|
 Sunny Says there
are 104 visitors online
Sunnys' Hints: Did you Know? We have photos from across the globe in our photo albums! |
|
| Holiday-Truth Readers Reports |
eddie bodsworth from cirencester travelled to El Paso Hotel with
first choce
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2008 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food |  | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: The El Paso was virtually faultless!!I do not know why a previous post in block 6 has made comment about the distance from the park we were in block 5 and the park is quite leterally a 5 minute walk from the hotel.The hotel is spotlessly clean and the staff work very hard to keep it that way it is unfortunate that some holiday makers feel it is their right to leave their rubbish for others to clean up after them.
The choice of food is very good our only complaint was that the eggs and hash browns at breakfast were not kept hot.The hotel has tried to organise the breakfast so it is not too busy by issuing cards with a time slot on them this would work very well but again some holiday makers just turned up whenever they felt like it.The pools were very good and even with a 5 year old I feel the banning of inflatables is a great thing as you don't get loads of loutish kids messing about.The pools had lots of lifeguards around who kept things in check when people got too boisterous and this really helped to make it a relaxing atmosphere around the pool.The beach club is also very nice and it was an added bonus that we were able to use this as originally in the brochures this was not part of the deal when staying at the El paso.Again plenty of sunbeds and amazingly very few people were reserving beds by putting towels down so you could pretty much get one at whatever time of day.It did seem it was only the Brits that reserved beds I think we are the new germans!!
Location as I said was excellent only a 20 minute walk to the Salou promenade which we thought was very nice and 5 minutes from the park.All within walking distance but if you wnated there were plenty of little train/buses to take to places.
Click here for more information on this hotel, resort and region
| | |
Derek from Leven, Fife travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2008 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: having previously stayed at the portaventura hotel we were expecting the same standards as there as this hotel is equally rated.I have to say first of all we got a great price on this holiday so that got us off to a great start, which even the flight delays there and back could not
put a damper on, but on arrival we were a bit disappointed with the cleanliness of the reception area with carpets past their sell by date.
Our room was in block 6 on the extremities of the hotel which allowed for minimal noise but longer walk to facilities and onward to the park, which in the heat starts to take its toll on you. The room was well proportioned and enjoyed the requirements of 4 star.
The hotel pool is standard with much less features than its sister hotel but on the positive side the temperature was excellent and never a shortage of sunbeds and even though it sells itself as family orientated does not allow children to have any inflatables or balls, which did not hamper us as our son was nearly 16, but may have been offputting for younger families.
As an earlier subsciber has stated wherever you were inside or outside you were continually pestered by flies but I believe this is a problem Salou wide so ensure you pack any pest repellants and bite creams.
The hotel restaurant offered quite a good range of food but unfortunately it was never very hot and unless you got in early resulted in queing so if you wish hot food take advantage of the dine around system, which offers 20 euros per adult off themed restaurant meals in the park.
The new beach club is reached by one of the hotels small trains and we would highly recommend you go but get on the 10.15 train to ensure prime seats and be prepared to run as soon as the train stops!!( this will allow you to beat the queue jumpers and those who take dramatic shortcuts of jumping fences etc, we thought get a life )The beach club also allows you a paddle in the sea as it is located near one of the quieter beach spots.
The hotel staff apart from reception and guest services were very reluctant to give you a smile or even speak and we felt they were very disorganised which was the main factor in delays at restaurant,bar and snack outlets. As stated earlier due to the fantastic price we paid overall our holiday was really good but had I paid the normal price we would have expected the much higher standards of service previously experienced at the portaventura hotel which we would still rate as our favourite for this resort.
| | |
David King from Alton travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Thomas Cook
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2008 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Our stay at the El Paso was excellent with fantasic quality food and that was only the buffet!
All the staff that we encountered were helpful and very friendly without exception.
It obviosly helps if you try to speak a bit of Spanish, which they appreciate.
The rooms were kept clean and replenished.
Unfortunatly there were a few fellow Brits staying there who couldnt control their football shirt wearing children's language or behavior.
Also, they took no notice of the Hotels request of NOT hanging towels on the balconies which then gave the appearance of a 1 star Benidorm Motel!
You know who you are, sort yourselfs out & have a bit of pride!
| | |
derek thomson from leven fife scotland travelled to El Paso Hotel with
direct holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2007 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: stayed at this hotel from the 22nd of october for 1 week with my family.the hotel is very attractive and spotless, less than 10 minutes walk from the theme park,and 20 minutes to the centre of salou,the rooms were large enough and cleaned every day, meals were of a high standard compared to other hotels that ihave stayed in,staff were friendly,pool area very attractive,drinks at hotel very expensive especially soft drinks which can work out costly with children on board,beer 3 euro a pint,6 for a vodka (smirnoff).theme park excellent, but very young children may find it a bit scary as it was halloween time,very busy on saturdays.would i go back again yes but not as late in season as the place is winding down many restaurants had closed 1n salou a bit of a ghost town really,also half of the facilities at hotel were not open.but all in all we had a great time even though it was very laid back for this time of year
| | |
|
|
Smith from Inverness travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2007 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food |  | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Having stayed at the El Paso 4 years ago we knew what to expect from this hotel and on the whole it is still an excellant hotel. The hotel is very clean and spacious with a lovely pool area. There were always plenty of sunbeds and there are lifeguards on duty. No inflatables were allowed in the pool and the lifeguards were very strict with the children. The hotel is well maintained and still looks really good. The room was cleaned daily, towels changed daily and bedding changed 3 times during our 2 week stay. All public areas were spotlessly clean. The hotel staff were very pleasant and helpfull. You don't have to pay to use the room safe anymore. We needed to hire a fridge to keep my son's medicines chilled and was advised by First Choice that I would have to use the hotel's fridge. Wasn't to happy about this but asked guest services and was advised that I could hire a fridge for 70euros per week. 140 euros for the two weeks, told the guy I didn't want to buy the fridge. Anyway managed to get him down to 90euros for the 2 weeks which was still a hefty amount but we needed the fridge. It probably paid for itself over the fortnight because we kept drinks for the kids, bottled water etc cold and fresh and didn't have to keep buying drinks from the bars all the time. The variety of food in the restaurant never varied over the two weeks and got really monotonous by the time we were leaving. When we were there before there was never any queues except at the bar on a nighttime but this time the hotel has obviously become very popular and we had to queue to get into the restaurant and then queue for your meal. Some days you could spend a good 30 to 40 minutes just waiting to get a meal. The snack bar down by the pool had run out of ice lollies and ice creams and they never stocked them up again while we were there. The entertainment was awful. It was your usual hotel entertainment, exotic dancers, jugglers, groups, mime artists but really amateurish. It always started off with your usual kids mini disco with the same songs every night and usual audience participation song designed to make you look and feel a right numty. My daughter usually loves the mini disco but even she got bored after about the fifth night which was fine by us because it really was torture. The entertainment is outside but you have to sit on concrete steps and blocks which wasn't very comfortable after a while. You also had children running about, climbing the steps and other guests milling around so you really couldn't relax with a nice drink. On our previous visit the entertainment had been inside due to adverse weather conditions but you could get a comfy seat and there was a good atmosphere. The tv in the room has bbc1 and bbc2 which it didn't show before so that was a bonus for the kids, not that we spent much time in the room. The hotel was geared up for Halloween as was the theme park. The Port Aventura theme park is still a really good place to spend your time. A couple of new rides have been added since our last visit and they are planning 3 golf courses for next year so it is growing in size all the time. I have 3 main gripes about this visit to the hotel. The queues were neverending, the entertainment was awful and when by the pool (or anywhere in Salou really) you were constantly batting away hundreds of flies that seem to be everywhere and really was annoying. We noticed this on our previous visit but it seemed to be worse this time and was really off putting. Apart from that it is still a lovely hotel, I probably won't be back but that is because we've done it twice which we don't normally do. I sound as if I'm moaning but we really did have a lovely holiday and the weather was excellant.
| | |
Chris from Loughton travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Eclipse Direct
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2007 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was our second visit to the El Paso having stayed the same week in 2005. It's still a good hotel if you wish to spend a week visiting the Port Aventura Theme Park, otherwise there is really no reason to stay there. We were with family friends who stayed at the Port Aventura Hotel.
