Ponient Dorada Palace by PortAventura World

For a start beware of booking with trip. I booked for me and my 3 boys 14, 12, and 10 years old. When I got to the hotel they told me there would be an additional charge of 1500 euros for my 2 younger boys. So if the price looks cheap on trip please check with the hotel. As a single mother this was a terrible blow at the start of my holiday. The room was unclean, the hotel claims to had had a massive refurbishment however the only changes was the colour scheme in the living area of the room. The bathroom was the same as last year when we stayed with one addition, it was unclean. The main wardrobe in the living room had no hangers, I asked at reception and was told there was non to be had. There are now drawers in the apartment. They have taken away a cabinet under the tv and replaced it with two round tables that really serve no purpose. Even the dressing table had no drawers. There are two tables either side of the bed but no cabinets with drawers. I went to get a glass from the kitchen only to discover that the entire kitchen was devoid of equipment. Again I asked reception to be told I had to request the kitchen equipment. When the plates, etc arrived the cleaning lady dumped a box containing everything on the floor in the room. Not really what one would except from a “4” star hotel. The room was only cleaned every day at around 3pm. The floors were never washed, I had to ask for clean sheets, The bed wasn’t made properly and the bathroom never touched. I found out from one of the cleaning staff that there are only 10 cleaning staff on a morning and the 1 on an afternoon the poor staff couldn’t. It is impossible to get sunbeds at the pool. On a morning people start lining their bags containing towels at 7am then the pool is supposed to open at 9am. I went down a few times at 8.45 only to find the doors open and all sunbeds reserved with towels even though it states on the website that it is not permitted to reserve beds. Also the numbers of sunbeds at the pool is less than half of what it was last year when I stayed. The food in the restaurant was disgusting, absolutely full of grease, the children’s food was atrocious me and my kids tried eat there three times but couldn’t eat a thing. I complained to the manager but he was very rude and shrugged his shoulders when I explained the problem. I will not return to the hotel, I love Salou but not that terrible place. It is most definitely not a four star hotel. I wouldn’t even give it a two star. Photos of the bathroom. Example of the way the beds were left and the cleaning staff leaving sheets to do the work myself.

After arriving early we knew our rooms wouldn’t be ready and we didn’t have a problem with that . However, we didn’t expect to be charged 5 euros per case to have them stored in automated lockers . Eventually we got our room at around 3pm, room 161 on the first floor, tucked away in a corner with a tiny balcony that we couldn’t use . If you’re offered this room , refuse it !! I only wish we had, but we tired from travelling and decided to put up with it. In the evening drinks we served in paper cups up to 8pm and then after the bar staff had no idea of what glasses to use , serving gin and tonic in Coca Cola tumblers. The first night the bar was covered in empty dirty glasses with no intention of any one clearing them . The lobby bar had no ambience and wasn’t welcoming, too brightly lit .The food in the restaurant was good and we enjoyed our meals , but there was no waiter service and we had to queue up for drinks. The snack bar in the daytime had long queues and wait times . The rooftop terrace was a bonus and a perfect place to relax, but apparently we were not allowed to wear our sunglasses in the hot tub. Also the rooftop bar wasn’t part of the all inclusive drinks, and it was ok to go down 6 floors to get drinks from the snack bar and take them back up . Definitely not 4* , only 3* at best

We stayed as a young couple here for 4 nights and honestly we cannot fault this hotel in any way! Our flight was delayed so we didn’t arrive until early hours in the morning, and we were both exhausted and just wanted our bed the gentleman on the desk who checked us in made us feel so at ease and got us checked in nice and quickly, gave us all the info we needed, and wished us a good nights sleep The room was brilliant, always nice and clean, and the housekeeping staff were second to none, always so friendly and did an amazing job cleaning our room every day! The balcony was nice and spacious, even though we didn’t have a pool view that didn’t bother us at all, it was still nice to have a big balcony to sit on in the evenings and relax The food was amazing especially for all inclusive, you always find it to be the same stuff, but we found the food really tasty and always had loads of options on offer. We never found booking a table for food a problem, we could book it all on our first day for our whole stay, and could easily change it if need be, and you don’t need to book on for midday lunch meal so that was nice too! The AI drinks were brilliant, right by the pool and the staff were lovely as well, never had to wait long for a drink, and if for whatever reason they’d ran out of a certain drink, they’d offer nice alternatives to what you wanted! Thank you so much to all of the staff during our stay, sorry we couldn’t remember the names of anyone in particular, but they were all brilliant, made us feel welcomed, and were always on hand to help and inform us during our stay, we’ll definitely be looking at coming back in the near future! ☀️

