Hotel Esplai

We arrived at this hotel at 3am. Our party of 6 children,(8,12,13,15,15 and 16)and 6 adults. Everything seemed fine until we found out our room was 6 flights up the stairs and the lifts were broken so we had to drag 12 suitcases up the stairs. The next morning while we were eating breakfast 15 disabled people arrived. we had to help each of them and their luggage up the stairs as there is no ramp and the staff couldnt care less if they were in a dangerous position. luckily, one of the people in our party is a carer so she knew how to handle them which was a releif. For the rest of the holiday we had to look after the disabled party and our own children which was tiring as the staff had no time for them.
5 days into the holiday, a massive storm hit the costa barava leaving the ground floor looking like the titanic as the glass doors couldnt hold the force of the wind and rain. this shut off all power leaving the whole hotel dark and cold.
We sunbathed by the pool everyday but stayed away from the hotel jacuzzis as they were filthy and the water was as cold as ice. Bits of food and rubbish was floating in the jacuzzis and in the swimming pool. The food from the outside bar was very unhealthy but it was edible, thankgod.
Into our second of staying in the hotel we were woken by the fire alarm. the staff were standing outside watching the kitchen go up in smoke. we were very disturbed by this.
overall the food in the hotel was the same every day (rice, chips and ice cream--- the only edible things there!) and the puddings looked like slop.
There was limited entertainment in the hotel. There was voleyball in the pool and a man came from other hotels to put on a snake show for the young ones but that was a con because it was 10euros to watch. the drinks from the bar were all watered down and you had to pay for nuts and crisps. We spent more on food and drink than we expected as we thought this would be a lovely hotel to eat in.
The rooms were small and damp so we slept in the reception for 4 nights. we asked for our rooms to be together as the hotel was hardly busy and it would of been nice to be able to go and visit eachother without having to walk down the corridor or down the stairs. we asked for 4 rooms and thats what we got only to find 2 of the rooms were on the second floor and the other 2 were on the top floor.
overall one good thing came out of the holiday, all the members of our party now have a degree in looking after disabled people.
Also we won all of the certificates in volleyball/ and other activities. as no one else took part.
We dont recommend you stay here but if you do good luck to you!!!.
Debbie. John. Ema. Lora. Gaby. Wendy. Paul. Elliot. Staurt. Chloe. Helen. Dan

1 reader found this review helpful

My family went on holiday to this hotel in august 2008 and all I would say is that don't believe what you read in the reviews. There was 7 in our party altogether which included 3 kids aged 5,9 and 11 and we all had a fantastic holiday.
Like most people we met there we had managed to get a reasonably priced all inclusive deal and you get pretty much what you pay for. The hotel was fine and in a good location with plenty of bars and shops nearby. Our rooms were cleaned every day with clean sheets and towels. On our night of arrival we weren,t too pleased with our room on the first floor so on the second day the staff aranged 2 rooms for us on the 5th floor without any hassle.
The food was only a slight let down with much of the same stuff everyday, but there was still plenty of choice and it was always kept topped up. I am a vegetarian myself so I had a limited choice, and when this was mentioned to the resturant staff they were more than happy to cook something extra just for our party, so none of us ever went hungry on any day.
I must admit there was a fair number of german, italian and dutch people on holiday as well, like ourselves they were on holiday to have a good time and once we got to know them there was absolutely no problems apart from a slight language barrier. There were many other families with children who were all enjoying the holiday and it was very pleasant to meet them after reading so many negative reviews before we arrived.
The entertainment wasn't as good as we have seen on previous holidays but it was just a matter of getting up of your behind and joining in.
We had absolutely no problems with getting drinks on the all inclusive deal and there was plenty of choice, plus the bar staff were more than helpful and were very sad to see us depart after a week.
I would definately recommend this hotel and would ignore the negative reviews as I believe they are written by people who just like to have a moan about the slightest little thing.

