Gloria Palace San Agustin Thalasso and Hotel

Hotel itself is lovely — clean, great location. But service was very slow, staff always spoke Spanish first without asking, and they kept getting orders wrong. Food was poor — limited choice, really struggled for healthy options as someone watching what I eat.

Sunbeds were a daily battle — had to get up early and queue, large groups taking 4+ each. Came on holiday to relax, not rush and fight for everything. It’s not just this hotel — but it’s made me realise all-inclusive isn’t for me anymore.

Liked: Clean, nice location, good facilities Disliked: Slow service, language assumptions, food choice, sunbed queues

Unfortunately, this was a very disappointing stay overall.

The biggest issue for us was the food. For an all inclusive hotel, the quality and variety simply were not good enough. Much of it was repetitive, bland or poor quality, and meals quickly became something we stopped looking forward to. Some of the meat was particularly disappointing, including beef that was extremely chewy and full of gristle, while much of the remaining choice seemed to revolve around pizza, chips, pasta and similarly basic options.

The food was so unsatisfactory and unenjoyable that on several nights I actually went to bed hungry. This was not because food was unavailable, but because I could not find anything appealing enough to eat properly. By the end of the holiday, eating somewhere outside the hotel felt like a genuine relief.

The supposedly all inclusive offering also felt surprisingly restrictive. Numerous requests for items listed on menus were met with the repeated response, “Not possible.” Certain foods at the snack bar and particular drinks were not included, while access to the hotel’s top floor area was also excluded. When guests have paid for an all inclusive holiday, repeatedly discovering that different items and areas are not included considerably undermines its value.

We encountered further inconsistency on our first day. Two younger members of our family purchased a snorkel set and an inflatable rubber ring from the hotel’s own shop. They were then told by the lifeguard that neither item could be used in the pool.

At the same time, a hotel organised pool game was taking place in another part of that same pool. Participants were wearing swimming caps and goggles while hitting a ball back and forth. This led to a disagreement between a member of our family and the lifeguard, with the obvious question being asked: “Why are they selling them if they can’t use them?” And “Why then is that group aloud to play in there?”

Regardless of whether the hotel has a particular safety policy, selling pool and swimming products inside the hotel without clearly warning customers that they cannot be used in its pool is confusing and frustrating.

The attitude of some staff also badly let the hotel down, particularly around the restaurant and snack bar. This did not apply to everyone, and I want to be fair about that. The evening bar staff, housekeeping staff and poolside entertainment team were generally much friendlier and more upbeat. They are the main reason I rated the service 2 out of 5 rather than lower.

Our first visit to the snack bar was immediately unpleasant. A younger member of our family simply wanted some chips. Without her attempting or even suggesting that she intended to take them outside the snack bar area, a waitress pointed at her aggressively and abruptly said that the food could not be taken away. She then bluntly pointed towards a table and instructed her to sit there. The waitress subsequently turned her attention to me and sharply told me to put on a shirt.

For context, the snack bar is an outdoor area beneath an open sided roof providing shade from the sun. I had no objection whatsoever to putting on a shirt if that was the rule. My issue was entirely with the unnecessarily hostile and confrontational manner in which we were spoken to. The interaction was so unpleasant that I left and asked the other members of my family to order without me.

On a later visit, I returned wearing a shirt and politely asked a male member of staff how ordering worked. Rather than simply explaining it, he gestured forcefully towards the tables and abruptly told us that we needed to sit closer to the bar, where somebody would then come to serve us. Another member of my family independently remarked, “Why are they all so aggressive?” That perfectly summed up the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, we experienced similar treatment again on our final day. Reception had explicitly told us that although we had checked out, we were still entitled to use the all inclusive facilities until our coach collected us (5pm). We also still had our all inclusive wristbands on.

My niece asked for cheesy chips, which she had been served there throughout the week, only for the waitress to abruptly refuse. She dismissively told her, “Finito,” despite what reception had confirmed to us. The way she spoke to us and the attitude she displayed were unnecessarily rude and left a very poor final impression of the hotel.

These were straightforward questions and requests from paying guests, yet we were repeatedly treated as though we were causing a problem. This kind of aggressive and dismissive behaviour is completely inappropriate for people working in hospitality and left members of our family feeling unwelcome.

The cleanliness and housekeeping standards also caused concern. On our first day, one of the shower towels in our room was visibly stained. Although towels appeared to be changed during the week, there was one occasion when they were taken away and no replacements were provided. My wife and I were left having to dry ourselves using her hair dryer.

As far as we could tell, our bed sheets were not changed at any point during the stay. We also ran out of hand soap in our room and it was not replaced. My wife eventually had to go to reception at midnight and insist that we be given some soap. Even then, it appeared to be handed over reluctantly.

Soap was not always available in the public bathrooms either, which is particularly concerning in busy communal areas where good hand hygiene matters. Three people in our group became ill with a gastrointestinal type bug during the holiday. I cannot prove where they picked it up and would not claim that the hotel definitely caused it, but the hygiene issues we personally observed did not inspire confidence.

There were some genuine positives. The poolside entertainment was enjoyable, there was a Michael Jackson tribute act was brilliant, and a fire/dance performance that was also very good. As mentioned, the evening bar staff and housekeeping staff were generally more pleasant than some of the restaurant and snack bar staff.

The location was also good, particularly being close to Playa del Inglés, which made it easy to get away from the hotel and enjoy the surrounding area.

Overall, however, the positives were not enough to outweigh the poor food, restrictive all inclusive offering, inconsistent rules, hostile service and cleanliness concerns. I do not expect perfection, but I do expect decent food, basic cleanliness, clear policies and polite treatment as a paying guest. Based on our experience, I would not return and could not recommend this hotel.