Victoria Playa Hotel

I have to agree to some extend with the previous review (Sioned Sept 2011). Myself, my partner and two children visited Vic Playa for two weeks in August, and it was very noisy, very crowded, which we pretty much expected. The sunbed situation clearly needs looking at by Thomsons and/or the hotel. We were informed by the Thomson reps at our welcome meeting that if sunbeds were not in use for a hour then other guests had the right to remove any towels on them!!! Can you image the fallout if that did occur! It should NOT be up the guests to police the sunbeds! Having spent a considerable amount of money on the holiday the least I expect is a sunbed to sit on!!! So we headed off to the beach during the day, which is beautiful, and many guests probably never visited as they were too busy guarding their sunbeds! Santa Tomas is not a lively resort, its child friendly,with a few bars and resturants, we would consider visiting again but not the Victoria Playa. We had no issues with the food, cleanliness, the staff and kids club. We ordered a packed lunch from reception the night before and picked it up at breakfast the next day, you can hire an umbrella from the shop for 2 euros a day, but take your own lilos to sit on - sunbed prices are steep at 5 euros each plus another 5 for an umbrella!
I wrote this review on the Thomson website and it has never been published......funny that!!

....because you may end up here!
Myself and my best friend, both in our mid 30's, and my little boy who is 3, had booked this Hotel as it promised lots of amenities for children and seemed to be very geared up for the younger child. As a loyal Thomson customer I was happy to trust their 4 star family resort rating for the Hotel- how wrong could I have been! Please, please avoid this Hotel at all costs! It is packed to the raffters with people and there is little room in any of the public places to house such a volume of guests. You were packed into the restaurant like sardines. As part of the all inclusive package the meal times were extremely restricted, so queues were often found at the restaurant and when you got a table you were far too close to the next one! The food was fine, the standard was ok but the choice minimal. The pool area was even worse! There were minimal sun loungers and if you werent up and about to save one very early they had all been taken- that said you really wouldnt want one as they were also packed into the tiny space surround ding the adult and kids pool- a warning for very young children, the kids pool can be a bit daunting and scary, there is a massive water slide there with a monkey and a larger gush of water overflows from the top of it every few minutes or so which would wash away smaller children! It was noisy, not least because the "entertainment staff" were always shouting down a microphone about something!
There was a shady spot up on a lawn near the kids playgrounds which was a bit quieter, but again, sun loungers at a premium and there would be pistols at dawn to get them!
The kids club offered a 2 hour slot each day to each age range with a drop in at 1.30-3.30pm each day too. The staff seemed friendly and they seemed capable and well organised.
It was an impossibility to get any sleep at the Hotel- not least because either this Hotel or the nearby Hotel had entertainment ongoing until the early hours, and they really needed to turn down their microphones! And the Hotel rooms were tiny, packed in and very uncomfortable as the walls were paper thin too- you could hear all that was going on in the rooms above, below and to the side of you and the many people who milled about the corridors with sleepless children!
Please, please be wise to this- the benefits of kids club cannot go anywhere near outweighing the appauling accommodation at this Hotel- avoid avoid avoid!

1 reader found this review helpful

Lets start with the negatives. Pool side snacks were awful with a choice of a sandwich or a sandwich. Ice creams for children were limited in both time slots and choice. In order to get a sunbed you had to be up and out by 7am - earlier if you wanted a parasol which was a necessity for our child.
Now the positives. Dining - Fantastic food with a great choice. My 6 year old wasn't keen on the childs buffet, but was not disappointed with the adult choices. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all great.
Cleanliness - cannot fault the cleanliness of the hotel or the grounds. Room service daily, towels changed daily and our maid even laid our childs toys out on the bed for her.
Rooms - ours was a little small, but plenty of storage space. Was not expecting anything bigger and was happy enough.
Entertainment - Plenty of activities during the day at the poolside with no pressure to join in, by the Thomson reps. Evening discos and entertainment by both Thomson reps and outside sources.
Staff - both Thomson staff and hotel staff were fantastic, polite and friendly.
Beach - a 2 minute walk from hotel. Once over the rocky bits, beautiful sand and shallow waters - ideal for children or non-swimmers. Sunbeds expensive to hire, so if you are a beach lover buy a parasol and/or chair to take down with you.
We didnt explore much as it was too hot for our daughter.
Local shops opposite hotel, including supermarket, doctor and pharmacy. All OK - nothing special. Walk up a bit further to discover some more, but pretty much the same. Didnt use the childrens club, so cannot comment.
Advice for fellow travellers - be aware of the early start required for sun beds/parasols by the pool. Get a room at the front for a beautiful view. Avoid poolside snacks - go to lunch instead!
The sunbed issue and pool snacks stopped this being a 10/10 rating, but am considering a return there next year.

