Yaramar Hotel

9 readers found this review helpful

We always book a Thomsons GOLD but this was not up to their usual standard. It was our anniversary and we'd read the reviews so were looking forward to our holiday at the Yaramar. It was a good location except it was next to a sewage place! Food - very English at times except I got food poisoning and also noticed the chef drop cutlery and return it to the food! Paid for a superior room - air conditioning would not fall below 26 degrees C - not good when you are ill in the bathroom. Complained 6 times but no effort was made to recify the problem and as the hotel was full we could not be moved. The pool was not cleaned regularly - it had a greasy film on the water and the poolside was rarely cleaned. On the positive though, the staff were lovely particularly the Thomsons team. We made the most of our fortnight but would not recommend this hotel to you. We complained to Thomson's on our return but despite contacting them and a promise of a response in 28 days, we are still waiting!

5 readers found this review helpful

This Hotel is nice, the service is first class, the people who work there are friendly. But as the Brits aren't filling the place the hotel will fill the rooms with Spaniards who take children with them.
We were sprayed with water pistols bumped with floats by children running about. People who keep going back year after year have never seen children there before.
A complaint to the girl rep was; she opened the drawer of her desk and pulled out the brochure with the relevant page opened and the small print highlighted which makes the whole brochure about exclusively for adults pointless. She said you must have signed or ticked that you agree with the terms and conditions.
Would I go back, maybe when the recession's over till then give it a miss.

20 readers found this review helpful

We stayed at the Yaramar in February for 3 weeks, and enjoyed it very much. We booked with Portland this time, because it was substantially less than Thompsons, even though they are both part of the Tui Group.

The hotel is situated right on the sea front, with a long flat promenade in front. All areas of the hotel we found to be immaculate.
Most rooms either face straight onto the beach and get morning sun, or have a side sea view with afternoon sun. The only exception to this are the corner rooms, one on each of the 14 floors, which are classed as ‘superior rooms’ and have a corner balcony. We paid extra for a superior room, which had floor to ceiling glass windows about 25 feet along the whole length of the room, giving fantastic views of the sea. We were able to watch the sunrise while lying in bed! The room was very comfortable, and had everything we required including a free safe and fridge. There was also tea making facilities provided, and a hairdryer in the bathroom. [I think the fridge is chargeable in standard rooms.]. The rooms all had lots of English TV channels including BBC1 & 2, ITV1 2 & 3, as well as BBC World, Sky News & CNN.
Food choices were excellent. We have never stayed in a hotel before offering as much choice, with something for all tastes including vegetarian, and because the guests were virtually all British, things like porridge were always available at breakfast. The evening meals always included at least 2 fish dishes, and usually 3 meat dishes…even Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pud on occasions, as well as some Spanish dishes for those feeling a bit more adventurous. We never heard any complaints about the food while we were there. There were some queues for the restaurant at busy times, so we tended to go down early to avoid this.
The staff were all friendly, and on the odd occasion we had a problem with something in the room it was dealt with quickly and efficiently.
Entertainment during the day was provided for anyone interested, and included all the usual activities, such as bowls on the beach etc. Evening entertainment consisted of a singer/ musician in the main lounge area every night, and a show in a downstairs room 3-4 nights a week, with the entertainment staff filling in on the other nights. This downstairs room looks like a converted nightclub, and was not to everyone’s taste as it had one area facing directly onto the stage and another part around the corner near the bar, where you had to watch the act via a large screen. Smokers also used this separate area, so anyone wanting a drink from the bar had to go through the smoking area.
All in all we had a very pleasant time at the Yaramar, and would go there again.