Feel obliged to mention that for us, the big disadvantage of the El Paso is that it doesn't allow access to the private beach club. Staying at the Port Aventura & Caribe Hotels does, I guess this is because the El Paso is the cheapest of the three. We chanced our arm by going to the beach club with our friends who were staying at the PA Hotel and managed to sort of follow them in, but I was worried all day about being thrown out! It was a superb facility with 7 swimming pools, including two infinity pools, a pool with a sandy beach, kids pools, pool with sunbeds in, lots of sunbeds, although not many parasols, all in a beautiful setting. Nice restaurant. If you wished to go down on the public beach they would put a wrist band on you so you could get back in. Lovely place. I would have paid to go in if that had been an option.
Last time we stayed at the El Paso we were on the ground floor in Quetzal Block which we found noisy and the room needed a re-furb, this time we were on the 2nd floor, Room 3214, Iguana Block, this was much better, freshly painted and quieter being the top floor. There is still the problem of when people return from the park at 1am after the fireworks the coridors are like echo chambers. Goodness knows why folk can't keep their voices down after midnight! The coridor carpet was dirty and needs replacing (yuck!).
We had a large double bed and the kids a full sized bunk bed. Beds were very squeeky. Plenty of storage for a weeks holiday for 4. Free air-con & payable safe. Clean towels every day and sheets every couple of days. Maid service was good. We had no bath plug, reported it and one was brought within 20 mins. Excellent.
Food is good for this type of hotel. It has 500+ rooms that sleep 4, so if full serves 2,000 covers a night! It's catering on a mass scale. People were moaning about having to queue outside the restaurants, but it meant you were always shown to a clean, set table. Would they rather find their own dirty one & wait hopefully for it to be cleared? We never waited for more than 10 mins, often less, and the hotel was full.
Only had 6 evening meals due to First Choice getting us to our hotel at 11pm which was two hours late (plane problems at Gatwick). Ate at the Port Aventura Hotel buffet 3 times with our friends, we prefered this, same food, but the consevatory area and outside seating were superior to the El Paso. We ate at the Caribe as one of the children wanted to go to the themed Chinese night. It took an hour before we were served drinks, we were on dessert by the time we got them, it was cramped and frantic, due to poor layout and the food horrible. If you wish to change hotels for your evening meal you must do so at your hotel reception prior to 6pm on the day.
Breakfasts at the El Paso were fine, breads, pastries, cereals, pancakes, preserves, fruits & juices, eggs & other hot selections. Very busy after 9am, if you want it more relaxed go earlier.
Location is a 7 min walk uphill to the theme & water park and 25 min walk to Salou. There is a free wally trolley to the theme park, good if it's there, but not worth waiting for unless you have walking difficulties.
The few members of staff we dealt with were fine. The only exception being the woman serving at the El Paso pool bar who ignored my children for 15 mins whilst they tried to buy an icecream, serving Spanish and adults who came up after them, in the end I had to go over and speak to her. She didn't ignore them after that.
The pool is superb a humongous lagoon with many lifeguards who do a good job. Although it's cold even in August. Still don't like the beach bit as they don't seem to bother to get the fag ends out of it properly each night.
Didn't see any hotel entertainment we ate from 8pm till 9.30ish then followed our kids up to the theme park most nights. When it switched to Sept the park started to close at 8pm instead of midnight.
We had a 15, 14, 13 & 12 year old in our group and I would say this was an ideal holiday for them. The combination of a not too formal hotel and access to the theme & water park is made for this age group. It felt safe enough to let them go to the theme park on there own for half an hour, then met them at a pre-arranged ride or show. The complimentary water park entry is good & they let us change our day to go with our friends. Fast pass is helpful, but they didn't have it for Furius Baco yet. Our friends said it was one of the best holiday's that they had ever had.
Would I go back to the El Paso? No. Because, if I go back my kids ages will mean I pay for 4 adults. The El Paso is good value if you pay kids prices as you only need one family room. My friend let me look round both the rooms she had in the Port Aventura hotel and they were nicer, also I would want guaranteed access to the Beach Club.
Reus airport is a dump. Heaven forbid you get delayed there. At least with our delay going out from Gatwick we have access to the Exec Lounge. Reus didn't have an Exec Lounge to go in. LOL.
| | |
Julie Ward from Driffield, East Yorkshire travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 3 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2007 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The checking in to this hotel was fast and very friendly. The food was good but after two weeks you get sick of the buffet style, lots of choice, i'm a faddy eater but there was always something I could eat, try the el coyote restaurant for a change, it is lovely mexican food and no queing.The hotel was lovely and clean, we had clean towels every day and the bed changed twice a week. The hotel is about 25 minute walk into Solou but there is a train/tram you can catch outside the hotel and this costs 3 euros each, well worth it or the taxi's cost about 7 eoros. We used all 3 methods. The staff were lovely, friendly and welcoming, there were about 7 life guards around the pool. We got locked out of our room but within 10 minutes it was sorted. The entertainment at night could have been better but there is lots of entertainment at the theme park at night which is only 5 minutes away. I would certainly go to this hotel again but only for a week as I found 2 weeks too long but my children would argue with that-aged 10 and 14. Rides at the park had up to 1hour queues.
| | |
mrs s moore from weymouth travelled to El Paso Hotel with
first choice
on a singles holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2007 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Hotel receptionists great ,we arrived at 4am and they were very helpful.
Room very clean, towels are changed when you leave them in the bath and bedding changed twice a week.
Good selection of food, especially at breakfast.
It was literally a 5 minute walk to the parks, you have to go to boyh parks, they're brilliant, even if you don't like big rides. Our rep gave us wrong info on a couple of things, she said lockers in waterpark were 1 euro but they were actually 7 euros and you got three back.
Staff were great but very long queues in bar at night, the staff were very good at dropping glasses as well, so don't let children run around without shoes.
Pool lovely, kids mini disco good, overall we had a brilliant holiday
| | |
mcveigh from west midlands travelled to El Paso Hotel with
first choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 04 2007 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Good food, lots of choice but not a lot of vegetables, plenty of salad, meat and fish. I am a fussy eater but there was always something to eat even if it was the same every night. (pizza and chips)
Hotel is in a good position, on the doorstep of the park but quiet at night. We put our kids into the club and they loved it. (aged 4 and 6)
Thought it was bad that you had to pay for drinks at dinner, even the water, although fairly cheap.
Bunk beds in the room very noisy and not ideal if kids are not used to it.
Looked like a nice pool but closed as out of season.
Queues for restaurant gets a little tiresome and very busy around the restaurant at peak times. We tried to go when it was quiet, you do get a 3 hour time slot.
| | |
|
|
kleptouk from east Yorks travelled to El Paso Hotel with
first choice
on a family holiday.
There were 6 adults and 5 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 04 2007 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This is a very nicely laid out hotel, set about 30 mins walk from Salou beach.
The grounds are beautiful, however due to the time of year we didn't get the chance to make full use of them as the pool was closed. We did however make full use of the theme park which is excellent and in my kids opinion much better than Disneyland Paris.
Our only complaints were the queues at the hotel you had to stand in line for everything, mealtimes, bars, even a 45 minute wait to check in!
The rooms are small but kept clean my children weren't too keen on sharing a bed but that's often the case on holiday.
The meals were good, with plenty of choice and nobody came home with a funny tummy so I'm assuming hygiene was up to scratch.
