Pine Cliffs Village

Ok so let’s be fair the hotel looks mostly nice, the staff were friendly and the location was excellent with a lovely view. The issue with this hotel is an underlying theme and propensity to what feels like to get as much additional money and charges from you whilst being as inflexible as possible. An example being, mix up, so some of our family had half board which means you can have breakfast and then dinner in just one restaurant. If we wanted to shake it up we would have spent the money on the dinner in that restaurant but not eaten there and then paid additionally for the other restaurant. With two people that’s about 150 euros, but there were four of us so that’s 300 down and then additional money, about the same on top, with no way of using this as a credit at an additional restaurant. Then there is the facility charge €15 a day for Wi-Fi and shuttle service which is a straight money grab on top of actually paying for the hotel and the tourist tax. Breakfast is nice but they don’t get sausages right, nowhere seems to outside the UK. Hash browns probably started life crispy but when left in a heated breakfast case they go soggy. On day 3 I worked out putting them through the toaster worked wonders so there is a top tip. Other choices for breakfast were standard buffet breakfast I have had all over the world so nothing “luxury” about breakfast. Outside and opposite the hotel there is a cafe where you can grab 2 x cheese & ham toasties, a beer and a G & T for €13 which is normal as opposed to a very average single burger and chips for €24 at the hotel. This price I was told went. Up to about €40 if you had it delivered to you by the pool😂😂😂😂😂 Another thing is they want you to tip and ok that’s fine but once you’ve paid for dinner and over priced drinks the suggested tip is the value of the whole bill including the half board charge. So as an example dinner with 2 drinks that’s €20 additional for the drinks but the tip is suggested to be about €40 so two drinks is €60, that if you don’t spot it will soon add up to a heated checkout. Lastly there are limited sun beds on the beach but there were always additional ones reserved you could pay additionally for and also unsolicited vendors peddling rubbish to harass you too. You should be able to have a good time and relax without feeling under pressure to be on guard from the expected trusted friend of the hotel. This is where I feel the issue sits, I read the reviews before I went and was on the look out for things like the tip saga but I bet many people don’t. Just because you charge 4 x a fair price for beer or food doesn’t make you luxury, it makes guests wary and hesitant to return but also leave honest and fair reviews. Would I go again, unlikely and that’s a shame as there are good points it’s the ethos and approach that let’s the hotel down not the hotel.

We were excited to stay at Pine Cliffs with family friends, but unfortunately, the experience fell well short of expectations for a so-called 5-star resort. • Lack of basic amenities: No bathroom toiletries were provided in the room, and even after requesting them multiple times, they never arrived. • Everything is an upsell: Kids club, shuttle service (even within the resort), and other standard conveniences all come at an extra cost — no real sense of hospitality here, just charges added to the final bill. • Mandatory 10% tip added to every bill: it’s automatically added — and worse, multiple staff told us they don’t even receive the tips we leave. • The resort advertises free daily water in the room, but we had to repeatedly request it. • Half-board is a scam: You can only dine at one designated restaurant for dinner (not made clear at booking), which is a 15-minute walk away — or you take a shuttle which they charge you for at end of stay as “resort fee”. Then, you have to wait for this shuttle. One time we waited 20min and ended up walking back to our room. Total waste of money. • Understaffed & slow service: Expect to wait 20–30 minutes for a poolside drink. Service across the board was slow and uncoordinated. Clearly not enough staff for the number of guests. The resort looks great on the surface, but the service and nickel-and-diming drag down the experience. At best, this is a 3 to 4-star stay — not a luxury resort by any true standard.

This was our 2nd time at Pine Cliffs and we all enjoyed it. The resort is in beautiful location and generally we found to staff to be very pleasant and helpful. We stayed in a 3 bed penthouse apartment that was clean and near the heated pool. The standout element of the resort is the soccer camp run by Estima Sports - my boys did this every morning while we were there and loved every minute of it. Ben and his team do a super job with the kids - the energy and enthusiasm they bring every day is brilliant and the standard of coaching is excellent. We will definitely be back - thankyou and well done Ben! The breakfast buffet is fabulous and all of my kids were impressed with it. There have been a couple of changes this year compared to last year. In relation to half board, it now only covers breakfast and the buffet for dinner which we don’t like and there is no longer any credit applied in the other restaurants. The only advantage to half board is a 10% discount in Zest (which is already way overpriced). The restaurants are all very expensive for drinks (€12 for a glass of wine, €5 for a soft drink) and for food and the quality is not great. Also adding 10% to every bill as a tip (even for a sandwich or drinks at lunchtime is a bit much). We found a number of restaurants outside the resort that are much better quality and value. Also there is now an additional facility fee being added for each day of your stay and apparently this is to cover the use of the shuttle (which we never used) and then you are supposed to get a discount on the restaurants (which was not applied to any of our bills) so I queried this on checkout and then was told it only applied to Zest 🤔 Overall this resort is beautiful and the beach is stunning; if it wasn’t for the soccer camp, which is the main draw for us, we would be choosing somewhere else next time.

