Occidental Torremolinos Playa

Location, cleanliness

Value for the money, food diversity

Location

N/A

The outdoor facilities and location were amazing - the hotel is a few steps away from the beach across a quiet road and seafront promenade and the sea view is beautiful. There is a beachfront restaurant with excellent food and drinks where we ate on multiple occasions, and you can book two sun beds and an umbrella on the private beach area for 20 euros. We had no issue with booking on the day on each occasion, and the beach was clean and relatively quiet. The whole beachfront is sandy, not pebbly. The sunbeds had thick mattresses on them so were very comfortable. The swimming pools and gardens surrounding the hotel are gorgeous, with lots for children to do and music playing throughout the day. Ideal for families. The beds in the rooms were comfortable with springed mattresses topped with detachable soft foam mattress toppers, so you can customise depending on whether you prefer a soft or a hard bed. The room was clean and the balcony was spacious (although the room itself was not very large). The hotel is about a 10 minute walk away from the train station which is only a couple of stops from the airport, and only a few stops the other direction from Malaga for a daytrip. There is also a well-stocked grocery shop just around the corner from the hotel. The beachfront is lined with restaurants and the centre of Torremolinos was a pleasant 20-30 minute walk away along the beach.

Our room on the first floor looked directly down on the stage/courtyard area where the DJ played music every night of the week at high volume (and also nearly all day long, starting in the morning, although not as loud as at night). The music finished by midnight, and then people eventually cleared away by 1am, but there was no indication of the end time on the hotel info sheet we were provided and no warning when we booked the room that we were going to be in the middle of club-volume music every night whether we wanted to be or not. It was also every night, not just on Fridays/Saturdays. I don't think they should be charging the full rate for the rooms sitting on top of the DJ and they should at the very least provide a warning to visitors who are put in these rooms that you won't be able to sleep until 1am each night. The windows are not soundproof at all. The room also lacked some basic facilities - there was a space under the TV where normally a hotel room would have a small coffee table and a chair, but there was no table at all in the room so we did struggle finding space to put things down. There was also no kettle/coffee maker, teacups/coffee cups or spoons which you normally see even in much cheaper hotels. When we asked for these, somewhat bizarrely, reception said they could provide a kettle but we couldn't have any cups or spoons. There also weren't any facilities for tea/coffee during the day in the hotel buffet-style restaurant so you would have to go out to order one from a cafe/restaurant every time you wanted a simple cup of tea.

Comfortable beds and rooms. Lots of fun facilities.

Reception staff unhelpful and understanding when we checked in late in the evening after a long day travelling. No on site food was available after 10pm.