La Quinta Park Suites Hotel

We stayed at La Quinta Parks over Christmas 2010 and were overall disappointed by the junior self catering apartment, especially considering the hotel's 4 star rating. Having read plenty of reviews and looked at photos, LQP seemed to have pleasant rooms, lovely views and be reasonabley priced. These must have mainly been written by people who actually stayed in the main hotel part of the complex (the Park is divided into 3 sections, 2 of which are accessed via a lift or 3 flights of stairs). Here were the positives:
- The apartments and balconies were spacious and had a reasonable view of the sea (we could see the sea over the roof tops of the other apartment blocks.
- The hotel surroundings were well kept and tidy, esp around the swimming pools.
- The apartment had endless hot water and excellent water pressure.
- It was reasonably cleaned.
Here are the negatives:
- The apartments completely lacked soft furnishings and decoration, making them feel empty, echoey and unfriendly - the lack of curtains was odd. This, the poor quality sliding doors entrance doors, and the hard floor made the apartment incredibly noisey and if your were unlucky to have noisey neightbours like us....
- Lack of sound proofing. We were able to hear entire conversations and snoring coming from the rooms in the adjacent apartments - some of which was so loud we thought people had come in to our apartment by mistake. Could also hear every detail when the neighbours used their bathrooms.......
- The kitchen lacked catering essentials such as chopping boards, oven gloves and draining rack. The fridge leaked. The kitchen units were flimsy, some smelt damp and were in need of maintenance.
- No hotel car parking area. We parked out on the narrow street outside with numerous other hire cars & local cars and passing traffic (some quite large buses). Was not surprised to discover 3 large scrapes on our bumper one morning.
- General lack of information, eg on spa costs, opening times, local attractions etc. The staff were also vague when asked, although their English was extremely good.
Overall, nice complex with good views and well kept, but definitely pay more to ensure a better rooms (and views) as the 4 star rating does not seem to apply to the basic SC apartments.