MedPlaya Hotel Riviera

Our stay at this hotel was unfortunately a very disappointing experience. In our opinion, this establishment is nowhere near the standard we would expect from a 4-star hotel. We would give it 2 stars at most — and even that feels generous.

Cleanliness and hygiene are clearly not up to standard. At first glance, the room looks beautiful and quite high-end, but once you look more closely, the problems become obvious: old dirt and stains behind the bin, tissues left underneath the bed, and sand in the shower on our very first day, even though we had only just arrived and had not even used it. The bathroom is also rather dark and austere. There are even holes drilled into the tiles in places where they appear to serve no purpose, allowing you to see into the space underneath.

The food is another major disappointment. The dishes are often dry, appear to be reheated, completely lack flavour and are barely seasoned. There is practically no salt, no pepper and very little taste overall. For a half-board stay, we expected a much higher standard of food.

The attitude of the staff was also disappointing. The staff are generally not particularly welcoming, and we experienced a situation that we found especially unacceptable: at around 5 p.m., while we were in our room taking a shower, a member of staff entered our room without our permission to ask whether we wanted the room cleaned — even though it had already been cleaned that same morning, at around 10 a.m. We found this extremely intrusive and completely inappropriate.

The pool area is another major issue, particularly when it comes to organisation and safety. Signs clearly state that reserving sun loungers is prohibited. However, in reality, almost everyone does it and the hotel management does nothing about it. As a result, before the pool has even opened, there are already hardly any sun loungers available, and guests are basically left fighting to find one.

The pool itself is also not particularly clean. The access ladders do not feel safe either: all three aluminium ladders we used moved significantly backwards as soon as someone climbed onto them. This is far from reassuring.

On top of that, many people smoke around the pool, making the area rather unpleasant for non-smokers.

We also found the level of pool supervision concerning. From what we observed during our stay, a lifeguard is only present every other day. For a hotel of this category, this is particularly worrying. Pool safety should not be a matter of luck.

The most concerning incident, however, happened during the night of August 17–18. The fire alarm went off for several long minutes. It eventually stopped, but no member of staff came to inform us, reassure us or explain what had happened. The following morning, we still had received no explanation whatsoever. When it comes to a fire alarm, this complete lack of communication is extremely concerning. It also seriously disrupted our night and affected our sleep.

Finally, all drinks have to be paid for, even with half board. A 750 ml bottle of water costs €3, which we find particularly expensive for this type of hotel.

Overall, we are leaving with a very negative impression. Between the lack of cleanliness, poor food quality, unfriendly staff, unauthorised access to our room, lack of response to the fire alarm, poor management of the sun loungers and the various safety concerns around the pool, this hotel simply does not meet the standard we would expect from a 4-star establishment.

In our opinion, this hotel deserves 2 stars at most. We cannot recommend it and we will definitely not be returning.

A very nice hotel with a perfect location! And what makes the stay even more enjoyable is the friendliness of the staff, from reception to the pool bar—always available, helpful, and smiling. It feels good there, and that makes all the difference. I went back twice in the span of two weeks.

We returned for the 6th time, but 1st time after refurbishment. We went direct through the hotel, which found good value for money We decided on an upgrade to deluxe Mediterranean view A bit disappointed with the room, bed was only a double were as in the standard room they are much larger and the room is more spacious. There was a useless fridge/ bar full of flavoured water, beer, etc nut olives crisps all at a price, but no room for occupants items, all very well but there is a extra perk for this upgrade, being access to a coffee lounge off the reception, were all the drinks are free, this doesn't make sense. Views were lovely from the balcony but doesn't give you any more the two chairs and a table. The main restaurant had been significant remodelled, nice seating areas with lots of space, pleanty of choice, presented nicely, pleanty of coffee machines. We didn't eat in the main restaurant in the evening as we chose to go bed and breakfast. The new Mediterranean restaurant, looked lovey, although the quality of food didn't quite match the standard of surroundings. There was a odd amount of themed activities taking place such as cocktail making sessions, a caricature artist and painting classes. Whilst these may appeal to some guest, they seemed to distract from the overall dining experience, rather than enhancing it. The pool area are bar area exceptional, clean well maintained, the pole attendant was great very helpful and removing towels left on sunbeds for more than an hour, ensuring pleanty of beds were available throughout the day. The large Balinese beds by the pool were excellent value. However the uper sun terrace was disappointing as it lacked improvement, from previous years ( looking tired) Live entertainment around the pool throughout the day, was a mixed experience, some performers were very good while others were less impressive. More importantly it has seemed to have had an impact on the evening entertainment, on our previous visits, the main bar was always busy with a great atmosphere which encouraged guests to stay in the hotel of an evening. This visit it was often very few guests infact some nights only 6 guests, The staff work very hard throughout the day and evening, but we think it must be sole destroying for them to see so few guests in the evening. Overall the hotel still seems to be finding its identity, which type of clientele it wishes to attract. My only observation is that younger guests are often more likely to leave the hotel in the evening and spend their money, which is a shame. Having said all this we still think it's a great place to stay, staff are wonderful and we did enjoy our holiday, and we will certainly return.