Santa Catalina, a Royal Hideaway Hotel

The Royal Hideaway is a great hotel for a weekend break or corporate visits. We stayed in a suite and these are very large and well appointed, staff are helpful and the hotel is in great condition and lovely place to stay. Service can lack on certain areas and we had some abrupt service at times which is a little disappointing given the price point. Parking is good at the hotel but expensive. Location isn’t very good if your wanting to venture away from the hotel. I’d recommend staying here if you want to drive out or stay on site for a relaxing weekend etc

95 % great. The Royal Suite was really, really good. The staff was really nice and so serviceminded. The only thing that was a disapointment was the roomservice.We didn´t get the food in time exept for the two last mornings. And when we got it, it was cold. But overall we had a wonderfull stay and we will come back again. Next timewe eat in the restaurant. The rooftop poolarea is really nice, calm and the best...... no children.

I have rounded this review rating down to 3 stars as opposed to rounding up because I can see so many 4 star reviews which have not been taken into account by management regarding the service shortfalls which is a real shame. The hotel is beautiful with the luscious green gardens, lovely decor throughout and 3 pools. However, this is a 5 star hotel and simply having beautiful grounds isn't enough. The customer service of most of the employees here needs to be addressed. When we sat down to check in at the front of house, there was no 'welcome' from reception and then we were told we need to wait for our room (it was 2:30pm, rooms should be ready by 2pm but due to covid we didn't question this as understandably additional measures are being taken). During the 15 minute wait, no one came to offer us a glass of water or any sort of refreshment. When the room was ready, we weren't told how to get to the room until we asked. There was also no mention of the fact that everything needed to be requested via an app which we later found out by a helpful gentleman at the wellness spa area when we went to book massages (one of the only employees who is happy to help and is friendly to talk to). Other short falls - no slippers in the bedroom (I had to ask twice before these were delivered to our room), no acknowledgement of our wedding anniversary which I had put in our notes (not a big deal but nice to acknowledge these things!), slow and often unfriendly, rushed service even though there is sparse capacity at present, difficult to book into the gym but this is probably due to covid. A major point to address is the fact that the rooftop gym has no water in it and no way to sanitise your hands or the machines which we requested but was not remediated. Hopefully this will be taken into account tomorrow seeing as this is a hygiene issue while covid-19 lingers on. €3 for a water bottle when using the gym seems a bit steep to me as all gyms I've been to in hotels of the same class offer this free of charge! There are also no towels in the rooftop gym but I assume this is due to covid. Positives are: a beautiful hotel with amazing grounds, spacious and impeccably decorated bedrooms with a king size bed (we had booked a premium suite), impeccable cleanliness in the bedrooms and dining areas, great cocktails on the rooftop bar, amazing massage at the wellness centre (I can honestly say this is one of the best massages I've ever had), lovely roof top pool which is only available to guests in suites, amazing food in the 1890 restaurant. Great location with a 5 min taxi to the beach or restaurants. If you visit during covid, the hotel is taking hygiene very seriously on the most part so you will feel safe staying here, all staff wear masks and everyone is adhering to social distancing. All in all, I wish I could rate the hotel 3.5 stars. I hope the hotel does more than pay lip service to reviews like mine as I'm not the first to point out the service issues. If these issues are resolved I'd definitely stay here again. There are so many positives which I have mentioned above and the location is fantastic.