Holiday Reviews > Med Beach Resorts > Spain
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Flamingo Oasis Benidorm Hotel ReviewsPage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs J Burns |
| Overall
Rating: |
4/10 |
| Comments: |
We have just come back from the Flamingo Oasis in Benidorm and will not be returning.
Although the hotel is beautiful and clean inside, the lifts are a nightmare and not big enough for the amount of people in the hotel. They are small, dark with tiny lights in the ceiling and very hot, we were on the 23rd floor and the air conditioning doesnt come on until you reach the bottom! One morning we had to walk down 23 flights of stairs because we couldnt get a lift and when you are lucky enough to get one it usually stops at every floor, even if no-one is there!
The pool is small (very deceiving from pictures we saw) and we could never get a sunbed or chair to sit on. The pool area is also too small for the amount of people and you could hardly walk round it. People were like sardines all cramped up together.
The hotel does not provide pool towels so if you are not aware of this you will have to buy them. There were lots of children splashing and playing in the pool making it very difficult if you did want to swim. My son went in twice while we were there and got bullied and pushed under the water and spoken to with some disgusting language. He wouldnt go near the pool after that.
The food is awful and very repetitive. A lot being used from lunchtime in the evening. Hardly any chicken. Pasta and breakfast cereal very bland and tasteless and chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner which always were soggy! My eldest son ate hardly anything the time we were there, it tasted so bad.
After evening dinner, the people there were like caged animals waiting for the tables to be put out for the entertainment and then literally running for for one to be near the entertainment outside and on two occasions a fight very nearly broke out over a table with swearing, shouting and abuse. This should never be allowed.
Queues all the time for drinks and if you want a tea or coffee in the evening and are outside watching the shows, you have to go upstairs to get it, only cold drinks are served near the entertainment and the wait is awful.
People were unfriendly and bar staff could be quite rude.
If you like tattoos, you wont be disappointed here! we have never seen so many.
The only good thing about this hotel is the entertainment team who worked very hard and put on some very good shows and the rooms are spacious and clean, except the one we had smelled of drains on and off. Also the water in the bathroom went off a few times and we had to report this.
We were very disappointed and actually got an early flight home.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs L Dunkley |
| Overall
Rating: |
4/10 |
| Comments: |
me my huband 2 children aged 2 and 9 visited flamingo oasis august this year the hotel its self is very clean and beautiful but the food is dissapointing 1st week we were there was ok but there is no food for the children they cannot live off chicken nuggets and chips for 2 weeks so we had to go out of the hotel to buy food for the kids.the pool area is too cramped you cannot get a sunbed only way of getting one was to que up with all the sad o's at 8 in the morning then they were running to get one they should get a life !!!! also the staff was grumpy and there were kids running riot everywhere because the parents couldnt be bothered to see were they were.The lifts are slow but thats because the kids are messing around.I would not go back to flamingo oasis as i was very dissapointed to pay all that money for a 4 star hotel when it should be a 2 star.The best thing about it is the entertainment at night well done to them
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Portland Direct |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr S J |
| Overall
Rating: |
6/10 |
| Comments: |
right let me start the hotel is cleaned top to bottom everyday , no problem there, food ok a bit repetitive at times , chips for breakfast is a big no no,my problems were with the sun longers in morning , having to get up 7.30 every morning to be down for 7.45 to get my spot at shallow end of pool to look after my 17 month child , if you go with young children and want a certain spot wear a pair of running trainers , as you will need them , like i said i only done this for my young child as you only have 1 shallow end , if i never had young child i wouldn't be bothered , as for having buggies no way round it was like a obstacle course sometimes having to lift it over loungers , also the lifts if i was first going with young children , i would email hotel and request a lower floor no higher than 3 floor , cos believe me lifts are nightmare , we were on 2nd floor and most of time had to carry child down stairs in buggy so be warned i emailed hotel and i got 2nd floor , Another problem was the ignorent british people especially the southerners what ignorent people they call the foreigners but believe me the english are worse, so if it was not for these problems it would be a perfect hotel as rooms nice and big , and i like to mention the reps entertainment , they are great work really hard some really good entertainment, i hope this is beneficial if you are traveling to this hotel.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Select |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr J Lawless |
| Overall
Rating: |
5/10 |
| Comments: |
I went to this Hotel first two years ago, and in that time, I have to say they appear to have let their standards slip significantly. With the exception of the in house entertainment staff who were excellent.
The staff generally seem to lack any customer focus, and do not seem to realise that their attitude will stop people coming back. Nowhere was this more evident than in the restaurant, where most of their staff seem to take their lead from the head waiter.
The Hotel is showing signs of age, with bathrooms showing cracked tiles and basins, and the building over looking the pool having missing facias.