The First Choice reps were absolutely rubbish, one rep, Steve, promised us a birthday cake for my son and then told us he had been unable to obtain one due to it being Good Friday and the shops being closed. However we went into Salou ourselves to find all the shops open and managed to get a cake from the first supermarket we came across. Likewise, the other male rep, Nick I think he was called, was blatantly rude to guests and almost had a riot on his hands on the last night when he insisted that we should board the coach to return to the airport despite half the coach load still stood in a queue for the evening meal. This was in my opinion very poor management, surely it would have made sense to open the restaurant a little earlier to allow people to eat before the coaches departure - a poor show there First Choice!
Talking of poor shows the entertainment in the hotel was either cancelled and therefore none existent or held outside in the cold and therefore poorly attended, this should be rectified too.
Now I don't mean to sound negative, I would visit this hotel again just a little later in the season when everything is up and running.
The fast passes on the park were very useful and the location to the park great so if you are booked in enjoy!
| | |
haynes family from wolverhampton travelled to El Paso Hotel with
firstchoice
on a friends holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2006 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Just got back from a weeks holiday to the El Paso,we had a fantastic time we stayed half board.
They had an excellent choice of buffet. The only downfall was that it was luke warm to cold we pointed this out in the hotel survey,but dont let this put you off,my kids are fussy eaters and they ate like pigs. Oh and you have to pay for drinks on your evening meal.
The hotel rooms are clean and plenty big enough for the four of us,there was a double bed and bunkbeds for the girls,the maids were very nice,came in and cleaned everyday,we even had complimentary toiletries so did the girls they had a little case with woody soap,flannel,toothbrush etc.
The hotel is in a good location,20 mins from the airport by coach,couple of minutes to the parks, or if you are feeling really idle there is a minitrain that takes you there and back every 10mins,the town is about a 15-20min walk.
The staff were pleasant and helpful,the locals tend to come up to stay at weekends which then tends to be a bit busier thats when the staff tend to get a bit distracted but again not a problem.the entertainment was fabulous,mini-disco for kids followed by a top notch show,we went in halloween season so all the staff dressed up,kids had loads of photos took with the characters like betty boop,freddie kruger and so on.
Went in the Hacenda Incantada it halfway up the stairs to the bar,took the girls,wont tell you about it as you will have to see for yourself,all I will say is good and scary had a few bruises were the kids hung on to me a bit.
Cannot comment about the Caribe as we tended to use the hotel pool and it was only the indoor that was open as it was late season.the portaventura park was good more scary characters chasing you,we were given fast passes but did not use them as there wasn't any queues. At the most about 5mins,shows were good especially Polynesian.
The only time park got busy was at the weekends,but still good to go around. Booked a meal in El Coyote in the hotel food was hot and great. It is table service,you have to book this at reception and they give you vouchers. I think it was 16 euros per adult and 8 for child,we had main meal,dessert,and drinks and just paid over 10 eur extra. Well worth it when you consider you pay about that much for drinks in the buffet restuarant.
Would I go again? Yes,even looking at prices now for next year.
| | |
Sadie from Birmingham travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2006 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel was very clean, very impressive and we could not fault the service of the reception and porter staff. We travel abroad every year and would put this service above everywhere else we have stayed in the last 5 years!
The food wasn't much to write home about a standard buffet. We had a good selection of food. If you wanted to you could eat in the other restaurants at the hotel for a minimal cost as they allocated you money from your half board so meal were a third of the menu prices.
With the hotel being 5 mins walk fromt eh gate to Port Aventura and 3 mins from the other 2 hotels (both of which you could eat at or use the pools) what more could you ask for. If you were feeling lazy a little train stopped outside the hotel every 20 mins to and from Port Adventura.
| | |
Graham Payton from Redditch travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2006 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel was nice with a nice big pool, there was plenty of space to sit or lie on the sunbeds, the pool bar was OK as well, serving some basic but nice lunch time meals.
The room we were disappointed with, as we had two double beds pushed together for myself, wife daughter(10), and son (14), not very nice sleeping arrangements. The room were cleaned daily, so no moans on that account. The air con is free (Yippee), but you do need to leave one of the room cards in the unit, but don't do this if you are going to the theme park, as you need it to get into the park. I cut up a birthday card to the same size and put this in there. One day we were around the pool, and I popped back to the apartment, to find that the room key we had left in the air con unit was missing, we went to reception, who told us that we had "lost" the key, which we hadn't, and they issued us with new room keys, and cancelled the old ones, (as we were worried that the cleaner had taken the card to pass onto someone to come back and break into the room). So from then onwards we used a piece of cardboard in the air con, and surprise surprise the card appeared back in the air con unit a couple of days later (we had obviously not seen it, ye like we are all blind as a bat). Also our sons PSP went missing, but we don't know if he left it by the pool or whether as my son states it was in the room.
The breakfast was OK, apart from the cooked food was either luke warm or cold, so just had cereal and cold buffet after the first few days. The evening meals were nice but again could be cold, and were repetitive after 2 weeks.
The bar of an evening was a joke, only one bar for 500+ rooms, you had to queue for at least half an hour at times, which does not make for a stress free time, as you had to watch for people trying to push in front of you.
Accommodation was fine so long as you just want a bed for the night, but with 2 double beds pushed together it was not ideal.
| | |
Tracey from Newcastle upon Tyne travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Direct holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2006 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We have just got back from the El Paso on Sunday.
I must admit to not being as impressed as I thought that I would be with this 4* hotel, it is very expensive for what you get. I really reviewed prior to booking the holiday a year ago but things seem to have changed.
Your room key is not a fast pass and the free bus service to resort clearly states on it that it will take you to a quiet beach only, no shops and no stopping in the centre.
The bus takes you really out of the way to a small not very nice beach in the middle of no-where. The rep clearly said that it drops you at the Mcdonalds on the seafront but this is not the case. Most of the add on list from reception ie English sat channels etc are also no longer available.
The food was nice and fresh but it did get a bit boring after a while. The snack bar offers a very limited amount of food and drink which was of poor quality and expensive. All drinks in the hotel apart from lager are really expensive.
Don't get me wrong it is a nice hotel but I can't justify why it is so expensive compared with others in the area. If you want to purely do the Port Aventura holiday then yes its great but otherwise I would stay elsewhere and just buy the tickets for the park yourselves.
I did not stay for any entertainment as the thought of sitting on concrete stairs or slabs to watch it did not appeal to me. For a four star hotel it really needs to up its comfort levels there were only wooden chairs in the bar and metal ones on the terrace not a cushion in site. I am not the type to just sit there and drink letting my children run wild but I do like to sit in comfort. The edges leading to the concrete stairs were also steep and I had my heart in my mouth everytime my children went near them.
I assume that this hotel was brilliant to begin with but can only assume that its not as great as it used to be, which is a shame.
| | |
Cath Chapman from Sheffield travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 4 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2006 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel was very close to the Portaventura theme park/water park which allowed access as many times as we liked.
The rooms were okay, but the balcony leaves a lot to be desired! We were 2 families and were given rooms in the Armadillo block which overlooked the car park. The first rooms were on the ground floor and smelt damp and the doors just opened onto concrete. We moved the floor above, which was a bit better. To be honest, I was glad that were weren’t located in the central block as it could have been very noisy.
Food fantastic, loads of choice and the kids loved the character breakfasts and had to have an autograph book to get Betty Boops and Popeye etc to sign.
Drawback - the entertainment is garbage and as the only seating was concrete steps to watch (which of course the kids wanted to do) was horrendous, drinks were spilt and it was most uncomfortable. The biggest waste of space, was a bushes made into a maze!!! The best of use of this space would have been seating and tables!!! Bar service was awful, my husband went to get a drink and was gone over half an hour!
Pool was good with life guards every 20 metres. No inflatables allowed!
All in all, it wasnt the best hotel, but the perks of having free entry into the parks was great.