We have stayed there about 5 times over last 19 years. Always had a great holiday until last year. When we arrived we did not realize it had gone all inc and sorry but that has changed the whole holiday.We had booked half board and it was only when we arrived we realised things had changed It is still a lovely hotel and most of the staff are great apart from one waitress in dining area who made our dining experience very uncomfortable over the week. The entertainment was awful and geared to very young children and we had a 3 year old with us and she was bored with entertainment. In the past there have been some great shows when we have stayed there but felt sorry for reps . People were putting towels on sun loungers and taking the umbrellas early in morn and then not coming to garden area or pool area until mid day. I never thought I would say this but I will not go back there again. It is quite an expensive holiday and in the past we were willing to pay due to great shows and all the good service but sorry but has gone downhill sadly.

This is the second time we have visited the hotel, had a wonderful time. Will definitely come back next year.

1 reader found this review helpful

Just spent a week here and really wished it had been longer. the sleepy island of Menorca is beautiful but this hotel has everything. Food was excellent, entertainment brilliant and my 6 year old son had the time of his life. The beach is ideal for little swimmers and my son was soon snorkling and looking for fish. Booking again for next year but going for 2 weeks next time.

1 reader found this review helpful

I would like to start by saying that I feel many of the reviews on this page that express negative views describe very one off circumstances, I have been going to this hotel for 6 years and have never encountered any problems. I also have many friends whom I have met at the Victoria Playa who have been many times and have also not had anything but a lovely experience at the hotel!
All aspects of the hotel are lovely. The food is great and there is a lovely selection for kids as well as adults! The staff are all genuinly kind and helpfull and always make time to talk to you and you're children when you see any of them. The REPS are also lovely and do an excellent job at entertaiding children and adults during the day and evening! The rooms are on the small side but they are clean and homly, the bedshhets and towels are replaced everyday and the cleaners who do so are kind and pleasent.
Another thing i have noticed is that in afew reviews people have said that you have to be up at 5 am to reserve a sunbed if you want one. This is a problem at the hotel as many people do get p early to reserve sunbeds. However when i come down at 8 i still manage to get a sunbed everyday for me and my family, saying that you have to get up at 5 am is a complete exaggeration!

2 readers found this review helpful

After having read the previous reviews I was very apprehensive about our impending holiday. However, when we got there I was pleasantly surprised. The hotel was clean and tidy & the food was plentiful. The only complaints that I have about the restaurant is that the if you have a small child or baby you are socially ostracized and squirreled away into a dark corner of the room with all the other high chair users. This is quite depressing as the light and airy no-baby side has some lovely sea views & natural light as opposed to feeling like you're in the freezer aisle of the local supermarket. My other complaint was that the desserts are the same EVERY single night!
The children's entertainment team were fantastic my children went to the Tots club and the creche & both I & they were impressed with the facilities and staff.
My main complaint is with the reps, the Thomson reps thought fit to patronise me when my daughter caught a nasty virus that was doing the rounds of the hotel, I was aware of about 15 other people reporting the same symptoms. I asked the reps about this & reported what I had read on this website before I left & I was infuriated by the response I get. They said that there was no such history the only time anyone had been sick was from too much ice cream! What a load of rubbish! I tried to discuss this with the rep (who was the team leader) but she refused to acknowledge anything I said & continued to play dumb. It was a shame that I received this type of response by someone who should have been a representative of the staff. Tut tut tut.
If you are going here, take anti-bac spray & wipes & be aware of the sausages as they seem to be continually reheated, also keep your mouth closed in the pool!

