Ponient Dorada Palace by PortAventura World

For a start beware of booking with trip. I booked for me and my 3 boys 14, 12, and 10 years old. When I got to the hotel they told me there would be an additional charge of 1500 euros for my 2 younger boys. So if the price looks cheap on trip please check with the hotel. As a single mother this was a terrible blow at the start of my holiday. The room was unclean, the hotel claims to had had a massive refurbishment however the only changes was the colour scheme in the living area of the room. The bathroom was the same as last year when we stayed with one addition, it was unclean. The main wardrobe in the living room had no hangers, I asked at reception and was told there was non to be had. There are now drawers in the apartment. They have taken away a cabinet under the tv and replaced it with two round tables that really serve no purpose. Even the dressing table had no drawers. There are two tables either side of the bed but no cabinets with drawers. I went to get a glass from the kitchen only to discover that the entire kitchen was devoid of equipment. Again I asked reception to be told I had to request the kitchen equipment. When the plates, etc arrived the cleaning lady dumped a box containing everything on the floor in the room. Not really what one would except from a “4” star hotel. The room was only cleaned every day at around 3pm. The floors were never washed, I had to ask for clean sheets, The bed wasn’t made properly and the bathroom never touched. I found out from one of the cleaning staff that there are only 10 cleaning staff on a morning and the 1 on an afternoon the poor staff couldn’t. It is impossible to get sunbeds at the pool. On a morning people start lining their bags containing towels at 7am then the pool is supposed to open at 9am. I went down a few times at 8.45 only to find the doors open and all sunbeds reserved with towels even though it states on the website that it is not permitted to reserve beds. Also the numbers of sunbeds at the pool is less than half of what it was last year when I stayed. The food in the restaurant was disgusting, absolutely full of grease, the children’s food was atrocious me and my kids tried eat there three times but couldn’t eat a thing. I complained to the manager but he was very rude and shrugged his shoulders when I explained the problem. I will not return to the hotel, I love Salou but not that terrible place. It is most definitely not a four star hotel. I wouldn’t even give it a two star. Photos of the bathroom. Example of the way the beds were left and the cleaning staff leaving sheets to do the work myself.

Just home, had a lovely time. Just 10mins walk from the beach,lots of shops and supermarkets around. We had a great room with the balcony overlooking the main pool and the entertainment. Hotel was really clean, we had no issues. We had tickets included for portaventura and bought discounted tickets for the waterpark there which was great. The only thing I think would of been better regarding this was that there weren't enough shuttles back and forth, there is none in the afternoon which would of been better just a few going in the morning and a few coming home from 7pm onwards. If your there early especially with the kids it's a long day having to wait til the first shuttle back and esp if that shuttle is very busy. We ended getting a taxi which was fine, only around 10euros, it's less than 10mins away, though I would have appreciated more shuttles. The same for if u want to go later in the day so you can stay later to see the shows at the very end there are none if the afternoon or evening to take you there. It makes for a long day when the kids are tired and hot and moaning all day. It might of been nice if there was more information in the hotel about the local area maps, things to do but I appreciate that probably because it's linked with the theme park they maybe dont allow any info about elsewhere. There is good chat pages on Facebook for asking for hints and tips on where to go and such. Watching people running for the sunbeds in the morning is quite funny, though ridiculous that these people then go away for hours and you can't get a space. We normally came down later or after we had been out and about and normally got a chair or a sunbed to put our stuff down on and then moved spaces when they became available. Buffet was good, lots of choice, we were full board, got fruit juice, water, coffee in the mornings but lunch and dinner just got wee glasses of water, I appreciate that they want you to buy other drinks instead but maybe a bigger glass would of been fine but you could go up refill as much as you wanted. There is washing machines and dryers u can pay by card or on an app which is handy as it tells you how long you have got til it's done. Overall really good experience and would easy go back. Enjoy!

Just back after a 10 night stay been to Salou loads of times but my first time going half board I usually go self catering when I got an apartment I thought great only to be greeted with not even a spoon or plate in the kitchen area no kettle no toaster nothing if I was all inclusive I would have understood this I had breakfast and dinner on the half board so couldn’t even make a toastie at lunch if I wanted I like to eat out in the evenings so asked could I swap dinner for lunch was told no so paying for half board was a waste of money for me. As I said I have booked for next year so know now what to expect but I do think these things should be in the apartment without having to hire them or ask at reception for utensils food is ok at breakfast staff are lovely a nice smile to greet us in the mornings to show us to our table. I loved the location of the hotel and the pool area very central and lovely staff that work hard the cleaners never seem to stop our apartment was spotless the sunbed situation is the same as everywhere else I’ve stayed get up early queue and run 🙄to be honest there’s not enough beds for the amount of people staying there I thinking allocation of sunbeds per room would be a better idea it can be crazy. I can’t comment on entertainment as I was out in the evenings. All in all I had a great holiday and booked again as soon as I got home just a few things that I thought weren’t great but I’m looking forward to coming again next year 😎