The pool was small and had a distinctive aroma, and the lifeguards were a bit fond of the use of their whistle, at the first sign of anyone enjoying themselves.
Food was good, but repetitive, with lots of evidence of food being recycled from lunch to Dinner etc.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Aug 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
First Choice |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr J Allen |
| Overall
Rating: |
4/10 |
| Comments: |
This was my second visit, and over the last two years I have to say standards have not slipped they have avalanched.
The hotel is in need of an overhaul with sections of the balconys crumbling and tiles missing off the walls facing the pool
Food is very repetitive and the head waiter seems to run the restaurant like a victorian workhouse, making everyone feel that they are just there to annoy him.
Don't exchange currency in there you will get ripped off big time go in to town.
The race for sunbeds is laughable every morning, there are not enough for the number of guests see youtube. Talking of the Pool, I think the lifeguards are over officious, no inflatables, no balls, no tee shirts or hats in the pool, and don't show signs of enjoying yourselves, that will really offend them.
The lifts are woefully inadequate for the number of guests especially at peak times.
The Entertainment during the evenings was excellent and varied
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Flyglobespan |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss S Campbell |
| Overall
Rating: |
6/10 |
| Comments: |
This is a mixed review. Some aspects of our stay were very good, others less so. Negatives seem to have been discussed already in other reviews at length.
Lifts are very bad, and the program controlling the lift system is poor. On certain days, certain floors just seemed to be skipped. The Lift system isn't helped by holidaymakers pressing up when they want to go down, and overall lift etiquette was poor - perhaps borne of frustration, or perhaps just stupidity.
The 0830-ish race for sunloungers (subject of a video on youtube, type in Flamingo Oasis Pool Opening) was a nightmare and really put a dampener on my overall holiday plan, which was to chill after a long hard stint at work this year. However, if you have older teenagers, or no kids, our tip is to go to the less hectic surroundings of the 25th floor "Adults Only" sun deck. We discovered it Week 2 - it was like being in a different hotel.
Another negative, which seems to be dependent on the time of year, was the number of families with uncontrolled kids who basically made any chance of having a relaxing day sunbathing by the main pool impossible. And with parents letting kids do what they want while wiring into the free drink we had the unbelievable circumstances of the pool being shut 3 days in a row midday for toddlers crapping in the pool.
There are some good points about the Flamingo Oasis of course.
We found the restaurant staff to be pretty good, and most of the bar staff. I've seen reviews criticising the staff, but I found them to be very friendly and accommodating, probably down to me attempting to use my very limited Spanish to communicate with them (if you can order beers in Spanish, you should do so, you get a very good reaction from the staff).
The Animacion/Entertainment team were great, in an "amateur dramatic society" kind of way. One or two of the "proper" acts were good (the comedian Dinah Rodd, and hypnotist Terry Foster in particular), although the singers were a bit samey (covers of Valerie abounded!) and one or two of the comedy acts were poor (Rose Peters! give him/her a miss).
Overall I can't complain about the food, other than it wasn't very Spanish. Drink wise the local beers and spirits are "free" as part of the All Inclusive deal but I found I couldn't drink much of the beer and the wines were not great quality. In fact a carton of wine we purchased over the road at Maxi Dia for about 96 cents was better.
Rooms are good. They are kept clean by excellent housekeeping staff. TV's basic, and it costs about 40 Euro for a safe key, but I thought the rooms overall were good.
One last thing. We paid a lot of money as part of a package with Flyglobespan out of Edinburgh. Based on what we heard from others who flew from Glasgow and other departure points we ended up paying a LOT more than the averages being discussed. We will NOT use Flyglobespan for a package again (if we'd gone flight only and booked the hotel ourselves I reckon we'd have saved possibly a grand or more). We felt a bit ripped off to be honest.
To sum up. If you want a reasonably undisturbed "chill" type holiday, the Flamingo Oasis is not for you. If you have young kids, and can manage to get up every morning for the mad rush for sunloungers (possibly you have the brass neck to chuck towels over 6 loungers in prime position and then go back to bed denying other holidaymakers a sunbathing spot in "Germanic" style) you'll be OK. Also if you couldn't make the yearly Tattoo convention in the UK, you'll not be disappointed by the "Body Art" (I use the term loosely) on display. More likely you'll never want to see another tattoo again.