11 readers found this review helpful

Arrived back yesterday 30/10/08 from 7 day 6 night stay at Hotel Yaramar. Excellent, My husband and I had the first holiday together in 30 years. Step outside the entrance, cross the road and you are on a fabulous beach with plenty of sun loungers for hire with parasols.
You were supplied with shampoo, bath gel, combs, toothbrush/paste, shoe shine kit, sewing kits with plasters, every single day replaced. These were also available at the pool toilets along with a shower, in the washrooms around to hotel.
The entrance is stunning, a sauna, indoor/outdoor jacquzi, outdoor pool, gym, library area, because of the time of year plenty of sun loungers available with a cafeteria by the pool.
The beginning of the hols. there was quite a lot of over 60 year olds, but we were fine by this. The entertainment in one area catered for this age group.
The entertainment we saw was excellent in our view, a brilliant team of four giving fantastic entertainment, organised activities, quizzes, prizes, costumes every day, there was also a due called ANOUK who were equally entertaining with varied music offering requests.
The downside to begin with was not being smokers ourselves smoking was allowed in the so called cellar entertainment area with a bar, but we found out later after walking through this are there was an airconditioned larger area for non smokers and we went every evening excellent.
The staff from the Reception, Rep. to the cleaners worked well and hard, nothing was too much trouble for anyone.
Restaurant food was outstanding, large selection of food, the Chef made different displays from food each day, such a skill and so approachable. Made a flower from a plum and presented it to me.
On arrival at the Hotel from the airport we had a taxi included which was a 20 minute ride with two more passengers. On departure we were told it was a bus not a taxi, but we were not made aware that there was several pickups on the way and this journey took 1 hour 45 minutes, this was disappointing as it had not been pointed out to us or we would have ordered a taxi, we will bring this to the attention of our Tour Operator for future reference.
We had a lazy few days but one trip was to the Zoo, unsure what to find but it was pleasurable, spacious, shows, an excellent day and not to be missed young or old (10/15 minutes walk from hotel).
We will certainly be back giving this 9/10 4 star hotel we give it 5.

5 readers found this review helpful

Having read a few of the later reviews I feel ashamed to admit I'm British. Here are a few comments about our experience:
The hotel is clean, the staff attentive, pleasant and courteous.
The food is bland and unadventurous. My partner is vegetarian but after being violently sick one night due to an intolerance of some meat / fish product realised he'd have to be very careful about what buffet choice he made. One night, for example, squid was marked as vegetarian.
The reps meant well but I think they should learn that not everyone wants to feel as if they are appearing in Hi-De-Hi. Also their local knowledge was sadly disappointing. One rep, at the welcome meeting, boasted that if he didn't know the answer to a question he would find out within 20 minutes and get back to us. We asked him a question (about suitable veggie restaurants) and he referred us to a colleague, (a vegetarian), she admitted she had no idea because she always ate in the hotel! We then didn't see him again until the "go home" meeting.
The hotel claimed Internet access but had one PC situated in the lounge area that you had to pay to use.
The entertainment was rather bizarre, held in a cellar where a lot of the audience had to watch the live show on a video screen because of the stage limitations. A group advertised as a tribute to the Supremes sang a medley of about 3 of their songs and than a variety of tunes, the only link seeming to be that they were all sung originally by black artists. The weekly comedians (flown in especially from the UK!) both told the same jokes. The lounge area's entertainment included someone who sang like Vic Reeves doing his nightclub entertainer routine.
But lastly, about the attitude of the other guests and their comments - yes there were a lot of Spanish people holidaying in THEIR country! The majority of them were families and were very pleasant. I never felt threatened or ill-at-ease the whole time I walked around the resort, day or night. You see, I go to another country to try and sample its culture and have opportunities not available in UK.
There were not enough sunbeds but if people hadn't adopted the selfish attitude that another reviewer admits to, i.e. putting a towel on a sunbed by 8.30am, it wouldn't have been such a problem. We managed to get a sunbed on about 4 of the 14 days we stayed. I was disgusted to see guests "bagging" sunbeds and then not using them until 3 or 4 hours later or using them briefly but still not removing their towels.
The reps and hotel staff were told and did nothing. Notices were up and ignored. Presumably this is not to offend the selfish guests, how about the ones who believe in the supposed British sense of fair play? And we dare to mock and make jokes about the Germans!
Because of the above we will probably not be using Thompson again and definitely won't be going to the Yaramar.

