Hotel Estival Islantilla

“Clean, friendly, well thought out and great facilities. Nothing to do in or around the local area”

. The main lobby and communal areas are impressive, grand and clean (the rooms are shabby and damaged in areas - obviously a previous leak to roof, water damaged kitchen units, hairdryer hanging off the wall, cracked mirror - so didn't feel 4* throughout) . Despite making the hotel aware of alle… more

. The main lobby and communal areas are impressive, grand and clean (the rooms are shabby and damaged in areas - obviously a previous leak to roof, water damaged kitchen units, hairdryer hanging off the wall, cracked mirror - so didn't feel 4* throughout) . Despite making the hotel aware of allergies well before arriving and being promised this was on file no help or acknowledgement was given and after 3x asking in 3 separate areas of the restaurant for plain foods and being told it wasn't possible I gave up, so it was chips, bare salad and jelly for almost all meals, including at snack bar (allergens are well labelled though) . This is a card only venue - which I didn't realise til we arrived and couldn't purchase/pay for any exreas such as an ice lolly for my food allergy son - so this aspect was also highly annoying) The baby change facilities are so high up on the walls, even for a tall able bodied person like myself. . It's great that this strives to be a smoke free environment (but made the smoking culture more irritating with people hiding in the outdoor pool toilets to smoke, thus choking you when you walked in) . Spa allows children to use the heated indoor pool, which is needed on cold/rainy days (however these timed sessions for this coincide with kids club, so if you're using that facility as break it doesn't help to then have kids screaming in the supposed relaxing atmosphere of the spa) . Excellent pool areas which were also very clean. . Direct access to a lovely beach. . Friendly staff (although the language barrier is difficult as Spanish is the only one spoken by most) . Enhanced entertainment schedule provided for rainy days. . Bikes to rent at great prices, which also included baby seats (although only two children's bikes available) .Lovely range of quality and tasty food, with various themes and flavours (if you can eat it) .Outdoor play area (but not suitable for little ones) .Good range of evening entertainment (although a little late for young families) . Beach toy recycling scheme which is a brilliant idea. . Good balconies with great views for all rooms (although no clothes rails on any on one side of the building)

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“Not great”

It was ok, hotel was cleanish, staff spilt drinks on floor when cleaning table and just left it. Rooms were made up each day but overall needed a bit of a scrub. Clean on surface but could see it needed more then a quick wipe. Main bar staff didn't seem to like the English and were quite rude (we … more

It was ok, hotel was cleanish, staff spilt drinks on floor when cleaning table and just left it. Rooms were made up each day but overall needed a bit of a scrub. Clean on surface but could see it needed more then a quick wipe. Main bar staff didn't seem to like the English and were quite rude (we were not only ones to say this) No entertainment during the day not even music played near the pool. Communication after stay is terrible. Our child left a blanket in the bedroom and despite emailing twice and phoning twice to enquire about it the emails were left unanswered and phone call resulted in a very abrupt if we find anything we phone you and hung up. It was 100% left in room so can only assume they threw it away and don't want to say.

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“Mixed Bag”

We left it really late to book this holiday, I wasn’t our first choice but being later October we waited to see where the weather was going to be reasonable. First impressions the hotel looks great, nice and cleqn and our room was great. We lived in Spain so have holidayed in areas that are predom… more

We left it really late to book this holiday, I wasn’t our first choice but being later October we waited to see where the weather was going to be reasonable. First impressions the hotel looks great, nice and cleqn and our room was great. We lived in Spain so have holidayed in areas that are predominantly Spanish before so expected it and the food, a mainly Spanish feel to eat was really good, if not a bit repetitive but that’s always the case I find with all inclusive. The downside to this place is the atmosphere, it’s totally flat, random music playing for 1 minute on the hour during the day to round people up for activities but even the animation team, from what we saw of them just had no personality. Most (not all) of the bar staff were just rude, I know it’s end of season but they almost rolled their eyes when you went to order drinks, the decent bar inside has an outside area but you can’t sit there unless it’s meal time. The entertainment doesn’t start until 10.30pm and definitely isn’t worth waiting for and you sit in this huge theatre sort of place that’s not near any bar. The place has so much potential but they need to inject some atmosphere and personality and do a bit of staff customer service training towards those visitors they aren’t Spanish. It wasn’t the worse place I’ve been to but I definitely won’t go back. I imagine it’s marginally better during the summer as atleast you can escape to a bar or restaurant that’s open, everything was closed at this point.