Hotel itself was beautiful and very clean everywhere, however we booked a self catering apartment and was on a b&b service PLEASE BE AWARE you do not get any kettle, mugs, utensils, saucepans, plates, no nothing apart from the appliances!!!!!! We arrived late and were astounded to find not even a kettle in our room to make a tea... Breakfast quite good. Although you have to book the night before a specific time slot and stick to it. Some strange outdoor entertainment by the main pool area goes on until around 11pm very loud if you are in a pool view apartment, not great if you have an early flight and need to get some sleep the night before!! Air conditioning was not working too well when arrived, but they did sort it and then it seemed to be ok for rest of the stay. Great location within walking distance of main bars, restaurants, shops etc but it is up a hill. If it had not been for the lack of items in the apartment we would of stayed again, but having to shell out for a kettle, mugs and cutlery was not what we had planned for! Never ever had that before in self catering. Also we were only offered 50% off theme park tickets not the free ones that were advertised but perhaps that is because we were not fully inclusive. The roof top terrace area (adults only) and gym were out of action the whole of our stay which was also a little disappointing. We stayed sept 24

We have no complaints from our holiday. There are some suggestions for improvement but certainly no negatives to take away that affected how happy we were for the entire 7 nights. We are a family of 4, children aged 6&8 staying all inclusive in a 1 bed apartment. Room was amazing, cleaners were great, food was FANTASTIC (I left the restaurant full up and unable to try other dishes because I couldn't fit more in). The all inclusive drinks were also brilliant. My husband commented how good the beers were and not watered down, when is the general consensus when all inclusive. The entertainment was good for those wanting to be entertained, not really our thing so not much comment to be made in regard to that. I am already pricing up to go back, our holiday has made our summer! My suggestion for improvement would be a self serve soft drink machine for all inclusive guests.

I was disappointed with my recent stay. The room was significantly smaller than what was pictured online, which made for an uncomfortable experience. Additionally, both the gym and the adult-only area were closed during my stay, which was a major letdown as these amenities were a big reason for choosing this property. Despite bringing these concerns to reception multiple times, no one seemed able to resolve the issues, and I was left feeling frustrated. The lack of communication and customer service really impacted my overall experience. Definitely not what I expected.

Just thought I’d post a sincere review with no names mentioned. Before going on this 7 night holiday I was very sceptical about the reviews so I thought I’d give a break down on what’s what for those traveling on a budget! 1 - All inclusive is good and serves a good range of food, it does become a bit repetitive but given the choice we were able to last the week with no problem. 2 - Drinks were a good choice, multiple cocktails, branded spirits, lots of wines, Estella and many soft drinks like coke, Fanta orange/lemon, alcohol free mocktails. 3 - paper cups during the day which did not bother us as I’d prefer not to have broken glass in my feet! Glasses are served in the evening. 4- quiet pool around the back can have inflatables and balls, loved this as it was quiet and very friendly! 5- staff are fantastic and clearly short staffed as the same in the uk! They are all very polite. 6- Room are basic but very clean and this is the most important! Cleaners change beds and clean rooms everyday! I have read some very awful reviews which gave us the fear but considering we as a family are used to 5 star in Turkey this hotel was great for what we needed! Do not take negative reviews on here seriously!!! If you want to know anymore message the Q&A’s and I’ll get back to you!