Iberostar Waves Cala Domingos

Tomorrow, we are finishing a 7-day stay here and are incredibly disappointed. When we booked through Jet2, the agent explicitly told us this resort was "new." It is absolutely not new; it is an old property with major structural and plumbing issues. The smell of sewage was constant around the resort and in our room. Additionally, every time we stepped into our room, we were hit by a strong smell of mold/damp. The plumbing was a nightmare—our toilet was bubbling and the shower constantly overflowed. We had to call a technician three separate times just to deal with basic bathroom functions. Furthermore, there is visible black mold on the outside of the pools where the overflow water runs out. To make matters worse, the staff attitude left a lot to be desired. Many of them seemed completely fed up. We caught them making comments behind guests' backs and even laughing at toddlers during pool games because the children didn't perfectly follow instructions (like asking a toddler to grab a specific color object). Between the terrible smells, recurring maintenance issues, and judgmental staff, we would not recommend this resort. Do not let travel agents fool you into thinking this is a fresh, modern hotel.

We recently spent 11 days at IBEROSTAR Waves Cala Domingos, and overall we had an amazing holiday. There were a few small things that could be improved, but the hotel exceeded our expectations in many ways. 1. Update the pictures on TUI My first recommendation would be to contact TUI and update the pictures of the hotel on their website. The hotel looks much better in reality than in the pictures! We actually chose this hotel mainly because of the great reviews on TripAdvisor, and I’m so glad we did. The pictures really don’t show how beautiful and well-maintained the resort is. 2. Location and getting around the resort Our room was located roughly in the middle between the beach and reception. At first, I was shocked by how far everything seemed to be, but this was definitely a false first impression. 😊 It took us around 8 minutes to walk to the sea, which was absolutely fine. Getting to reception is a little more challenging because it’s uphill, but there are buses running very frequently around the resort, so you really don’t need to worry about it. During our entire 11-day stay, we only missed a bus once because it was full. 3. Kettle in the room If you like having coffee or tea in your room, remember to request a kettle at reception, as there isn’t one automatically provided in the room. Once we knew this, it wasn’t a problem. 4. The IBEROSTAR app is fantastic The IBEROSTAR app was a really nice surprise. You can chat directly with reception and get help within seconds, which was incredibly convenient. You can also quickly check the daily activities, opening hours and other hotel information. Very useful! 5. The food was amazing 🍽️ The food was definitely one of the highlights of our stay. There was great quality and a huge variety of food. There were plenty of options for children as well, including steamed food, baby food and fast food, so even picky eaters should find something they like. There were also gluten-free and vegan options available. 6. Bars and drinks 🍹 I was especially impressed with the drink setup. There was a nice bar with unlimited alcohol-free drinks, so children don’t have to wait at the main bar together with adults just to get a cola, slushie or water. Beer and champagne were also available without having to wait at the bar, and there were water-filling stations around the hotel, which was very convenient. 7. Smoking areas For smokers, it is a little more difficult. There are only a few designated smoking areas, which is completely understandable and actually fine during the daytime. However, during the evening shows, there is almost nowhere for smokers to sit. It would be nice if the hotel could perhaps add a few more tables in the designated smoking areas, especially near the evening entertainment. 8. Kids’ entertainment 🎉 For families with children, the animation programme is fantastic. There were different activities throughout the day, and the evening shows were also really good. For us, the only downside was that most evening shows started around 9 PM, which is a little late when you have young children. The baby disco was held in the pool, which was fun, but I would personally suggest having a separate children’s disco on the main stage as well. I think the kids would absolutely love it! Overall ❤️ We had a fantastic 11-day holiday and would definitely recommend this hotel to families. The food, entertainment, facilities, staff and overall atmosphere were excellent. The resort is bigger than we expected, but once you get used to it, the buses make everything very easy. And honestly, the hotel is much nicer in real life than it looks in the TUI pictures! We would happily come back again. 🌴☀️