A holiday is what you make it, but if you are heading to the Flamingo during school holidays, understand what you are letting yourselves in for.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Booked Independently |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr A R BRUCE |
| Overall
Rating: |
4/10 |
| Comments: |
after stopping here last year couldn t wait to get back, kids club WAS GREAT plenty of staff to look after them ,not this year tho great idea to have a ice cream throwing game even better lets open the doors and let the unsuspecting sun bathers get all there towels clothes cameras mobile phones etc covered in ice cream while the staff have a quick pick me up .,but this was not to put me off where i was sun bathing along with my wife and 2 sons ,no that was left up to the concrete slate which fell off the front of the hotel and missed me and the wife s head by 6 foot, god help the family who decided to go for a drink if they hadnt they probably wouldnt be here now,the action the hotel took we,ll close that area (outside kids clubs)for how long you think days ,weeks ,to make sure theres no more loose slates...no within 8 hours it was open the next morning for new arrivals who hadnt heard what had happened , but not to put us off chins up being brits we decided to move our sunbeds to the disgruntled moans of I BEEN IN THIS PLACE FOR 10 DAYS .so the next day i thought ill go down to the pool a little bit earlier 8.30 to make sure i can get 4 beds ,the relay had already started one person 12 towels i was outnumbered but did manage to get 3 beds then came a great next few days somebody deciding not to go to the toilet when they need a number 2 just do it in the pool so for three days the pools were shut early for cleaning 20 floor we were on nightmare waiting 20 mins for lift only to stop at every floor ,on a brighter note clean rooms good breakfast and hot weather but never again
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs F Robertson |
| Overall
Rating: |
2/10 |
| Comments: |
What can i say? Unfortunately one of the worst hotels I have had the misfortune to stay in! If you enjoy being up at the crack of dawn to lay your claim on a sunbed (and for as many other of your party/friends you so choose), if you enjoy having to eat at seven o'clock every night in order to claim a seat for the entertainment at night, if you enjoy having to wipe your wet hands from the wet plastic glasses every time you have a drink; if you enjoy being splashed, kicked black and blue and being jumped by other people's little darlings then this is the holiday for you!!!! If that isn't your idea of what you saved your hard earned cash for all year then steer well clear!!
Benidorm itself has a lot to offer but the Flamingo Oasis is not for the faint hearted...the pool was closed three times during our eleven day stay due to someone using it as a public toilet...and I'm not talking number ones here! Need I say more!!!
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr J Davies |
| Overall
Rating: |
6/10 |
| Comments: |
Went to this hotel in july and was really disappointed. The run for the sun beds in the morning were a nightmare. Food was ok but got repeated every other night.. by the end of the second week i could not eat any more of the hotel food.. rooms where spacious and very clean, i would certainly not return to this hotel.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr Cs Sylvester |
| Overall
Rating: |
5/10 |
| Comments: |
My family and i have just recently returned from our family holiday at the flamingo ,it is the third time in five years we,ve been to this hotel and can honestly say it will be the last .
During this time we have seen the standards slipping on various things about the hotel,
my biggest concern is that the staff are all the same ones that were there when we first went five years ago ,this normaly is a good thing for maintaining standards ,however in this case its not working ,most apart from the odd few are rude,dont smile,and look like they would rather be somewhere else, as for the facility,s we could not fault them,this hotel has almost everything you need ,however being up at 0800hrs most mornings for a sun lounger isnt my idea of being on holiday, i began to feel like i was back at work again , AND I MEAN O8OO if your any later you can forget it you have no chance!,and im lead to believe it is like this from april till oct .
Another problem is the lifts lol the least said about this the better take my advice when booking insist on a low floor.
Points to note about the pool are ,strictly no lilo,s or any thing like that size so dont waist your money buying them rings are ok the smaller the better trying to swim a length of the pool can be a bit tricky "hint hint" OOPS look out for that polo ball!.
In the evening you,ll need to start queing for a table from about 7 other wise you,ll be standing or you wont be able to see anything do bear in mind evening meal is at 7pm
Some of the acts in the evening are bearable , however some of the shows put on by the hotel entertainment staff are like school plays so prepare yourself !
Our advice is to have one night in and one night out
The food generally is ok however you get the feeling you are at the school dinners as you are put to a table almost every night ,TIP dont sit yourself down as the floor manager gets a bit upset you have been warned!
this restuarant gets very busy in the evenings ps be prepared to que !
Another concern was the amount of under age drinking going on amongst all the teenagers ,so if your taking teens you,ll need eyes in the back of your head as it is so easy for them to get an alcoholic drink.
my summary on the hotel is overall not great , good clean large rooms , food is very repetative as is the entertainment ,just a word of advice if you want a more exclusive hotel this is not the place for you as it is very very busy with hundreds of kids so prepare yourself if you have already booked and good luck with the sunbeds!.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Mrs A Burnett |
| Overall
Rating: |
4/10 |
| Comments: |
Just returned from an eleven night stay and what a disapointment. You have to que for everything. The lifts were a disgrace waiting over twenty five mins to get anywhere at peak times. The food was extremely repetitive and if it hadn't passed through the fryer it wasn't served, even then the resulting food was soggy. Lunch was literally what you had for dinner the night before. The pack lunches was tinned pate and rock hard bread rolls. If you expecting a four star dinner standard then you will be extremely disappointed. No dress code at dinner, people would leave the pool at 7pm and come straight in, paper table cloths and miserable overworked staff.
