Hotel Palia Dolce Farniente

Stayed here with a friend beginning of June 2024. Had a late night arrival (10:30/11pm) & staff at the check in desk were friendly, efficient & let us know there was cold food available in the restaurant if we wanted. No lifts so had to carry suitcase up two flights of stairs. No issue for us but if you would struggle with this, I’d request a ground floor. Got to room, everything smelt fresh & clean. Decent sized room for two of us, lovely sized balcony. Beds comfy, bathroom was ok, toiletries if you needed, plenty of towels & toilet roll. (We had fresh towels at least every other day). There is a smell from the drains on an evening in the bathrooms but we closed the door & wasn’t an issue in the rest of the room. Plenty of wardrobe space. Only thing missing for us was a fridge. Food was ok! I’m not sure about the reviews stating the food was catered to the French, I didn’t feel like it was. There was always decent choice. Meat at the show cooking area, pizza at the Italian corner, then choice of veg, chips, pasta etc. I’m quite a picky eater when on holiday & never went hungry. Breakfast was a decent spread. Hot food as well as pastries & cold meat. Again, it’s a 3 star hotel, I think some people expect luxury cuisine! Neither me or my friend are drinkers so we can’t comment on the alcohol but the soft drinks were ok, and the slush machine was a nice addition. The water however was salty, so we bought bottles from the spar shop just up the road. I can’t comment on the main pool area but the adults only pool was spot on! We never struggled for a sunbed, it was a good little sun trap in the afternoon! Water cold but was nice & refreshing after sitting in the sun! Was lovely& quiet day up there, really relaxing. The entertainment wasn’t brilliant, but again, it’s a 3 star hotel, and they work such long hours. How they keep the energy levels up in that heat is a question I asked myself daily. The shows were a laugh, I think if you keep an open mind, you’ll enjoy. Yes, they do speak French, but everything was also said in English! I don’t go on holiday expecting everyone to speak English, I’m in a foreign country, so I don’t see why it’s an issue that a lot was said in French! The area the hotel was situated in is good. Plenty of shops around, lots of public transport, and some lovely cove beaches! The hotel itself could perhaps do with a little bit of modernisation, but the grounds are lovely & well kept. Yes, the hotel is predominately French. Neither I nor my friend had an issue with this. People were plenty pleasant, always said hello on a morning round the pool. I think I’d rather this than drunk Brits if I’m honest ha! Reading some of these reviews, I really do think some people expect 5* for a 3* cost. You get what you pay for. At the end of the day, a holiday is what you make it. Every hotel has a few issues, no where is 100% perfect. If you’ve booked here, keep an open mind! If you want 5*, pay double the price & stay st the

We had fully prepared ourselves for it not to be that great considering how cheap it was, so when we stepped into our room we were so pleasantly surprised. The room was super clean, and so was the rest of the hotel. The air con and ceiling fan were brilliant when it got too hot. Also the beds were so incredibly comfortable, it made a beautiful difference to my usual uni bed The food was delicious, with hot foods and salads, and a show cooking area and an Italian corner with a pizza oven. You have to try to pizza it was beautiful. The only flaw we found with the food was the selection, there were usually only abt 8 different hot food on offer but it was rly nice, there wasn’t a single thing we ate that we thought didn’t taste good. They also have food available at the bars during the day; burgers mid morning were insanely good, and then crepes at 5.30pm. The pool was quiet when we went and was fairly easy to get sunbeds. For those going as a group of over 18, there’s an adults only pool which is very quiet, and near that there’s like eight stacks of sunbeds that you can help yourselves to if needed. The only thing we were disappointed abt was that the cocktails were not part of the all inclusive. We enjoyed the sangria tho, and cocktails were only 2,50€ each before 11pm so not too bad. There’s also a spar just outside the hotel so we went and grabbed some booze from there. We’d also recommend buying some bottles of water bc the water provided does not taste good at all. You can buy bottles of water at reception I think but we just went to the spar and bought a pack of big bottles. Every single staff member was cheerful, polite and welcoming, making our stay the best it could be. The entertainment staff were incredible, my friend and I (19&21) enjoyed them very much, so for those of you with children I bet they’d have a blast. The little square outside the hotel is worth a trip to with lots of tourist shops and cocktail bars. Hotels only a 5-10 min drive from Cala d’Or and there’s a taxi rank outside the hotel, or it’s a half hour walk. We’d also rlly recommend going to Cala Egos, the little beach literally two mins down the road from the hotel. It was absolutely gorgeous. Overall we had a wonderful holiday here. It was beautifully relaxing and we had a lot of fun.

Probably a decent hotel,,,,, if you are French. If you aren't,,, don't bother. The animation team are good but largely don't translate therefore taking part is hard and feeling isolated is easy. The food is bland at best and you have you queue just to get a table,,,, and this is not in peak season so I dread to think what it will be like then. Every day they have just walked straight in to my room,,,,, knock the door,, I say don't come in, then they ignore me and walk straight in,,, no this isn't the cleaners. A big problem with cockroaches in the room,,, and not just the cockroachy type,, but the red shiny ones you see in a zoo. The smell of raw sewage starts at about 7 and sometimes lasts all night. The French don't seem bothered, but it had me wretching daily. They charge for WiFi? I didn't think hotels did this any more but this place thinks that it is OK? 30 euros for a week,,,,, PER DEVICE!!!!! Disgusting. Absolutely holding families with kids to ranson, they should be ashamed. Good points, nice staff (French speaking) good location, lots of places and bars to go once you realise this place is sub standard.

