Barcelo Cala Vinas

what can i say unless you are spanish good luck to you,this place is for spanish holiday makers, english is not spoken at all well,the nightly entertainmemt for children is all in spanish, the bar staff would leave you standing for about 10 minutes before they would serve you, if the children would go to get ice creams,sweets ect they juet ignored them, there was nothing at all to do, we had to pay 4 taxis every day just to get away from the place, we were due to stay for 2 weeks, in the end up after 6 days we paid extra to go home, we have been on quite a few holidays but never one like this it was terrible,my advise do not take children here,the beach was closed more times than enough, even if you are single you have to go into magalof.

In my opinion I would not give this so called hotel one star, but as it is the lowest you can go then so be it. Boy oh boy were we glad to leave this place...absolutely terrible, and before any one questions this we have been to this hotel 7 times in the past 6 years and quite frankly it is like watching a car crash in slow motion. Over the years this hotel had providied us with some great holidays. But gradually the rot has set in. On to our visit. we booked, as we always do with the Barcelo website. No good so I rang directly and was told that I would have a great time there and the hotel had gone up to 4 star. I e-mailed the hotel twice to say that we needed a cot, time of arrival etc On arrrival with wife, five year old and seven month old, we were told that there was no record of a booking. Despite this we had the printed voucher with a booking reference number, so after much wrangling they 'decided' to let us have a room for the night...a studio that is, (we had booked a one bedroomed apartment) with no cot, no air con, and no handle on the bathroom door - you see the hotel was full and it was all our fault we had decided to visit there - according to reception The following day was written off due to the ignorant and totally incompetent staff, the usual ploy of saying our apartment was ready, then it wasn't, then the cleaner hadn't arrived, then there were no cots available. Eventually 5pm we arrived in the most tatty of apartments. The sum total of one spoon, one knife, a kettle that would fail a health inspection and a fridge so mouldy that you could harvest anti-biotics from the multitude of spores. Now as we had paid four star prices for something that was more akin to a third world slum my wife went on the warpath. Now being diplomatic, my teacher wife is not one to be messed with. She headed off to reception to ask that as we clearly were placed in a sub standard apartment and had paid handsomely for a 4 star aprtment, the least the hotel could do was to upgrade us from room only to half board. The obnoxious and unhelpful receptionist would have none of it. So my wife got out her mobile and rang Barcelo Head office in Palma and discussed the situation with in front of said receptionist within ear shot of as many guests as possible. Even Barcelo head office conceded that the treatment of us and apartment we were in was not what was booked and they spoke to the receptionist to tell her so and to upgrade to half board. Even then she insisted that the manager must make the final descision and he was (surprise surppise) in a meeting away from the hotel. I did remember the manager from our last visit, and that he drove a flash motor, and so I placed myself on staff car park watch for his return. Well as I mentioned my wife is not one to be messed with, she was very to the point and kept very calm and got the now bamboozled manager to sign us meal vouchers for the remainder of the stay. On to the hotel. The food was ok. Most of the staff were miserable, except Pierre on the entertainments...he has been there years and even he looked like he had seen enough. The location is good for a quiet family holiday, but there were so many Spaniards in the hotel I thought mainland Spain must have resembled something akin to the Marie Celeste. Even when I tried speaking in Spanish to other guests they looked at me like I was some kind of idiot (the waiters in the resort restaurants seemd to understand me) The kids pool was kept clean, but the main pool was always packed, even into the evening. So, in conclusion. We will never book to stay at this resort again. We will never patronise a Barcelo resort again, and considering they have had seven holidays in Mallorca alone out of us it is certainly there loss. Sadly this must be a lesson in how to ruin a hotel in one season. Funniest part about this was that a week after we had got home an e-mail arrived from the hotel saying that there had been a problem with the hotel's credit card machine and that our payment hadn't been taken. I did leave this a week or so to check if the amount had come out and rang and checked with the card company. I did pay, but as I pointed out, it was amazing that they had never reponded to any of my original e-mails, but miraculously managed to conatct me.

I have read the reviews on this place and thought I would summarise the truth: Hotel is awful – our expectations were not too high, we booked a 3 star and ended up with a tired room, no utensils, dirty public areas and unfriendly staff. Location is lovely – something for everyone, pretty beach, nice restaurants, close to all pubs, bars and water parks of magaluf. Verdict – choose this resort but stay at a different hotel.

The worst apartments i have ever stayed at. I had a young baby and it was a nightmare for pushchairs due to steps to get to pool,bar and beach. Only one of the two lifts worked for the entire stay. The rooms were very basic with only two knife and forks in a four person apartment, and the toilet was full of brown stains. One day i had to wait 45 minutes to be served at pool bar just for a cup of tea with no apologie for the delay. I would never stay at those apartments ever again.

