Confortel Fuengirola, Fuengirola

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Excellent
Quality of Rooms	Excellent
Cleanliness	Excellent
Quality of Facilities	Excellent
Family Friendly	Poor

Advantages:	New, modern hotel, excellent service, very clean, few children, good facilities, very nice area
Disadvantages:	Single beds pushed together to make a double bed

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Confortel is a hotel chain with a number of hotels situated throughout Europe (www.confortelhoteles.com).

Confortel Fuengirola
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The Confortel Fuengirola is a 4 star hotel situated on the sea front in Fuengirola. From the outside it appears a very modern and well kept building having only been opened in January 2005. As soon as our travel operator's coach pulled up outside the hotel to drop us off a very friendly porter was there with a trolley to take our case inside - this stood out as being good service as the other hotels that our coach had dropped off at (including other 4 star hotels) didn't receive any such greeting.

On entry into the reception area it is clear that this is a modern hotel. Decor is minimalistic and the colour scheme is natural, with lots of marble, wood and neutral colours. The staff in the hotel all dress in a modern looking black uniform of trousers and a round necked black shirt. I reviews on the web prior to our stay that made these out to look like some sort of Gothic outfits, but they certainly weren't! The staff all looked extremely smart. The staff at reception were very welcoming and spoke good English. After the usual check in procedure we were given our card and headed to our room using the lift.

The Room
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We had opted out of paying to guarantee ourselves a balcony as through our travel operator this was going to add a significant cost to our holiday, however we were extremely pleased to find we had been allocated a room with a balcony overlooking the mediterranean sea. The majority of the hotel rooms have a balcony with a sea view so the odds are in your favour should you book without specifying that you would like a sea view.

The style of the room followed that of the rest of the hotel, with neutral coloured walls and marble effect floor tiles. The room consisted of two single beds pushed together - this was perhaps the only negative aspect of the room - a double bed would have been better, especially considering that it was obvious the bed situation hadn't been set up so it could easily be converted from a double to a twin room as the bedside tables were 'built in' therefore couldn't be moved to allow the beds to be separated in any way. Still - they were very comfortable! The room also contained a sofa facing towards a TV with numerous satellite channels (including a couple of English ones) which was next to patio doors leading to the balcony. The balcony contained a table and two chairs and as already mentioned gave a beautiful view of the sea and the coastline of Costa Del Sol.

Storage in the room wasn't a problem as there was a built-in wardrobe as well as a number of drawers in a unit within the room. The wardrobe was also home to a safety deposit box, which for a charge of approximately £2 per day could be made use of.

The room also housed a small fridge stocked with bottles of drink. A price list clearly showed how much each of these items were, but as you would expect they were overpriced compared to buying from supermarkets. We opted to empty the fridge, leaving their bottles on the side, and filled it with bottles we had purchased from a nearby supermarket. Staff at the hotel had no problem with this therefore the fridge became a very useful asset during our stay!

The bathroom was finished in marble and contained aa toilet, bidet, wash basin, bath and shower. Towels were provided.

The room (as well as the whole hotel) was very clean. A maid visited the room on a daily basis to thoroughly clean, washing the floors (even though they didn't appear dirty), the balcony and the bathroom as well as making the beds and changing towels and linen on a regular basis. The cleanliness of the room and the hotel in general cannot be faulted at all.

The Food
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Our stay was Bed & Breakfast, therefore we only experienced breakfast at the hotel. The restaurant served buffet style (for lunch and dinner as well as breakfast). Breakfast consisted of a huge feast of food with just about every taste catered for! You could opt for a hot breakfast with a selection of bacons, sausages, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, tortilla (omlette), beans, tomatoes, courgettes, churros, and more! Alternatively there were a selection of cold meats and cheeses (at least 4 different meats and at least 6 different cheeses), as well as a variety of styles of bread. Additionally there were a selection of cakes and pastries, or cereals, and there was also a huge selection of fresh fruit including watermelon, peaches, plums, grapefruit, kiwi and more. Fruit juices were provided for you to help yourself to, and waiting staff came to each table to offer coffee. Tea was available, but not being a typical Spanish drink it was something you had to ask for as an alternative to the coffee you were offered as opposed to something you were offered straight away. The food at breakfast always tasted delicious and there was plenty available whether you arrived at the start of the breakfast period (7:30) or closer to the end (10:00).

Other Facilities
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The hotel has an outdoor pool on the second floor. This is surrounded by a number of sun loungers. We rarely made use of the pool due to being so close to the beach, however when we did visit we found the area to be clean and pleasant to relax in. The pool area catches the sun until early afternoon, however even when it was more shady it was still very warm due to the temperatures during our stay. I've read other reviews on the web that complain about the pool area being shady late afternoon, however personally I felt that this made it an ideal retreat for those that wanted to get out of the sun for a while! The pool area tended to be busiest around the middle of the day.

The hotel also has a bar area next to the reception. This was a pleasant enough bar, however we chose not to drink in it, preferring to make the most of our holiday by exploring the area and drinking in other bars rather than limiting ourselves to our hotel.

We noticed an indoor childs play area close to the swimming pool however never saw this in use.

The Location
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As far as we were concerned, the hotel was situated in the nicest part of Fuengirola. Probably to an equal distance either side of our hotel were a number of nice restaurants and although the beach area was fairly busy, it wasn't packed and there weren't lots of children running around. Walking further along the coast towards the port area and beyond the sea front area became more like a typical seaside holiday resort - comparable to an English tacky resort - it just had the appearance of being more run down and cheaper (although prices at restaurants in the area weren't any cheaper). This end was perhaps more family oriented with more children's attractions, and perhaps would appeal to a family but it had nothing really to offer us for the holiday we wanted.

As well as the many restaurants and bars in the area there are also other attractions that would appeal to adults. The Fuengirola zoo is just a 35 - 40 minute walk away and really is something spectacular and local travel operators run daily trips to Africa and Gibraltar, as well as other Spanish locations such as Puerto Banus and Marbella.

Verdict
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The hotel is definitely more suited to adults (of any age). I would say it is better suited to couples than large groups of friends. We purposely looked for a hotel that wasn't listed as 'family friendly' as we didn't want to be surrounded by noisy kids during our stay. There were a few children staying at the hotel but all were well behaved.

After literally a couple of days at the hotel both of us decided that should we decide to revisit Fuengirola we would definitely book this hotel. Although we only saw the other local 4 star hotels from the outside, the Confortel certainly gave the appearance of being a much nicer hotel than the others. It was ideally situated in what we saw as the nicest part of Fuengirola and the service we received was second to none.

It is very difficult to comment on price with regards to the hotel, as we booked through a travel operator (Thomas Cook), so our price also included air fares and their commission etc. Personally we felt our stay was extremely good value for money. Should we revisit the area we would probably book direct with the hotel now that we are confident with what we would receive, and buy our travel separately.

I would 100% recommend this hotel to any adults looking for a holiday in the Costa Del Sol region. I would not particularly recommend the hotel for families unless you have quite mature children who are happy to spend their holidays relaxing at the beach or pool and who are well behaved enough to eat in a restaurant full of mainly adults. I would recommend staying Bed & Breakfast rather than including your other meals as there are so many different restaurants within a short walking distance that it would be a shame to limit yourself to the hotel. Even as a vegetarian I had plenty of choice, and my partner had a fantastic number of options everywhere we ate including a variety of fresh sea food and different meats.

I personally wouldn't hesitate to revisit this hotel in the future.