Due to a family emergency, we had to move our holiday back one week, which meant we could no longer stay in the Labranda suites. However, having stayed at the four star guarmina Princess in April, we know the area well and were told that the Playa Real was very close to Labranda and just round the corner from the Best Jacaranda, where we also stayed last year. We explained we had four children and would need the rooms to have separate sleeping areas, so upgraded to Junior Suites. We trusted the description of a four star hotel, with a large pool area, water park, a spa, a gym, two restaurants and several bars, so we booked in confidence. On the day of arrival, we were told that one room wasn't ready so we're directed towards the snack area. Here we found cold fried things, dried sandwiches in an area littered with used cups, and a very dirty broken floor. This was the point when we noticed our first of many Cockroaches. I tried to explain to my autistic son that they do live in hot countries and not to worry, but a giant one then walked up the wall behind him. There is clearly an infestation as there are many baby cockroaches as well as adults, often scuttling across food surfaces. We went to our room and were surprised to find that there was still half eaten food from the previous guests in the fridge, along with a long dark hair. The Junior Suites we had upgraded to that were designed for three people were in fact two beds, with two chairs on the balcony, 2 cups next to the kettle and a very uncomfortable camp bed behind a sliding door. We decided not to worry about things, cleaned the fridge ourselves and got ready to go and eat in the restaurant. We arrived at 6.30pm and there were very few people in there. However, my youngest son has autism and ADHD so struggles with over stimulation. We found there was a choice of sitting inside the restaurant which would be too loud for him, in a covered area surrounded by arcade games and a punch bag, next to toilets, or an outdoor patio overlooking the pool. Therefore as there were 2 tables for three, next to each other, less than a yard apart, I moved the two together for my family of 6 and we sat down. I was instantly approached by several quite aggressive members of staff and an extremely rude manager to say this was not possible and we had to sit in the arcade area in front of the toilets. I asked if we had sat as two tables of 3, a yard apart would this be OK and they said yes. Isaid this was ridiculous and we sat down. The staff then continued to pace up and down next to our table whilst glaring at us. Therefore, I refused to move and decided to speak to the Jet2 rep the following day. I was told that there had been a mistake and of course it would now be OK for my family to sit together. However, this was obviously not portrayed to all staff and we endured the same aggressive behaviour on two further occasions, with one member of staff even trying to wrestle the table off me when I said I was allowed. The restaurant food, alongside the health and safety issues is some of the worst I have seen in the many all inclusive hotels I have stayed in. Unless you arrive at the very start of service, food often runs out and isn't replenished. The grill was an option, but watching the grill chef regularly use the same utensils for raw chicken as she did for cooked meat was alarming. This meant my family weren't able to have food from the grill for their own safety, and were limited to the luke warm food that had been recycled from the night before. I am astounded they haven't had a salmonella outbreak. Our first day by the pool wasn't the most pleasant. For some reason the pool is roped off until the life guard arrives at 10am to literally sit down and play on his phone all day. Once you have found enough unbroken dirty sunbeds, and an unbroken umbrella, you then have to choose where to base yourself. The floor around the pool is undulating and littered with dangerous broken tiles, with very little grout left in them. Consequently, pools of water develop under your bed often inches deep. This then lifts the green stinking slime from between the tiles and it floats around your feet and onto anything you have on the floor. Once a week they push a machine over the top of this area, however the pad that is supposed to clean the floor is so threadbare, that all it does is wet the top of the tiles. None of the dirt is removed, the slime stays untouched and the grids are left full of litter. I have never seen so many dangerous, broken tiles and drain covers around a family hotel pool in my life, I was shocked at the health and safety issues everywhere. However, I thought i hadn't, until I visited the children's water park at the back of the hotel. This was supposed to be somewhere designed for children to use safely. My autistic son first went on the park area, but once I had seen the grime stained rubber flooring, with dangerous gaps between the mats full of litter, i had to move him. Therefore we moved to the water park. Unfortunately, as the floor was probably laid at the same time as the main pool, there were the same broken tiles, sharp edges, lack of grout and slime loaded gaps between tiles. However this wasn't my main concern, after my son told me "the floor hurts". I then noticed that at the bottom of the slide there was an area of pool flooring approximately a