About a 10 min downhill walk to Salou centre and we used to get a taxi back as the kids couldn’t manage it.
| | |
A from Kent travelled to El Paso Hotel with
self
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 04 2006 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Lovely hotel very clean, food excellent ang great location, would defintly go back again.
| | |
maureen beckwith from west yorkshire travelled to El Paso Hotel with
eclipse direct
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 4 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We loved our holiday at the El Paso, and everyone wants to go back tomorrow. We were lucky and got interconnecting rooms at no extra cost by e mailing the hotel directly.
This made our hoiday much more enjoyable.the food was excellent for the amount of people they were catering for, huge choice.
We didnt find that we needed to eat out like we usually do when on half board, although the hotel offers a dine around program, just go to reception and they will give you some vouchers to use at other restaurants on site or in other hotels, 14 euros per adult and 7 euros per child you just pay the extra that you spend on top of this.
The hotel was located 5-10 mins walk from the theme park no problem at all, and 15-20 mins walk into town.
The staff were very freindly to everyone, especially the animation team.
The only down side was the slow service in the bar, I think they were understaffed, but this comment seems to have cropped up all season.
The weather was great, just 1 afternoon of rain.
| | |
McBride Family from Co Down N Ireland travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Direct Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 3 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Just returned from a week at the El Paso and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. A short walk, slightly uphill takes you to the theme park,or if you don't fancy walking, the hotel runs a frequent courtesy bus.
It was Halloween during our stay and all the hotel staff were dressed up for the occasion. The costumes and make up were brilliant! Some a bit too scary for our 4 year old but the older ones enjoyed it.
There were no shortage of characters in the hotel. Woody and Winnie Woodpecker, Sami the dolphin (whom my youngest loved) Betty Boop, Popeye and all the scary characters. Each and every one of the characters and hotel staff took time with the children, playing and posing for photos.
If you go to this hotel, make sure you visit the haunted ranch. It's half way up the stairs leading to the bar, on the right hand side. Wait at the door until someone comes out to greet you (I won't spoil it by saying anymore!) Most mornings at breakfast, the characters would make an appearance and make their way round the tables to shake hands with the children.
We found the food to be very good. There was always plenty of choice. At breakfast there was a wide selection of fresh fruit, hams, cheeses, various pastries and also cooked breakfast (which they do not charge extra for). There was also a good choice at dinner. Plenty of meats, chicken, lamb, veal, steak, fish, pasta, potatoes, chips, salads, the list goes on!
Sometimes the food could have been a little hotter, but when you see the number of people they are serving each day, they could be forgiven! There were also lots of sweets and ice cream. The hotel pool looked lovely, but we only went there one day as the water was freezing. The weather during our week was beautiful.
The only complaints that I would have with the hotel was the check in procedures. You cannot check in until 3 pm, although you are given your park tickets and they store your luggage for you. However when you return after 3, so does everyone else! The queues are a mile long.
I also agree with a previous review that the air conditioning was not working and the bedrooms were very warm.
| | |
val hughes from cardigan wales travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: The hotel was spotless. There was always somebody cleaning at all times of the day. The rooms were basic but comfortable.
We went in October and although it was still warm the air conditioning was off! Only the heating worked it was really uncomfortable.
The food really was ok, a great selection and something for everyone.
Location was abit out of the way and yes it is only about 10mins walk to the park but it is uphill.
The entertainment was ok the boys enjoyed the Magic shows . The hotel was celebrating Halloween the week we were there so there were vampires etc everywhere.
| | |
Mr drew from torbay travelled to El Paso Hotel with
mytravel
on a friends holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 09 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Hotel rooms very small compared to normal 4* hotels, with no fridge in room, however was very clean, also would suggest you ask for a high floor when checking in as rooms are quite noisy.
Food choice was excellent however let down by the fact that most of the time the food was not even warm but luke warm. Sometimes they give you a choice to eat in other restaurants if you are on a half board basis where they give you a credit of 14 euros per person and if you spend more than this you make up the difference. I would highly suggest this as at least then the food is cooked to order and is hot would recommend the El Coyte restaurant next door for this.
| | |
Chris from Loughton travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Eclipse Direct (First Choice)
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Spent one week at El Paso returning 2nd September. Excellent stay, hotel was busy enough to have a good atmosphere without being too hectic. Always plenty of free sunbeds whatever time of day you arrived at the rather beautiful pool. This may be because of the close proximety to the theme park, or it may be that for once a hotel seems to have built a pool and surround large enough for all of the guests and has supplied plenty of beds. Pool area was very clean with lots of lifeguards who changed shifts regularly. there were also hotel animaters doing pool games for adults and kids. We ate lunch at the El Maya by the pool twice and the food was fine.
The inclusive theme park ticket is brill as it means you can pop in and out as you wish. A prefered option for many seems to be to go in after their evening meal, when it is cooler and less frantic. When we were there it was open till midnight, but you need to check when this can be done as it may only be in the peak season. Included with your pass (which is also your room key) is a one day ticket to the water park 'costa caribe' which is good fun, but you have to pay for sunbed hire, rings and lockers so there is still a cost to you.
Buffet breakfast is fine with a huge choice, possibly better to sit outside if you can as it seems more relaxing. Dinner is also good, with starters and desserts excellent but the main courses could sometimes be luke warm. Twice we ate at El Coyote (full service)and once at the sister hotel in their pasta resturant. You are given euro credits towards this on a ticket and just pay the extra on top. Dine around is definately worth the effort for the change of scenery and also if it's important to you that your food is cooked to order and therefore hot. Also its good if you like to be waited on rather than keep getting up and down to select your food.
Staff at the hotel were helpful and friendly giving us advice on train timetables and local buses and the bar staff were friendly. The theme park 'characters' visited the lounge area, breakfast buffet and pool so you could take photos of your kids with them.
Although this hotel is expensive it is probably worth paying extra for the standards it maintains,its facilities and its location.The inclusive theme park ticket is probably worth about £200 of the overall cost if you paid for it on top of the cost of a 4* hotel. All in all a great holiday for families who like to visit theme parks plus do a bit of sight seeing in Barcelona and the surrounding area as there are good transport links.
| | |
Sarah from Crediton,Devon travelled to El Paso Hotel with
none
on a couples holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: My husband & I had a great stay at Port Aventura Hotel.
The park was great. Something for all the family.
The hotel staff were friendly & helpful. We would go back again in a couple of years.
The pool was good, loads of lifeguards if you have little ones.
Room was larger than we expected. Bed was huge!!
One small complaint-dragging the suitcases up from the train station was not fun! But the train ticket from Barcelona was cheap. 16E for both of us return.
Hope this helps anyone considering going.
| | |
MULLINGER PARTY from BORDON travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a singles holiday.
There were more than 6 adults and 3 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Yes me again.
Have returned from our holiday at the El Paso, the second holiday there. Had a wonderfull time yet again.
The staff were very helpfull and the hotel and rooms were very clean. I was not happy with the first room they put me in , had a musty smell, called reception and they changed my room and offered to help move all our stuff , we were in new room in half an hour. ( THEY CLEANED AND PAINTED THIS ROOM THE NEXT DAY)
The entertainment has improved since last year and they have put in extra seating where there was grass last year, however , the trees have grown and the stage is barley visable at some tables.
The food I felt has gone down hill slightly, did not see one prawn at El Paso during visit, however the friends I took who had not been before throughly enjoyed the food, we seemed to manage 3 dinners a night, just too much to choose from.
Make sure you get a dine a round ticket and go to the Mederterrania night at the Port Adventura hotel, loads of prawns.Nice setting for dinner up there. DO NOT GO TO PICA PICA on your dine around ticket, tiny dinner, waitress was useless.El Coyote was lovely for dinner, every thing tasty and loads of it. Buffet food was very good but some times you fancy a change .
