"Highs:
- Room: very spacious in general, both the bedroom and the terrace, although the bathroom is a bit small in comparison and perhaps I missed having one more hook. The beds are very comfortable and I, who slept on a sofa bed, slept very comfortably. Very good side views of the sea and although we were close to the children's pool, their shouting was bearable because they were so cute and funny.
- Family atmosphere, with many small children who were a joy to watch enjoy themselves. Many people were repeat guests and there were little groups of families that made everything more pleasant. I cannot say much about the entertainment, but with FIFA and beach soccer, they had the kids going crazy.
- Proximity to the beach and accessibility. We stayed on the second floor and you were quickly at both the pool and the street. Although it is very far from the center, there is a bus at the door that takes you to town, Benicarló and Vinaroz, and the hotel itself even provides a little train to town two days a week.
- Cleanliness: acceptable
- Staff: depends on who you ran into. Noteworthy were the guy at the tattoo bar, the girl with the blonde ponytail, and the tall guy at the buffet, all very attentive; the rest seemed a bit lost.
- Services: towels, the discount coupon that means you barely pay for drinks and the bottles of water when entering and leaving the hotel, the shampoo and gel dispensers in the bathroom, the Movistar Plus with the league in the lounge, the vending machines...
Downsides:
- Room and hotel: there is no general lighting in the bedroom area, only floor lamps, the bathroom light switch worked terribly, and it was hard to plug chargers into the outlets. The pool area is a bit narrow, but there is little that can be done about that, although thanks to the proximity to the beach and the solariums, it was not very crowded and we preferred to go directly to the beach. If you want a hotel with a pool, look for another one, although it was not very crowded.
- Buffet: HORRIBLE AND TERRIBLE. If you are going with children, it is a fantasy for them because it is a constant children's buffet. Very repetitive and very little variety because the display area is tiny. We started the week well, with avocados and salmon for breakfast, poke and ribeye for lunch, mussels for dinner... but as the week went on, the quality of the dishes went from bad to worse, making the first day a mirage. We spent the whole week eating gazpacho, salad, and paella because there was nothing else appetizing to choose from. In the salad section, you could make your own or grab a tiny bowl of "spiced" salad with little pieces of leftovers from the night before. One day chicken with Caesar dressing, another day salmon with rice, another day prawns and pink sauce... Because yes, many dishes were reheated or tweaked from the previous day's leftovers, like the chicken curry that they threw into the salad the next day. You see what a mix. If you went to the hot food area, what did you find? Bagged fried foods, macaroni with Bolognese sauce, and French fries even for breakfast + another separate tray with roasted/boiled/pepper/baker-style potatoes with onions... Potatoes all day, except for when someone decided to add roasted peppers and tomatoes. Both the meat and the fish tasted awful, probably some of the worst salmon I have ever eaten. The grilled steaks were passable, especially the pork shoulder ones, but the roasted logs, both the ham and the turkey, tasted bad. The funny thing was one day there was teriyaki chicken without chicken or teriyaki sauce, just peppers in a wok, and my mother was lucky enough to find a tiny piece. The same pizza for lunch and dinner, nuggets and fingers, lasagna just as many days, grilled sausages that the tourists ate for breakfast the next day and I felt very sorry for them. The desserts? Repetitive and bland. And well, let's talk about the "Theme Nights." Cold cuts and sobrasada spread on little tomato rolls from the supermarket? Is that a theme night?? Blood sausage skewers and inedible omelet that disappeared in 5 minutes?? Mexican night and they serve bean fajitas harder than who knows what? One day they made fresh pasta for lunch with sauces that tasted like nothing, neither the pasta nor the sauce; it was more like I ate pasta with milk than carbonara. And well, the day they made sushi (surprisingly edible because in hotels they leave the rice mushy), since there were leftovers, they put them out FOR BREAKFAST!!... Anyway. Terrible.
- Drink: Excessively expensive. 3 euros for a liter bottle of water??? Excuse me?? No wonder people were in the Trady all day buying drinks...
- Staff: very distracted and a lot of neglect in general, from the gentleman at reception, the gentleman from entertainment to the waiters who, although there were moments they couldn't keep up, were very lost walking around with the tray because they didn't even know who they were supposed to serve. Upon arrival, the gentleman who assisted us did not explain absolutely anything to us and if we learned things it was thanks to eavesdropping on the exhaustive explanation of a girl to another family during their check-in. Retire that man for god's sake!
- Entertainment: we are not really into participating, but the night entertainment is very dull and boring. Two days in one week the same mobile game, the comedian was so horrible with his boomer brother-in-law jokes that he only made ONE lady with a nervous giggle laugh during the whole show (and thank goodness it was that day because the next day a Chinese family stayed there and he made several racist jokes), the day of the musical show we thought a singer was coming and it was the dull entertainer who started singing (afterwards it rained and I'm not kidding), the welcome cocktail was a little glass that tasted more like juice than anything else mid-week... Anyway, I cannot comment on the animation girls but the Uruguayan guy was very nice and sings great.
Tips:
- Go to any other hotel in the center because further up the beach is terrible
- Book only breakfast
- Go to the back of the restaurant because the waiters are 10 times more attentive to service, both for clearing and for ordering drinks.
- Go to the Spar that is in Peñismar instead of the Trady because it is very expensive
- If you want entertainment, go to Peñismar. There are puppet shows and street parties at night
- Parking is not necessary, there is free parking behind both a public esplanade and a vacant lot"