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“Unfortunately not the best of holiday experience and we certainly wouldn’t return.”

Wouldn’t return, hotel lacked atmosphere maybe due to too many nationalities. Don’t think this hotel should be sold to British as they are in the minority of guests which makes it difficult to socialise. There is nowhere to go to nearby which is very restricting and the hotel doesn’t offer enough… more

Wouldn’t return, hotel lacked atmosphere maybe due to too many nationalities. Don’t think this hotel should be sold to British as they are in the minority of guests which makes it difficult to socialise. There is nowhere to go to nearby which is very restricting and the hotel doesn’t offer enough to make for pleasant evenings unless you are in a group which all they seemed to do was play cards. Food was fine when hot but more often than not it was luke warm at best. Entertainment was poor and was only from 10.30 until 11.30. Restaurant staff were pleasant enough but bar staff were quite unpleasant at times and acted as if they couldn’t be bothered. When we were there the weather was poor which made things worse as there just wasn’t enough to do.

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“A hotel of contradictions!”

The Estival Islantilla is a hotel of contradictions. It's asthetically stunning, but at the same time, it has no atmosphere. The staff are exceptionally professional, yet seem joyless in their roles (no one smiles). The place is spotlessly clean, but shows signs of disrepair and age. Rooms are nic… more

The Estival Islantilla is a hotel of contradictions. It's asthetically stunning, but at the same time, it has no atmosphere. The staff are exceptionally professional, yet seem joyless in their roles (no one smiles). The place is spotlessly clean, but shows signs of disrepair and age. Rooms are nice and spacious, but there's very little storage space. The beds are doubles (not twins like many hotels), but are about as comfortable as sleeping on rocks! There was aircon in the room, which didn't work. The balcony has an outside light, which turns of at midnight so no late night sitting outside to read when you can't sleep because of the rock hard beds. There are plenty of sunbeds, but no easy bar access from most of the poolside. The restaurant is well organised and the food is mostly good, but after a few days you realise choice is somewhat limited. The main bar has a lovely outside seating area, which is only available to sit in during mealtimes. The hotel is a complete smoking and vaping free zone, apart from a tiny section right at the far back of the hotel grounds, which has no access path. It's just a dirt area behind some trees with a few stone chairs. It's away from everything and really not easy nor convenient to get to. Definitely not accessable to those with mobility issues. One night (around 10 pm) my partner and I were sitting alone, 50+ feet from anyone, at the far back of the hotel grounds, outside. We decided to vape as it would hurt no one. Suddenly a security guard came stomping over from about 100 foot away and started shouting at us in Spanish. Fortunately, I know enough Spanish to tell him we were all alone, with literally no one else around. He replied (in Spanish) that he didn't want to suffer our vape! I mean, he was initially over 100 foot away and so was only "suffering' because he stomped over to us! I could understand if we were being inconsiderate of others or smoking, but we were vaping and literally bothering no one! I'm totally fine with the hotel being smoke and vape free, but the only concession is a hard to access dirt spot nowhere near anything except an outdoor bar that closes at 5pm. After that, you're out of luck if you want to relax with a drink and a vape. Better concessions need to be made or the travel agent (TUI) needs to be clearer about this policy when booking! The absolute worst thing is the desperate lack of atmosphere. No music by the pool. No real day time activities. Hard to access bars from the poolside and if you decide to accept all this and lay back to relax, you'll then become the constant target of kamikaze flies with no concept of fear. Constantly landing on you. Oh, and these flies bite! We ended up covered head to toe in bites. Overall, the Estival has a lot going for it, but it's ruined by badly though out policies, zero atmosphere and joyless staff. It's not been a terrible holiday, but it's also just not a place we'd recommend! You can get better for less money. After two weeks we were really quite happy to be going home. A good holiday does not leave you feeling like that!

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