No problems with sun beds once again, we had the late breakfast, which now includes the english breckie didnt appear at pool till 11am still got sun beds , have to be quicker if you wanted umbrella.
Would all be happy to return again teenagers loved it, will be a a problem to find anywhere else to entertain them , as they spent a great deal of time at park , not coming home untill 12.30 at night.
Make sure you watch the fire works snd show in the park which start at 11.30. Still no fridge in room, go to town an buy water, as they charge 1.50 for half litre,and you can get 5 litres for that or less in the town. Wonderful holiday loved by all can`t wait to return yet again.
| | |
Lorraine from Essex travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Hotel El Paso was a lovely hotel.
I went with my husband and 2 daughters aged 2 and 8. My 8 yr old loved the swimming pool and was in her glory. The 2 yr old was a bit dubious clung on to me for dear life and unfortunately went under water for a matter of seconds but the life guards there were fantastic they jumped in even though I had hold of her, made sure she could breathe they were fantastic top form.
The food excellent cant fault it. Bar service a bit slow so ordered double! Kids entertainment was good and of course Port Avennntura up the road to entertain from morning till mid-night brilliant.
Will go back next year for sure.
| | |
Higgins from Lincolnshire travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Thomas Cook
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Hotel El Paso is fantastic, we have visited this hotel twice now and have had a fantastic time.
The room we had this year was in need of a bit of paint, but otherwise is was clean and the towel were replaced daily.
The hotel food, as other's have mentioned is not always piping hot, but overall the selection is good and unless you are a fussy eater there is something for everyone. Our daughter particularly loved all the different meats on offer.
Staff were always friendly and helpful.
The entertainment was a little cheesy occasionally, but the children loved it.
| | |
Jackie from Fife travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Direct Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Hotel was great - even got the room that we asked for(big thanks to the person who posted a previous comment with that useful info!). Didn't get bunk beds for the kids (room had 2 double beds) but hey you can't have everything and since we were only there for 1 week it didn't matter too much that the kids had to share a bed.
Massive choice at both breakfast and dinner time. Hotel not charging for the cooked breakfast now as previous comments had mentioned. Only thing to let the food down was that it wasn't always piping hot. There are vending machines with snacks and drinks but this can prove expensive. We just bought water and snacks from the supermarket in Salou. The hotel rules say that food or drink should not be brought into the hotel but some rules are just made to be broken!!
The pool is just fab!! Kids loved the sunken pirate ship and we had no problems getting sunbeds either. Definitely need to get some REAL sand put down. The stuff they have is like grit and horrible to walk on. Both my son and hubby got cuts and grazes from playing football on it.
My kids loved kids club (run by the hotel and not Direct Holidays). Big complaint was that every time you wanted to put your kids into the club you had to fill in a form - not just on their first visit but EVERY time AND for each child! This was time consuming and unecessary in my opinion.
Hotel need to look at getting a better system for this.
Staff in all departments of the hotel seemed to be helpful. Didn't see much of the entertainment that was held on the outside stage but you could hear it no matter where you were in the complex. Finished at 11pm so again no real problems with noise after that but if you have young children who go to bed early ask for a room away from the stage. Did watch the magician and the juggler - basic stuff but the kids loved it.
The definite plus for this hotel is that it's practically on the doorstep of the theme park. We had unlimited access to the theme park and water park (restricted access to water park in high season).
It is a bit away from the centre of Salou but easy enough to walk to and the hotel did run a courtesy bus 3 times a day. We'd definitely consider returning to this hotel in the future.
| | |
Mary Black from lordshill travelled to El Paso Hotel with
firstchoice
on a family holiday.
There were 6 adults and 6 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: My family and I were self catering and the food wasn't very good. We had a baby with us and he doesn't like many foods he had to eat out because there wasn't any choices for babies. There were 4 teenagers and they didn't really like it either.
The staff at the food courts were nice but most of the food was Spanish so we've never ate it before so the food wasn't very good.
The hotel was clean and smelled nice but I was on the top floor and at least every day the workmen were the fixing the lifts I took the stairs even with the baby.
The rooms were quite small but big enough really.
Hotel location was good it was next to theme and water parks and close to town maybe 5mins walk if that.
Entertainment was just for little kids not suitable for 10 and over really.
The staff were mostly Spanish talking but they were very helpful, well the ones you could understand.
| | |
Steve from Herts travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Independent
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 04 2005 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Visited in April, so really quiet. Hotel first class, clean great staff very friendly.
Walk to the theme park not as bad as it looked and you can now catch a shuttle train that comes from the new hotel.
In April the hotel pool is closed and Coste Caribe in only indoors so if swimming and water fun is your thing travel later in the year. Shame cause the pool looked fab.
Food a little limited, evening buffet expensive if not part of your package. Childrens food not great at the El Coyote if your child wants junk food. Chickin is a quarter not a nugget :). (First one was undercooked, difficult to expalin to staff. One to watch cause hotel wasnt busy.
Breakfasts excellent lots to eat and plenty of choice.
Because it was early in the year entertainment was only on a couple of nights during visit so difficult to judge.
Too far from town to give a high ratting for location.
On the whole great hotel would recomend a stay
| | |
Moreen Pringle from Portree, Isle of Skye travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 10 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Our family thoroughly enjoyed out stay in El Paso Hotel and have vowed to return in the future. The hotel looks good and is well laid out. The rooms are a good size and kept very clean - the maid came in every day and gave fresh toiletries, towels, clean linen etc. The food was really good - buffet style - but plenty on offer and you could go back for more as often as you wished. I think October was a good time to visit the Hotel as it was quite quiet - I would imagine it gets very busy in the Summer and then the buffet might be a bit of a scramble for food. The staff were friendly and helpful especially in Guest Services where you could change travellers cheques and get information about the theme park, places to visit in the area etc.
They have a Halloween theme all October and it was brill. The Hotel was decorated and the staff were all dressed up. There was a "haunted house" type maze in the hotel (for adults and older kids) and it was fab. You went into this series of corridors in the pitch dark and had to find your way through - every so often someone would jump out at you with a knife, or chase you with a chainsaw etc. Really scary but great fun. Is is obviously very popular with the Spanish people as well - a lot came to stay in the Hotel for the weekend as there was a special Halloween night at the theme park.
The entertainment was quite good too - again a lot of it had a halloween theme to it but was followed by various acts - magicians, Beatles Tribute Band etc. It is set on a Stage in the courtyard with plenty seating for all. A good way to round of the night.
The pool area was nicely laid out and there were plently sun beds available. My only complaint would be that the pool was freezing and - despite the weather being really hot all week - it did not warm up at all. My kids found it a bit too cold. It was okay if you could go in and swim about to keep on the move but if, like them, you are still at the paddling stage it is very uncomfortable.
The hotel is only a few minutes walk from the Theme Park and as part of the package you get express passes. We did not really need to use these as it was quiet but I imagine they are really needed in the Summer.
On the whole I cannot recommend the hotel enough especially for families with kids that need plenty to keep them entertained.
| | |
blanche from Bordon travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Direct Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 0 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: El Paso. What a wonderful holiday we had . I went with just my son, 14 at the time. My son made loads of friends and quite happily went off to the park mainly in the evening as it was cooler.
The hotel was very clean and very relaxing , none of this children screaming business going on. Plenty of sunbeds at anytime however if you wanted the prime position ones, up early, you could be sitting on a sunbed in sand if not.
Food. I am quite fussy about food, but it was wonderful, and oh the prawns in their shell, never ending. There was steak, squid, chicken, veal, lamb joints of beef, everything and anything you can imangine to go with it.
Even cravettes in whiskey sauce. At no time were there any problems in getting food. Had a dine around ticket and no promlem buying food in the park, you could even buy a bottle of water on your pass key.
Entertainment. Not Brilliant, but why would they pay a fortune for top acts when majority of people go to park in the evening? where you can watch brilliant shows.
Bug Bear. No Fridge.