3 readers found this review helpful

Within the first three hours of arrival we found out that there was a sickness bug at the hotel with 15 families affected on the day we arrived. Talking to the Thomson reps they were doing their best to play this down blaming it on people over eating !After three days and three occasions of the pool being closed because of guests being sick in it, it was clear there was a bug.
After repeated requests from my wife to the reps to place some notices warning people of the situation came to nothing they eventually placed a small sign on the desk warning of some sort of illness in the hotel !
Ourselves along with a lot of other guests felt that Thomsons as a company could have provided some better notices and made available some hand sanitizer in the toilets and the dining area. As you can imagine 800 people using the same restaurant and buffet it doesn't take long for a virus to pass around. It caught up with us after 6 days !
The pool was also shut 3 times due excrement and this as you would expect took all day to rectify and clean.
After finding out about the bug and seeing the excrement we decided to avoid the pools and use the beach, which is lovely in Sant Tomas and very child friendly we also managed to get into another hotel twice to use their pool after explaining how bad the Playa Victoria was. We hired a car to keep away from the hotel as much as possible. The island is a lovely place to explore and we had lots of wonderfull days out. The only thing that annoyed us about this was the fact we had paid for all inclusive and were not really using it.
The food in the hotel was passable but no more. One restaurant used for all meal times got slightly monotonous and although there seemed like a lot of choice it always seemed difficult to put a decent meal together. The food available outside of the main meal times was limited to toasties or sandwiches (but not on the same day !) ice creams and biscuits.
The drinks choices were not good with the spirits of a really poor quality aswell as the wine.
The entertainment during the day was poor with the highlight being a game of water polo or the quiz ! The only things missing were the knobbly knee and glamarous granny competitions.
Overall we had a nice holiday but not because of where we stayed but because we spent about a £1000 extra eating out, hiring cars and travelling around the island. I can safely say we won't be using Thomson's again.

3 readers found this review helpful

Myself, my husband and 2 children have just returned from a 2 week holiday at the Victoria Playa.
All in all we had a very enjoyable holiday.
The hotel is quite basic but very clean and the staff (spanish and english) are very nice, friendly and helpfull. We were in a twin room with cot space although i would question that there was enough room for a child bed and a cot, we were tripping over each other (photo on the website must be a family room as our room was very small).Not really enough wardrobe space for 2 adults and 2 children but they do have an ironing room so no worrys if your clothes are creased due to not being hung up. Very small balcony but did have a lovely sea view. Room was cleaned every day with fresh towels.
The lift situation is annoying, 3 very small lifts for 800+ guests. Gets very busy and you are waiting a while for a free lift at busy times of the day. If you have a pushchair you dont have the option to walk, We were on the 5th floor.
Unless you are prepared to reserve your sunbeds at 6.30 7 am every day then be prepared go without. Its not to much of a problem as there is plenty of space on the grass area to lay your towls down. On our last day however there was a delivery of more sunbeds so this may ease the problem.
We didnt use the kids club as our youngest was too young and our oldest wasnt really interested. ( age 1.5 and 4)
The age groups are 3 -5 and 6 - 8.
The entertainments team are very good at what they do but the constant shouting through a microphone from 10 til 4 every day did get a little annoying. Also the adult games in and around the pool were VERY annoying as on a number of occasions i had to leave the baby pool with my children as the ADULTS were playing games!!!!!!
Unfortunatly through no fault of the hotel the pool was closed for a number of hours on 4 consecutive days due to someone either vomiting or pooing in the pool.
On one of these occasions the entertainments team still decided to have ADULT games in the baby pool leaving us with no other alt pool for the children to play in. Other than the splash pool but that has slides etc not for swimming in.
If the evening entertainment doesnt take your fancy there are plenty if tables and chairs outside away from it. Still quite loud though so if your looking for peace and quiet you wont get it.
The restraunt was really nice and clean. Yes there is a lot of buggies outside the restraunt but really what do you expect from a FAMILY hotel, It really wasnt a problem.Food was nice, lots of choice.Breakfast: a good choice of continental and full english. Lunch: salads, cold meats, 2/3 hot choices, deserts. Dinner: Salads, 3 different hot choices, veg, soup, deserts.
Also sarnies/ toasties from 10 til 1 and 4 til 6 from the snack bar.
I found the local alcohol to be fine however you can upgrade to branded for around 1.20 eur. 2 eur for cocktails.
All in all a very enjoyable time at the Victoria Playa. Would i go again? Probably not, we have decided that at this time a large family hotel is not really our cup of tea. To noisy, bustling and a bit like butlins. Great if you like that sort of thing.
Would recommend only if you like a very noisy, bustling hotel with lots of day and eveing entertainment.