AluaSun Lago Rojo

This is a hotel we can normally rely upon but this time, something just wasn’t right. 1. Staff Bar staff – Laura, Jonathan, Adrian & Estefania deserve massive credit for the hard work they get through. Victoria too on the rooftop bar, she wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but she does things in her way and in her time. Dining room staff – Again, a lot of hard-working folks who continue to smile throughout their day, except Pedro, he looks like he’s lost a tenner and found a fiver, never seen that lad smile, never. Cleaning staff they do a thorough enough job. I don’t need my room cleaned everyday though but I do need fresh towels as there are no windows or ventilation in the bathrooms and the towels stay damp. 2. Bar & Entertainment Refurbished since our last visit, it does look better than it did before and there is more seating. Drinks prices are reasonable but as always, you can find cheaper outside. £4.50 for a pint isn’t too bad in a hotel these days. Entertainment – I think this left a lot to be desired. The plinky-plonky keyboard player (twice a week for our punishment) is absolutely dreadful, even the bar staff feel embarrassed for the guests. Seriously, if I hear “Spanish Eyes” ever again it will be too soon. Couple of dodgy singers and the flamenco is purely for the tourists. The sax player and his female singer were probably the most talented and watchable of them all. However, its far too loud, can’t hold a conversation with the person next to you. 3.Sunbeds!!!! There is a notice in every room that says sunbeds are not to be reserved. There is a notice by the roof top pool, sunbeds are not to be reserved. In 2 weeks, 2 weeks! We had 2 beds for 3 hours!! I would just like to say a massive thank you to all the selfish folk who queue up for the rooftop pool opening at 9am and throw their towels onto the beds and then disappear for hours on end and eventually return at 3pm in the afternoon. I watched it once and it was so comical it was like a scene from Benny Hill. There are not enough sunbeds for the number of guests. That’s easy to see. There are a further 12 sunbeds next to the downstairs garden pool, but these only get the sun in the afternoons. However, there are 3 huge Bali beds (on offer for 40 euros per day!! (although that does include 1 drink from the bar) that were never in use. If you remove these beds that are making you zero money you will be able to get at least another 12 sun loungers in their place. You have a possibility there of 12 extra drinks from the bar and even 12 lunches, every day. It’s a financial no brainer!! You have replaced sun loungers with tables and chairs to the left of the stairs before you go up to the pool, again, you can squeeze another 8 loungers in that space. So far, I make that 20 extra sun loungers you can get in, that’s 20 less guests giving you earache about the lack of sun loungers. Have a think! Here’s the Biggy though: 4. Noise The dated rooms are desperate for an upgrade, which I’m sure Hyatt are in the throes of addressing. When they do, I would suggest some form of wall insulation, door insulation and better windows because noise comes at you from every single angle. We could hear the next-door neighbours passing wind!, carrying out their ablutions and shall we just say, “night-time activities”. From about 7:45 each morning the cleaners would be in the corridors shouting at each other from the top of the hall to the bottom, totally unacceptable. I appreciate they have to do a job but there really is no need to be shouting and screaming at that time of day. Outside noise. It matters not whether you are at the front of the hotel (main road, bin emptying, and reasonable amount of traffic, or the rear of the hotel – deliveries, huge footfall of folk coming and going, day and night, not to mention the two supermarket lock ups constantly being opened and closed and fork lifts loading goods all day, I don’t think we got a minutes peace when we were in our rooms. Dining room noise, now this is horrendous. I’ve no idea whose idea it was for those types of acoustics, but you can clearly hear people’s morning conversations, and they are sitting miles away. The drop of a knife reverberates like a constant tolling bell; the crashing of plates sounds like your local weekly refuse collection of recycling items. It is truly awful. 5. Food We were half board; we always have been and have always enjoyed the food. Breakfast we gave up on in the end, stone cold all of it. We went down at 7.30 one morning as the doors swung open, nope, stone cold. You can ask for eggs/omelettes etc to be cooked and they are warmer, but you don’t want the same thing every day. Evening meal – Now this is where I’m confused. You can manage to keep the food piping hot all evening and it’s in the same place and the breakfast items!! Can’t work it out. Please explain to me!! The food is hit and miss, you might find something, you might have to eat salad. Some really strange combinations are both evening meal and breakfast including (green beans, carrots and peas and chips for breakfast!). Lots of stews on an evening and things in very salty gravy. The labelling of the food can be confusing as it does not correspond with the item beneath it, if it exists at all. The food placed between the main courses and the salad was never labelled and most of the salad items again did not correlate with the item of food underneath. Some of the crockery and cutlery was not cleaned properly. On several occasions we had picked up plates and had to place then elsewhere as they were unclean with food stains, grit on the bottom of the plates. Be prepared to queue at the busiest times of the day and that includes breakfast. 6. Other things a. Charging for safe key. 52 euros (of which 10 has to be in cash) for the rental of a safe key is astonishing. I have no issue with the 10-euro deposit for the key, but 42 euros is out of order. b. Wi-Fi Blows hot and cold regardless of location within the hotel. It seems to be less reliable around 8am-9am (guess when most folk are waking up) and again from about 5pm – 6.30pm. Signal needs strengthening. c. Sockets in the room Not enough, we had to unplug the TV to utilise that socket and one is situated close to the floor by the steps down to the sitting area. No idea what that is about. d. Clothes hangers 6 hangers are not enough; we had to ask for more from the cleaning staff. They just pulled them from an empty room so someone would have had even less. e. Balconies Very small, 2 chairs, one small table and if you are at the side or the rear of the hotel all face residential apartments which you can see right into and vice-versa. 7. Children This is advertised as an over 16’s only hotel. There were 3 occasions where we witnessed a young girl in the hotel public areas. A further incident of a baby in a buggy sitting with its parents outside the main bar. This is an adult only hotel. That said, if you can’t enforce a no reservation sunbed rule there’s not much hope of much else! There are much nicer hotels on the front, Pez Espada being one of them. If you can put up with the rugrats then this is a better option. I can really only give it two stars, one for the location to the shopping street/beach/promenade and another for the staff members I’ve mentioned above.