Yes water expensive in hotel but we went to Salou(what a dump) in the evening bought water and filled bottles up for the day.
Free bus to Salou every 30 mins.
Must see Barcelona, and Gaudi Buildings wonderful.My holiday was so wonderful we are returning for 2 weeks same dates as last year , I met another single mum there and her 2 sons, that was her 2nd visit she is coming and another friend of mine is coming too, so 9 of us altogeter.
We had room by pool last year, heavenly to open eyes in the morning and see the pool.No noise. Highly recommended. Will be tere again soon.
| | |
Heloise from Cork travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Falcon / First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 1 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 07 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: El Rip Off
First, the good points - the hotel looks lovely, great attention has been paid to the aesthetics. This is a very large hotel but is set out as a main building and several annexes throughout the extensive grounds around the spectacular pool area, which avoids the block building appearance. You should note, if that kind of thing bothers you, that topless sunbathing around the pool area was openly condoned on our visit.
The staff are probably the nicest I've met in a hotel anywhere. From reception to the maids, everyone was pleasant and helpful, and not just the schmaltzy 'have a nice day' variety, either - genuinely warm friendly people, who really appreciate it if you make an effort with their language; a simple 'Hola' and a smile work wonders!
Food is good, on half board breakfast and dinner are buffets and more than adequate. An extra charge is made for cooked breakfast: €4 for an adult and €2 for child when we were there. The chefs are naturally better at the local produce than the proverbial burger and chips / meat & 2 veg, so be brave and try and encourage your kids to do the same! What's the point of being abroad if you don't sample something different? Do be aware that you are staying in a very large complex and waiting is sometimes inevitable. The ‘Dine around’ swap system allows you to dine in either the hotel restaurant or restaurants in the theme park, instead of the buffet. Guest services issue a voucher for €13 per adult and €6.50 per child. You then pay the difference at the end of your meal. If you want to dine in the theme park, the selection of restaurants that accept the dine around voucher is very limited and on the evening we attempted to use the system they were all closed until 10.00pm, which may be late for children.
Facilities at the hotel range from wonderful (the pool) to barely adequate (the shop - souvenirs only, no staples except newspapers, sweets and fizzy drinks - the rest is souvenirs). Machines to buy bottled water are located near all room blocks but ours was out of order for the entire week we were there despite our reporting it. 0.5 litre bottles from the hotel machines are €1.20 compared to €1.30 for 5 litre carrypacks in town (Salou).
Entertainment is provided nightly at the hotel on a purpose built stage. Dance trio for kids every evening - Hi 5 kind of thing, then jugglers, magicians, etc. Good clean family fun. I would think most families looking for evening entertainment head to the theme park where there are some spectacular shows.
All of the complex, including our room, appeared to be very, very clean.
Big bonus for staying at either the El Paso or Hotel Port Aventura are the park privileges - unlimited access to the theme park and one day at the water park, Costa Caribe. I thought the theme park was excellent. Very clean and well run and being Universal guests our room key / park pass gave us queue jumping privileges which are nothing short of amazing and very welcome in the heat. Be warned though, it doesn't work on all rides, including the popular Silver River Flume in the Far West area of the park and also the people in the regular queue can get very miffed - tough - they could have obtained a similar express privilege ticket at the gate for an extra fee!! Also, you must bring all the room keys for your party in order for them all to use the Express queue jumping. This wasn’t made clear to us and we naturally left one in the sensor inside the room door to keep the power on, so that the air conditioning would continue to work. Having to take all the keys with you means returning to an unpleasantly stifling room! We visited in early July when our schools in Ireland are closed but schools in most other countries in Europe are still open and I'm sure the park was much quieter as a result.
There is a wide range of rides to suit everyone from the tiniest to the thrill seeker, though I would imagine the latter to be less than satisfied with only 2 rapid coasters - Stampida, an amazing traditional large wooden coaster and Dragon Khan, an 8 loop major G-Force modern spectacular not to be missed!!
Some attractions are visually interactive, rather than rides as such, which I found refreshing - A must see is Templo del Fuego - even though the commentary is in Spanish only, you get the gist and the end result is definitely worth it. Might be scary for small children. Sea Odyssey is in similar vein and also worth a look.
The shows at the park are excellent. We particularly enjoyed the Wild West and the Sol del Oriente - Chinese acrobats. FiestaVentura - a light and fireworks show, takes place on the lake each night at 12.00 and is really good. Your privilege hotel card will get you seats at some shows but not this one, you have to join the scrum for space around the lake with the masses, so get there early, we arrived at 11.30 and had to sit on very uncomfortable sand with a restricted view.
I was told at check in that I could charge everything to my hotel room card and have it delivered - great I thought, no cash to worry about when I'm getting soaked on all the water rides! Then I went to purchase my photographic record of us getting drenched at the ride photo shop and was told, 'cash only' and also that they do not send photos to the hotel. Cash only is also the case at the drink/snack stands around the park. The only places where the room key can be swiped to charge items are the larger food stands, restaurants and shops, so you will need cash as well, which rather defeated the object, in my view!
When you do manage to purchase items with your room key, they can be delivered to the hotel, which is a good and efficient service. They are happy to put your ride photos in with other merchandise and send them off, which prevents them getting damaged. A cynic would view this as pressure to buy other merchandise!
I did find the surprising number of people (mostly native, I think) smoking hash around the park off-putting, in view of the fact that I was with my children and they kept asking me what the funny smell was. Park security obviously needs to be tightened in this area.
Costa Caribe was a disappointment, but admittedly that may be because our youngest is not very confident in the water. You get a ‘free’ day in the park with your package, but you can’t pick which day!! We were allocated a day when our tour company had a trip to Barcelona on offer. I’m sorry I missed out on Barcelona! The place was so crowded it was unpleasant – obviously large numbers of hotel guests had been given free passes for the same day! It cost over €20 for inflatable and locker hire, after return of deposits. Good variety of attractions, though, for everyone from small children to the confident on huge enclosed slides. Adults/bigger siblings are not allowed in the children’s area but are expected to supervise from the extremely crowded poolside. I put my foot down and insisted that our small guy’s big sister was allowed in with him (she’s only 11) and they relented.
My major complaint about the otherwise lovely hotel was our room. For a four star hotel aimed specifically at families, I expected larger and at the very least a fridge. People near us had a baby and a small child and had to go into Salou every day (20 minutes walk, around 5 euro each way in a cab) for milk because they had no way of keeping it cool and when they tried to bring some from the dining room a member of staff chased them and prevented them from doing so - I actually witnessed this, it was quite incredible to watch a waitress in Mexican costume running at full pelt after a mother holding a baby and a glass of milk!!! Fair enough, we're on half board, so we shouldn't expect cooking facilities, but a fridge for those who have babies and toddlers whose mealtimes may not fall into the hotel routine should be the very least expected from a family establishment costing as much as this one does. A kettle would be nice, too – but apparently they’re alien items anywhere in Spain! (Bring your own travel version, with an adaptor). Coffee is lovely but tea is non-existent or dreadful, so if you can’t survive without, bring tea bags. I would most definitely not recommend this hotel for families with small children.
The shower was so fierce we couldn’t use it and the balcony so small it was only good for what a notice in the room asked us not to use it for – drying towels, swimwear and inflatables. Also, when you open the balcony door to the heat (the only natural ventilation in the room) the air conditioning automatically switches off.
A note to those of you who don’t like or can’t manage a lot of walking – the hotel is not in the park, it’s a good 5-10 minutes trek away up an unshaded hill. Not fun in high temperatures if your mobility (or fitness!!) are in any way restricted. You can get a porter and buggy to bring you but be prepared for a wait. Also, you can be booked in quite a walk from reception – we were as far away as it’s possible to get; not too much of a problem day to day as all room blocks are within easy reach of other facilities and there are ramp alternatives to steps, but definitely not fun when we had to bring our luggage down ourselves for check out. (In a four star?!)
