Labranda Golden Beach

Not the experience we hoped for! Rooms- we had a swim up room which was ok but definitely not worth the money. One mirror in the whole room so could only get ready in the bathroom. Beds were ok but always felt a bit damp?! Shower was fine. Just needs a bit of tlc. Food- really was so repetitive and not great choice. Same served for lunch and dinner - pasta, pizza, paella and bit of fish or chicken. Was really bored of it by day 4 so ended up trying to find a restaurant near by in the end and got salad bowls from the supermarket. Drinks weren’t great either, pre made cocktails that had hardly any alcohol in. The bar in the evening was slightly better but only if the bar staff fancied you. Then was completely the opposite with 7/8 of vodka and 1/8 of lemonade! Snack bar- wasn’t a snack bar like you think. I have been to all inclusive so many times and have never just had a little choice random chicken nuggets stick to a piece of bread. Can’t order any food, was just pre made and kept in a hot plate at the pool bar. Weird. Staff males were creepy and made us feel uncomfortable, so much so this also made us not want to eat in the restaurant or go for drinks at the bar. The whole hotel says it was refurbished in 2023 but I don’t think much has changed in 30 years. Grubby and not what I had in mind for my holiday. The location- very boring, little to no shops and a couple of restaurants to choose from. Needless to say we won’t be returning and would be happy to go back to my 2 star in Kefalonia compared to this.

Arrived at the hotel late at night, initially the room seemed good until we started to use items in the room, the beds were poor quality with broken legs and slid when you got on them, the draw was broken on the dresser, the bathroom floor was all warped from water damage, the draws on the sink unit was in shocking condition.

We woke up for our first morning to be greeted with the fact our neighbours had been broken into, whilst they were sleeping in bed. The hotel’s response was shocking and uncompassionate, we spoke to reception and explained my partner was heavily pregnant and we would prefer an alternative room to ease the stress and worry, the women behind reception was exceptionally rude and offered us an extra pillow to help her sleep better. We ended up in the same room for the duration of our stay and had to put something infront of our door each night. One thing we found strange was we kept finding our window closed but unlocked when we returned to the room in the late afternoons. Later in the week we realised one morning there was damaging around our door frame which looked inline with someone trying to enter our room.

The food and drinks was poor, i have stayed in 2 star hotels with much better food. Drinks are very limited and service can be very slow, on some evenings one member of staff would be severing and another would be just walking around appearing to do minimal. Main bar on an evening, the service wasn’t great 1 member of staff on most of the time for the main complex bar, wait times were long. Often served drinks in miss matched glasses, for example amaretto and coke in a wine glass, when asked for an alternative glass I was told they are short of glasses. Entertainment every night but this was only for about 40-50 minutes.

The pool is in poor condition, lots of black mould on the grout which is flaking off into the pool. Lots of loose and lifted tiles, overall the pool and its surrounding is in dyer need of maintenance. There is activities on throughout the day but all the prizes are cava, which isn’t good for children or guests which don’t drink. Lifeguard sat in the corner on his phone for the majority of the day, if he couldn’t see anything for being on his phone he almost certainly won’t of in his daily blind spot where he was sat.

Side note, no easyJet reps throughout our stay.

On a positive most of the staff were positive and the housekeeping team do a really good job, only negative about staff would be not to talk about us in Spanish disrespectfully expecting us to not understand Spanish.

My friend and I really enjoyed ourself, We stayed Middle/end of August, just the 2 of us. The staff were very friendly and helpful when checking us in as we arrived when lunch was about finishing, they encouraged us to go down and eat then finish the check-in afterward. The cleaners were brill! We absolutely loved the entertainment, the gentleman was so happy and involved with everyone around and we loved his aqua gym. There really isn’t an awful lot to do, if you are looking for somewhere to chill by the pool and explore you might be out of luck without a driving licence. There is a small selection of shops opposite which we visited a few times. The room itself was absolutely brilliant as well as the view from the balcony, the bed sheet are quite thin though and the aircon can make it very chilly!

We did have a few minor issues, the food is good but can get quite repetitive especially if you are quite picky. There is a selection of plain/beige food which was great! but it rarely changed other than the pizzas and the pasta sauces (if you enjoy seafood though you’re in luck) I wouldn’t so much as label it an all inclusive though, if you want a drink midday you do have to put a deposit down for reuseable cups as well as towels. This isn’t so much the hotels fault but we did find that at night you can hear people running and shouting down the corridors which definitely makes it difficult to sleep!

Overall, we had a lovely weekend away and are missing it very much!