Hotel Polynesia

Came here for my 2nd time on 3rd July 2019 for 11 nights with my fiancée and 2 children and rest of my family and friends. We arrived on time and the TUI Flight and Transfer was all on time and was amazing! But then things started to go downhill, check in process can drag a bit as a bit slow, however very friendly staff. After Waiting half hour to check in we then got Told our room was not ready so had to wait around half hour before this was ready. Pool The pools are lovely and do tick every box as the main one is a walk in one which are much more child friendly, the jacuzzi was lovely in the quiet Area at the back of hotel. Drinks/Cocktails The drinks were lovely and on point, good variety of cocktails and very generous on the alcohol measurements. Blackberry Gin Fizz was my favourite as it was refreshing. FOOD This was one of the biggest disappointments as the food was awful on snack bar always the same, the snack bar food seriously needs to be improved as it’s just burgers and hot dogs and salads and chicken nuggets which looks as if they have been cooked days ago and reheated and taste nasty, for a four star hotel you would of expected much more quality as I have just came back from a holiday village in Lanzarote which was 4 star and the food was 10 times better. The evening food in restaurant some nights I walked in and walked straight back out as literally that’s all they had to eat was chips as everything else was either fish or dishes that looked to awful to eat, they had no separate part for children so basically hotel didn’t cater for kids and didn’t do a separate buffet for kids like majority of hotels do. ROOM Great room and spacious but beds give you bad back after few days better off on the sofa bed in living area of the room. HOTEL AS A WHOLE The Hotel in general is an attractive hotel and do look the part and has lots going on and got loads of great facilities but major improvements are needed on the food. The water park across the road which is free to Enter when you stay here is amazing day out and you can use the all inclusive over there but you do have to Book for it at reception in hotel before 10am day before you go. Location The hotel is out of the way of everything and to get to marina where all the shops And bars and restaurants are you need to get a bus outside of hotel. TOP TIP If you are looking for a break from food get yourself down to Fuengirola and visit the Scoffers Cafe Amazing Food it’s like Going from home to home, great breakfasts and lunch and evening food and great priced! First class service and food! Overall great holiday but just let down on food, would I return no sorry. If I did i would Prefer to stay in Fuengirola. Many Thanks

1. Rooms are perfect, big space, separate bedroom, showers and bath. Cleaned daily, and the whole complex is very clean. The hotel itself is the best I have seen in over 10 years going on family holidays. Turtle & bird sanctuary inside the complex, outside rooms in addition to a large fish pond. Several waterfall type features, very impressive first impressions. 2. The main buffet restaurant ticks all the boxes for the family, large selection of food available, show cooking could have another option, usually just fish and meet. Breakfast has a great selection also. Food can be bland but it’s what you expect on all inclusive trips. I have had better and worse on previous holidays. One disappointment was the pizzas, there were frozen pizzas cooked in an oven. Would have been better if they were freshly made. Overall, happy enough with this. There is also a Chinese and Italian restaurant. The Chinese was average at best, no fried rice which I though was strange. Show cooking was fairly tasteless. The Italian was worse in my opinion. Bread rolls on the table are hard, not a huge selection for starters for the kids or plainer eaters. Ordered pizzas for our mains for the kids, both came out burnt, sent them back and was told they were burnt because the cheese was bad! Yes, bad! We insisted on fresh unburnt pizzas, which we got but they were then undercooked. We also ordered spaghetti bolognaise which was literally spaghetti hoops, no meat! Not impressed with these restaurants. 3. The entertainment was good mostly, bars moved fairly quickly. Mini disco started at 8.30 and main show at 10.00, it suited us but if you have young kids, it might be a bit late. I would encourage more variation in the entertainment, we were here for two weeks and it was more or less the same each week. Day time activities are great for adults and the kids. My only issue here is the basketball and football at 4.00 is played near the stage area on concrete. It’s only a matter of time before some kid gets seriously hurt playing here. If they have a specialized all weather pitch, it would be perfect. 4. The shop is big but not very well stocked. I would encourage you walk to the neighbouring hotel shops where they are better stocked and more selection. The arcade is excellent, no shortage of stuff for the kids to do. There is also the option of the beach club but the bus drops and collects you up and down the hill. Great for a change in scenery but lunch down there needs to be booked a day in advance. 5. The biggest issue I have is the location of the hotel. I don’t mind the walk up and down the big hill, however it’s a 15 mins taxi to either Benalmádena or fuengirola costing around €15/18 down and the same back. I like to be able to walk to these locations but there is nothing within walking distance of the hotel. Overall, happy with what I got for the money I paid. Beautiful, clean hotel, kids happy, wife happy. Only downfall is the location relative to the nearby towns. Would suggest if they had a shuttle bus dropping and collecting in either Benalmádena or fuengirola on an hourly basis, I would definitely come back. Thank you.