We don't usually write hotel reviews, and we are currently part way through a stay at Pine Cliffs.  Firstly as others remark, the natural environment that the hotel is located is very beautiful and the hotel relies on this.  The beach is beautiful and the grounds are vast and generally well kept.  In terms of the hotel, the hard product is good. There are a variety of different property types available which vary in age and type. We have two rooms in the main hotel and both are good. They are perhaps aging a little as other reviews remark, but perfectly adequate.  The soft product and the service is where things start to go wrong.  I am a Marriott Lifetime Platinum member and whilst this particular stay at Pine Cliffs was booked through an airline package I can draw on many other recent hotels stays to compare the service too.  Firstly, some positives.. There a bottle of wine upon arrival in one of the rooms which was appreciated, and also one of our guests has had a birthday during the stay and a bottle of sparkling wine was left in the room unprompted which was much appreciated.  There are some good staff at the hotel. A lot of staff though seem very inexperienced.  Some particular problems we have encountered: 1) we have to mostly request for clean glasses in the room every day. They just seem to neglect to do this by routine.  2) trying to call guest services usually goes unanswered and has only been answered about one in twenty attempts and the request was never fulfilled.  3) reception staff also can't seem to get any better service and appear to behave as if they are doing you a favour when you go and ask for something that should have been done as part of an everyday routine.  The biggest issue though and why I have taken the time to write this review is around the 'policy' of 'recommended tip'.  When ordering anything the bill has a recommended tip of 10pc listed. This is automatically added to the amount to sign for though. Therefore it is not 'recomended' it is 'automatically added'! This is the first major complaint.  On its own this is not a huge issue, but we have a half board package, and it being used as a way to inflate prices. We have noted on a few bills at the included 'O Grill' buffet something like the following..  200euros cost for buffet, included in stay 50euros drinks cost, not included.  Recomended tip of 10pc is therefore 25euro. Included half board then has -200euros deduction on the bill.  Total Charge is therefore drinks of 50euro plus a tip of 25euro and total 75euro So the hotel is charging 25euro 'tip' on 50euro of drinks as an example.. The order in which the charges are applied appears to be done to inflate the price create a larger mark up.  Be aware of this practice if you are planning a visit.  The hotel could be amazing but this issue with the' Recomended tip' and the general level of service is the problem. The service level is lower than an Autograph Collection and more akin to a Marriot

Overall this resort has some nice things but I just don’t understand managements position to deny any compensation after a total water shortage for 12+ hours. No shower after the beach; no running toilet; no drinking water from check in to the next morning. Besides this regrettable incident the hotel has some nice things going for it. Big spacious rooms although they need a refresh. Nice amenities (beach service although almost always full); 2 pools a nice lawn with many chairs. The resort is located in a beautiful location on top of a beautiful cliff with sweeping ocean views. The restaurants are insanely expensive especially Portofino (34 euros for a pizza plus 10% service charge). El pescador was a great diner although very expensive as well. The staff was lovely as well just stunned by management’s position that it’s ok to pay close to 500 USD a night for a room with no working water.

At first, the hotel and it’s area seemed amazing. The buildings, surroundings, area was truly breathtaking. We had halfboard and both breakfast and dinner was a good experience. At first. Since we had to leave really early this morning (5 am) We asked reception for take away breakfast since the buffé do not open until 7. They denied it and said that if we leave at 6, they maybe can fix it. We asked just for some fruit and water (travelling with three kids) but the reception suggested we ordered roomservice. We said that since we already paid for halfboard we do not want to pay extra for roomservice to be taken away in a bag in the car. We asked the reception to atleast ask if we could have fruit and water and that we could come and get it ourselves at the reception. The receptionist said he would get back at us, but never did. The day after my husband went back to ask again. Again roomservice was suggested. My husband mailed the hotel. Still havent got any response in 2 days. We then decided to leave the hotel one day early since the beds were terrible to sleep in (had a penthouse), and we didnt get breakfast. At checkout we asked to at least get breakfastfee returned. No expectations, but hopes. We then got the receipt. Several fees were added that we were not informed about and that ARE NOT IN THE TERMS. The receptionist insisted it was in the terms but it simply is not. 80 euros total were added for service fee (for shuttle bus we were not informed of nor used since we had a car), some donation called ’make a wish’ that we didnt get asked about, and when we saw the total on the restaurant bill I lost it completely. Since we had half board, we only pay for drinks. We do not drink alcohol. We had between 4-6 sodas total per dinner. The first night they charged us nearly 70 euros. The other two night around 40-50 euros. 4 sodas = 20 euro so you do the math. Only on one night we wrote ’yes’ on the line that said ’Tip’, believing it would be 10%, as said suggested on the receipt. In the end, every night they tipped themselves way more than we payed for the sodas. Another couple was standing next to us in the reception at check-out was upset about a similar thing. We just left the keys in the reception and left. I absolutely lost it when the receptionist insisted that we DID tip the restaurant and I had to leave the lobby after 25 minutes of arguing before I said anything I would regret. We have initiated email contact with the company we booked through to dispute the invoice, well aware that Pine Cliffs had our credit card information. Not a single word has been heard of from the hotel, not even an apology. Now, they have drawn 1.850 euros from our account for the halfboard and the made up fees and made up tips. We went to the reception with hopes of maybe getting some water for the next day, and instead left feeling robbed. So - if you want to spend 4500 euros for three days with really bad costumer service (with smirking receptionists