Barcelo Ponent Playa

We overall had a fantastic stay at this hotel. We are rating it five stars.

I thought it might be easier to lay out the pros and cons. Overwhelmingly so being pros for anyone who is considering booking this fantastic hotel.

Pros

1. Staff are so friendly and attentive
2. The animation team are also very friendly, energetic and talented. Their dance show was fantastic. Big shoutout to Papa Chulo!
3. The selection in the buffet is not huge compared to other places we have stayed in, however everything I tried was incredibly nice and tasty.
4. The magical restaurant is fantastic, the food is incredible and the staff are very helpful.
5. The location is beautiful; the views onto the bay are unmatched.
6. The drinks selection and cocktails are great
7. Rooms were clean, spacious and shower was good.
8. We personally found upgrading to AI+ worth it, the perks are great.

Cons (of which there are few!)

1. The drain in our bathroom had a bad smell, which only started in our last two days. Ten minutes of opening the windows would clear it however.
2. The elevators are small, and there is no central button. Meaning everyone is calling all three individual elevators to their floor. This really slows things down and we often resorted to taking the stairs due to the long waits.
3. We went AI+ which was definitely worth it, however the AI+ area of loungers facing the bay was often not available due to a large number of non AI+ using the area. Often they were the vast majority. Which was a bit frustrating when this was a big part of why we upgraded.

As I said above, this hotel is great, we are already talking about coming back!

My review based on AI Plus service. Me & my family had a very pleasant stay for 7 nights. We had the AI plus package which I feel could be improved on. We enjoyed all the facilities & the food which we could have used if non AI plus really. I feel the Magical restaurant very good as it is should become the AI plus buffet dining area. The restaurant was quiet most nights but the food was wonderful but could be utilised better to free up the very busy main restaurant during the evenings. Also a AI plus bar would have be welcomed & a larger more secluded section by pool as packed in really tight & felt you were on show being higher up also a section In a sunnier area could be nice. But all the other services were good. Would I pay for AI plus again… if some improvements were made. But I’d come again if the restaurant was maybe set out differently as was really busy, especially queuing for food, and some servers more attentive than others and some tables very far from the food stations. But the food was very good quality possibly some of the best I’ve had in an all inclusive hotel so there’s some pros & cons. Hotel and room cleanliness I could not fault the hotel was spotless & smelt nice in the reception. Some bits in the room could do with a little TLC especially in the bathroom but didn’t effect the stay. The night entertainment was generally good but the seating layout could be improved as lots of empty seats with only couple of people on the table & no room to move chairs for groups of 3 or more. But generally happy with our stay & would come again if said improvements could be made.