Holiday Village Hotel

15 readers found this review helpful

Went there with my partner first time last October, and are off to the same place this year, 30 September.
Bit of chaos at the airport, but eventually got the bus for the village. Check in took a little time but it was a busy day. Given non alcohol drinks on arrival whilst waiting. Got our room after about 30 mins. Thompson staff were a little indifferent and were busy talking about who was doing what in their personal life! Spanish staff were great and spoke english (although I speak a little Spanish) and were very helpful. Room service perfect, spotless and helpful. Rooms clean and sparkling.
Thomson staff cannot speak spanish!!!!!
Shopping if you are NOT fully inclusive is VERY expensive on site, so walk out the back of the complex to the entrance and get a taxi in Fuengirola to Mercadona. All the drivers know where this is. The food is cheap and you can get everything you want, and it should only cost about 10 euros each way and the cab drivers are helpful. Some will speak english. Your room has basic cooking facilities, microwave etc. kettle and a ring hob, so basic meals can be cooked easily.
There is a pay as you go internet cafe on site should you need it.
If you want a walk there is a nice restaurant about 750m, out of the hotel and turn right, right on the beach, howver the food in the hotel is excellent as is the bar, with very jokey helpful staff.
Enjoy!
We do!
Larry K

14 readers found this review helpful

After reading some of the reviews on here I felt compelled to write a review of my own. One of the reviews states that it is a french speaking hotel and hardly anyone spoke english, I do feel this person must be writing a review on the wrong hotel as this hotel is only for english people. It is a hotel that is owned by first choice, and you can only book it through first choice! We felt the accommodation, food, kids entertainment were excellent. We hardly saw the kids as if they weren't in the pool they insisted on going to kids club every day! Before we went I must admit I would frown upon parents who went on holiday and put there kids into clubs everyday but ours insisted, it was that good, they did raft building and then tested them in the pool, they did dinosaur discovery and mini beast safari, they thought they were in heaven! The rooms were a great size, with a large bathroom and a big bedroom with two large beds and a good size balcony with table and chairs. We went all inclusive and I would recommend you do the same, as it seemed to be very expensive. The food was fantastic, we have very fussy children and they always found something they loved, they also tried things they wouldn't perhaps normally try and if they didn't like it they went to get something else. We absolutely loved the beach club, it has lifeguards at every pool and a section on its own with shallower pools for smaller children, which enabled you to relax while they happily played. We would never normally go to the same place twice but we all loved this holiday so much we are booking again for next year and we can't wait!

3 readers found this review helpful

We've been there two times before and the staff and entertainment team are very nice and helpfull. we went all inclusive and the food was amazing is was there when ever you wanted, And if you ever needed any help the staff are always there to help.
So all summed up its great and great for families and we found shopping in distance a nice walk if you dont mind it.
suppose i have to moan about one thing, and that would just be about the price of the holiday. Abit too much perhaps, but overall goodtimes!

