Hotel San Fermín by Dorobe

San Fermin is a plain and simple hotel. I would absolutely never recommend this hotel for anyone looking for a relaxing stay in Benalmedena unless you’re a very heavy sleeper and unbothered by rowdy groups of men on stag parties.

We stayed for 6 nights and I only slept through the night once. I am an incredibly heavy sleeper. I can sleep in cinemas, planes, cars etc, but this hotel had me waking up almost every night from paper thin walls and rowdy guests shouting in the corridors. We were lucky enough to have an Irish group of party goers on our floor for the first few nights (I only point out their ethnicity because of how clearly I could hear their voices from my room). They came in at 4am about 3/4 nights in a row, slamming doors, having conversations in the corridors, singing. As a result my quality of sleep was terrible.

Last night (our final night at San Fermín) a man attempted to break into my room after relentlessly knocking on my door at 2am asking to be let in. Frozen in fear, I didn’t say anything (I was in the room by myself(20 yr old female), my parents in a room further down the corridor) until he said “you’ve made me do this” and started trying to release the door latch with a card. I shouted that he’d got the wrong room and he didn’t respond but kept knocking on a door (couldn’t tell if it was mine or the one next to me) and eventually he got in the lift and came back with a card and got into the right room by the sounds of things. He was obviously drunk and had got the wrong room, but I was still incredibly shaken up and very tired again as a result.

Other than the terrible sleep though, the pool area is actually quite nice. The lifeguard is incredibly attentive, funny and friendly. She’s always up to help you with anything (towels, empty glasses, safety concerns, etc) and she made sure that the rowdy stag groups were behaving appropriately even when they argued back at her about the hotels rules on ball games and drinks on the poolside. Massive shout out to the lifeguard.

The bar by the pool is very hit or miss, during the day the queues are pretty bad, often waiting anywhere from 5-20 minutes to order due to only having 1-2 members of staff for taking orders and running food to tables. The drinks are cheap though, and food can cost anywhere from €10-€16 depending on what you get. Although, I ordered a frappuccino once and they literally gave me an iced coffee filled halfway with caramel syrup. You could genuinely see the separation of syrup at the bottom of the glass. Fair to say i didn’t drink it but I daren’t go ask them to fix it because the queue was so big. The food is decent though, nothing traditional or mind blowing but enough if you’re feeling lazy like we were on some days. They do stuff like burgers, toasties, sandwiches, chips, and

The breakfast is nice too, no notes really just a very standard continental with a full english available and omelettes on request.

The cleaning services are okay, just a standard bed sheet and towel change every day. Although one day i did have to go to reception and ask for bath towels since the cleaner had taken all my towels and not replaced them. The room itself is nice, with probably the best rain shower ever and nice shampoo & body wash. The room has a kettle with coffee and tea, plus a mini fridge and a safe. the bed was comfy and the wardrobe was big. The ac was perfect too. The balcony was a little underwhelming but i was facing the backside of some apartments so i didn’t sit out there.

I absolutely recommend the Retro Bar just up the hill of the hotel entrance. It’s run by an incredibly kind and funny couple called Jose and Veronica. A brilliant laugh if you’re looking for a change of scenery. They support a local dog sanctuary with their own little dog standing guard at the door for visitors to say hello to. The drinks are good, cheap and the owners are people that I will greatly miss. They play the football when it’s on too, in case you’re visiting whilst the world cup is on.

It’s also hard to go wrong with most of the restaurants in the area. There’s a bit of something for everyone, ranging from Irish bars serving burgers and chips to some really nice traditional Spanish restaurants.

It seems as though the hotel is struggling to find its target audience. It’s certainly not somewhere I’d ever recommend this place for families with small children regardless of their tiny kids pool. This is because you can’t have inflatables or balls around the pool. It’s nice for older people who enjoy day drinking and smoking and Irish bars, or stag/hen parties or just parties in general. It would make more sense if the hotel just chose either family friendly or not family friendly and outlined this clearly in their policies.

Overall I’d say bring your earplugs and a baseball bat if you’re staying here, but if it’s not too late then maybe look somewhere else if you’re wanting a quiet and relaxing holiday. If you’re looking to wind down after a hectic three years at university like I was, then avoid. But if you’re loud, rowdy and travelling in with a group of party goers then sure, book to stay at San Fermin.

