Zafiro Palace Palmanova

"we booked an adapted room via Jet2 and emailed the hotel the week before departure telling them of my wifes disability and asked could they send us photos of the room. They replied with photos but could not open them , they resent but still could not open but assumed that all would be ok. "We have taken note of your request and can confirm that a disabled-adapted room has been requested for your stay. We will do our very best to accommodate your needs and ensure your wife is as comfortable as possible during your holiday." When we arrived we found that it was a standard room no adaptations, requested stool in shower, grabrail to the toilet and shower. The stool arrived and a toilet grabrail was fitted. The next day we saw the JET2 rep who called the customer relations manager, they both promised to get the shower grabrail fitted, a wedge to hold the door open whilst we manoevred her wheelchair into the room (very difficult process over a 15mm x 75mm threshold strip which shouldnt be on an adapted room. we were told that nothing could be done because it was the weekend and they couldnt procure the grabrails. Also we noted to them that for whatever reason the hotel had removed the disabled toilets grabrails (contrary to all disabled regulations) By tuesday with nothing happening we were then told that nothing would happen at least for 2 weeks by which time we would have left. The matter of compensation was raised by the hotel (not by ourselves) Trying to cut a long story short this amounted to the incredible figure of £250 on a £16000 holiday, this was on our penultimate day Saturday. Obviously it was rejected. My wife was clearly discriminated against and her dignity and independence removed. I had to accompany her into the shower due to the lack of grabrail and also support her in the public disabled toilets whilst she prepared to use the toilet, all of which she can manage at home. Most of the hotel pool areas were inaccessible without a long trek to avoid steps and stairs. The pool bar by our room was totally inaccessible due to steps. We used to push her up a steep grassed slope to precariously access one sunbed thus tying the whole family to that area in the shade till 11ish. Far from making sure her stay was comfortable (as per their email) it all turned into an unmitigated nightmare. I am currently reviewing all regulations surrounding disability and it would appear that both Jet2 and the hotel are liable. On to the Hotel itself :- FOOD ok ish in the buffet although much of the food was at best lukewarm. The Al a carte was good if you can manage to book them. POOLS it would appear that there is a severe lack of sunbeds warnings given out in several languages every day via their app ENTERTAINMENT virtually non existent for adults ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FOR TEENAGERS avoid if you have teenagers (the pool table was out of action for all ten days of our holiday. Football on hotel tv forget it, too expensive we were told ROOMS called suites but in reality just a room nothing 5 star special POOL BAR the one adjacent to ourselves didnt serve drinks until 11am and absolutely NO COFFEE , no bed service that one expects at 5 star hotels. SERVICE not overly impressed you mostly had to Q to order at the bar. SNACKS some dried up bread things no cakes in the main bar ROOM SERVICE stopped at 9.45pm and was expensive SECURITY non existent unless they were Ninjas/SAS no CCTV FIRE PLAN looks like it was written by an office junior, asks guests to use fire extinguishers, no mention of not using lifts and other silly nonsense "roll on the floor if you catch fire". I asked reception what was their evacuation procedure for my wife in the event of an emergency QUE ! and a shrug of shoulders. Finally having read all the 5 star reviews on tripadvisor i thought we had been sent to the wrong hotel but no here we were in Zafiro Palace Palmanova, never again. The following people should avoid Teenagers, Disabled people and probably Couples."

"We had a lovely stay overall and really enjoyed the hotel. The hotel itself is beautiful, the rooms were always clean and well maintained, and there were plenty of good food options throughout our stay. The staff in the restaurants were friendly and welcoming, and we also have to give a special mention to the concierge team, who were incredibly helpful on several occasions. There are, however, a couple of areas that we feel could be improved. The entertainment for both children and adults was quite limited and could definitely be better, particularly for a hotel of this standard. Our biggest disappointment was the Zafiro service. We stayed at Zafiro Palace Andratx last year and had such a fantastic experience. The staff there were brilliant at regularly coming around the sunbeds, taking drink orders and making you feel that the upgrade was really worthwhile. Unfortunately, our experience at Palmanova was very different. For the first couple of days, we felt completely ignored by one particular waitress, Tattiana. On a couple of occasions I asked her for a drink and was quite rudely told she would come back. She then returned and proceeded to take orders from every other family around us apart from ours. Another family actually witnessed this happening and explained that they had experienced exactly the same thing until they tipped her. After we tipped her on day two, the service towards us suddenly changed completely. This was really disappointing and, quite frankly, not acceptable when you have paid extra for the Zafiro upgrade. We are always more than happy to tip for good service, but guests should not feel that they have to tip at the beginning of their holiday simply to receive the level of service they have already paid for. Sorry, Tattiana, but that is not the way to go about earning a tip! That being said, we don’t want this one experience to overshadow the rest of our holiday. Apart from this, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The hotel is lovely, the majority of the staff were fantastic, and we had a great holiday. With some improvements to the entertainment and more consistency in the Zafiro service, it could be an excellent experience all round."

"Fabulous week at this hotel. The team members we dealt with were helpful, engaging and always ready to assist. The food was top class and our son loved the roof level whirlpool!! Under pressure to install one at home!! PS the San Francisco mocktails are amazing. Would recommend all inclusive option."