Sol Principe

I must express my deep disappointment with my recent stay at Sol Príncipe Torremolinos. What should have been a family vacation turned into a distressing experience due to inflexible policies and poor customer service.

Upon arrival on August 18th, after a seven-hour journey with my family of four—including a two-year-old and a three-month-old infant—we encountered an immediate problem. Our reservation was for three guests, but we had decided to bring our second child along (initially planned to stay with grandparents in the city). The hotel refused to provide access cards to our room, citing the discrepancy in guest count. Rather than seeking a reasonable solution, staff demanded additional payment for a larger room without providing a second child bed—despite the fact that our three-month-old sleeps with us and requires no additional facilities or meals. When I proposed reverting to our original plan and having the grandparents bring our child to the hotel, the staff responded with an utterly unacceptable statement: "If the grandparents do not come to bring him with them, we cannot provide you access to the room. We cannot trust you if we do not see them." This condescending and accusatory tone—treating paying guests like suspects rather than customers—was completely inappropriate and deeply offensive.

Faced with this hostile and inflexible approach, with two young children in tow at 10 p.m. after an exhausting day of travel, I made the difficult decision to leave the hotel immediately. The staff offered no alternative solutions, no empathy, and no attempt to accommodate a family with infants.

Beyond this primary issue, the hotel presented additional problems. Parking is not complimentary; guests must pay for parking spaces that are not even guaranteed. I waited 25 minutes to secure a parking spot, only to leave shortly after. Furthermore, the hotel's facilities appeared overcrowded and poorly maintained—the restrooms I used before departure were visibly dirty.

I cannot recommend Sol Príncipe Torremolinos.

We booked 3 rooms at the Sol. A couple of months before our stay, I emailed the hotel requesting a low floor and for the rooms to be on the same row, as close to each other as possible. I would like to thank the hotel reception team for meeting my request. We were in rooms 3113, 3116 and 3122, which had great views over the pool and play areas.

The food was average for an all-inclusive. There were the same types of foods every night, including pizza, chips, pasta, salads, cakes, pork chops, kids sweet station and icecream, as well as a different soup, fish and beef stew or meatball, lamb stew dish each day.

Breakfast had a vast choice, including eggs, omelettes, bacon, sausages, breads, cakes, jams, pancakes, yoghurt,fruits, etc.

We stayed half board. The restaurant was busy, and I think it could do with more cooking stations or a better queuing system. For example, if you wanted chips and pizza, you still had to wait in line while passing many other foods, which could result in your food becoming cold. This was mainly during the busy times from 7:30 pm to 9 pm. At 6:30 pm, the restaurant was less busy, and 8:30 am in the morning also seemed to be quieter.

Most days, we chose to eat out and swap our evening meal for lunch. There are lots of restaurants on the front and back streets, including Taj Spice curry house and a steakhouse.

The pool area is great for all ages, although floats and lilos are not allowed, only small rubber rings. There is daytime entertainment in one of the pools, including a float mat to run across and kids' activities.

The location is great, with a supermarket just outside the entrance and the beach at the back entrance.

The rooms are adequate, with plenty of storage for clothing, a TV, kettle, fridge and a free safe, which is always good. Free pool towels are also provided. If you want them changed every day, it's only €1 for a fresh towel.

The bathroom has shower gel, shampoo and hand wash, which is handy, although I always take my own.

The cleaners work really hard, ensuring all the rooms and communal areas are kept tidy and clean.

We didn't watch the nighttime entertainment as we ventured out in the evenings, but when we came back, there was always a singer or musicians in the front pool area, which sounded very nice. There was also stage entertainment in the back pool areas.

The hotel is very geared up for children. There is a sports bar, pool tables, football tables, basketball and other games, as well as an arcade for children.

Overall, we had a good stay and would like to thank the Sol team

I’ve just returned from a 7-night stay at Sol Principe Hotel with a family group of 14. Overall, I would rate this hotel 3 stars maximum. There are definitely some positives, but unfortunately there were also several things that let the hotel down.

Staff & service I didn’t have a huge amount of interaction with the hotel staff during my stay, but unfortunately, when I did, it wasn’t particularly pleasant.

