ILUNION Miramar

We have just returned from two weeks at the Illunion Miramar. Family of five - two adults and three teens aged 14-17 in a two bed apartment. POSITIVES: Room was a pretty decent size. Good size balcony with two clothes airers. Bathroom had full sized bath with shower attachment and a separate shower cubicle, meaning two girls showered at the same time. Cleaners came in every three days and did a great job. Large outside pool. We never struggled to find sun loungers no matter what time of day we went by the pool, so it's surprising to read other reviews mentioning sunbed wars. Some days we wouldn't go to the pool until midday and there were lots of available beds.

NEGATIVES: Extra charges! We expect to pay for the in-room safe, but it was €3 per day, so €42 for a two week stay. Gym was €25 per person per week, so would have cost us €250 for the two weeks. Indoor pool: you have to wear a swimming cap (no idea why). The hotel will sell them for €4, but we bought them slightly cheaper in the supermarket. Children went to use the indoor pool, only to be told they needed an adult with them (children were 17, 15 and 14). So they never used the pool. The outdoor pool is lovely and it is nice to have lifeguards, but!!! the constant sound of them blowing the whistle was annoying. They were very, very strict. Only certain types of ball allowed in the pool, no jumping in and absolutely no inflatables. Completely understand that too many inflatables can be annoying, but they just seemed to be preventing children from having fun. The hotel is further away from the beach and main strip than we were expecting. We walked into town every night, but it may be a struggle for families with younger children or mobility issues.

Overall a decent hotel. We would probably stay there again, but with the knowledge we would need to spend more to use all the facilities.

We had a lovely holiday overall and found the hotel to be clean and well maintained. Our room was cleaned every few days, which was more than adequate for us, and the pools were great.

We stayed in the block overlooking the paddle courts, which turned out to be a really enjoyable location. We couldn’t really hear much of the noise from the apartments, and actually enjoyed sitting out and watching the games. The food from the pool bar was also good and convenient for lunch and snacks.

Unfortunately, the main dampener on the holiday was the usual issue of sunbed reserving. On one particular day, we sat on a vacant sunbed which had no towel or belongings on it. Around two hours later, we were approached and told that someone had reserved the sunbed because they had reserved the three sun chairs next to it. We were asked to move, despite the fact that the chair we were using had been completely vacant when we sat down and there was nothing on it to indicate that it had been reserved.

What made the situation particularly disappointing was how the manager handled the dispute. I was sitting on the chair with my young daughter so that I could keep an eye on my son swimming in the pool, but we were still asked to move. We felt that the decision went against the hotel's own rules regarding reserving sunbeds and that the situation could have been handled much more fairly.

I subsequently contacted both the manager and head office to raise our concerns. Unfortunately, I found the response quite defensive rather than acknowledging why we felt let down by how the situation had been dealt with.

Aside from this incident, we genuinely enjoyed our stay and there is a lot to like about the hotel. The facilities, pools, cleanliness, location of our accommodation and pool bar were all positives. However, the way the sunbed dispute was handled left a disappointing impression on what was otherwise a very enjoyable holiday.