HTOP Royal Sun

1 reader found this review helpful

Santa Susanna is a quiet town set back from the sea, so for those holidaying in the beach hotels it's a walk, or a short trip/ tour on the "road train". The railway station is around a 10 minute walk from the Royal Sun and provides an easy method of travel to all resorts along the coast, from Blanes down to Barcelona (approx 1 hour) and beyond. Railway tickets are the same price for adults and children, so it may be cheaper to buy a family ticket. All tickets need to be validated in the machine on the platform - a family ticket needs to be inserted the same number of times as there are passengers.
The Hotel was clean light and airy in the public areas, though the rooms are very small for a 4* hotel. All the staff we met were friendly and very helpful, and the hotel facilities are good.
The down side was the blandness of the food on offer, for example Goulash and Lamb Rogan Josh had less taste than most stews, though there was a good range of food, and snacks in between meal times were burgers/ hot-dogs & chips, plus salad and cold meats.
We were never stumped to find food that suited the children and us, and the All Inclusive meant that we had flexibility for days out, (for which the hotel provided packed lunches, or if there was an H-Top hotel near our destination, they'd ring to book places at meal times as required - though this may not be as easy in mid season.
Besides being small, the bedrooms had very thin walls, so noisy children next door could be a problem, whilst the tiling in the bathroom was crazed/ cracked -they're really in need of refurbishment.
The Railway line is at the back of the hotel, but stops running around 11pm, but some light sleepers may find the noise annoying if they're in rooms on the back of the hotel. This is a good hotel to use as a base for excursions, with good evening entertainment and a good children’s club.
The pools are good for the children, as we were warned that although the hotel is virtually on the beach, the rough sand/ fine gravel beach shelved steeply a few meters out.

Having just come back from Spain, I had to let people know of our findings! We stayed in The Royal Sun Hotel in Santa Susanna. The location was fine and even had great weather for the time of year.
The hotel was appalling, although very clean, the rooms are tiny, outdated, holes in the bedding and facilities missing which were advertised! They forget to mention that hotel is on a train track and next to a busy main road! (No exaggeration!).
The bar staff are extremely rude and arrogant. How they can call it a four star I don't know. If you have children be careful of under cooked meats, we weren't alone in mentioning it to staff!
Sorry to be so negative, you have been warned!!

This was the third time I stayed at this hotel. It's a four star hotel located on the beach in the town of Santa Susanna - approximately 1 hour by train from Barcelona. The train station is a 10 minute walk from the hotel and the beach is 2 minutes away.
The shops are about 100 yards away through the underpass outside the hotel.
The hotel is spotlessly clean and the staff are friendly and helpful. The food is fresh and reasonably varied.
The pool area isn't too busy as a lot of the guests prefer the beach. We preferred the pool area and there is a pool bar. Snacks are available in-between meal times. The entertainment is ok and there are plenty of other hotels offering free entertainment nearby.
The rooms are a decent size and the bed linen and towels were changed frequently. There was always plenty of hot water and we were lucky enough to have a room which got the sun on the balcony most of the day.
We thoroughly enjoyed each of our stays and intend to return again next year.

Was expecting an ok'ish hotel after reading mixed reviews. However I was very pleased with what we got. Nice view, clean rooms, nice food and good location right on the beach. Being mid 20s we were real pleased with the local clubs and pubs, as we thought it was a quietish area... thumbs up!

We have literally just returned from 2 weeks at the Royal Sun today. We had a fantastic time - brilliant location right on the beach with easy access to Barcelona.
The Manager and all the Staff in every part of the hotel were extremely pleasant and very helpful and the staff were so hardworking throughout the day to keep the hotel spotlessly clean.
We will definitely book to go there again next year.
Thanks to everyone who made our stay so pleasant and memorable - we have found the H-Top Group offer a really good holiday no matter which hotel you stay in. The fact that they provide transport to take you to other hotels in the group, in other resorts, allowing you to visit different areas and still use your 'all-inclusive' cards is certainly an excellent added bonus.

Stayed 10 nights all inclusive me, my wife and daughter aged 12 - the hotel itself has a great position for getting to the beach but the other problems around the hotel did bring down the overall rating I have given.
The hotel is cleaned every day and could not fault the cleaners, the bar staff seemed a little arrogant at first but as you got to see more of them they did have a laugh with you. With the food in the restaurant there was always something that you could eat and plenty of choice. In between meal times there was always the snacks, again you could always find something to eat; burgers, sausage, chips the usual snacks and replaced regularly so never cold which was very good.
The down side of the hotel was the surroundings, the main road just behind the hotel which has constant traffic even in the middle of the night, which if you are a light sleeper will keep you awake all night and if that doesn't do the trick it would be the disco again across the road, which leads to screaming shouting and police activity into the early hours. Luckily I am not a light sleeper but the wife is, so to compensate for the noise you just have a few extra glasses of the local tipple this will help you sleep.
It had been mentioned in previous reviews about the train track which is directly behind the hotel, but really this does not cause to many problems as it stops running at 11pm, so this does not keep you awake. But does offer a great service to explore other areas on the mainland, the train comes every 30 mins and is not expensive.
Overall had a great holiday but I only go to places once and never return.

