Valeria Madina Resort

READ BEFORE ITS TAKEN DOWN- worst holiday dirtiest rooms. Floor hasn’t been cleaned, food stains when we checked in, cob webs everywhere, run down rooms, dirty towels and bed sheets. Balcony covered in mud, air con not the bestest. Heavily focused on French. Entertainment in French. Ants and cockroaches in room and in bed. Changed 3 rooms in 2 days, sewage smell in rooms, all our clothes smell of sewer. Sons gold Chain stolen from the room, we was fobbed off everyday by saying ‘under investigation’ food is awful here, raw meat and chicken everyday. It’s not all Inclusive as you have to pay for drinks if you are by the Aqua. You can only get drinks (water) from main bar and there is always a massive queue. Bar stinks of sewage. Activities for adults and kids are in French. Do not come here you would regret it! When you want to complain nobody listens to you (especially if you are English)

We have left today after staying for 1 week as a family of 2 adults and 2 children (17 and 9).

We came with an open mind after reading all the reviews and were unsure what to expect, but we always say a holiday is what you make it.

Room - we had a double room with a double bed and 2 sofa beds. There was a small balcony and we were located by the water park. The room was big enough for our family and always clean with a new bottle of water provided daily. It was less than a 5 minute walk from the main reception which was fine for us and meant we could quickly start our day at the water park.

Pools - there are 3 pools in the main hotel. We started in the smaller kids pool but found it was colder than the others and preferred the pool where volleyball is played. The biggest pool is where the daytime activities seem to take place. All 3 pools were great though.

Water Park - there are 2 sets of water slides for smaller children which my youngest enjoyed. I would say to be careful though as the floor is rather slippery. The main water slides were fantastic. They shut for an hour at lunch between 1-2pm but when they were open we didn’t find them too busy and were able to go on everything we wanted to go on. Although sometimes you would have to remind people that there is a queuing system to get the rings. There is also a large pool behind the water slides which was our favourite but we would only stay an hour or 2 as you had to pay for food and drinks there.

Food - we only made it to breakfast once but there was a good selection. Lunch was good and we spent most of ours outside, going to the pizza and chips bar. There were some flies and wasps but we didn’t feel it was worse than eating outside at your local pub. Dinner can get busy but generally fine to get a table. The staff were always great to help get you seated and changed the table settings quickly. There was a good variety of options, something different each day for the fussy eaters in our family.

Bars - there are 2 bars, one for your beer and soft drinks, the other for same but also spirits. Queues were never really that bad, just a bit busier in the evenings but we never waited longer than 5 minutes to be served. I would recommend bringing a thermal cup to keep your drinks cold and the bugs out.

Staff - the staff were always friendly and helpful. Bar staff were smiley and chatty. The waiters in the dinner hall were so helpful and stopped to check you were ok with everything. A big shout out to Anwar who couldn’t do enough for us. The cleaners would always say good morning to us and made up our room perfectly with fresh towels everyday. The animation team were also great. Most of the announcements were in French but we found they translated the majority in English too.

Entertainment - in the week that we were here, during the day we saw darts, party games (e.g. limbo), games of table tennis, daily volleyball games and dance lessons. They also had aqua aerobics, a daytime pool party and a daytime kids club but we didn’t use this so cannot comment. In the evenings there was always music, a kids disco, the animation team would get you up to do dances, there was a karaoke evening, a Queen show, an evening pool party, a Super Bowl dance show by the animation team and a Moroccan themed show (including traditional dances, belly dancing and a fire show). We took plenty of entertainment with us after reading previous reviews and did not need to use any of it.

Overall, I know everyone’s experiences are different but we had a fantastic holiday and have no complaints! All other guests were polite and friendly towards us and we made a number of friends. We had read about a divide between the English and French and how they were favoured in certain aspects. However, we did not experience this and found everyone was treated fairly. If you’re booked to come, we hope you enjoy as much as we did!