We read about this hotel after we had booked, and like others thought it can't be that bad, well it wasn't as bad as the reviews....... it was worse! how anyone can leave a 9/10 rating beggars belief, this hotel wasn't as clean as made out to be, the noise was horrendous, yes with german kids running wild and their teachers doing nothing to stop this, kids throwing things at us from their balconys, no other way to describe them but as a bunch of animals. Hotel staff did not give a damn, the food was ok if you liked, raw bacon, pork or rabbit, if it was pork that is. This is definately a hotel to be avoided at all costs unless that is if your German, we were there 8 nights and it was the worst ever, when we were leaving we had folk telling us how lucky we were to be going, we went to barcelona for a couple of nights and thankfully that gave us a bit of time away from this hell hole, not one person we spoke to had a good word to say about it. The tour operators should be looking into this. All inclusive there is a joke, if your booked in, please take plenty of money with you as you will need it to buy food outwith this hotel. The little cafe across the road does proper food, very cheap and cooked!!!! Please take heed of the warnings on here, we didn't and had a horrific first holiday abroad together, callela is a nice enough little place but NEVER AGAIN.

booked this holiday knowing it was a cheap budget holiday read the reviews and was shocked to learn it was classed as the hotel from hell, nasty staff, horrible food, noisy with 18-30s and lots of germans. Well let me tell you that it was fantastic and we will be going again. The hotel staff were extremely friendly and happy laughing with you and cracking jokes, very very helpful, rooms were great cleaned every day with new towels every day. We didnt bother with entertainment so i cant comment on that. The bar staff were great also, we read that they put the all inclusive people to the back of the queue but this wasnt so everyone got served in correct order. As for the food well it wasnt as bad as the reviews said but it was very basic but edible if you like pork and chicken and salad you are ok. On saying that we had rabbit one day and liver. Friday tea time was spectacular they put on an excellent range of food on with lots of cakes and gave every female a rose. Overall we throughly enjoyed it and will definetly go again dont believe all you read keep an open mind i think you will like it.

PLEASE DON'T GO TO THIS HOTEL if you are disabled as there is only steps to get into the hotel from the street, the pool area and if you are in the bar at night you have to go down 3 flights of steps to get to the toilet or go up to your room.
The meals was pork and fish every night, the occasional chicken or turkey that looked like pork but didn't tast like pork. there was only ever a choice of chips some nights or garlic potatoes other nights. a small selection of salad which wasn't too bad if you love salads. There wasn't much choice for breakfast beans every morning boiled eggs most mornings. In a week there was fried eggs twice scrambled egg once. Or you could have an omlette or pancake. for desserts you had a choice of fruit or blamonge occasionaly jelly and this horrable chocholate sauce (i am a chocoholic). The guests had to keep asking the staff to refill the ice cream freezer as they couldn't be bothered to check the stock levels themselves. The food was cold. you had to go to the pool bar for snacks which shut about 6pm then there was no snacks at all till the next day so don't bother planning on having a snack if you do arrive late. My kids lived on the bar snacks all week. we decided to go across the road for a decent breakfast on the last day which we found at least 6 tables of all inclusive guests from our hotel was there having breakfast
The indoor bar was shut all day. You had to go to the pool bar for drinks even if you are unlucky to get bad weather you had to either go thirsty or get wet. there was very little entertainment of an evening. we had a parrot show which lasted no more than 15 minutes they too a picture of you holding a parrot which cost you 10 euros for the photo then just music the rest of the night. the best night we had was flamenco dancing which lasted about an hour then a reptile show which lasted 10 minutes. you could also have your photo taken holding a python which also cost 10 euros. There was a disco the other nights.
The cleanliness of the hotel wasn't too bad apart from the rooms didn't get swept out properly. The sheets were never changed. My father in laws face bleeds sometimes due to dry skin the pillow case was never changed. My daughter dropped a sweet on the 3rd day which went parcially under the bed so we decided to leave it to see if the cleaners swept it up which they never. I also broke a nail and left it on the edge of the bath and it was still there at the end of the holiday. There was not much noise of a night

