rated the Benikaktus Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location | | | Staff |  | | Food | | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: We arrived on the day that the hotel re-opened after major re-furbishment. Waited for 3 hours for our room to be ready, but WOW! It was well worth the wait. It was the loveliest room we have ever stayed in and I would imagine that this hotel will no longer be graded as 3*. Should be at least 4*. Huge kingsize bed, plazma TY on the wall, and the most amazing views. The bar and restaurant were just as lovely. It is on a steep hill, but if you take the exit near to the bar, you cut half of the hill out and only have a few steps to go down to come out at the beach / Macdonalds. I would certainly return and would recommend this hotel to anyone.
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rated the Benikaktus Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness |  | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment |  |
| said: We decided to spend Xmas in Benidorm and booked a 4 day/3 night trip with Gandia Tours. The Benikaktus is on a fairly steep incline, some people with mobility problems had to get taxis just to get down to the street level!
Information on arrival was basic, another guest had to tell us that we needed to ask for a remote for the TV and a separate card for the safety deposit box, not a promising start.
The best way to describe the room was basic, everything in it had 'seen better days'. It was dark and dreary, quite small and the old and worn plastic furniture on the balcony didn't improve things. Be warned, if you are taking anything electrical (we took a portable DVD player), there is only one point and that it is in the bathroom. Our first purchase was 3 extension leads so that we could watch a DVD.
Christmas eve dinner was a strange arrangement of what I think they would call tapas. What it really was, was the kitchen clearing out bits and bobs that they had left from other meals. There were things like soggy, barely warm cheese croquettes, a spoonful of potato salad, chicken drumsticks that you could barely get your teeth into. These were served one after the other, in record time, at the table by the waiters, who gave the distinct impression that they wanted you to eat as quickly as possible. When we went down to the bar later we realised why, most of the waiters were also working in the bar area!
We had specifically asked for what we consider to be a 'proper Xmas meal' and assured by Gandia Travel that the hotel would provide a 'Gala Xmas meal'. Oh really! We started with some sort of white meatball soup. It was actually served in cups and I was a little disappointed that my soup didn't cover my meatballs, this soon turned to delight when I tasted it. It was barely warm, tasted very strange and was full of grease. We then waited ages, and were served quite a large piece of salmon (cold of course), about half of a boiled potato and one asparagus spear. By this stage everyone was wondering what was going on, and indeed some people had already left the restaurant.
The piece de resistance was a thick (and I mean thick) slice of probably turkey, which had a stuffing centre and came with a spoon of gravy and 2 prunes. No potatoes and no vegetables at all, that was it. It was, to say the least, a very disappointing meal.
Puddings were an improvement, but most were pre-prepared, or ice cream or fresh fruit. Again it was a very rushed affair, with staff taking plates before you had even finished (although we didn't complain!).
Breakfast was a self service buffet. The bacon was hardly cooked and cold, eggs served in various ways, but also cold unless you were lucky to catch a fresh tray coming out. Sausages were frankfurters. On the plus side there were lots of cereals and some nice fresh fruit.
The bar staff were helpful and the service in the bar was good, the prices were also quite reasonable. There was some entertainment and an organist who played 'middle of the road' stuff so people could dance.
On our last day we sat on the outside terrace for coffee and moved a table slightly to catch some sun. A rather officious waiter came out and was quite rude, ordering us to put the table back. We took our swimwear hoping for a dip in the indoor, heated pool, only to find that it was rather small and was totally overlooked by the bar and restaurant, which was quite off putting.
We do understand that things are different in different countries, but given that at least 75% of the people in the Benikaktus last Xmas were British, we were rather surprised that we were not catered for better.
Would we go back to the Benikaktus, no we would not. We debated going to a 3 star hotel, because we know that the standard, certainly in Spain, is not consistent, but we were 'seduced' by the advice given by Gandia. We would go back to Benidorm, but would look for a more suitable hotel.
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rated the Benikaktus Hotel as follows:| Cleanliness | | | Location | | | Staff | | | Food | | |
| Entertainment | |
| said: Flight in from Manchester XL-air was good and on time.
I knew the position of the hotel was 30 mtr from beach overlooking the ski tow on the corner of the Lavanti beach in the Rincon area.
The hotel is elevated 25ft to the first floor where you will find an outside/indoor swimming pool bar and entertainment area.
The pool area is in a perfect position for sun bathing and views across the bay. The beach can be accessed from pool down steps.
The second floor is the restaurant: food is of a better than average standard with plenty of choice e.g. bbq steaks, lamb chops, roast beef, lots of fresh fruit and deserts.
The third floor is the reception opening out on to the entrance and road down to town that is of quite steep incline. This is not a hotel for people with walking problems as after 12pm lower gates are locked and you will have to enter through recption.
I found staff friendly, rooms of good size, air conditioning very good, hotel tidy, yes I will come back to this hotel.
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Carol Keith from durham travelled to Benikaktus Hotel with
diy
on a couples holiday.