yard across that was completely missing and dangerous. There were hard surface areas, with sharp raised edges that the children regularly caught their feet on. Therefore for his own safety I had to take him to the slightly less dangerous pool. At the end of the first full day we went back to the room to find that it hadn't been cleaned, but as it was Sunday we thought maybe they have one day off, so my son and i made a cup of tea and sat on the balcony. However when we returned to the room on Monday it still hadn't been cleaned. As we had no towels, due to having to mop up the leaking shower every night, I went down to reception and was told there must have been a do not disturb sign. I knew there wasn't, but I needed towels so said maybe someone was joking, but could we have towels please. They took my room number and asked how many we needed. We waited, and 45 minutes later I went back down to reception to ask for towels again and was this time given 6 hand towels and told the cleaners have gone. One of the prerequisites of the holiday was the need for a gym, as my eldest son is a professional rugby player. Therefore, on Monday the 30th we both went to train in the gym that is advertised as part of the fitness and spa suite. We found a broken rowing machine, a broken treadmill, a broken cross trainer and a broken bike. There were only 2 dumbbells in the entire gym, therefore he had to join a local gym for the rest of the week On Tuesday 31st, we came up to the room to find that the two beds had finally been made, but the tea cups from Sunday were still on the balcony, the bathroom hadn't been cleaned at all, the camp bed hadn't been made and none of the surfaces had been wiped. On Wednesday my wife had to be taken to the doctors as the result of an allergic reaction. We can't say exactly what caused this, but I would think that lying with slime around your feet, eating whilst surrounded by Cockroaches before returning to a room that hasn't been cleaned for four days, won't have helped. In fact whilst I waited for her to return I went to get a coffee from the outdoor dispenser. As I got to the machine, I was stopped by another guest who said "don't touch that mate, a Cockroach came out into my coffee from inside the machine this morning"! When my wife returned from the hospital, i took my four children to eat lunch. Whilst she went to see the reps linsay and Mark. My wife said they couldn't have been more helpful. They apologised for the lack of cleanliness and said they would speak to the director. Unfortunately whilst this was happening I was having a table wrestled away from me by another very aggressive member of staff, as I had moved it a yard to the right so my family could sit together. Mark and Linsay came back to us and said they had spoken to the hotel and as an apology, they would like to invite our family to the A la carte restaurant where food and drinks would be included. We agreed to this, booked a table for Friday and returned to our room. When we got in we found that our beds had been made, but not the camp bed and after four days the tea cups had finally been moved off the balcony. Unfortunately the table on the balcony hadn't been cleaned, and the tea cups had only been moved and left still dirty in the bathroom sink that also hadn't been cleaned. My daughter then came out of her room with a giant can of bug spray, as the cleaner had noticed the random paper cups she had placed around the bedroom with cockroaches underneath. At this point we had had enough, i went down to reception and showed them pictures of the dirty room and the dirty dishes in my bathroom sink. The lady shrugged at me and said we don't clean cups. As a family, we decided to avoid the confrontation in the restaurant and eat out, which we did for the next two nights at great expense. Unfortunately, as we had agreed the hotels apology of a free meal, we felt obliged to eat in the restaurant on our final night. Therefore on Friday we arrived as the only family in the whole restaurant and sat down. However despite this being the hotels idea, they hadn't actually told the restaurant, so when we ordered cava (available for 8 euros in the shop), I was told it would cost me 32 Euros! I explained that the hotel had invited us and they were paying and he became very annoyed. Therefore once again I had to leave my family, and go and ask someone from reception to come and talk to him. Eventually he agreed and we ordered our food. There was no grill steak so we ordered veal medium rare. What arrived in front of me was the most bizarre meal I have ever seen. I was brought a piece of well done veal on a plate next to a palm tree that was made of a banana and kiwi fruit, with three hard uncooked potatoes. I am not joking. We ate what we could and left to go out again. I appreciate that Jet 2 reps paid lip service during the week, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this holiday cost me £7000 for what is at best a two star hotel. I understand that the building is tired and in desperate need of renovation. But there is no excuse for the ingrained filth, poor cleanliness, broken facilities, dangerous flooring, dangerous food hygiene and just basic bad service. I bought a four star holiday in good faith, but if this hotel was in England, it would be closed down.…
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.