We are a family of five with three kids under eight. We don’t like large hotels and typically go for hotels where the rooms are spread out around the grounds in bungalows, like this one, as they tend to be quieter. Our family room had plenty of space and storage, but it was beginning to feel tired. The main shower head leaked, the shower screen was nowhere near big enough, leading to flooded floors if you didn’t use one of the pool towels to soak up before you swapped them the following day (€20 deposit each by the way so a €100 cost I wasn’t prepared for on checking in, which also takes several days to be refunded after you check out) and it was very disappointing and somewhat uncomfortable not to have a double bed (two singles pushed together) for the adults. The food was generally fine, nothing special but enough variety to keep you from getting bored. Staff very friendly overall. Drinks a bit underwhelming and pretty much all the cocktails were disappointing syrupy pre-mixed variety. From a design perspective the hotel sort of works and sort of doesn’t. For example it was annoying having to go all the way back up the hill for lunch when the hotel has the facilities in the Mexican restaurant to be able to put on a full spread at lunchtime for those down on the beach or at the deep pool. Yes, you can also get lunch at the small bar by the deep pool which is down near the beach, but basically a tiny selection of burger and chips, pasta or pizza - fine for kids but not great selection for adults. One of the other biggest issues is the choice of tiles by the pool, I’d seen comments on this in reviews beforehand but they are lethal and it’s baffling how anyone with a brain could have chosen to put them everywhere, let alone around the pool area. I witnessed multiple slips and falls each day from Adults and kids alike (not an exaggeration), some of them quite nasty. I’m sure the cost to replace them would be huge, but Iberostar is owned by a huge hotel brand with deep enough pockets to spend some money when it comes to safety. Even the umbrellas by the pool were dangerous - many were broken or worn and several blew over during our time round the pool, one smashing a child in the face who happened to be walking past. The hills are a challenge for kids (or anyone with a disability) and probably the biggest frustration during our week was that they rarely had enough buggies running to get people up and down, especially at peak times like just before the main entertainment kicks off down at the beach (around 21:15 each night). This baffled me because it really isn’t that hard to predict or to organise. Add to that the clientele who rarely had the manners to appreciate who’d been waiting the longest (I will refrain from making generalisations but you can probably guess which nations were the most rude/obnoxious) and this became a bit of a regular annoyance. That said, when we did manage to hitch a ride our youngest absolutely loved it and the drivers were friendly. The marketing material doesn’t make it abundantly clear that the beach isn’t owned by the hotel, it’s public, and so you have to pay for beds (€15.50 for two). It also stinks of sewage down there when you walk past the kids club which is really unpleasant (there may be a cesspit or septic tank by the crazy golf). The entertainment team seemed really good from what we saw of them, we didn’t use the kids club but there were regular activities on during the day and the kids loved the evening shows, some of which were very impressive (the African acrobats especially). Overall our stay was fine and we had a nice week, but there were a few too many issues which took the gloss off. We’ve stayed at the likes of Ikos and so potentially our perception is skewed (this is a 4* as well so not like-for-like), but my overriding feeling was that it wasn’t good enough value for money overall and we won’t be in a hurry to return.

Highly recommended.. 5 🌟..., we stayed in Iberostar for 5 days and it was awesome... The staffs are so accomodating, friendly, and all Professional, The food is 5 🌟 as well, as a Chef I'm satisfied of foods from day 1 till the last day of our stay., I can tell that the Executive Chef and Sous Chef in which I met and have picture as well before we leave that are very good, everyday there is new in menu from breakfast to dinner...all i can say is that there is no great Chef without his team , they are all good in the restaurants.our kids enjoyed much,( pool, beach), everyday show is awesome too... all i can say is that Iberostar is truly deserved 5 🌟 LUCY SANTOS Chef Italy 🇮🇹

We chose Iberostar Waves Cala Domingos after seeing the beautiful photos of the individual bungalows dotted around the resort. We also paid extra through TUI for a Premium Family Room with garden or pool view and terrace, specifically because the TUI description and photos showed a bedroom with a separate lounge area. As a family of four, having separate sleeping space for the children is very important to us. Unfortunately, the room we were allocated was in the block above the main buffet restaurant and was completely different from what we expected. It was one large room with the main bed, sofa bed and fold-down bed all together, with no separate lounge area. We also had a balcony rather than the terrace described by TUI. The hotel told us they were fully booked and couldn’t move us, and advised us to speak to TUI. The location of the room was also disappointing. Our entrance was directly beside the restaurant, meaning we sometimes had to walk through the restaurant seating area to access it. Although we had a distant hill view, we overlooked the car park, reception and the roundabout. There was considerable noise from the restaurant, including scraping chairs from around 7:30am until 9:30pm, as well as occasional loud music from reception and frequent bus beeping at the roundabout. The pool area also feels too small for the number of guests. Sunbeds were generally taken by around 9:30am, with guests reserving them early and leaving towels on them. The pool was also closed several times due to children having accidents, although thankfully these closures were relatively short. We also found that queue etiquette could be frustrating at times, with some guests regularly pushing in rather than waiting their turn - for food, drinks & especially queuing for the resort shuttles. We unfortunately had an issue with lost property too. My husband accidentally left brand-new Ray-Ban sunglasses at the restaurant. A waitress found them and handed them to reception, even providing a photograph of them. However, when my husband first went to reception, he was simply shown a box of sunglasses to choose from and his weren’t there. Despite repeatedly returning to reception throughout the week, the issue was never properly resolved. It was particularly frustrating as the correct process of asking for identifying details was only followed later. Drinks are largely self-service. There are soft drinks, water and wine available, but the selection is limited and there is no juice available outside breakfast. Except from the entertainment bar which is down by the beach. On the positive side, the food was genuinely very good. There was a great variety and the quality and flavours were excellent. At the busiest times some dishes did run out, but given how busy the restaurant became, this was understandable. The resort itself is beautiful and the location is lovely, but unfortunately our experience was significantly affected by the room we were allocated and the lack of help when we raised our concerns. We would strongly recommend checking the exact room type, location and layout with TUI before booking, rather than relying solely on the photographs.