Children were allowed to roam wherever even though signs were displayed stating that children should be accompanied at all times.
The pool looked nice however we couldnt get to it as the loungers were reserved by people all day even if they had left for food or gone for a walk, and if you werent on the starting blocks at 0830 you would stand no chance of getting a slot or a lounger. Also a distinct lack of shade meaning you were baked all day.
The only up side is the rooms are nice and large if you have a family, and the cleanliness could not be faulted. Benidorm is a great place but I will be most definately going to a different hotel next time. To sum it up if you want four star service and people then go elsewhere, if you want to lie by the pool all day, get drunk, eat fried food, have entertainment all day until 1.30 in the morning and have kids running under your feet and screaming and shouting all day long then this is the place for you.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Ms A Kerr |
| Overall
Rating: |
8/10 |
| Comments: |
Just spent 2 weeks and the hotel food and staff and entertainment were superb - the downside was the lifts we stayed on the 6th floor of this 25 storey building but still waited on several occasions up to 25 mins for a lift. Not ideal as we have a 1 year old, 7 and 10 with all the baggage that you need to make a journey to the pool, bar, anywhere. I reported this several times to the hotel as they really need to be making special arrangements for people with buggy's and wheelchairs. Unless you were up at 8.30am ready to run for you sunbed - forget it - the same in the evening if you hadn't eaten by 8pm and ready to watch the night time entertainment you din't stand a chance of a table. Dissapointed with Thomson reps and the kids clubs - I booked this because they had kids clubs but my kids never went as it was indoor activities (crafts) and that's not what I expect from a kids club. Reps seemed lethargic and not interested in our needs.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomas Cook |
| Submitted
By: |
Mr Gl Hulton |
| Overall
Rating: |
7/10 |
| Comments: |
IF U HAVE CHILDREN KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE THOMAS COOK CHILDRENS CLUB,ONE OF THE STAFF WAS VERY ABUSIVE TO OUR CHILDREN AND OTHERS AND OFTEN SEEN IN THE HOTEL DRUNK HANGING AROUND CHILDREN, THE MEMBER OF STAFF HAD TOOK ONE OF OUR CHILDREN A 15 YEAR OLD BOY ACROSS THE ROAD TO ANOTHER BAR AND WAS BUYING HIM BEER AND CIGARETTES AND HAD ALSO BEEN SEEN BY OTHERS STAYING AT THE HOTEL KISSING AND HOLDING HANDS. THE REP WAS GIVING OUR LAD VODKA IN WATER BOTTLES SO WE HAD NO IDEA UNTIL THE NIGHT HE WAS BEING SICK AND HAD TOLD US WHAT WAS GOING ON. THE REP HAD ALSO OPENED A FIRE DOOR IN THE DISCO AREA ON OUR LAST NIGHT IN ONE OF HER DRUNKEN STATES WHICH ALLOWED OUR 3 YEAR OLD BOY TO RUN THROUGH WHICH LEAD TO THE MAIN ROAD. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED FROM A KIDS CLUB REP PROVIDED BY THOMAS COOK TO LOOK AFTER OUR CHILDREN WHEN HAVING TO PAY EXTRA SO THEY COULD BE INCLUDED IN THE ACTIVITIES PROVIDED AT THE HOTEL.APART FROM THAT THE HOTEL WAS VERY CLEAN AND EFFICIENTLY RUN,THE FOOD WAS VERY GOOD WITH LOTS OF CHOICE.
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jul 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomas Cook |
| Submitted
By: |
Ms K Bloomfield |
| Overall
Rating: |
7/10 |
| Comments: |
i've just come back from a week at this hotel and the only bad points i can make is the wacky race's for table and chairs in the everning they just didnt put enough out and if you didnt get down to the pool 1st thing you couldn't get one!!!!! but on the upside the rooms were very spacey and kept clean along with all the communal area's, the staff where brillant they couldn't do enough for me and where very firendly. i would say its well worth going to this loverly hotel its brillant for faimlys specially with young children as the entertaiment staff are very good with them and put their all into every show etc............
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| Board Basis: |
All Inclusive |
| Date of
Holiday: |
Jun 2008 |
| Tour
Operator: |
Thomson |
| Submitted
By: |
Miss C Bailey |
| Overall
Rating: |
10/10 |
| Comments: |
Excellent hotel overall, extremely clean, friendly staff, food and drink great, the only negative we could find was that we wished there was more of a dress code in the evenings for dining - some people looked like they'd rolled straight off a sunbed!
We had mixed feelings about coming here because of some of the negative comments, however, we were pleasantly surprised so all I can say to people is its definately worth giving it a try!
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