Albir Playa Hotel and Spa

We stayed at Albir Playa Hotel & Spa for a week during the school holidays as a family of four. Overall, we had a good stay and, at around £1,600 for the week, I think the hotel represents very good value for money.

It’s a good, solid 4-star hotel, although personally I’d say it feels more like a 3.5-star if that existed. There are a few things that could be better, but equally there’s nothing that really lets the hotel down badly.

Rooms

Our room was clean and tidy, with a nice sea view from the balcony. It was cleaned every day and towels were changed regularly, so no complaints at all on that front.

It’s not a luxury hotel, but everything was perfectly comfortable and as you’d expect from a decent 4-star.

Pool

The pool area was good and there were plenty of sun loungers. There were a few dozen people who seemed determined to sprint down at 10am to reserve theirs, but we just wandered down after breakfast and could always find a few loungers together without any problem.

The downside is that the pool itself gets very busy, particularly during the middle of the day. With children playing and quite a lot of people in the water, it can feel pretty crowded.

We were also surprised that the pool didn’t open until 10am. For early risers, particularly families with young children, that felt quite late.

Food

We originally booked B&B but upgraded to half board because it was only around £84 extra for the four of us for the entire week. At that price, it was a no-brainer.

There was a good choice of food every day, both at breakfast and dinner. The buffet offered plenty of variety and we never struggled to find something we liked.

As you’d expect with a large buffet hotel, though, it can get very busy and noisy around meal times. You certainly pay for what you get in terms of the clientele! There were some impressive amounts of food being piled onto plates, with plenty unfortunately going to waste.

One thing we really liked was the flexibility to change dinner for lunch. If we told them the day before, we could have lunch instead, which was really useful on days when we wanted to go out for dinner in the evening.

It was a shame that no drinks were included with lunch or dinner, even just water.

One other frustration was seeing children at the buffet touching food and putting it back, or taking things with their hands. That’s obviously more down to parents supervising their children than the hotel itself, but it did happen regularly enough to be noticeable.

Entertainment & animation

If you’re looking for a hotel with evening shows, entertainment and lots going on, this probably isn’t the place for you. There was very little in the way of entertainment during our stay (not that this was something we expected to be high level quality).

The hotel is predominantly Spanish and Scandinavian, and unfortunately the children’s animation felt very Spanish-orientated. Our children definitely felt that they were being overlooked at times in favour of the Spanish-speaking children.

I’m sure this is partly because of the make-up of the guests and the animator naturally speaking Spanish, but if you’re travelling with English-speaking children and entertainment is important to you, I’d definitely take this into consideration.

Location

The hotel is around a 15-minute walk from Albir’s pebble beach. There are restaurants and shops on the main street nearby, although we didn’t think there was a particularly great choice of restaurants directly along the beachfront itself.

We had a car for the week, which I would definitely recommend if you want to explore the area.

We visited Altea, Benidorm, Moraira, Calpe and various other places, all of which made for some great days out.

Calpe Old Town was probably our favourite. It’s particularly beautiful in the evening, with a much more traditional Spanish feel and plenty of nice places to wander around and have dinner. Guadalest is 100% worth a visit too.

Parking

The hotel charges €10 per night for parking. We decided not to use the hotel car park and instead parked on one of the surrounding side streets.

We always managed to find a space without too much trouble.

Staff

I’ve read a few reviews complaining about the friendliness of the staff, but personally I didn’t really understand those comments.

The staff were efficient and did their jobs perfectly well. They aren’t necessarily the type of staff who are constantly smiling, chatting or going out of their way to make conversation, but I think that’s more of a cultural difference than poor service.

We had no problems with any of the staff during our stay.

Overall

Overall, I’d recommend Albir Playa Hotel & Spa, particularly if you get it at a good price.

It’s clean, comfortable, has a decent pool, good food and is a good base for exploring the Costa Blanca. The lack of entertainment and the Spanish-focused children’s animation are probably the biggest negatives for an English family, while the pool being closed until 10am was also disappointing for us.

But at around £1,600 for a family of four for a week during the school holidays, I think it’s good value for money.

It won’t blow you away and it’s not a luxury resort, but if you’re looking for a clean, comfortable hotel with a decent pool, plenty of food choice and somewhere to use as a base for exploring the area, it’s a very solid option.

This is our second visit to Albir Playa Hotel and Spa.

Honestly, I would struggle to find fault with the place, this was the reason for our return.

Cleanliness is second to none, cleaners everywhere making sure the place is spotless and they are only too happy to help.

All other staff are very attentive to your needs and friendly with a good level of English being spoken.

Food was outstanding with a large number of choices catering for all needs.

Pool is lovely and clean, small but never too busy and there are always sun loungers available.

Beer is of a reasonable price as well. €3.25 a pint.

Free shuttle to the beach which is also lovely.

Overall a brilliant experience that will contribute to us booking again. We actually got a free bottle of Cava for being a returning customer.

We travel to different resorts in Turkey twice a year, so we have a lot of experience and plenty to compare this hotel with. To be honest, I think the people who gave this hotel such high ratings have probably never experienced real Turkish hotel service, or maybe this hotel is more suited to guests aged 60+... I honestly don't even know where to start. There wasn't even a kettle or a coffee machine in the room, which was a big surprise for us. We also had to pay for the pool towels. Children weren't allowed to play with a ball in the pool, and inflatables were not allowed either. If your kids did either, staff would come over and tell them to stop. There were also no water slides or anything to keep children entertained.

We booked breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food was very average. The choice wasn't great, and the quality felt quite cheap. All of us had stomach problems after almost every meal... at breakfast, coffee, tea, juice and water were all free. But at lunch and dinner you had to pay for exactly the same drinks. There was even a sticker on the machines saying they were only available at breakfast (I've added a photo). I'm not even talking about alcohol, we expected to pay for that. But charging for drinking water at lunch and dinner was unbelievable!! Over one week we spent so much money just buying water. We've never experienced this in any other hotel in Turkey... the entertainment team was also disappointing. They didn't seem enthusiastic or energetic, and the atmosphere was very boring throughout our stay... the room was another let down. We are a family of two adults and two children. The children had to share one small sofa bed, while the adults slept on two single beds pushed together. I really didn't expect that from a hotel like this... I know this is a long review, but I genuinely want to warn anyone who is thinking about booking this hotel. Don't waste your hard earned money here. There are so many better hotels in Turkey where you'll get much better service and much better value for your money!