An amazing place to stay, the staff are very friendly and welcoming, the food is amazing with wonderful choices. Excellent entertainment, the rooms are lovely and clean. I highly recommend going here for your holiday. I also recommend the trip to the caves that they provide

Positives; friendly, efficient check in (man with glasses could smile a little more) Cheap safe hire Great air con and ceiling fan Good comfy beds Good drinks selection, quick happy bar staff Even after 11:00pm cheap drinks Son lost key to their room; no drama replaced Great pool areas and lots going on if your thing Great entertainment Food- great selection, even for children, show cooking, pizzas,hot dogs and burgers at top snack bar, crepes at 3:30, always sandwiches, coisannts cakes etc available… Great late check out room 20 euros for six hours inc the all inclusive to which we kept one room for four of us Cons; rooms ok, but need updating, we were in corridor behind entertainment stage and doors opened out onto walkway, sometimes nearly knocking passing people over, felt a bit like staff quarters but double doors did make it feel safe. Balcony was next to poorly kept shrubbery and not pleasant to sit in. Sometimes a strong smell of sewage but not all the time, yes we had a few insect visitors but we were on the ground floor, all about removing drinks and food waste. Animation team mainly spoke in French, some Spanish but hardly any English apart from Tata she did try and engage with us… team very enthusiastic, energetic and worked very hard but we did feel a little like the outsiders, but didn’t spoil our holiday, we had days at Cala Egos beach and having lunches out and lovely train ride to Cala dor main resort as the little centre of Cala egos got a little boring after a couple of nights. All in all a pleasant holiday and it is always what you make it ☀️ PS if travelling with teens tell them to watch their valuables as son had phone stolen from Sparkles karaoke

The hotel and the grounds were lovely and well kept- the only thing to warn with this is that there are no lifts. Luckily we were given a ground floor room but other people we met on holiday were not so lucky. We also met a family of 6 who were split up into 2 groups of 3 and both put on top floors in 2 different parts of the hotel. There are also some stray cats that come out at night and I felt trapped in the room this morning because I couldn’t access my terrace without the cat coming in . Food was ok not the hottest however and unfortunately not a lot of variety generally or really anything for children. Most children I saw had a plate of chips every night. Other reviews have said this hotel was for french people and unfortunately I do agree. The animation team were a bit over bearing shouting ‘Bon appétit’ as we were eating and not considering sometimes that there are other people in the hotel that are not french. Despite this though it was a pleasant atmosphere even if we did feel out of place a couple of times. The room was lovely- bed really comfortable however the shower not powerful enough and we had a broken wardrobe. Also if you like your phone you will struggle staying here. It is 30 euros for one device for the week but it is not for everyone in the room. My partner paid for the wifi for the week and it worked ok by the pool and in different hotel areas apart from our room so not sure if it was worth the money and I’ve paid roaming for each day instead. Lovely area there are bars and restaurants for you to go to - we would really recommend the tiki bar just up the road. Also Jet 2 were 5 out of 5, especially our rep Robert. He was extremely helpful when we booked a day out to Aqualand and gave us all the information needed to have a brilliant day. We would probably return to this part of the island but not this hotel.

I should’ve seen the signs as I read some bad reviews about this hotel , I never imagined that it would be the worse 2 weeks of holiday I ever had , the rooms are filthy, the restaurant food was bland and overall it was disappointing and always the same my kids hardly ate anything ( had to go with them to nearby restaurants) even though we had all inclusive, the kids pool is in very bad shape don’t even bother going if you don’t want your kids to gets cuts , over all kids pool tiles are missing and keep falling off which creates sharp surfaces my kids cut themself every day , the hotel is full with cockroaches, when I seen first one in bath I was given a spray to run after them and spray them 🤮 same thing with ants , the entertainment is horrible as they only speak French , went to talk to them and they don’t even speak English or Spanish so if you not French don’t even bother , had an incident with a old French lady at kids pool , went with my kids to pool and a sun lounge was free next to the lady ( not towel on it or anything) I sat down and she started to shout at me that she reserved it for her friend , mind you they were adults with no kids at kids pool , when I refused to get up she dragged me by arm in front of my kids , went to reception and the guy there came to the pool and he apologised to the old lady instead of me , they don’t care about guests there unless you french , called up easy jet and was told to go reception that I would be changed room so I was offered a room on 3rd floor mind you I came with disabled son and husband so I couldn’t change as they have no lift , last night of stay my son woke up screaming as several cockroaches were over him in bed I never packed so quickly in my life and went to spend 4 hours with kids and hubby at reception untill the bus came to pick us up at 3am , again the receptionist looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I am not staying in the room because of roaches , apparently it’s “normal “in Mallorca to have them . This hotel and staff are just horrible