15 readers found this review helpful

I felt I was obliged to write a review for our holiday, as some of the previous reviews I had read did not do it justice. We recently returned from our 10 day holiday at the holiday village, and wished we were back there. Myself, my husband and our two sons aged 2 and a half and 14 months, arrived at the hotel at 12.30pm, I wisely hurried off the coach and started queuing to check in, while my husband waited for the luggage. I would advise all to do this, as a very long queue was formed behind us. We had to wait an hour until we were able to get into our room, but we were given our all inclusive wristbands and was able to use all of the facilities. When we went up to our room, we were surprised to see how big it was. It had a massive bathroom, a small kitchen, a nice size living area, and a huge bedroom with two double beds. It also had a massive balcony.
We went all inclusive and I would advise others to do the same. There is no shops directly outside the hotel, so the shop in the hotel can charge what they like, and they certainly did 20€ for a bottle of suncream. It was definately worth it, just by the amount of soft drinks that we drank during the day.Before we went on our holiday your all inclusive wristband ended at 12 midday on the day off your departure, but they changed this to last until you left the hotel for the airport, which was good as we had a 10pm flight.The food we were served was nice. Breakfast was a traditional fry up with a vast choice of cereals, pastries, yoghurts, juices and CHAMPAGNE!!! There was always a big variety at dinner, with lots to choose from, especially for our young children. Lunch was snacks from the bar which included burgers, toasties, pizzas, nuggets and chips. Or you could go across to the beach club where you could have a sit down buffet type meal. A lot of reviews I read moaned about the long walk to the beach club, but it took literally 5 minutes. The swimming pools there were great with the slides, water sprays and of course the pirate ship, a favourite for my eldest son. Although we did just stay around the pool in the hotel for some days.One issue seemed to be getting a sunbed and although you wasn't supposed to, we always got up at 8am to put our towels down to ensure a bed by the baby pool(and everyone seemed to be doing this).
One thing that did disappoint me slightly, is that when booking the holiday I was lead to believe the hotel was on the beach. It wasn't, it was about a 15 minute walk to the beach, and then you had to walk down about 40 steps, and when you have two small children in a double buggy, this can be difficult.
There was lots of childrens entertainment during the day and evenings. We didn't put our children in any of the clubs but they always looked good fun. We took them along to a stay and play one afternoon and they had a nice afternoon in the cool playing, they also had a soft play area and ball pool where we also took them to another evening. The reps were always really friendly, although one informed us that they only earnt £1.32 an hour so we always offered to get them drinks(as they wasn't entitled to these)!!!! The evening entertainment started off for the children, with singing and dancing and visits from bob the builder. The adults entertainment was O.K. There was also trampolines and go karts set up in the evening, which you had to pay for, which I think maybe should have been included.
The people who worked at the hotel were very polite and friendly. They always said hello, and made a point of talking to the children, even trying to teach my two old son some spanish.
We had the best holiday ever, and you will to..........have fun.

2 readers found this review helpful

I have never written a review before but felt I had to in view of the terrible start to our holiday. At no point was it made clear when booking this holiday that the only language spoken was French - the entertainment was only in French so the kids put their name down for all activities not knowing what they were and course when they were called they missed them!!! We were given different bands for our all inclusive resort, to the other visitors, to identifiy that we were British and then if we were lucky a member of about 3 staff who could speak broken English bothered to speak to us.
The entertainment teamere very good with their dancing shows but again thius was fine uintil speech was required. One evening we were barred from the show and told it was a pantomine in French so no point us going in.
In the end we paid an additionl amount and transferred to the Riu Tikida Palmeira which was absolutely fantastic and saved our sanity.
I have always used First Choice and never had any problems but I feel very strongly that they should have made it clear at booking that the language barrier was an issue.
I havent even started on the basic facilities for a supposed 4 star resort and the cramped conditions in a family room were you could barely swing a cat - cats that were plenty around the resort and encouraged to stay in the restaurants by the staff!
Small pool with not enough loungers or space so some had towels on the grass that you werent allowed on anyway!

7 readers found this review helpful

First of all I wanna stick up for the kids here!! I saw adults push in front of kids, stick fingers in food , adults!! sip gravy then put it back and and blow soup then put it back and burst into restaurant like they had never been fed!! Come on guys lets show our british manners a little more!!
right that was only moan. Hotel was excelent beds changed daily, fridge topped up with drinks, even cheese sandwiches served at end of night! Restaurant variety was amazing so much to choose from and food changed regularly.
when we told reception ants in our room at twelve at night they were there with ant powder within ten mins.
Pools were clean and if there was odd accident they were closed for 24 hours.
Kids loved football clubs and we used creche 2 evenings which was great meant we had meal by selves!
Shop was overpriced swimming nappies 11 euros, loaf of bread and small butter 5 euros, def go all inclusive, nearest town is 13 euros by taxi fengorola? but worth a visit, you are a bit out of way so location werent great.
Transfer time was only 20 mins so that was good and thomson staff were on hand all day every day!
Entertainment was good although some nights a little repetitive.
The walk over bridge to restaurant and water park was only ten mins so not to bad. Beach 10 mins walk.
Would go back did not want to come home!