This was my first ever package holiday – the First Choice flight and reps were excellent and certainly dispelled any misgivings I may have had. The trip was a special treat for my children and I’m only sorry the hotel didn’t live up to expectations. It has such potential – it looks lovely and has marvellous staff and a fantastic pool. Sort out the fridge and shop things and it may be worth its four star price, but certainly not at the level of service we experienced. Guests at Hotel Portaventura we met on the free beach shuttle bus told us that the rooms in their hotel were quite spacious and have fridges, so my advice if you plan to stay in the theme park with small children is to book early and head there instead. I missed out because it was full for the week I wanted. There were three of us in our room and I found it very cramped, heaven knows what it would be like with another adult and/or child(ren). Several guests we met with much smaller children were finding things very difficult and unpleasant.
| | |
Lorraine Cameron from Clydebank travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Direct Holidays
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: This was our second time to the El Paso Hotel and we weren't disappointed. Hotel rooms are spacious enough but the only thing missing is a fridge. The food was better than your average food abroad but wasn't brilliant. Big selection at breakfast and evening meal and the buffet style set up suited our family because the kids could choose a bit of various things and got to try things which they wouldn't normally try.
The park was brilliant and had something for all ages, the children in our group were 4,8,10 and 15 and we managed to amuse them all. What I would say is they are very strict about height restrictions which caused quite a few tears amongst the ones who weren't quite tall enough. We done the dine around a few times and as long as you were quite happy with fast food it was fine, what we liked was we could eat when we liked. The park was extremely clean and well set out and we would recommend getting your photo taken dressed up in costume.
We have booked again and would definately recommend it.
| | |
kd from coatbridge, scotland travelled to El Paso Hotel with
first choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: we stayed in the hotel el paso in june 2004. the hotel is spacious, clean and well set up. i have read other reviews where people said the entertainment at night was too loud but we were on the first floor overlooking the maze and stage and i didnt find the noise to be a problem. if your balcony door is closed you can hardly hear anything.
the food in the hotel was nice, a good variety of dishes from salads and cold meats to pizza, chips, chicken etc. they also had a lovely selection of cakes/sweets. anyone going should try the tiramisu.
our hotel room was not overly big, but was beautiful. the hotel is spotlessly clean and every outside bin has an ashtray attached to it so there arent any ciggarette ends lying around. the hotel is fine for anyone who cant get up stairs easily as for every set of stairs there is ramp access.
i liked the fact that the hotel is built around the swimming pool and stage because it makes the hotel feel like a resort in itself and it makes you feel very at home. the swimming pool is massive and the kids pool is great with the galleon in the middle, we couldnt get our 5 year old out of the pool.
all the characters such as woody woodpecker, betty boop, popeye, pink panther etc came to our hotel regularly so there were plenty of photo opportunities. my daughter also had a character breakfast and birthday cake which was great but a bit pricey at 30 euros for the cake and 50 euros for the character breakfast.
the theme park is excellent, there is always something to do or see even if you dont like the rides. there are lots of different shows on like the can-can girls, maku manu bird show and chinese magic show.
i would definetely go back to this hotel as its a lot nicer than the hotels in downtown salou, as all the hotels down there look like highrise flats. i would definetely recommend the hotel el paso.
| | |
michelle from London travelled to El Paso Hotel with
booked via internet
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We booked our holiday via the internet and I am pleased to say that we had a fantastic holiday at a fraction of brochure prices. The El Paso staff were extremely helpful and accomodating.
The room was cleaned every day but as someone has already stated, toilet paper was clearly rationed. The rooms were spacious but not much of a balcony. When we go again we will ask for a room overlooking pool, as these seemed to have a nice big balcony.
The breakfast was lovely, fresh fruit, meats, breads and pastries. Again, 3 euros for a full english but we never felt we would need to have one. Even good quality cereals for my three year old. Evening meals were good in quality and variety, we were impressed.
We saw a couple of the evening shows and quite honestly, they were fine, not 'Vegas, but good fun.
The only drawback was getting a drink from the bar. One night it took at least 15 mins.
We would definately visit again, our children (3 and 10yrs) had a fantastic experience.
| | |
Andy from Bucks travelled to El Paso Hotel with
First Choice
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 06 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: You've read the reports about the El Paso hotel and where it is so I won't go into that detail again. This report is based on my recent stay with my wife and daughter having previously read the reports on this website.
This was our first package holiday in over 10 years and I was expecting a cheap experience from it. This fear was gathering momentum as the coach from the airport dropped off people at their hotels (ours was the last one) and they were all pretty poor. However, I was very pleaseantly surprised when we pulled up outside El Paso as it was very grand, clean and looked spacious (in the middle of no-where and away from main roads).
Check in was fine and our request for a quiet room away from the stage area was met (thanks for the advice!). We were at the front of the hotel overlooking the fields and hills which was a godsend as you'll see later.
The hotel itself is clean and tidy and the staff were always helpful and friendly. The reception area is vast and well themed and often has characters walking around to be hugged and photographed.
The pool is huge, clean, not very deep and blimin cold. It's a freeform shape and runs alongside a cafe selling burgers etc and a pool bar on the other side. The latter was open and generally quiet. There were always 3 lifeguards on duty and the pool never got crowded. Infaltables are now allowed and there were a few floating around.
The food was good at first with a huge buffet of hot and cold food at Breakfast and Evening Dinner, but toward the end of the week it became a bit repetitive. This is a very minor gripe though and you have the opportunity to eat elsewhere if you wish. We used the Dine Around voucher once in the El Coyote cafe which sells more burgers and some mexican food. The food in there was tasty and fresh but the whole service thing was bit rushed and our main courses arrived as we were still finishing our starter. Value wise it was o.k. but that's all. Best to stick the the h/board option unless you're really board. NOTE: The Dine Around option is no longer available in the main park due to lack of use.
We wandered up the the main hotel in Porta Ventura and it's huge in comparison. There was no atmosphere to the place though and felt 'cold'. It had a long lake winding through the place which was green and unpleasant and the whole place just seemed a bit grubby and unkept. We were all glad we were staying in El Paso as it's a far nicer hotel. I suspect the food was the same but we didn't bother finding out. It was also adjoining the park and would have been very noisy during opening hours (up till midnight at weekends).
The final thing to note on food in El Paso is this: Get there early. We experienced both ends of service and it went from great to shambolic.
During our welcome meeting with our First Choice reps (who were fantastic and helped us no end) they told us the main menu was open to First Choice customers from 6.30 which meant you could beat the rush that starts from 7pm onwards. This extra half hour meant you have a quietish resteraunt, freshly cooked food and drinks served within minutes of being ordered, generally on the table by the time you came back with your meal. This made the meal time experience first class for a buffet type service. However, if you go in after 8pm (as we did twice) you have to queue to get in for 5-10 mins and get placed in any old free table that had yet to be cleaned. The cold buffet food has not been repleneshed in some cases and the hot food looked like it'd been there a while and just not very fresh. I threw one meal away as the hot food was nearly cold. Drink orders and subsequent delivery of them were also painfully slow and the whole experience was terrible. So take our advice. Get there early if you can.
The same goes for breakfast. Great to start with between 8.00 - 9.00 but after that it's all queues, unreplenished food and unpleasant. You have been warned!!
The entertainment on the central stage area was so bad it was quite funny end entertaining. It helps to have a few drinks and something to do while it's on though as you can't take it seriously. Cheesy magic acts, balancing ball acts, flamenco, the four tops and supremes were all there in spirit but not quality. The music from 9.00 to 11.00 was very loud. Great if your there and in the mood but if you want an early night or just want to be away from it all then you'll have to ask for a quiet room when booking. If you can imagine 8 nightclub type bose speakers blasting full wack you'll get the picture. The rooms surrounding the courtyard would have been unbearable if you wanted a quieter night. The poolside blocks are the places to be although some of these were facing the entrance road to the park which wouldn't have been that great a view.
