Emperador, El Arenal

For a cheap holiday (£175 per person to be exact, excluding transfers) I wasn't expecting a lot from our 2* Bed & Breakfast accommodation.

The following description is that given by Trip Advisor on the Emperador Hotel in Majorca.

"The Hotel Emperador is an excellent holiday option for those looking for simple and comfortable accommodation in a popular, lively resort at a very reasonable price. The Emperador is situated ...
...the resort and only 500m from the lovely, long, sandy stretch of beach, which stretches along the coastline. The hotel has twin rooms with bathroom and terrace. There is a pool with sun terraces and sun beds and a bar for those essential cooling drinks! You may choose to have B&B with the continental style breakfast, or half board may be taken in the neighboring sister hotel. There is plenty to do in the resort with bars, shops, restaurants and the ... more

For a cheap holiday (£175 per person to be exact, excluding transfers) I wasn't expecting a lot from our 2* Bed & Breakfast accommodation.

The following description is that given by Trip Advisor on the Emperador Hotel in Majorca.

"The Hotel Emperador is an excellent holiday option for those looking for simple and comfortable accommodation in a popular, lively resort at a very reasonable price. The Emperador is situated in a quieter area only 400m from the center of the resort and only 500m from the lovely, long, sandy stretch of beach, which stretches along the coastline. The hotel has twin rooms with bathroom and terrace. There is a pool with sun terraces and sun beds and a bar for those essential cooling drinks! You may choose to have B&B with the continental style breakfast, or half board may be taken in the neighboring sister hotel. There is plenty to do in the resort with bars, shops, restaurants and the fantastic Aquacity water park. You may also like to take the short bus journey into Palma and you can enjoy discovering this lovely, historic city. This really is a great holiday deal!"

Unfortunately I cannot access the actual description we were given but this one is quite similar. But it was described as "great for couples". I also checked out the reviews in advance and they gave very mixed opinions.

On entering the hotel it appeared clean and tidy. The reception desk is situated to the left as you enter and a bar/lounge area to the right through double doors. Opposite the desk are a combination of 3 seat sofas, a computer with Internet access, a payphone and a set of safes (which I didn't see initially).

The man on reception (porter) was very nice and informed us that the room wasn't available until 1pm (we arrived at 11am and residents are asked to vacate by noon on their departure date). He directed us to the laundry room, which doubled up as a baggage area secured by a locked door (though it wasn't locked both when we put the luggage in or when we removed it). He then pointed us in the direction of the beach.

When I booked the accommodation I didn't realize the distance to the beach, reports vary but it is approximately 500m or a 10minute walk down a fairly steep hill (it appears steeper after a few days).

On returning to the hotel bang on 1pm and in dire need of some sleep the porter (whose name I never got) asked for my passport to record details and handed us the key to our room.

We were on the 3rd floor of a 4-floor block. I had booked a "twin or double room" (though I assumed we would be informed as to what it was on arrival, we weren't). I opened the room door and went straight for the balcony door to let some air in. The room was very hot.

The Room

Consisted of twin beds, a small table between them, a dressing table, a chair, a cupboard with some very nasty looking extra blankets and an en suite bathroom. The bathroom contained a toilet, loose sink, bath with twin taps which worked the shower and a small plastic waste paper bin which wasted really adequate for all the crisp packets water bottles and newspapers we discarded of on a daily basis, but perfectly adequate for bathroom use.

It was very basic and whilst I knew that I booked cheap and wasted expecting the Ritz I was disappointed by the lack of anything within the room and will admit I lay on my single bed and shed a few tears.

However we pushed the table to one side and the beds together to create "double beds," happier I went to sleep.

Sleep came quickly though not comfortably. Our beds were hard; a long thin pillow ran over the top of each, both had a white sheet on and a burnt orange coloured throw. I woke up every morning with backache due to the minimal pillows and lack of flexibility in the mattress.

The bathroom was clean and the shower worked well. Unfortunately it was positioned on the wall and not detachable, also the bath was quite small so difficult to move in.

