Colonial Mar

The hotel is located in a residential area of Roquetas and a long way about 4kms from any other tour operators hotels that I have stayed at in Roquetas before and it also has a "storm drain" by the side, which on normal occasions is dry but we unfortunately had a spectacular two hour storm and the drain filled up providing us with a bit of a drainy smell just for a couple of days and then all was ok again. What is nice is that the hotel backs onto the beach and there is also a well it and paved promenade for walks. A 20minute walk will take you to a marina that has a number of restaurants on the front.
It is geared for Spanish holiday’s makers and was probably 80% occupied by Spanish with a few Germans / Dutch and even less Brits. The buffet meals were therefore very Spanish biased, however the breakfasts were good if you liked continental style breakfasts. The complex itself is nice although looked a little tired in places and it was disappointing that an indoor pool is advertised but was closed. The public areas are a little limited and the entertainment in the evening was as you would expect aimed at the Spanish clientele.
The bedrooms are clean and well appointed with air conditioning and safe (at no extra charge), however, the Satellite television had only one English speaking channel (CNN News), three German channels and the remainder Spanish.
The snack bars only sold cakes, biscuits and crisps etc and therefore half board visitors have too venture out into the residential area to find lunch our salvation was that there is a shopping mall about 10 mins walk away where a number of different eating places are available including Italian, Mexican, Tapas, KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Burger King. It also has a 10 pin bowling alley.
On the positive side is that both the staff on reception and in the restaurant staff were very helpful and pleasant and courteous.

After staying at other 4 star hotels with a number of different tour operators I would have judged this hotel as a 3 star and not 4 star. My comments are made as a "Brit" visiting this hotel and I am sure the views of other nationalities may differ.
Public transport links to the more vibrant part of Roquetas, Aguadulce and Almeria are very good from the shopping mall and reasonably priced.