Very clean and tidy holel, never a spec of dirt or anything untidy. The staff were always about incase of any problems, however some of them didn't speak English but you eventualy managed to get them to understand. A couple of the staff seemed to be a bit ignorant and unhelpful.
The rooms were modern and always cleaned on a daily basis. All rooms have a balcony which was great to chill out and catch a bit of morning sun.
The drinks on the all inclusive were very limited whith not much choice, and it isn't clear what you can and cannot have.
The entertainment is near enough non exsitant and you will find yourself wondering into town at night as you get bored.
The food was reasonable all buffet style so you have a choice what to have and to a point you can have as much as you like so you will never go hungry! The meat can get repetetive with a lot of pork. On the plus side the kitchen staff always keep the food topped up. If you go on a bus tour or won't be at the hotel at lunch time, don't have a packed lunch, all they do is chuck a couple of dry bread rolls and some meat and cheese in a box. The bar snacks were excellent, and a quick and easy if your feeling peckish or don't facny a big meal.
Overall its not a bad place to stay its close to all amenities and only a short walk to the beach and its always seems to have that holiday atsmospere.
I found callela to be an excellent place to visit, nice bars, shops and the old town is a nice chilled out walk. The beach is a little grainy and hard but its a good atmosphere and you get a good 10 hours of sunshine, You can hire a sun lounger for 4 euro for the day.

On the positive side the Esplai is a clean hotel and the food is ok.
Calella is an ok resort with plenty of bars and places to eat and the beach is nice.
Whilst i would not put anyone off coming to Calella i would not recommend this hotel simply because it is basically a German/Dutch Teenagers hotel and totally NOT suitable for families at all.
Unfortunately i was sold this holiday as a family holiday and it seems a lot of UK teletext holiday companies are also selling this as such.
The bar at night is a no go !!! it is just full of 16 year olds and not a place at all for families and the pool is like that too from lunchtime onwards.
Sleep with your earplugs too because running up and down the corridors is a normal all night activity and if you do complain as we did they will switch you to a sister hotel which we also did.
A lot of people to be honest were switched from this hotel to the Bon Repos which was ok and im told this as been the case for a few months.
You have been warned!!!!!

Have you read all the negative comments regarding the Esplai? THEY ARE SPOT ON.
This is a dutch/german holiday youth club or something like that and i would say that they take up 98% of the hotel.
Many teletext companies seem to be selling this to UK customers as a family hotel which it certainly IS NOT.
Myself my partner and our children tolerated it for a few days but gave in complained and demanded a switch to the sister hotel which is just up the street the BON REPOS which was family orientated and was pretty ok.
I have never witnesed a hotel like the ESPLAI before and i dont want to either,its a clean hotel and the food was ok but having hundreds of 16 year old drunken dutch and germans around you 24/7 is not what i call a holiday, i suspect its not what you would call a holiday and it is certainly NOT A PLACE for children to have an enjoyable holiday.
I would not go to the Esplai again if it was free. Dont do it!!!

Globespan have just advised us 14 days before we where due to fly out to this hotel that it was no longer suitable for families. If we wanted to change hotels it would be at our expense. They have been aware of this problem but waited until the last minute to tell us leaving us in an impossible position. We have been advised it is illegal to sell a hotel as family but allow it to be used as an 18-30 hotel as well. Please be aware that globespan are leaving it to the last minute to advise pre booked holidays to this hotel. The same problem occurred last year at this time of year! They would not allow us to cancel without penalties!

We booked this holiday via teletext through a company called Fleetway Travel who were extremely good in the arrangments and information they provided prior to leaving - with the exception of mentioning that this is an 18-30 type of German holiday. Like the others who stayed there recently we got no sleep - couldn't be bothered to drink in the bar and queue for a drink, and left the hotel early to go to Barcelona for a few nights as we had also had similar problems trying to relax on the beach. The Hotel staff were really nice but there is a limit to what they can do to deal with these sort of problems on this scale. When we checked out 3 days before the end of our booked holiday the receptionist said quite honestly it was a real shame that the `normal' people felt they had to leave and it would do no good for the reputation of the hotel. I did notice that a few other hotels in the area had similar problems - especially as I could clearly see 2 from our balcony when you had people with loud hailers talking all day and half the night.
We only had the breakfast twice as it was not fantastic.
We had really been looking forward to returning to Calella as we were there a few years ago and had an amazing time - I would not recommend this to anyone, it was really disappointing and we were shattered by the end of the holiday.