Sol Don Pablo

Check is very slow compared to other hotels however staff are very good. House keeping is excellent. We had n issue with inconsiderate neighbours who had invited non resident guests to the room and security soon sorted this out as expected. Rooms designed for cleaning not relaxing. Bathroom all worked well. No kettle provided however I believe you can hire one subject to availability. Now the food. Thank goodness we only booked B&B. I didn’t try the Spanish bacon or the sausages. There was only one day a full selection of tomatoes and mushrooms available. It was stone cold. No warm plates then add the air con on full. I did notice on our last day there is a miscorwave , not where you would expect it but by the cold selection which was vast . We tried the other breakfast room and it is exactly the same. Sunbeds reserved from 7.30 am by all nationalities. Good location and gardens are kept very well. Overall staff , location and gardens is the plus here.

If you want to get away from the hustle and bustle, the noise and the crowds – don’t come to Don Pablo! This hotel – or rather, the whole resort, which includes two other Melia hotels – is a typical example of the tourism industry. Thousands of guests in a small area. Hundreds of people at breakfast at the same time, queues for the lifts. The biggest problem, however, is the noise: loud music for hours on during the day and then throughout the evening. I don’t know why the hotel management thinks that noise is what guests need most on holiday. From 12 to 2 p.m. there are so-called poolside entertainment sessions. Loud music can be heard everywhere, as the pools are in the central part of the resort and the hotels surround this area. The noise level is such that you can hear it even with the balcony doors closed. The second round of noise starts around 7 pm and lasts until at least 11 pm! This time it’s a massive ‘drink bar’ with musić on the terrace right beneath the hotel windows – you’ve got no chance of not taking part. And then, around 10 pm, it gets even louder – because the resort manager has decided to organise „artistic performance” at this time… which you end up taking part in even if you don’t feel like it. Normal hotels have entertainment for guests too – but usually in enclosed nightclubs, for those who are interested. Or once/twice a week openair. Here, it’s every day, in the open air, right beneath the room windows. Even if, after a busy day, you wanted to go to bed at 11 pm, there’s no chance of that. Closed balcony doors don’t block out the deafening noise. Another problem for us was the dirty, poorly washed crockery at breakfast. Every day. And the lack of coffee machines serving proper coffee – not instant – is simply a mockery of the guests. The breakfast items are rather poor quality, and instead of juices, there are drinks with a huge amount of sugar. On the other hand, there was a wide selection of fruit and some delicious cake. And cava! To be fair, I’ll also mention the positives of this resort: we had a Family Suite with a sea view – and it really was a comfortable, very large, modernly furnished room. With a magnificent view of the sea. The resort covers a really large area with plenty of greenery and numerous swimming pools. That’s another plus. The hotel staff are helpful and friendly. To sum up, I’ll never come back here and I’d advise against staying here.

Don Pablo, side sea view, third floor

Overall a very good holiday in a nice hotel but there are a few things which could make it better.

Room has almost all you need, comfy bed, tv with multiple languages (BBC, ITV, etc), walk in shower with glass door, decent air con, fridge, free safe. Bathroom a little mouldy at end of shower, could do with maintaining, cupboards a little dusty, kettle in room would be nice.

Multiple pool areas (you can use all pools from the three hotels - Pablo, Pedro, Marco), plenty of sunbeds, pool towels, parasols, areas kept clean and toilet facilities nearby. Some sunbeds could do with a scrub (mouldy/grubby), some parasols require repair. No sunbed wars when we were there. Didn’t try indoor pool but it looked ok. Used gym which is small but had weights, treadmills, spin bikes, etc.

Food was plentiful, lots of variety, service generally very good in the restaurant, tables cleaned pretty quickly. Good selection of drinks available on all inclusive. It did become a little repetitive by the end of the week. Lots of deserts with nuts which didn’t work for me sadly! Main observations were that there were lots of dirty plates in the clean piles and some dirty cutlery on tables. Needs better quality control after washing up before being put out.

Bars were very good, never had to wait long, good selection of drinks on all inclusive.

Entertainment: some good shows, some not for us. Enjoyed the soul singers, and the Il Divo tribute. You can go to the show in the Don Marco too for a different option. They started quite late in our opinion (9.45) and finished about 11, whereby there was usually a big queue for the lifts…

Good seafront position, lots of shops and bars nearby if you want to go out and about. Good prom for a run but go early..

All in all pretty good but could be great with a few tweaks!