In summary it's a great hotel with great staff and characters. It's clean, modern and well styled and I would certainly recommend it to anyone whether they like theme parks or not. Apart from a couple of dodgy dining experiences we couldn't fault it. Not sure what it would be like in peak season though...
The only real downside of the week was out of the hotels control. 15 or so british boys from 5-12? played football every evening around the stage area. The were running riot, trampling the plants and flowers, kicking their balls agains doors and windows and being a real pain in the rump. When they weren't kicking the ball they were running everywhere and always seemed to be in your face. The parents should be ashamed of themselves for letting them do this.
We booked with first choice and the two reps on site were great. Always full of top local info and advice and couldn't have been more helpful. If you get a chance to go on their Night of a 1000 Stars, you must go. Free drink all night in a nightclub in Reus while they preform comedy and dance acts on stage all in the name of fun. It's clean enought for kids too.
Your room card acts as a charge card to your room for all purchases in the park/hotel and as a gold express card in the park for beating the queues. This is excellent and worth it's weight in, er, gold! Essentially you walk up the exit aisle for any major ride in the park, flash your card and walk straight on to the next seat. Zero queing, much to the annoyance of those in the long queues and much to the delight of me and my daugher who would have lost several hours in the hot queues full of loud Spanish teenagers. Superb!
| | |
louise from west lothian travelled to El Paso Hotel with
airtours
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 3 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We went to the El Paso in May 04 and unfortunately for us the weather was terrible, which meant we didnt get to make use of the lovely pool which is fab, 5 yr old loved it even though he was blue.
Hotel is spotless inside and out, room was a decent size for 2 adults and 2 kids and that was with one in a cot.
The breakfast was ok, but we felt that maybe because it was early in the season when we went and the hotel wasn't very busy that not much effort was put into dinner and I had to over feed my children in the park as they refused to eat in the restaurant(aged 5 and 1 and not usually fussy eaters).
Location is perfect for the park but be warned if you are going to be in and out of salou a lot(you will have to buy water in salou, none in the hotel)it actually works out cheaper to get a taxi than to take the park/salou train especially if there are a few of you getting on the train.
Hotel staff are fab, and are all very good with the children and seem very genuine, my 5yr old is normally shy but he loved the kids club which has its own building near the kids pool.
Entertainment was fair, as I'm sure you have heard but it didn't really apply to us as its all held outside and the weather was bad.
All in all a lovely hotel decorated to a high standard that I would consider visiting again.
| | |
KAREN ROSS from PETERBOROUGH travelled to El Paso Hotel with
ECLIPSE DIRECT
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: I can't recommend this hotel enough for young families.
The hotel was very clean and the staff very polite.
The hotel food was nice if a little samey by the end of the week but there was always a good choice. The evening entertainment if somewhat noisy was good fun, our four your old son thoroughly enjoying the childrens disco and dance lessons every evening. My one tip would be that if you don't want to get involved in the entertainment every evening or have small babies then ask for a room not overlooking the stage as we found even when we tried to put our son to bed earlier than 11pm he would be up at the window looking out as the entertainment was right outside out room. The hotel bar was pleasent with a cybercafe inside so that the children can connect to their favourite websites to give the parents a few minutes break to unwind. The childrens pool was excellent, unfortunately it was too cold in may to check out the big pool.
The port aventura theme park was excellent, although probably not quite as magical as disney there were always characters like woody woodpecker or the pink panther walking around. The costa caribe water park was the best we had been to.
Salou itself was about twenty minutes walk and although not at all picturesque (all high rise buildings and apartments) the beach was one of the best we had seen, with lovely sand and pleanty of adventure play areas for the kids.
All in all we had a fantastic time. It was our first beach holiday abroad as a family with a young son and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and wouldn't hesitate to recommend this hotel to other faimiles with small children.
| | |
ANN LYON from MERSEYSIDE travelled to El Paso Hotel with
ECLIPSE/FIRST CHOICE
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 1 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: we stayed on a half board basis.food was ok,but could have been a bit warmer.
the rooms were cleaned everyday thoroughly.
location was excellent for the theme park,and the beach was a 10 minute taxi ride away.
hotel staff were very pleasant and always helpful. entertainment was ok,but the seating arrangement could have been better.the first choice reps ian and jen were the best reps we have ever had on holiday,and the night of a thousand stars trip is a must.(reps making a fool of themselves).
the swimming pool is enormous,and always plenty of sunbeds.
the only downfall is the bar service at night.sometimes took 25mins to get a drink.the theme characters are excellent around the hotel for the kids.
i would certainly recommend this hotel.
| | |
blythe from manchester travelled to El Paso Hotel with
cosmos
on a family holiday.
There were 4 adults and 3 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 05 2004 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: we have just returned from the hotel el paso costa dorada. we can't fault the design or location of the hotel. the rooms were kept spotless, except for one annoying giant cobweb. the shower was a pain, it soaked the bathroom everytime we switched it on. the food was excellent, and the kids dined daily with the cartoon characters.
we asked about the dine around vouchers, but got blank looks from reception. we never managed to board the free bus to the beach at salou, 2 adults tried to board with 3 kids, and were told they were too many. two of us adults went into the port aventura hotel for a look around and exited into the theme park, using our el paso passes.the following day we took 2 of the kids for a look around the hotel, and the guy in charge of the turnstiles tried to stop us leaving via that exit, he said that we had to walk the whole perimeter of the port aventura hotel and back up the the theme park, a long trek. we pointed out that as guests of the el paso we were entitled to come and go as we wanted, and had used the exit the previous day, he finally relented, as we were not going to be put off.
i would recommed the resort and the el paso, it was worth the visit for the theme park and the costa caribe water park alone.
the beach at salou was clean, with lots of free playgrounds for small children.
dining and drinking out could be expensive. i would advise against using the "wally" train it cost 13 euros one way. we found it cheaper to use 2 taxis for the 7 of us at 4.38 per taxi.
we had pretty poor weather for early may, but that couldn't be helped.
| | |
Anne Muldoon from Consett Co Durham travelled to El Paso Hotel with
Thompson
on a family holiday.
There were 2 adults and 2 child(ren) in the party. The travel date was 08 2003 | rated the El Paso Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: We were the very first Thompson guests to stay at the hotel El Paso- This proved to be a disadvantage in some ways.This is going to be a very unusual review as in some ways it was the best ever and in other ways we had our worst holiday nightmare. I am only writing this now (just found the website) because we are thinking of going again..believe it or not- and would like to be reassured on one or two pointers.
Firstly we were dropped off down the bottom of a dusty track as the bus driver had not been to the hotel before and lugging the cases up plus a four year old was hard work, I am sure that won't happen now.
The room we were allocated was full of dust as they were working on the exterior and the view was down that dusty track !We asked to be moved and we were immediately, to a much nicer room just down the steps from the pool and no dust, traffic noise or any complaints except for the amount of wardrobe space !! for four people we didn't have enough room for one persons clothes no one else seems to have mentioned this so maybe all rooms are not the same.
Anyway we are optimists and always ready to really enjoy our holiday and everything else about the hotel looked lovely - the pool was fab our son loved it especially the half sunk pirate ship..The layout was very nice I loved the Mexican style of it we took many posed photos with the lovely background.
The park was fantastic and the kids aged 13 and 4 still talk about all those great rides..one thing we had to queue as normal unless it was after 8p.m has this been improved for hotel guests? As for one ride we actually queued for 1hour 45mins - never again! With a four year old who had to pee in a water bottle seal it and put it in a bin as there was just no way out of this packed railed in queue system!
Anyway to the bad points...
We coped fine with chaotic meal times with smallish queues the first week and larger ones the second. We found the food very nice and when in Spain always expect to try different things we did they were lovely! Even if we had to search for mi |
|