4 readers found this review helpful

Fantastic entertainment you will find at this hotel. This really made our holiday. From the Thomson reps to the comidian they had on was all very good.
We found the Hotel Yaramar a great location especially for the beach. However wouldnt go back to Fuengirola again as found it was very run down Spain, and was totaly packed with Spanish people more than Ibiza is with English. We also thought that choice of restaurants were poor and good english bars too and it felt quite un save of a eve when walking the streets.
Food in the hotel was good and the service was even better.
Rooms were very nice all have sea view and the views are lovely.
We went to Fuengirola Zoo of a eve and that was well worth the money and a visit,
whether you are young or old you really would enjoy.
This hotel made our holiday as we really didnt like Fuengirola, but I will worn you that to get a sunbed around the pool area is manic as there is just so little of them and the pool is not big enough for the accomadation.

3 readers found this review helpful

Very nice hotel. However the main dissapointment was the lack of sunbeds around the pool area. This did spoil our holiday as we are not beach people and we were having to get up very early on our holiday to reserve a sunbed with our towel. By 08.30 every morning there was no beds left. The hotel had over 500 people staying in it and only 200 sunbeds. The reps were constanly getting complaints with this.
However I can say the service in the hotel was 100% very good all the staff and reps really did look after you.
Fungerola I wouldnt go to again as it wasnt really for us, was more like Benidorm, the beach is very nice but completly packed of Spanish.

6 readers found this review helpful

My partner and me have just returned from a short 3 night break at the Yaramar Hotel in Fuengirola with his mother to celebrate her 82nd birthday. In 24 years of working in the travel industry I have never previously visited mainland Spain, and have to admit that I was rather surprised...in a good way. Yes, there is the London pub, Irish bar, Bingo, 'rubber fallus keyring souvenir' side to Fuengirola, however I feel that it also has many redeeming features that make you look beyond those things.
Fuengirola is extremely nicely set out, scrupulously clean and well maintained with the most fantastic promenade for day or night time walks. The beach is lovely and there is a plentiful supply of all sorts of restaurants from which to choose.
One slight negative was that we found some of the prices rather high for drinks, food, snacks etc...even taking into consideration the diabolical exchange rate at the moment.
Which brings me to the Yaramar...The public areas of the hotel to my mind are 4 star, the rooms however are 3 star. The location and sea view from the rooms 5 star. The hotel's shops are nigh on useless for most people's tastes and the entertainment positively toe curlingly cringeworthy...but then the age of the average visitor to this hotel is probably around 562! The buffet breakfast was really quite good and dinner wasn't bad either, plenty of choice - although I can imagine that for more than a week it would start to get very repetitive. The hotel staff were fine, however the one Thomson member of staff I encountered was particularly vacant, so I gave up on them quite rapidly. All in all, we had a lovely time, my partner's mum really enjoyed it and we would definitely go back again to the Yaramar as the hotel and resort were both ideal for her needs and pleasant enough for ours.

2 readers found this review helpful

Don't go! My friend and I have just spent the most awful week at this hotel. We both had a sickness and diorrhea bug which appears to be sweeping the whole resort - clients at our hotel were even in hospital and we had friends staying 1 km away nearer to Benalmadena and they too had 10 people in hospital at their hotel. I have never been so ill or felt so terrible, we believe that the water is infected.
The actual hotel bears no resemblance to the brochure description, it is in dire need of a makeover and needs to be updated asap. the whole resort is shabby, god knows what sort of state it will be in at the end of the season!
this really needs reporting as if very elderly people go - they may never come back to tell the tale, this bug could finish them off.
Stay well away and ask to be transfered to alternative resort before you leave the UK

1 reader found this review helpful

The hotel should does not advise you in advance that they do not offer air con before May, we went at the end of March and it was quite hot at times and we were not offered any air con or a fan when asked. The fridge was also locked in the room and we were not advised that there was a charge of 16 euro's for this service. When you call for any assistance the staff are so unhelpful and almost rude. I would not recommend this hotel at all. The choice of food is not great and not very tasty. The view from the lifts area as you look down is horrid. We paid extra for a sea view room and were offered a side view room and when we advised them of this we were told that we had not paid them the extra charges direct. Reluctantly they gave us a sea view room.

Bad experince ! glad that the holiday was over.... at least it was sunny...