Excellent location just off beach front in centre if carrihuela Food fantastic Lovely roof top pool and sunbathing area although difficult to get beds Would stay again

It's all about the location which, as well as being a bonus, can also be a hindrance depending on your room. Room (305) I can honestly say that I've never stayed in a room where noise was such an issue. Unacceptably bad, really. Old, single glazed windows. Don't have curtains open as you're opposite (about 10 yards away) some apartments that look directly in. All the noise from the street below echoes up like the people were walking past your window. On top of that, 305 is right above the lobby bar so you get to listen to that until it finishes, every night. Glass balcony balustrade didn't do my vertigo much good, either. Couldn't open door in the bedroom to balcony. We assume you should be able to as there was a table and chairs. Odd that you would have 2x tables, 4x chairs in a 'suite' with one double bed. The room itself was, at best, a 'quirky' layout. Nowhere in bedroom to hang clothes. You had to go up 3 steps towards main door for wardrobe and bathroom. Actually quite slippy/dangerous when out of shower. Shower was a decent pressure although, important point, would suddenly change to skin-peelingly high temperature without warning. Air-con worked well, so that was up to scratch. Note to maintenance, get the door between bedroom & lounge sorted - it needs completely re-hanging or shaving down, made a hell of a din trying to open/close it. Breakfast was good although, that said, no better/worse than you'd get at hundreds of other hotels around the UK or Europe. Plan on a decent wait if you want eggs other than scrambled. Entertainment - didn't actually go to watch it but heard it every night ! No comment. Pool - there's a very good reason you don't see many photos of people in the pool. Cold shock isn't what you plan for on holiday. Location - yep a blessing and (depending on your room) a curse. Great for getting out to the front and lots of great bars, food and the lovely promenade. Overall Wife & I were of the opinion we got the room we did as we were only on a 3 night break "Stick them in there" kind of vibe. Put up with it for 3 nights, not to make a fuss, but 100% would have asked for a change had it been any longer. Would we stay here again? No, highly unlikely. If they put as much effort into the rooms as they clearly have in the reception / lobby - which is all very nice - then it might be a different story. One of the most basic functions of a hotel is for a restful, relaxing stay away from home. Restful? Room 305? No chance.

Enjoyed a five night stay half board in a Junior Suite room 115. Excellent location, straight out the gate at the back of the hotel takes you to the promenade. Would stay here again due to the proximity of the seafront. Entertainment each night in the lounge bar which was good. Food is ok as you would expect, good choices, though nothing labelled to say what it was.

Great location for the Seafront. Although the views from the balcony don't show much the rooftop makes up for it. Clean and tidy with a good Breakfast and entertainment in the evenings.