My husband and I stayed at Barcelo Cala Vinas apartments in July of this year we were very disappointed with the apartment it was sold as a self catering apartment but there were hardly any cooking utensils ie. we had 1 cup 1 knife no kettle we had to hire one from the reception...we did ask reception for another cup so we could both have a cup of tea at the same time but it never materialised...we did not want to do much cooking in the apartment as we like to eat out but the resort is a bit short on restaurants and bars..so unless you want to make a trip into Magaluf or Palma Nova you are a bit stuck although it is only 4-5 euros in a taxi. The beach and cove are very pretty we were unable to get around the poolside at all as the spanish children were on school holidays so it was full around the pool and in the pool everyday but the beach and rocks around the hotel are lovely and only a 2 second walk from the hotel. All in all you get what you pay for with the hotel this was our first visit to Majorca and would not return to that area.

After reading the reviews from the early part of this year my Girlfriend and I were very worried that the hotel/ holiday we had just booked was on course for a complete disaster, however this couldn’t of been further from the truth. We arrived at around 3am where we found the staff to be friendly and helpful, within a matter of minuets we were on our way to our room. The room its self was fairly large, clean and tidy, possibly not the best equipped for self-catering, but we had planned to eat out in local restaurants, not spend our holiday cooking! The only small complaint that we would have with the room is that it didn’t have a Kettle, but rather than whinge, sulk and let it ruin our holiday (as other people seem to have), we just boiled the water in a saucepan! On our 1st full day there we attended the morning meeting, which was extremely valuable. They explained that due to the 1 way road system around Cala Vinas, taxis rarely drive by, but a 2 minuet walk across the beach will get you to the taxi rank where taxis are always waiting. The most we got charged to Magaluf from there was 4 Euros (but to be honest walking only takes 15 minuets and the scenery is far nicer). The poolside area was clean and relaxing, possibly not enough sun beds to go round, but a ten second walk and you’re on the beach so this was not a problem. The local on-site shop is well equipped, however the little shop at the top of the road has got more choice and is a little cheaper (6 litre bottles of San Miguel for £4.50!!!!). All in all it was a very lovely holiday, nice resort and a nice hotel, I wish we were still there. If you are looking for a 3 to 4 star hotel at 3 star prices, you’ll love it, however if your expecting a 5 star hotel at 3 star prices (as some people obviously are) you’ll be disappointed.

My fiance and i stayed in this hotel the 1st two weeks in july and we had a lovely time. We arrived at 7am and got set up with our room very quickly. Our room was basic, but very clean. We were half board so we didnt need alot of self catering facilities, but i can understand where people are coming from when the complain about the lack of utensils etc. But for us, it was more than enough, a drawer full of clean cutlery, clean kettle, 2 clean hobs, nice clean fridge etc. The room has brilliant air conditioning. When we arrived, the shower didnt have alot of pressure and the toilet cistern was running on its own alot, so we asked the guy at reception for it to be fixed, and sure enough, within hours, we came back to find a new part fitted to the shower and the toilet had been fixed. The maids come daily to clean your room and they make a lovely job, although, even if you have the 'do not disturb' sign up, they still tend to walk in lol. The food in the hotel was great, good buffett with lots to chose from, but be warned, the spanish holiday makers are very greedy and like to push in the queue and take 4 steaks each, but just be strong and dont let them. Our room looked over the childrens pool and we did have a bit of a trek to get to the main pool and restuarant etc, but it didnt bother us as the hotel was nice, so we were staying at the quiet bit. We went into magaluf a few times,either a 15 mins walk, or a 5 euros taxi ride. Magaluf itself is good, but cala vinas is much more quieter and more scenic. The beach at cala vinas is gorgeous and the pool area is clean and tidy and the pool is nice and cool. There are a few screaming kids, but what do you expect? theyre having fun. There are definatley new bits to the hotel and we were staying in the older part, but it suited us fine and we had a lovely time. People who moan about this hotel just expect too much, its clean, nice, but basic, but its a really nice area and the staff were very helpful and friendly to us, although they do serve the spanish 1st, but we had a fab time in barcelo cala vinas and didnt want to leave. I hope you visit sometime. P.S- the weather is really hot, so expect between 30 and 40 degrees heat, but theres lovely cold showers for cooling down. Thats all folks!!!!