15 readers found this review helpful

The key thing about the Holiday Village holiday is that it is for families.
If you do not have kids, do not go it will be hell on earth. I have two children aged 2 and 4. This was our first trip abroad as a family and I am so happy we went with Holiday Village.
The location:
If you want to go into Benalmadena or Fuengirola you are looking at a 10-15 min bus ride or an expensive taxi ride in either direction.
The accommodation:
I was amazed to see how clean they keep the hotel and grounds. We had a sea view room with all the trimmings. We could not moan about a single thing with the room. The maids were in every day, topped our fridge up with drinks and did a top class clean.
Facilities:
@ The hotel
Three bar to chose from in the day time, all well stocked and well managed.
Two pools on site, both spotless and well staffed with life guards. The big pools depth was spot on for my 4 year old who could wander without fear of being too far out of her depth. The smaller toddlers pool was perfect for the younger ones
The restaraunt was brilliant.Plenty of choice for all, you just have to look. So much food to pick from its hard work. The restaraunt at the pool club was even better and thats hard as the thotels food was great.
Kids Clubs:
The children love repetition, which is just as well as the kids club had the same format for 80% of our stay. They LOVED it. Tash and Liam were brilliant with the kids. So too were the rest of the entertainment staff. My children couldn’t wait to do the Hi5 Live dance every night.
If you go make sure you go all-inclusive as you may end up paying more than you thought by the end of the holiday. Even pool entry to the waterpark on site is not included if you are not fully-inc.
Would I go back again, yes. We loved it, we will deffo be booking another Holiday Village holiday for next year. Thin we will try another location just for a change..

7 readers found this review helpful

I took my 13 year old daughter and her 13 year old cousin to the holiday village for a week in June 2010, we went self catering because I was led to believe that shops and restaurants would be a stone's throw away, they weren,t, you had to get a bus and taxi everywhere which meant meal times were a real problem because the restaurants in the hotel were too expensive to eat in every night.
The first day I thought I'd died and woke up in holiday hell, hundreds of under fives cried and wailed around me permanently and the hotel lay out was really just like a giant indoor shopping center, on the plus side, apartments were immaculate and my girls loved the entertainment but going self catering was a big mistake, you really did feel like a second hand citizen every time you bought a drink and clocked the staff checking out your arm to see if you're wearing the special all inclusive plastic wrist band.

4 readers found this review helpful

Our first holiday with our little one of 7months. we arrived at the airport at 10.30 got our suit cases and proceeded to the exit. Found the first holiday rep sent to another rep then proceed to a lift then onto an another rep then spoke yes once more another rep which told us to go to the furthest away coach while carrying our cases and our little one no check of our names or anything. Once we were on the coach we were given a piece of paper and told to fill with credit card details passport numbers and everything else for faster check in. what a joke tryin to do all this while having a baby on our knees and trying to search our bags for details. thought there was going to be a fight over pens.
we arrived at the hotel looked very nice entered we thought we would try and check in quick cause our little was getting hungry and we had no where for heating bottles or feeding her. so we were at the front of the que ready to go to the desk. But no, we had to wait on some woman go through a talk first before we could proceed to the desk. listened to her for ten mins but it was pointless just told us to go to the desk anyway. so i was second at the desk went to check gave the woman our form for faster chcek in for her to tell me that our room wouldn be ready for 2 hours. This was at 12.30 pm i thought just great been on the go for 10 and half hours the wee one was getting hungry and upset and she had hardly slept. We had orderd a baby pack which included everything we needed. so i thought i would ask for the buggy cause we had 2 hours to wait and we could go for a walk. i was then told there was no baby pack ordered even tho our tickets had the pack on them. The guy said you havnt ordered it well the tickets said different so eventually we got it sorted which we had to pay a 30 euro deposit for. Got the buggy and the rest was going in our room when we got it. while we were waiting after about an hour there were still people checking in who were at the back of the que. It was a mess i would hate to see what it would be like without our faster check in forms.
After 2 hours we got our room which i had to chase up got to the room no baby pack no kettle. couldn even warm the bottle up. Phoned reception ask for the kettle said it would up in ten mins waited 20 no kettle phoned again still no kettle my fiance went to the desk she lost it she had enough. then next on her hit list was this baby pack which another guy told her that we hadnt booked one she was going mental so back up to the room tickets again and deposit form back down stairs eventually we got the stuff without the form to get our deposit back. so another trip to find that. The baby pack we got we were told it had all been cleaned and sterlised but it was dirty. once we got it all sorted and settled down a bit the phone rings in the room. its a guy from reception you need to get out your room you should of checked out at 6 i told him ive just checked in he says ok. half an hour later the same happened again i was ready for cracking. Just wanted to go home at this point first day there could of been doing without all the stress. asked for towels tv remote deposit for everthing i said forget it you could almost spend all your money on deposits. First day to forget after that the holiday was ok the resort is a bit out of the way so taxis or buses to the town centres. all inclusive was ok but we were getting a bit sick of the resort and that was us going away for 3 day trips. if you like going out for your dinner at nights to different restaurants its to far away and would cost a fortune on taxis.

