"Let me start with just general issues with the hotel before getting into our specific experience.
Air conditioning - it was on but set to 25 degrees. We were told this was the lowest it would go and we couldn't get it any cooler, nor could we change the temperature at all. Needless to say this wasn't worth having as it didn't actually feel cool in the room until we woke in the mornings. We noticed it had changed to 23 degrees later in the week, but this was still too warm. So basically, no air conditioning existed.
Dairy-free food - we liaised with the hotel prior to our trip to check they could accommodate our son's dairy milk allergy. We were told this wasn't an issue and we could organise this at the hotel. While this wasn't entirely untrue (we were able to pick from a set menu of meals for our son, and the Guest Relations were very helpful and accommodating), the actual meals themselves left a lot to be desired. For example, we chose meatballs for one of the meals and this consisted of just a plate of meat - no sauce, accompaniments etc. Hardly what you'd call a decent meal. There were only two choices for each meal time for dairy-free.
Orange Juice - how this can be classed as orange juice is beyond me. It's about 98% water and 2% orange juice.
Balcony door - the door itself blocks absolutely no sound out whatsoever. We could hear music blaring from other hotels until 03:00, and after we'd changed rooms unfortunately we were placed directly opposite the evening entertainment area, so basically felt like we were front row until this ended around 23:00 every night. Well the speakers are loud so you're obviously going to hear something you might say... I agree, but it was so bad we could even hear ping pong being played from outside.
Bedding/towels - we were consistently given the wrong number of towels and bedding every day. This wasn't a case of not knowing how many occupants were in the room. There were 4 beds - you'd expect 4 sets of towels and bedding... right?
On to our specific experience, we arrived gone midnight and were directed to our room, which is when we found the room didn't appear to have been cleaned at all. It was dirty and smelt of cigarettes (even though there is a non-smoking policy in place). We had no hand or bath towels in the room and were missing bedding. There was loads of mould in the shower and the bed sheets we did have and were given were dirty and some had stains on. Not ideal, especially when arriving with two children (one 4 year old) at such a late hour. The toilet flush buttons were hanging off the wall too.
The following day we asked to move rooms due to all of the above and the fact all we could hear was blaring music from the hotel next door on the side of the building we were put in. My wife was given a key to alternative room which she was asked to check and then come back to reception if everything was OK, so that they could arrange the transfer of rooms. My wife opens the door and finds that someone is sleeping in the room. At this point we went back to our initial room to get the kids ready so we weren't wasting their first day, and reception then called being extremely rude demanding that my wife brought the key back immediately, even after my wife explained what we were doing. Upon going back to reception to inform them that the new room had someone sleeping in it, they just started laughing as if it was a joke. It wasn't funny for her and I daresay wasn't funny for the person sleeping in their room either. She was then shown to another room by a member of staff, which was also occupied - clearly they need someone to look at whatever booking system they use as they have no idea who is where. She then got taken to another room which was suitable. When confirming this to reception they clarified that they "won't charge extra" for this new room as it was a SMALL upgrade - I'm not sure on what planet they think someone would pay extra for this experience anyway...
So then it comes to moving from one room to another. The safe had broken in our initial room with our valuables inside, so my wife spent multiple hours the first day waiting for the hotel to get the safe open to we could recover our passports etc. When this finally got sorted, the safe also appeared to be broken in the new room we were given - the member of staff even commented they had to fix 15 of these safes that day alone! Not something you want to hear when you putting your valuables in it to get home! The new room had the standard door curtains for the balcony - half of which was no longer attached to the rails because it was clearly broken. The toilet seat was broken and came off multiple times - asked reception to fix, expecting them to put a new seat on, but no, it just got slid back on for it to break off again. So ultimately the first day was mostly lost for my wife because of these issues and it meant the kids and myself were on our own for the first day of the holiday and not as a family.
Some comments about the evening entertainment and the dining...
The music being played during the kids evening entertainment had plenty of swearing in and obviously hadn't been vetted/checked, which we found inappropriate. It was also FAR too loud - we're at a kids disco and then evening entertainment, not a concert...
Don't expect much when it comes to the dining experience. There was no water already on the tables, no offer of a drink when first arriving, they constantly ran out of clean cutlery, getting food from the buffet felt like driving through central London during rush hour.
So in conclusion, maybe our expectations were higher than they should be. But based on the cost of the holiday and reviews of the hotel we expected a lot more, and were let down massively. The hotel definitely looking the most dated and lower standard of the surrounding hotels - we would NOT return here and would definitely be more vigilant in future when booking..."
