SBH Monica Beach

I’ve stayed in 3 stars that were better standard than this 4 star hotel.

1. Accessibility for people with mobility issues is frankly non existent, be prepared to walk up steep slopes just to go to eat.

Ontop of that the slopes I mention are dangerous, I slipped and pulled my toenail up from the nail bed, nothing was on the floor it is just slippy, alongside this no signage is about to mention “slippery surface” as is typical in all other places I’ve been.

2. Cleaners and general cleanliness - yes the cleaners are plesant but frankly their “cleaning” is to be desired, frequently the corners of the room accumulated dust, leaves and general dirt which was left, they use the same mops/brooms daily (I was near the cleaning stores so saw them everyday) these mops and brooms were used on countless rooms across the complex so should have been disposed of atleast daily (due to bacterial issues), the bed sheets were changed twice while we were there (once a week) all they did in between that was make the beds, they also forgot towel replacement one of the days even though they had been in, often when they had been you could still find leaves randomly scattered around (I know it’s windy but it’s not difficult to prevent them being in the room), my mother in law and sister in law both had issues with ants getting onto the beds, into luggage and hand luggage which meant they had to remove all items and try to get rid of them from their personal effects, after the ants were resolved in my mother in laws room, she had cockroaches which she could hear scurrying around behind one of the panels in the room. They were told by the rep to deep clean the room daily (they just sprayed some bug spray) they were supposed to “cockroach proof” all 3 rooms and they never did (they stated it was a gel that goes all the way round the edge of the room, no such gel appeared).

3. The rooms, beds etc - the rooms were massively outdated it was like stepping back into the 90’s with mustards and brown curtains, a purple ceiling and black panelling on the walls. The beds were some of the most uncomfortable beds I’ve ever slept on, and every time I moved on the bed it made a metal on metal scraping sound (I expected to wake up on the floor one morning), you are given a single pillow (if it can be called that) it was like laying on tissue, the sheets were generic and were rather heavy (not what you want when it’s hot and you have been sunbathing). Moving to the bathroom, glass panel shower door which the seal had disintegrated so when you had a shower you flooded the bathroom, the bath you stood in was old (the bottom of it was scored) and no anti-slip was provided so it was a hairy experience getting in and out trying not to slip. The fridge only ran when the electric was on (card insert inside the room) so anything you put in didn’t stay cold at all, little pointless frankly. No kitchen/kettle/glasses were provided. Everything else was standard for even the most basic accommodation. The air con was ice cold in the morning but was non-existent during the day and it was positioned in the hallway near the bathroom (not in the main room where you were) so was placed oddly.

4. Food - the food was lacking most of the time, not what you would expect from 4 star, and it was always cold/luke warm best thing they offered were the pastries at breakfast the rest was just meh… one word of warning stay away from the pasta’s they look ok, sound ok, but are bland, undercooked, and lack sauce.

5. The staff - entertainment staff were fine always greeted when walking past, the bar/catering and waiting staff some were fine, some were miserable as sin and were hard to communicate with, cleaners in the most part were plesant but again some looked like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders, the reception staff were terrible (particularly the team lead Sergio which I’ll go into in a moment) the young lady who was on was nice, always helpful and always smiling, the rest looked like they would rather be anywhere else than there. Moving onto Sergio, we raised complaint through the rep due to the ant and cockroach issues, the rep managed to get us a late checkout (as we were due to leave) agreed with the manager, on the last day we went to lunch, came back to cleaners loitering round the room, then Sergio rocked up with his bad attitude, stated we should have left the room by 1.30pm and that it was now 2.30pm (not what we agreed) so we pushed back and he said “no” 1.30pm was the cut off it’s now 2.30, get your things and leave the room. No please, thanks, sorry for the misunderstanding nothing just dictator like behaviour. We left and moved into the reception and waited there until we were collected, I approached Sergio and said “what is your name” he pointed at his tiny badge and said “Sergio” then proceeded to go back to his colleagues and smirk and laugh, no idea what the guys deal is, seems he is on some sort of power trip.

For the final note on service; there is no concierge which for the star rating you do often see, I’ve even been in 3 star places which have it.