106 readers found this review helpful

My family is just back from a week All Inclusive 4/6/10 to 11/6/10. I have two children aged 4 and 2. Everyone's expectations and standards are different so I thought I would give some general information to help you.
1. Take a pen with you! On the transfer bus from the airport you will be given two forms to complete and no-one had a pen. You need to put your passport numbers of all members of your party so take these onto the bus with you. Also, if you intend to leave a credit card to pay your 100E deposit then you have to write these details onto a form too, so have your card to hand.
2. If you intend to take your children to any of the kids clubs then go before hand and ask for a registration form (they are sometimes on the table outside the club). This cuts out on the time you have to spend queueing when you take them to the first session. Also, the clubs were getting very busy and you really need to go a bit early.
3. Evening creche sessions are Saturdays and Wednesdays 8pm - 11pm and need to be booked as soon as you get there as the sessions are very busy.
4. The evening entertainment, I5Live (mini disco) starts at 8pm outside. Most nights there is a Stay and Play session in the ball pool within kids club from 8pm - 8.45pm (adults have to stay with child), and there are evening clubs from 9pm - 11pm some nights too for aged 3 - 8. I cant comment on what was available for older children.
5. The kids clubs often use face paints and messy things so dont send your children in 'good' clothes. The chocolate party night is very messy but the kids love it!
6. When you get your keycards from the hotel there is a small slip of paper inside that tells you what 'serving' you are for dinner 6.30pm - 7.30pm, or 8pm - 9pm. We were 6.30pm. A queue forms for the restaurant opening at 6.30pm,but was clear by 6.40pm.
7. If you want to book the Mexican or Italian restaurants you have to go to the man sitting at the desk at the window in the reception area between 11.15am - 1.15pm. I made the mistake of standing in the queue for main reception for 10 minutes then getting told I was in the wrong place.
8. Although a pool view can be nice, the layout of this hotel means that if you have young children who need a siesta, or who cant sleep with much noice, it might be better to ask for a room at the back of the hotel (mountain view). Although there is a train goes by often, it is nowhere near as noisy as the pool view rooms, who hear the evening music in the piano bar until about midnight.
I hope this information is of some use. We had a fabulous holiday, plenty to do, food was great (plenty of vegetarian options ie spinach pastries, tomato tarts, pasta, vegetable bakes) and my kids loved the kids clubs. My only concern is how we are ever going to find another hotel that meets this, a 'normal' swimming pool just isnt going to cut it now with my children. They loved the beach club area, with the elephants and pirate ship.
Also, First Choice certainly know how to man a hotel. There are literally dozens of their staff around at all times, which is reassuring.