On 30th August, I had an issue with a member of staff named Elizabeth, who was working in the lunch area. I was supervising the all-inclusive children and helping them get their lunches. One of the children in our group is only 3 years old and wasn’t able to reach the tables where the food was being served.

I raised the situation with hotel management and they apologised on Elizabeth’s behalf and they are aware of the circumstances of complaint and I did mention I would leave it in the review, and left it there, but I feel Elizabeth needs to understand that guests are paying a significant amount of money to stay at the hotel, whether they are all-inclusive or not, and the way I was spoken to was completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, it really put a downer on what was otherwise the last day of our holiday.

Pools The pools were one of the highlights of the hotel. We spent a lot of time around the pool area and had no problems getting sunbeds, even with such a large group.

Large toys and inflatables aren’t allowed in the pools. While this may disappoint some people, I actually think it can be a positive as it means you can properly swim without lots of people taking up the pool with large inflatable loungers.

The lifeguards also appeared to keep a good eye on the pools at all times, which was reassuring with children in our group.

Food I personally only ate in the hotel restaurant once and wasn’t particularly impressed with the food. For me, the biggest issue was how some of it was cooked — I found certain food to be undercooked on one side and overcooked on the other.

That said, I am quite a fussy eater, so I chose to eat out most nights. I still accompanied my family to the restaurant on occasions and had a look at the food available, and there was definitely a large variety of options. In my opinion, the food is fairly standard for a 3–4 star hotel.

Rooms & cleanliness Unfortunately, this was another area where I felt the hotel fell short. The rooms are quite outdated and, in our experience, weren’t cleaned particularly well.

There is also no toilet brush provided in the rooms, which I personally think should be standard in every hotel room.

Our bedsheets also didn’t appear to be changed during our stay. We would return to the room and find sand/dirt in the bed, which gave us the impression that the beds were simply being made rather than the sheets being replaced.

Wristbands & room access We were staying on half board, while the rest of our family were all-inclusive. For some reason, this meant that we were given physical cards to access our room/resort facilities, whereas the all-inclusive members of our family had their access incorporated into their wristbands.

It seemed unnecessarily complicated, particularly when travelling as one large group. It would have been much easier if everyone had the same system.

Children’s entertainment The children’s entertainment was probably one of the biggest disappointments. It is there, but we didn’t feel that there was a great deal of quality or variety.

The four children in our group really enjoyed the children’s pool, but in the evenings they were regularly complaining that they were bored and there wasn’t enough for them to do.

Noise One thing to be aware of is that the entertainment on the resort goes on quite late. Even with our balcony doors closed, we could still hear the music and heavy bass/thumping from our room.

If you’re a light sleeper, I would definitely recommend bringing earplugs or requesting a room away from the main entertainment areas.

Location The location is good. The beach is directly across the road from the hotel, which is very convenient, and there are plenty of places to eat and drink nearby.

If you walk along the coast towards Benalmádena, you’ll find even more restaurants, bars and places to visit, and it’s a nice walk along the coast.

For anyone who loves an English breakfast, we also found Tudor Cafe, around a 5-minute walk from the hotel on the beach side. It was a real highlight for us — very much a home-from-home style English/Irish café, and Sophie, the waitress, was particularly welcoming and made us feel very comfortable.

Check-in & check-out Check-in and check-out were okay. There appeared to be plenty of staff working at the desks, but despite this, we still had to wait a while before being attended to.

Overall & value for money Unfortunately, I do not think this hotel represents good value for money at all.

We did have a good family holiday overall, and being with a group of 14 obviously created plenty of good memories. However, I genuinely feel the hotel itself played a big part in why the holiday wasn’t as good as it could have been.

For the price we paid, we expected a much better standard from the hotel. Had the rooms, cleanliness, entertainment and overall service been what we expected for the price, I believe we would have had a considerably better holiday.

There are definitely positives — particularly the pools, location and beach — but for me, they don’t outweigh the negatives from the hotel itself, I would recommend looking at other hotels in the area if you want this location.

Overall rating: 3/5 stars maximum.

I personally wouldn’t stay here again, nor would I recommend this hotel.