Globales Santa Ponsa Park, Santa Ponsa, España

“Amazing hotel experience.”

Just back from a week here with my family. We had a great experience here. Very close to the beach shops, mcdonalds etc, sunshine all day beside the pool. One of the cleanest hotels I've ever stayed in, really well run, plenty of staff on hand working away in the background. We were all inclusive... more

Just back from a week here with my family. We had a great experience here. Very close to the beach shops, mcdonalds etc, sunshine all day beside the pool. One of the cleanest hotels I've ever stayed in, really well run, plenty of staff on hand working away in the background. We were all inclusive so had free food and drink all day. Food is what you expect from an all inclusive, plenty of variety but just a little bit boring after a while. Bedroom was good size with amazing air conditioning, we had a really good shower in our bathroom too. WiFi is very good any where in the hotel and poolside. Staff are very helpful and friendly. Plenty of activities during the day and great entertainment at night. Really can't recommend this hotel enough, will definitely go back again.

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“Family friendly with all needed things. ”

Family friendly place. Visited for 1 week. Everything was as we expected. Room was well enough, food was plenty and good quality. Staff was friendly and very helpful. Location orientated on. walking distance to all amenities and the beach. The pools was clean .

“A holiday is what you make it…”

We stayed at the Globales Pionero for a week all inclusive. It wasn’t awful but I wouldn’t return. Certainly some issues that really put me off, others I could gloss over and the were some positives too. Positives - Pool area was good. Looked modern, 3 different sets of pools (if you included ot... more

We stayed at the Globales Pionero for a week all inclusive. It wasn’t awful but I wouldn’t return. Certainly some issues that really put me off, others I could gloss over and the were some positives too. Positives - Pool area was good. Looked modern, 3 different sets of pools (if you included other hotel) and always well staffed. Pizzeria by the poolside was great and it was a bonus it opened again later in the evening if you wanted a snack. Good entertainment team and always plenty to do during the day and in the evenings. Staff were all very friendly and helpful. Niggly issues - The pool area is so slippy! So many times I nearly went over. To be fair there are plenty of wet floor signs dotted around but those tiles are lethal. There isn’t quite enough beds. We only struggled on our first day as we didn’t get down to the pool until after 10. We got one every other day but had to be down there for around 8.30. The beds open at 8 but to be honest you’ve got until around 9 to secure them. We would sit by the pool for around half an hour before going to breakfast and our towels were never removed. Evening glasses for drinks - never in my life have I been served cava in a half pint glass. It was so bizarre. To be honest this nearly made it on to my next list of negatives because it seriously bothered me. Not an issue to everyone I know, but come on it’s not much to ask for appropriate glassware to be used. The day time swapping of the plastic glasses didn’t bother me at all. In fact I quite liked it! There wasn’t cups littered everywhere as you would usually find! The rooms are small. No one goes on holiday to sit in their room but it was so difficult to navigate around it and find space for our belongings especially as we had a cot in there and the pram etc. for our little one. I emailed in advance for a ground floor room. They replied to me to say all the ground floor rooms were gone so we would be on the first floor. There was a bit of miscommunication here as there isn’t any ground floor rooms and we were put on the second floor at the very end. I know someone has to be in those rooms and it wasn’t the very top floor but surely when someone is emailing to have a room that’s more accessible you wouldn’t put them right at the very end of the block and on a different floor to what was emailed. This is only a niggle but the communication got me. The Wi-Fi wasn’t very good. This will bother some and not at all for others. Negatives - Our bathroom smelt like stale urine from the moment we got there until the end of our stay. I don’t believe this is down to the cleaners, they do a very good job. This is either bad plumbing which is leaking or things not being replaced when they need to be such as the toilet seat. There was mould above the shower and around the grouting/silicone. No amount of painting over is going to fix that. The whole bathroom needed ripped out and started again. The aircon is practically non existent. The room was sweltering. We had to keep the spare key card in during the day to keep the aircon ticking over so that it was bearable. We arrived in the early hours of the morning and no welcome drink or anywhere open to get a drink. I thought this was quite poor. Every other hotel where I have had a late arrival they have welcome cocktails and assembled a cold plate and left if in the room for your arrival if all of the eateries were closed. We didn’t attend the welcome meeting the next morning, I dare say they had a welcome drink then but after a day of travelling and arriving in the heat it would be nice to have a refreshment there and then, even if it was just bottled water. We were directed to a vending machine instead. The main restaurant in the evenings wasn’t up to scratch with its variety. We only ate in it twice for dinner because there was no variation. It was the standard pizza, pasta, chips and some form of battered/breaded meat/fish item, salads, breads, paella, potatoes, a vegetable dish and then the meat/ fish cooked fresh on the grill. As I said we only ate in there two nights but there was no speciality dishes or themes so we found it very repetitive after only two visits. Breakfast and lunch I can’t fault it because that can’t really be varied and I wouldn’t expect it to be. They did have a good variety of desserts. We were unsure of the arrangements as some visits you were free to choose your table and others you were hurried and directed to a table by one the waiters. We decided not to take the transfer and opted to grab a taxi to the hotel. This was for a couple of reasons; we had our sons car seat and didn’t want him to travel sat on our laps, the airport is only around 25 minutes away and we didn’t want to be sat longer on the coach dropping others off first. On our last day my partner let one of the reps know that again we would be booking a taxi and would not need a transfer, all was fine. We headed to the front desk as it was time to leave and to ask them to ring us a taxi to be told one wouldn’t be able to get to the hotel due to the road closures because of the festival. We’d either have to walk 10 minutes to get on the coach transfer or 10 minutes the other direction through the festival to get a taxi from the taxi rank. Our issue here is that we were not informed of it any earlier, the rep didn’t notify us that we would struggle to get a taxi, the tui app didn’t notify us that we would have to walk to get a transfer. We ended up getting on the transfer and thank goodness we went to the desk when we did because we would have missed that transfer. Luckily my partner ran ahead as the coach was about to leave. Really not ideal with an infant, pram, cases, bags and a car seat! I know the road closure couldn’t be helped but the lack of communication here was very poor. Another couple were right behind us and were totally unaware of this arrangement as well. The negatives didn’t ruin our holiday - I do believe a holiday is what you make it but I wouldn’t return to a Globales hotel unfortunately. Ultimately I think the quality is reflected in the price and it was one of the cheaper options on tui. Santa Ponsa is lovely, there’s such a variety of restaurants, bars and shops on your door step. The beach is beautiful and very well maintained. The people are incredibly friendly. The festival that was on was fantastic so that was an added bonus. I’d definitely return to Santa Ponsa! Top tips - There’s a park just down the side road from McDonald’s which was great for my little one. The taxi from the airport was only €50 and to be honest was so much more comfortable than the coach. Puro Fuego over the road from the hotel was great for steak and seafood. We also ate lovely meals at Door to India, Boston O’Brady’s and Balcon De Maria which had a great indoor play area.

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