Where to start ! We were here for a week, returning 2nd July, bed and breakfast, 2 rooms on floor 4.

Let's start with the positives:

1. The hotel is very clean.
2. The staff at the bar and restaurant are very friendly.
3. The breakfast choice is very good. Hot and cold options, plenty of tables. We sat outside most of the time which was lovely.
4. The lifeguard. Unfortunately we didn't get her name, but she deserves a medal putting up with the drunk stags we had during our stay. Constantly stopping them taking drinks to the pool edge, playing ball games in the pool, and putting up with a lot of back chat.
5. The drink and food prices are very reasonable. The food offering is pretty basic, toasties, salads, burgers, but ok if you don't want to leave the resort. Ideal for the stag parties to soak up the beer.
6. The bedroom is a good size. we had Superior rooms. There is a mini fridge, toiletries (shampoo and body wash bottles attached to the wall - very nice), a safe which you pay for at reception. The wardrobe is a decent size with plenty of hangers. There is a huge TV, we didn't actually even turn it on , so no clue which channels they provide. The shower is fab ! Huge walk in rain shower. Best part, the aircon ! Very welcome after a day in the sun. Nice size balcony.
7. The Pool and Sunbed area is a decent size. We didn't have problems getting sunbeds. We paid for towel hire, you get your money back at the end of your stay. The pool was lovely and warm. No inflatables or ball games allowed.

Now the negatives:

1. The noise levels at night time are horrific. The hotel next door , The MedPlaya Hotel Bali, has outdoor night time entertainment. No need to put any music on or anything in your room, you can listen to that until it finishes ! The surrounding area has a lot of bars etc, and you can also hear that until late. The first night, Music was blaring until 6 in the morning ! Also, drunk people coming back in the early hours, shouting, slamming doors, pacing up and down corridors, no regard whatsoever for other guests. The walls and doors have no noice cancellation so you can hear everything ! We had a group of lads below us who would be out on the balcony til late. Not the hotels fault directly, but you need to decide who you want staying here. Familes, couple, or stags, hens, groups who are out to party.
2. The service at the bar was very slow. Because we had 3 stag do's in the time we were there, some overlapping, the queues to the bar were just ridiculous.
3. The location is not great. The steep hill to get back up and down to the more authentic spanish restaurants, which included stairs down to the beach level, were starting to get a bit cumbersome, especially in the heat ! If you just want to go to the Irish bars and grap yourself a buger and chips, then it is just the steep hill to contend with.
4. The sunbeds could do with replacing. They were pretty uncomfortable.
5. The pool is a decent size, but when the stags/groups are taking up most of it doing relay races, it isn't very enticing. We did go in once when there were a load of blokes in there, and to say the language/conversations were disgusting is an understatement.

We were going to give this hotel a 3, for the amenities and the lovely lifeguard. Marking it down to a 2 because our stay was mainly spoilt by the drunk groups of blokes and other drunk people just ruining sleep, taking over the bar and pool. Then on the last night, our 20 year old daughter who was stopping in her own room, had some drunk guy trying to get into her room in the early hours. He was so drunk he was clearly trying to get into the wrong room, but it terrified her. She didn't know what to do! We had already been woken earlier in the evening by some drunk guys shouting and making so much noise just outside our room. Someone tried telling them to be quiet and they just started shouting expletives at them. We read the response to our daughter's review and I think the hotel is missing the point. If this is the sort of clientelle you want, then make it clear in your advertising, if it isn't, then make it clear, that groups/stags/hens are not allowed and will be asked to leave. This will stop people just individually booking rooms without you realising it is a group. We would also like to point out, secuity did not attend to this incident at our daughter's room which went on for at least 20 minutes !! Most likely a separate incident somewhere else. The drunk bloke eventually went away and into the correct room !

We would never return to this hotel. Management seriously need to decide who they want to cater for. Families with small children, don't book here, there is nothing for kids to do. The way this place is at the moment, if you are looking to book a stag/hen/group party, then book this place. If you are looking for a relaxed, quiet holiday, don't. We have read answers to previous reviews, I suggest Management start reading and listening to the comments, rather than making excuses.