which is why they have the policy, but you essentially don’t feel special in the slightest. Good solid option, but when compared with previous stays in places with similar ratings it doesn’t quite reach those heights. Positives: Food, Quiet, Setting and decor, staff are friendly Negatives: Lack of space around pool, honeymoon package disappointment, a lot of asterisks making all inclusive false

We stayed for a week at the beginning of October so maybe a bit of a windy time of year? My husband chose here because of the food reviews . He is vegetarian and a coeliac ( no gluten ) which tends to be quite hard to cater for. Being adult only was appealing too From the moment we arrived to when we left we were made to feel special. Everyone was so friendly and kind and wanted the best for you. If there was ever a problem they went out of their way to help. This stay wasn’t without its problems as most places aren’t ( is there anywhere that is perfect for everyone ?) but they did their best to address them. We stayed in a bang on the beach room number 111 which was on the ground floor and looked out over the beach ( no access directly to the beach as it was slightly raised up making it private ) The only fault I have with the room is the doors leading out to the balcony don’t have a great seal so when the winds were up it was rather noisy. I did report it and they tried to improve it but on our last night it was very noisy. ( the rooms face east from which the prevailing winds come). Hopefully they have solved the issue( personally I think a new door was needed ) Other than that the room was lovely. Plenty of storage space for clothes in the wardrobe and shelves and a lovely walk-in rain fall shower. The bed was super comfortable. There was a kettle and some tea, coffee and decaf coffee. And two bottles of water every day. A DAB radio was the entertainment which is all you need. The wifi was good too The location was on a small peninsula and it was quite exposed on the beach rooms side to prevailing easterly winds. They were quite strong for some of the time we went so the seas weren’t very calm They do have a seaweed/ algae issue which they do try to clear but it did seem a bit self defeating as they would move the seaweed to the far side where the boat house was but this would get washed back in on high tide. There was only one day we were there when the sea was clear with no seaweed on the shore because they had made a good effort to move it all and it made a big different to the appearance. Much more inviting. There are rocks there too so don’t go there expecting to swim easily off the beach. If you go around the corner where it is calmer the swimming is better there. I did snorkel but didnt see many fish by the resort so do get the daily snorkel trip if you want to see a good lot of fish nearby ( about 15 minute boat ride ) but make sure you book the day before. There are plenty of sunbeds on the beach but the sun goes over the building and a lot are in shade after 2pm. There are a few around the pool but these get ‘reserved ‘ by early birds and their towels. It was a lot more sheltered from the winds there. By the pool there was a station with water or sparking water on tap and spf 50 sun lotion which we thought was a great touch. We used it every day and it worked well. There was a beach bar on the beach open from 11 and you could press the button under your parasol to get Pravesh to come for your order ( bit hit and miss ) We couldn’t get enough of his ‘Pravesh special’ cocktails. ( mine alcohol free ). Now to the restaurant. We went all Inclusive which I would highly recommend ( or full / half board) as the food was quite expensive. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner and also afternoon tea of cakes and pancake if we had room! It was à la carte and everything freshly made on ordering to reduce wastage. This did mean the wait could be quite long but when you’re on holiday there’s no hurry. The staff were very good. They had a computer system where any allergies or dietary requirement were recorded so when they came to take the order they could see my husbands requirements ( as long as they had a tablet which did seem to need charging too much so often they couldn’t use ) It did take a while to remember to bring him some gluten free bread instead of the normal stuff. On Sunday lunchtime it was a fixed bbq menu which was not very suitable for him but that was the only day where we had issues. The amazing head chef Shiva said they can make gluten free pasta or pizza and make other items gluten free so they did try hard to accommodate my husband. All the waiters worked hard. I am sorry that I can’t remember everyone’s names but I do remember Rewa as he seemed to be there all the time often with a smile and laugh and Med one of the managers who seemed to work as hard as his waiters. The food was lovely. Could get a bit monotonous with choice if you were vegetarian or vegan. Great if you like seafood. We did venture up to the roof top a couple of times but no one was there. It was rather windy so I guess that was why. We did have one meal at the tek tek restaurant because it had great reviews. You get 25 percent off if you’re all inclusive. It was a good experience ( we hadn't been to anything like it before so couldn’t compare it to anything ) but we were a bit disappointed. There were 9 diners and it took 3 hours for the whole experience! Way too long. ( there are supposed to be two sittings. One at 7 and one at 9 so we assumed we’d be finished after two hours. ) The chef was clearly good at what he did but a lot of the time was spent in silence and his English was hard to understand at times. But that’s a personal opinion. Other facilities -We didn’t try the gym or any of the boating equipment like kayaks, paddle boards and peddle boats but it was quite choppy. They do have a glass bottom boat which I’d recommend if you don’t want to snorkel. There was a spa there but we didn’t use it in the end I would recommend having a walk along the beach north of the resort when the tide is out- up to belle mare public beach. Such stunning scenery (and no seaweed - they remove the seaweed rather than shovel it about). We wished we had done it earlier. Takes about a 40 minute stroll past a few resorts to get there and is much better at low tide. Much more sheltered too. Or get a taxi. So would I stay there again ? Yes. I would probably try a less windy time of year because its location is exposed. ( we previously stayed in the south west which was much more sheltered ) Reason why? Quite good value for money compared to other places. Adult only. Very good sustainable ethos. Amazing staff. Very laid back but nothing is too much trouble. Thank you to Rishi and his team for making our stay a very memorable and happy one.

Amazing hotel , the staff was super professional and friendly and with good energy !!! Always there to support and accommodate you in the best possible way!!! The hotel was very beautifully designed, colours, aesthetics . The spa was great !!! The food at the restaurant , breakfast, lunch, dinner was like eating in the best restaurant !!!! Hope to revisit soon !!!

Came here for coffee whilst staying elsewhere as we’d heard it was the best bakery in the area, and it was! We were superbly looked after by Pravesh and Bhesave, the coffee is excellent and the croissants and pastries were delicious, lovely and light and buttery. Wish we had come earlier in the holiday as we would have been back every day!

If we could give this hotel 6 stars, we happily would. Let’s start off with the negatives…. there are none, zero, nil!!! Every single staff member we have encountered has gone over and above, the attention to detail and customer service from each person has been utterly fantastic. Everyone makes the experience of this hotel 10/10 which adds to its charm. Thank-you so much for always being so kind, generous and accommodating. It demonstrates what true customer service is and should be. A special shout out to Dheeraj, Hanshi and Dinesh. Who were always on hand with anything we asked for. The food is fabulous, so full of flavour and cooked by the chefs who put their heart and soul into the food.. A special mention to GiGi and Shiva, Always making sure we were happy with our meals and smiling each day. The food is à la carte and cooked fresh to order at every meal. The curry and fresh fish dishes were fantastic. Med and Vish are amazing and their teams were incredible…. Always quick to help on service and when I asked for smaller portions, they were more than accommodating. The room was stunning, we had a “bang on beach” room and it did not disappoint! The view we woke up to everyday was incredible, the room was spacious, well organised, always clean and well maintained by the attentive staff…no faults at all. Thankyou to ALL staff who made our stay a dream stay. We would highly recommend this beautiful hotel for a relaxing stay.