After reading some of the reviews I was a bit apprehensive about this hotel, but most were well off the mark. The first thing we noticed when entering the hotel was a really nice fresh smell and it was very clean.
Our rooms were cleaned every day, fresh towels daily. My sons had had henna tattoos and I was embarrassed to notice these had marked the sheets but nothing was said and there were clean sheets on right away.

The rooms are quite small and could be doing with a renovation but the fact it was so clean made up for this. We had three single beds next to each other and a bed put up at the bottom of the beds which looked really cramped when we arrived, but after a few hours we didn’t notice it.
The staff are extremely polite and friendly apart from one guy at the pool bar who is very abrupt and rude. It was funny I read this about him in another review and realised right away who they were talking about! The drink is fine and the food is as good as any we have had in all inclusive hotels.
The usual breakfast but I would say the evening meals are good, plenty selection and there was always something you could have. There was a vegetarian hot meal every night which was really good.
The entertainment was not fabulous but we were only there for a week and met really nice people so it did not bother us.
The location is ideal, right on the beach although you have to pay for the loungers on the beach. There is a short walk through an underpass or over a bridge and you are right onto the main drag which is great. Lots going on and we really enjoyed walking up and down every night, looking at the stalls, artists etc.
There is a train right into Barcelona and it is less than hour away. I have read reviews people complaining about the noise of the trains. We looked right onto the train track and unless I was standing looking out and actually saw the trains I was not aware of them.
All in all I have given this hotel 8/10 but it would have been higher if the entertainment was better. My boys were keen to do daytime activities as they have always enjoyed this in the past but quite often the advertised event did not seem to go ahead.
We decided one evening to take part in the quiz which was advertised for 5pm but when we went down no-one seemed to know anything about it. Therefore we made our own entertainment and had a brilliant holiday and I would consider going back to this hotel.

