Zafiro Ca'n Picafort

Tricky one, this. There were loads of little problems we had with the hotel and my head would score it 3/5, but we still had a really fantastic holiday and I'd go back in a heartbeat so I've gone with my heart and scored it 5. 11 nights, quiet standard room facing onto a road, all-inclusive. I'll start with the problems, but please bear in mind that these are small issues and did not affect what was a brilliant stay at a great hotel: 1) no wifi. Or at least, so unreliable that it's useless. Unacceptable in 2019, even in a family hotel. 2) paying for a safe?! Seriously - I thought that sort of thing ended in the 1980s. Stop it. 3) paying for a cot, even when the toddler is on the booking?! Ridiculous. Stop it. 4) no maid service two days a week? Eh? I'm used to chalets having a day off a week during the winter, but I've never had a "no service" day in a hotel, never mind two. And even then, they failed to clean the room on one of the "on" days 5) water. They give it out at bars in dopey little plastic bottles. Crazy over-use of single-use plastics, and frankly a pain as you have to keep going back for more. fill up fridges with larger bottles; install some drinking fountains and serve water at the bar in glasses or paper cups. 6) bar hours: they have two bars near the pool area but one closes at 5, the other at 6. So for an hour there is only one bar where you can get a drink leading to long queues. Leave them both open until 6. 7) Staff generally great but I do agree that some of the waiters can be borderline rude. But then the positives are huge: There are loads of pools and loads of space. You are not crammed in, there is plenty of room for everyone. It was fully booked when we were there and if you wanted a pool to yourself you could normally find one. Even the main pools were pretty quiet. Fantastic. The kids' slide pool was great too- our toddler spent half his holiday in there. Caters brilliantly to kids but doesn't target them - there is plenty of holiday for the whole family here but in a relaxed way, rather than imposing noise on you all day long. The evening entertainment is mercifully quiet - we could not hear it from our room at all. There are some exercise classes etc in the pool during the day that does involve music but it is not intrusive, and it is not all the time. The general noise you can hear is kids having fun, not a sound system. Brilliant. Food- very good for AI, especially on the nights when they have seafood or sushi as the "special". I don't have a lot to compare it to as I've only done AI or half board a few times, but this was clearly the best, and dinner was definiteley something to look foward to each evening. Similarly, I was impressed that a lot of the drinks are actually prepared properly (rather than pre-prepared cocktails etc - although there is some of that) and that there is table service in the evening. Mix of guests - I don't like going away and just hearing English voices so was pleased that this was a nice mixture of guests from all over the place, with no obvious majority. All in all, they absolutely nailed the stuff that is really important and we had a fantastic holiday.

our 3rd visit to this particular zafiro hotel. We have been to another Zafiro in Majorca but this is by far our favourite. So lovely to see friendly familiar staff faces. Lovely welcome back from the hotel with wine and treats on our arrival. Cannot fault anything about this hotel, everything from the food to the staff to the pools,,,,,, simply outstanding!!! Having a personal touch from the manager welcoming us back was so nice. We will be booking again for next year! Would highly recommend!!! Thank you Zafiro family x