So to summarise this place wants your money, but doesn’t want to give you the service for it, and honestly doesn’t even compared to most 3 star hotels I’ve been in over the years. They are undeserving of 4 stars and honestly given the service, lack of cleanliness, attitude of some staff I’d knock it down to 2 stars.

Honestly just save your money at this point, it’s a gamble if you get a good room, and a gamble if things workout for you there, one I frankly would advise against taking.

Wasnt the worst place but theres improvements to be made. Based on previous reviews, i didnt go there with the highest expectations, so when i got there i wasnt disappointed. For the price we paid last minute we got what we paid first in all fairness.

Good points was the pool area generally had loungers as long as you didnt get there too late.

The customer service from reception and some bar staff was good and attentive, especially if you had an issue.

The grey areas was upon arrival there was no one to show us to our room, reception staff did give a brief explanation of where to go however, the resort being fairly large it did a while to find the room and walking around for 30minutes with large suitcases is not ideal after travelling the whole day.

Although we got an all inclusive package, after a certain time they begin charging for drinks which is abit cheeky.

Daily charge for beach towels (luckily we brought our own)

Big selection of food but on some days it was hit and miss unfortunately.

Based on the pictures we were under the impression a small section of the beach was owned by the resort. This was not the case and we had to pay a day rate of 6 euros per lounger and another 6 euros for the umbrella.

Keys only worked for half a day at a time. Had to keep changing keys which got very annoying very quickly.

And after speaking to another person on the resort they brought up the fact that someones room was robbed of their valuables. Luckily we carried our most valuable items with us whenever we left the room so we was ok on that end.

Cleaners had alot of attitude if they came to your room to clean and you are still in there. Mind you they came every morning at 9am. Same reaction everytime you ask them to come back in 10 minutes. They kiss their teeth and start saying things in Spanish. By the tone in their voice its clear they are saying horrible things.

To summarise if you want a cheap holiday it will do the job but, i personally wouldnt classify this as a 4 star based ok the 4 star resorts ive been to previously.

This has to be one of the worst holidays I have ever booked. From the get go we knew it was not going to live up to the photos online. We booked with easyJet which in the past had been fine, but I can tell you now, if you have an issue with your hotel offer 0 support, the advisor even laughed when I said the recent reviews on trip advisor stated people had been burgled (I dread to think where this advisor received their customer service skills from!) We were greeted at reception by a man who actually said he was not able to process our booking correctly and we would need to leave our passports with them until morning. We then made our way to the room, upon arrival we noticed there was only 3 decking chairs (one of which was broken) for our family of four, this was replicated inside also with a broken chair. All of the cupboards edging details were either off completely or falling off, the spare bed we had been given had one leg loose, so my daughter was too scared to sleep on it. The sockets on the walls were hanging off and even blew our charger. The shower in the bathroom had a broken holder so you had to hold it the entire time. There was large breaks in the bathroom sink that had been siliconed back together and the toilet leaked water over the floor. There was also ants in the bathroom and bedroom. The kitchen had no utensils and cutlery, so was useless without any. It was at this point we read the recent reviews which explained recently guests had been burgled. We decided to all share the beds in the bedroom and report our concerns to easyJet in the morning (which was a complete waste of time!) after being told to sort it ourselves at our own cost, I did exactly that and booked into the Rio2 (I would highly recommend this hotel instead!) Unfortunately as it was high season we could only book 4 nights at Rio2. We decided to try and put our fears aside and go to the slide pool, the bar was not open and there was only one life guard who seemed completely untrained and spoke no English. The slides were in my eyes dangerous as no one monitored how many people went down without leaving gaps. We witnessed several guests hit there heads on the sides of the one with turns at the end or land on each other. My partner even helped a man who had not realised how deep the water would be and got into difficulty, the “lifeguard” was none the wiser and the gentleman thanked my partner for saving his life. Then came a man saying he had witnessed a burglary happening and explained that when he had reported it to the hotel they had suspected him of them (at this point I was highly suspicious and doubted this guys story, (as he was asking lots of questions from my partner). The food was actually ok and the bar staff very accommodating. Annoyingly some of the rooms closer to the other pool looked slightly better maintained, but after being made to feel completely on edge we were so thankful we managed to salvage some of the holiday by booking elsewhere.