A group of 15 of us lads wanted a holiday before we all went off to Uni this summer so decided to go to Magaluf. We didn't want to stay in the middle of the city because we wanted peace and quiet during the day which is why we chose this hotel. In general the hotel does provide the quiet and calmness during the day, particularly with the small beach and pool which was ideal for us. Three people shared self catering appartments which are, as other guests have mentioned, very hard to use as there is a complete lack of proper utensils in order to make a meal. Having said that though, the food the hotel does provide was of a decent standard and pretty cheap compared to what you would pay in England. In terms of cleanliness the rooms were fine. The hotel is definitely geared up for families and Spanish more than the Brits but that is not to say we were treated badly. Having read previous reviews I was really worried that the hotel was going to be a utter mess. In reality it really is not that bad - maybe because we were not expecting a great deal - for us it was just a place to crash during the day. I can see how it could be dissapointing for those who have their one holiday a year there though. I wouldn't completely rule this hotel out if you are not expecting great things - its location is really good - can walk to Magaluf in about 15 mins or catch a taxi for 5 euros. It is however, somewhat basic and will not meet the needs of people who expect lots from it.

We arrived at about 4 in the morning, so there was no trouble at reception as we were the only people around. Our room however was terrible; we had a view of the supermarket and a huge pile of rubbish. The sea and pool was nowhere in sight. Our room was in desperate need of refurbishing; the tap in the bathroom was not secure and poured water all over the floor; one of the light switches was hanging off and was clearly dangerous. As we were self catering, the utensils were important, so when we found that we only had 2 hobs, a kettle with mould inside and only a couple of knives and forks, we were not impressed. The television only had one English channel which was Sky news, the rest of the channels were Spanish, which clearly resembled the way that the staff thought of the English. At the poolside bar, you would be lucky to get served as the staff favoured serving the Spanish before the English even if you had been waiting longer. The hotel is clearly for Spanish people as we personally didnt feel welcome. However, the beach was beautiful; it was right next to the pool and you could sit by the pool whilst having an excellent view of the sea. I personally would never stay at this particular hotel again, but would stay in the area.

I don’t quite know where to start with this there really so many negative points with the hotel! After a long day of trains, delayed flights and stuffy coaches my partner and I arrived at the Barceló Cala Vinas which at first looked rather nice (despite the water dripping from the reception ceiling and the stray cat). Our Airtours rep put her head round the door to let reception know we had arrived but we were still waiting at reception 30 mins later. Another couple were having problems with their booking so the main receptionist was busy which was fair enough but we weren’t even acknowledged. There was another person behind reception that just looked at us so we assumed he wasn’t trained until he decided to eventually give us our room key after staring at us for what seemed like a lifetime. After all of this hassle we tried to get some food where the restaurant manager rudely told us that we were too late despite the restaurant not closing for another half an hour. Once in the very tired looking room (which was supposed to be self catering but only had a hob) we saw that our balcony faced the wall and the stairs linked onto our balcony. A million miles away from the sea or pine forest views mentioned on the Barceló website. We complained to reception and our rep but nothing was done. We were informed by our Airtours rep and reception staff that the hotel was being refurbished (shame they couldn’t have let us know before we got there) so don’t take any notice of the statements on the Barceló website which say it is ‘fully renovated’ and ‘fully refurbished’ As the holiday went on rubbish began to build up outside our balcony. This was clearly the stuff from the rooms that were being refurbished because there were fridges and tables alongside rubbish bins and pizza boxes with cats eating the leftovers and the cleaners dirty water throw over it all (see photos). So our relaxing two week holiday turned out that we were sat out amongst rubbish with many staff members sitting on the rubbish looking at us, housekeepers which would shout from different floors of the hotel at each other regardless of the time of day, and constant flow of people up and down the stairs just next to our balcony. Our self catering holiday became very expensive eating out all of the time as we didn’t want to spend anytime in the room relaxing, eating or drinking on the balcony. The attitude of staff at the hotel was dreadful and we believed it was because we were English as they appeared to stereotype us in a racist manner. The hotel is clearly a Spanish hotel but despite us trying to embrace them and enjoy our holiday alongside the spanish guests and hotel staff we felt unwelcome. This therefore meant we didn’t sit by the pool, in the bar or try the restaurant in the whole 2 weeks. If through bad forture you end up at this hotel make sure you take an alarm clock as you won’t get your wake up call, expect the pool to be full of screaming children despite there being an empty child pool round the other side of the hotel, and don’t order a taxi at the hotel as we were waiting an hour one morning ( just walk over to the hotel across the beach and order from there). Overall Cala Vinas is a lovely resort with a nice beach, a few restaurants and it is close to Magaluff and Palma Nova for a variety of things do to day and night. I always read these type of reviews and think that the people that write them are over reacting and moaning for no reason but it really is that bad. Just promise me you won’t stay as this hotel!