We're a family of 4 with 2 children - 3 and 6. We have just returned from an 11 night stay at Hotel Polynesia. I was a bit apprehensive after reading some of the reviews here before we went however we personally found them to be unfounded. We booked through TUI and met their reps at the airport upon arrival and were directed onto their transfer coach and then taken straight to the hotel which was about a 20 minutes transfer. First impressions of Holiday World - which includes the Polynesia, Riwo, Holiday Village and another hotel (Dino one perhaps?) - were amazing. The resort itself is self-contained and gated with a barriered entrance with security guards. First impressions of Hotel Polynesia was that it was stunning and beautiful. Check in was about an hour, there are vending machines at reception for drinks if you needed anything whilst waiting. There was also limited seating. Check in staff were lovely and very helpful. Our junior suite was a great size with a kitchen, very large bathroom with separate bath and shower, bidet and double sink. Water pressure was excellent and hot water ample. Kettle was provided along with basics to cook if you needed to - we were all inclusive so didn't cook a thing. We did use a pot to boil water for tea and coffee as the kettle was very scaly and didn't fancy using it. We also bought mugs from the hotel shop as the room ones were tiny and we like big mugs of coffee first thing in the morning to get us started! In the lounge area, the sofa bed was made up for our arrival and the kids slept there which was perfect as meant we could have the very large bedroom to ourselves that had 2 double beds in it. Beds were comfy to us as we like hard beds and now we're home ours feels too soft! Balcony was huge! We had a side sea view. We got the sun in the morning and were shaded the rest of the day, not good for my sun worshipping husband but perfect for shade seeker me. It's just your luck really what room you're allocated and we didn't want to pay 25 EUR per night extra for a full sea view and full sun when we weren't planning on spending all our time in our room. We paid for wifi and the safe. Wifi was temperamental in the room but we just worked around that. We took our Amazon Firestick to keep the kids entertained when needed and that worked intermittently. Wifi worked perfectly in communal areas. Restaurant had plenty of choice and food was to a really good standard for AI. Fresh produce was good quality and lots of variety for hot meals. My eldest is a fussy eater so dinner was always a bit difficult to find something for him. He typically eats burgers/hot dogs/chicken nuggets/pizza etc. These were plentiful at every lunch in the restaurant and the snack bar by the pool however nothing of this sort was available for dinner. He ate mainly chips and desserts at dinner time. We only ate in the main buffet restaurant. I was probably put off by the reviews of the other 2 in previous reviews. We liked just getting dinner out the way and the main restaurant was quick and filling. Our kids were always desperate to get to the Mini Disco that starts at 8.30pm and we were always cutting it fine by the time we had an afternoon siesta and then got ready so the restaurant was ideal for a quick meal. I have to mention the hotel staff. Firstly, there were so many! I couldn't believe the number of staff in the restaurant at all times - clearing up, setting tables and from the kitchen replenishing dishes. Noticed lots of cleaning staff there too, wiping down serving areas and making sure the floors were tidy. Also lots of bar staff, queues always went down quickly. I would say 95% of the staff were very friendly throughout the hotel from the housekeepers (kudos to them!), reception staff, TUI reps, bar staff, restaurant staff, hotel management. There was the odd "grumpy" staff member but that happens at home too and probably with a higher ratio! The Animation team were fantastic. They headlined the all day kids club, poolside and pool entertainment for kids and adults, kids mini disco in the evening and the majority of the evening entertainment from the fab white party to their own productions of The Lion King and The Greatest Showman tributes which were fabulous. Hats off to them. They work extremely hard and always with a smile of their face. Us adults got a bit jaded with the evening entertainment after just 11 nights so for them to do it with enthusiasm night after night is very impressive. Yes it's their job but they do it very well. We now have the mini disco songs downloaded so we get to have our very own mini discos most nights now as our kids can't get enough of it. The main pool was lovely and the views and setting stunning. Ample food at the snack bar and replenished regularly. I had a baked potato most days - was fab. We did have to put our towels down early to get close to the pool so we could keep a close eye on our kids. We did head to the pool later on a few times and did always manage to get a bed though. Beach club across the road was a nice change and again a lovely setting right at the sea with stunning views around the coast. The kids loved the pool. The restaurant there was good, you just have to make sure you book in the day before. Drinks are AI there however snacks are payable unlike at the hotel. A couple of niggles we had were that the park at the baby pool at the hotel had tape across a couple of the parts blocking some of it off throughout our stay and it did look in need of an upgrade. Along with an area at the beach club that was cordoned off with tape heading up to the lighthouse. As mentioned in other reviews Holiday World is out the way. We did head out to Benalmadena a couple of times and also Fuengirola and used taxis which were under 15 EUR each way roughly. Location was a negative for me personally as I like to get out and about on holiday instead of being restricted to the hotel however we booked here specifically for the kids. We knew this when we booked but it has made me rethink future holidays. We really couldn't fault the hotel, it is massive and run very well. The staff do a great job. The only issue we had was the behaviour of some of the other guests and this is not the hotel's fault! Nothing major just some rudeness and selfishness from others. Although the hotel was stunning and our stay was great I would not recommend for couples, this was definitely a family friendly hotel. Finally, the TUI reps were very friendly and helpful. Their "swap box" at reception is a great idea. I picked up some sun screen for the kids for our last couple of days which saved buying a full bottle from the shop. There were also inflatables for the kids, buckets and spades and lots of toiletries so make sure to check it out. We left load of stuff we couldn't take back. I also picked up a good book and left a few. Had a great holiday and would recommend.