Ponient Dorada Palace by PortAventura World

For a start beware of booking with trip. I booked for me and my 3 boys 14, 12, and 10 years old. When I got to the hotel they told me there would be an additional charge of 1500 euros for my 2 younger boys. So if the price looks cheap on trip please check with the hotel. As a single mother this was a terrible blow at the start of my holiday. The room was unclean, the hotel claims to had had a massive refurbishment however the only changes was the colour scheme in the living area of the room. The bathroom was the same as last year when we stayed with one addition, it was unclean. The main wardrobe in the living room had no hangers, I asked at reception and was told there was non to be had. There are now drawers in the apartment. They have taken away a cabinet under the tv and replaced it with two round tables that really serve no purpose. Even the dressing table had no drawers. There are two tables either side of the bed but no cabinets with drawers. I went to get a glass from the kitchen only to discover that the entire kitchen was devoid of equipment. Again I asked reception to be told I had to request the kitchen equipment. When the plates, etc arrived the cleaning lady dumped a box containing everything on the floor in the room. Not really what one would except from a “4” star hotel. The room was only cleaned every day at around 3pm. The floors were never washed, I had to ask for clean sheets, The bed wasn’t made properly and the bathroom never touched. I found out from one of the cleaning staff that there are only 10 cleaning staff on a morning and the 1 on an afternoon the poor staff couldn’t. It is impossible to get sunbeds at the pool. On a morning people start lining their bags containing towels at 7am then the pool is supposed to open at 9am. I went down a few times at 8.45 only to find the doors open and all sunbeds reserved with towels even though it states on the website that it is not permitted to reserve beds. Also the numbers of sunbeds at the pool is less than half of what it was last year when I stayed. The food in the restaurant was disgusting, absolutely full of grease, the children’s food was atrocious me and my kids tried eat there three times but couldn’t eat a thing. I complained to the manager but he was very rude and shrugged his shoulders when I explained the problem. I will not return to the hotel, I love Salou but not that terrible place. It is most definitely not a four star hotel. I wouldn’t even give it a two star. Photos of the bathroom. Example of the way the beds were left and the cleaning staff leaving sheets to do the work myself.

We stayed here for a week with our family and I can’t complain about anything. From the minute we arrived the check-in was faultless and the staff were so friendly. Thank you for the numerous lost keys without being annoyed. We got our rooms immediately which were spotless. We even had a pool view which we didn’t book. the staff at the pool behind the bar were so friendly the lady that cooks the food behind the bar was the nicest lady. Daily clean was amazing. the buffet was varied but if you don’t like buffet food it might not be for you but there was such a selection and there’s always salads and fruit. My favourite meal was the breakfast. Loved the way you are greeted on arrival and shown to a table without having to wander around. There were plenty of loungers and if you didn’t bring a towel, you could rent one. The lifeguard was on duty all day. No inflatables in big pool but ok in other pool. The animation staff were very nice. They had very gentle entertainment in the morning like arts and craft and in the afternoon then there was darts or water polo et cetera in the evening the mini club. our kids loved it. The nighttime entertainment was okay too. The bus service to Port Ventura was advertised in reception but we used taxis which were around €10 each way. Highly recommend Port Ventura. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the seafront and we went most days the shopping around salou is great. if you want to get the jerseys and handbags you can get them at the end of Salou on the way to Cambrils about a 20 minute walk along the seafront between two and four. just around the corner is a nice bar called the butler and we just found it on our second last day and it does fairly okay Guinness. overall I highly recommend this hotel and I’d like to thank the staff for a wonderful holiday and yes I would definitely return but maybe in June as the weather was not brilliant.

Myself and my family have just returned after 7 nights at Ponient Dorada Palace. We primarily chose this hotel as we wanted to experience Portaventura Theme Park and the all inclusive package included tickets to enter both Portaventura and Ferrari world theme parks which the hotel does include a free shuttle from the front of the hotel to the park and back to hotel from the park. You are given wrist bands to enter both theme parks and the wrist bands did not work, We had to spend over an hour in the information centre where a member of the Portaventura staff had to enter the bar codes into the system individually so we could enter the parks, speaking to other guests they too had the same issue and this definitely needs addressing, the Portaventura staff said this was a hotel issue. Due to a mix up at reception in 7 nights we had our room serviced 3 times, We had to contact reception for towels and toilet rolls on 2 occasions, housekeeping had our room down as non occupied. We stayed in an apartment which does not include plates or cups or cutlery and you have an option to “hire” a kettle ?? It was easier and cheaper to buy a kettle which I did. I’ve never experienced a family room where you have absolutely nothing in your cupboards and drawers. The pool was nice and access to sunbeds was very easy. Sadly for kids the hotel has rules that limits their fun in the pool (no floats etc). The pool bar the hot food was cold, and I’ll be very honest it wasn’t very nice at all, The ice lollies only 3 items are free the rest of the list you have to pay for, again as all inclusive I’ve never had this before, My daughter asked for a bag of salted crisps and again these were not included in “all inclusive” Again I think this is impotent that the hotel looks at this and makes the all inclusive experience feel like an all inclusive experience. The pool tables near the pool bar were also 2 euros to play and 2 out of the 3 tables were broken and not releasing the balls when “paying to play”. The food in general at the hotel was not in my opinion the best, we all enjoyed Mexican night but apart from that it wasn’t the best, Definitely not a 4 star experience. The night time entertainment was really poor and we ended up going into salou for 5 nights out of the 7 and the hotel could definitely learn by sitting in Chaplins bar for an hour and seeing how they organise evening entertainment for children and adults and match that standard of entertainment. Location of the hotel is decent, for park access and transfers to the park perfect, wrist bands for the park are a massive issue. Portaventura is amazing and we loved every second. Sadly the hotel experience was a massive let down.

We stayed here for 3 nights. I was a bit nervous as I had read mixed reviews but I was pleasantly surprised. Hotel is about 15 mins by taxi from Reus airport, 10 mins stroll to Salou Town and easy to get to Portadventura. Reception area is very nice, polite efficient staff. Rooms were nice, clean, with a nice balcony the only issue with the rooms were the mini bar was practically warm. Food was really nice, great choice although I would say that the dessert area needed to be bigger as it was tiny in comparison to the other areas. The pools were absolutely freezing cold it didnt put my 9 year old off though and it often meant he had the smaller one near the mini club to himself. Plenty of sunloungers Great value for money.

Location great, staff really helpful but food was poor and if you want a sunlounger then make sure your up at the crack of dawn to queue, when the sliding doors open it’s each for themselves, people pushing each other jumping over walls, I’ve never experienced anything like it. It is the most craziest thing I’ve ever witnessed. Would not recommend for the food choice and the sunbed wars every day!

Great location close to the centre and beach. Food was decent at dinner and breakfast. Always an option, we always found something to eat between the 4 of us each night (2 adults 2 kids). Honestly we only struggled one of ten nights. The pool bar was handy if hungry in the afternoon. The staff are great and very helpful. Kids loved it. My only issue is the pool and room size. The pool area has loads of extra space for more beds but they don't put any out which causes hassle between guests. To many people per bed. They should put more beds out and try to fix the pool area as a lot of broken tiles and dirt around the pool and the pool floor had dirt in it due to an area around the pool being dirt sand. They really should floor these areas and put extra beds in and fix the tiles. The rooms are small but clean and modern which is good. They got serviced every day with clean towels. Id stay again if the pool area and bed issue was resolved but I can't see this happening.