Although I am only giving this holiday 5/10 I have to say we weren’t disappointed & we had a great holiday but there are reasons that you will read as to why this hotel should score in this way.
First of all we had a nightmare getting to this hotel, never ever book a flight with Imperial Travel Ltd or flight with Ryanair!! I booked this holiday last minute the week before we flew & I received no confirmation about my booking from Imperial Travel until after I returned and they didn’t add any luggage onto my flight so I had to pay double for my family when we arrived at the airport which is just ridiculous!
Don’t get me started on Ryanair, their flights are never on time, their staff are extremely rude & they overcharge you for so many little extra things.
Back to the hotel & the resort, we didn’t have a transfer booked so we hired a car at the airport, I booked it the day we departed & it cost £85 for the week plus they added in about £40 fuel & told us to bring it back empty, unfortunately because we stayed at the hotel all inclusive & it’s only about 40 minutes drive from the airport we hardly used any of the fuel & so took it back almost still full & paid about £125 for the car for the week when I think we would have been better getting a taxi to & from the airport which I’m sure would have cost much less.
When we arrived at the hotel we had some problems checking in because we didn’t have any confirmation about our booking but eventually we sorted it out. We were issued with all inclusive cards which you have to show to the bar / dining staff when you want to eat & drink anything.
The staff inside the hotel were very helpful & friendly but there were a lot of complaints about the staff on the garden bar as they get customers buying drinks from off the beach who tip, & of course most of the all inclusive customers don’t tip, so they’re a bit sour about it & sometimes you have to wait a while till you get served & it’s not always with a smile.
The other problem with this bar is that they’ll only give you 2 drinks per card so where as we went as a family of 3, one of us had to go & get 2 drinks & then the other had to go & get their own, which you’d be surprised but it becomes a bit of a pain especially if your down on the beach supervising children.
I don’t really have any complaints about the food although it wasn’t always that hot, but there was plenty of choice & we never went hungry. I lived off the fresh fruit, salad & fish for a week but some Brits lived on chips & chicken nuggets for every meal. There is a snack time in the evening from about 10:30 I think where they serve burgers & chips I never went but my partner said it wasn’t very appetising.
The rooms in the hotel were ok, I have to agree with what other people had said that its definitely not a 4* hotel in fact I’m unsure how they get away with saying it is 4* because I’ve been to plenty of 3* hotels in Spain before & there was absolutely no difference other than….it had a fridge which you could ask for a fee to fill up as a mini bar but we didn’t bother as we were all inclusive. There was a safe in our room but the key didn’t work! The air conditioning in our room didn’t appear to work either. Apart from that it’s your bog standard room.
Our view was on the side part beach part town/train track, didn’t hear the train in the evening so that didn’t bother me. There are 3 lifts in the hotel & you’ll be waiting forever to get one so unless you have suitcases I would take the stairs plus one kept getting jammed the whole time we were there & people were getting stuck inside & had to be rescued!
There are 2 pools, one is a fairly small one which is shallow, waist high for adults, great for the little ones & that is in the sun in the morning but is in the shade by mid afternoon, the bigger pool is very deep although it has a child’s section, but it is in the shade in the morning & gets the sun in the afternoon.
The hotel as you know is on the beach where you will get the sun all day but it is very small stones not sand & at times the waves were so powerful that I couldn’t allow my 7 year old to go near the sea unsupervised.
The entertainment in the hotel was absolutely rubbish I was so disappointed! The mini disco, despite the hundreds of children that were there was only attended by about 7 kids a night & the entertainment that followed was poor most of the time, if you like eighties style keyboard singers then you’ll be OK, one night they had a Brazilian Night & that was quite good, so most evenings we sat outside because I found it too cold in the entertainment room with the air con on!! & made friends with other holiday makers whilst our children played in the park opposite. Be warned all inclusive drinks end spot on 12pm!!
We spent all but one day at the hotel / beach when we went to Marineland which is 2 parks, water park & marine park in one, it cost 58 Euros for 3 of us to get in, the water park doesn’t open till 11am we got there by car at about 10:30 as its only about 5 minutes drive from the hotel but there is a free bus that picks you up from just over the road from the hotel. That was a good day out although the food at the park was terrible & the drinks & ice creams were very expressive! The Dolphin show was very good though, better than any I’ve seen before.
We didn’t see much of Santa Susanna except for on the last evening when we walked through the tourist part where locals set up loads of stalls & sell a variety of different things it was nice not to see so much of your usual holiday that actually & got a few nice handmade presents to bring home, as you walk along though you see loads of other hotels that look far nicer than the Royal Sun, there was one called the Marina I think which looked fantastic, only problem is they’re over the road & not on the beach but it’s only a few minutes’ walk.

If your looking for a good review, dont read this 1. Obviously the spanish standards are lower than the british but i would say this hotel was a 3 star.
We came to the royal sun for 2 weeks all inclusive which cost me and my partner over a grand. We arrived at midnight and we got dropped off over the other side of the road and rail track and was given poor instructions on how to get to get to the hotel.
The hotel itself (reception area, bar, etc.) is quite nice, i was not impressed with the rooms, the bed quilt looked like it wasn't fit for the bin and there wasn't a lot of room, they have a mattress under 1 of the beds so god knows what it would be like if you had 3 people in the room.
The one good thing is that your room gets cleaned everyday with fresh towels. The hotel is situated on the main strip so can be quite noisy at times but i like my sleep and it didn't really bother me.
Now, onto the Staff, I have never met such RUDE and IGNORANT people in my life. If your all inclusive, you are issued with a card which they swipe every time you have a drink at the bar. They snatch it out of your hands and cant be bothered to say hello or thank you, unless you give them a tip.
The food was absolutely disgusting, we couldn't eat there in the end which added more to the expense. The breakfast, fried eggs were that hard you couldn't even put a knife through them.
Me and my partner like the english bars - the drunken duck, station, and the crown and anchor were good pubs. I cant really give an opinion on the entertainment as we really didn't want to spend that much time at the hotel.
The other good thing about the hotel is that it is situated right on the beach and they do allow you to take your drinks on the beach. All in all i would never recommend this hotel or resort to anyone as they was nothing to to do and 2 weeks was just to long.

Recently returned from weeks all inclusive with husband and 2 children at the Royal Sun.
I agree somewhat with comments from other people on the star rating. Rooms perhaps too small to be a 4 star hotel, however food good, rooms and public areas very clean and staff helpful. All and all we were very happy with all inclusive package.
On the downside it should be noted that there were only 4 lifts for some 6 odd floors and we often waited a long time. The lift does not go down to street level where the restaurant is and this caused problems for the disabled and elderly.
It should be noted that although the hotel is situated directly on the beach the sand is very coarse and painful to walk on. My young children were disappointed as they were unable to build sandcastles with it.