Barcelo La Nucia Palms

"This is our honest review of a 5 star hotel The Welcome We arrived at 1am so were given our room key and told where our room was with no other information. We later found out that we could use the facilities at the sister hotel Barcelo Hills which was literally around the corner. It would have been nice to have been told on our first morning. Rooms. Lovely decor with a comfortable bed and nice furnished balcony. Sweets and champagne on arrival in the room was a lovely touch. No kettle so we requested one from Reception. They knocked on the door with a kettle and some drinks sachets but no cups!? Had to go to Reception again to request cups which they seemed surprised at? How were we going to make a drink with no cups!? Swimming pool. We went to the main pool on our first morning only to be told we had to walk back to reception to get cards to be able to get towels. Why not tell us this as part of our welcome our leave a note in our room? Two days in and the main swimming pool was drained of water for repair work and cordoned off. We had booked a pool view room. Not what we were expecting. Again, a fellow holiday maker informed us that we could use the pool at Barcelo Hills. Why the hotel failed to tell us I really don’t know. No explanation at all. Food On our first evening we went to the buffet restaurant with was closed. We hadn’t been informed on arrival that food was either in the a la carte restaurant at Barcelo Palms or in the buffet restaurant in Barcelo Hills (we found out about the buffet on day 4 from someone staying in the hotel). Breakfast was lovely with everything you need. Very impressed with this. Evening meals were a little disappointing. Food was cold and very basic, certainly not à la carte. It felt like the hotel was 1/5 full so maybe that was the issue? The last time we used the restaurant we were served cold soup and pork that was raw. The waitress was very apologetic (not her fault). We did feel for her. The pudding was frozen cake with peanuts on the side. This was supposed to be chocolate mousse with almonds. À la carte? We were shocked to be charged for our two cokes after all we had only eaten some bread rolls out of 3 courses Staff The staff were excellent. I cannot fault them. Very polite and pleasant even when police arrived one evening and were outside our room for a few hours. No idea what that was all about. The staff really were excellent though - helping us order taxis etc. Overall not a 5 star experience. Luckily the weather was kind and we had a great time exploring Valencia, Alicante and other local areas. Tips: Visit Altea which is 15 minutes away. Stunning traditional quaint village. Our favourite evening out"

"Stayed in this lovely hotel for a week, the it's located about 3 miles from benidorm so nice am quite but only 1 problem the lack of public transport if you want to go anywhere, so if you need to travel it'll be taxi everywhere unless you have a car. "

"Honestly was amazing staff were very kind and welcoming. The hotel was spotless and every member of staff treated you with a smile and a good morning. Highly recommend paying the extra for the superior rooms with pool view. The room is stunning, well lit and well looked after. The location of the hotel is prefect. It’s just outside the city centre which meant the hotel was peaceful and calm. The food was okay but if you’re very explorative and are into the Mediterranean food you’ll love it! We did book last minute so was a little bit more expensive however would pay it again and again to have the same experience. Honestly the staff are a credit to the hotel group can’t fault a thing!"