We were given two bath towels and two hand towels but advised not to take them to the beach.

From the balcony, which was home to two white, plastic chairs from which we could see the road and buildings.

Noise

I quote from the Trip Advisor notes "The Emperador is situated in a quieter area". I disagree.

The room was at the front of the hotel and the area was very noisy. We were often back at the hotel before midnight and sleepy. I am a very light sleeper and didn't sleep through a single night for the noise. So I can detail the following well.

Routinely the bin men arrive at approximately 12.30am, kept the engines running and crashed the rather large biffa type bins (and bottle bins) into the truck with no regard to time etc (yes I know they are bin men but if they turned up outside my house gone midnight I would complain).

The bars and clubs, which were local played loud music till late but this, was to be expected.

Unfortunately the rooms are not sound proof and we had the pleasure of extremely noisy/annoying neighbours.

At 1.30am every night they returned to the room/or went out (I am undecided which).

At 5.00-5.30am everyday the male resident spent the best part of at least an hour of coughing and being sick - violently and noisily.

Every morning.

On one day this went on until 9.30am. We decided on the 3rd day to give them the benefit of the doubt and not report it - however I am writing this on the Friday (the 6th day) I go home tomorrow and can categorically state that tonight will be no different. They also spent 10minutes at 3am on Wednesday constantly switching the light switch on and off on and off - very annoying when it's next to your head but the other side of the wall.

This is all down to bad luck - and I now regret asking not to move rooms.

Hotel Facilities

Breakfast

We had paid for bed & breakfast - but only attended breakfast on Thursday with the intention of stuffing ourselves silly and heading off to the local market.

As it were I had a hot chocolate (which was just slightly hotter than warm) and a slice of toast with jam. Whilst my boyfriend attempted a bowl of cornflakes, toast and orange juice.

Breakfast is available daily between 8am-10am in the basement and seats approximately 50 people maybe more in tables of 4.

On offer was:

· A hot drink machine with a choice of 5 hot drinks
· A cold drink machine with a choice of 4/5 fruit juices
· Bread which you placed yourself onto the toaster (which

catered for 8 pieces altogether)
· 2 types of rolls - baps or crusty rolls
· 2 types of meat, both looked like types of salami/ham
· Jam/marmalade in a selection of flavours/butter
· Cheese slices
· Cereal - cornflakes, coco-pops, museli with raisins
· Milk

Breakfast wasn't exactly what I was expecting and my boyfriend said the cornflakes tasted like cardboard and failed to eat more than a spoonful.

Swimming Pool

Though I didn't use the pool as I spent my time on the beach, it was very clean, but I never saw a soul in it. It is quite small with 11 sun loungers round one side and tables and chairs on the other.

It also has a pool table to one side and an outside bar (attached to the inside bar and opened via a shutter.

Other rooms overlook the pool or open up just outside it. I would imagine the rooms are nice and a lot quieter to stay in.

The Bar/Lounge

The bar is stocked with a large number of different drinks and offers cocktails/burgers/pizzas/baguettes/chips. The pool table is outside but it is under a veranda and kept dry, whilst inside is a star wars pinball machine, which hooked my boyfriend from the start.

The barman was friendly and they played some interesting music, an older selection of Phil Collins etc but also a very camp selection of Boy George, Mika, Freddie Mercury, George Michael etc. It was definitely a pleasant area to enjoy a drink/game of pool.

The lounge area offers comfortable cushioned seats around smaller tables (though big enough to serve food on) and I would imagine seats about 50 people at a push.

Cleaners

The cleaners (I hate the term maids) came daily and the time varied, I think that perhaps the alternated, which floors they did first. I wasn't very impressed with them overall. Whilst the room was clean when we arrived and stocked with towels, throughout the week the service deteriorated. On arrival I checked that towels were changed daily - they are.

On the second day I placed the dirty towels on the floor by the door. They were removed but not replaced. So I had to go down to reception and ask for more. The night porter (receptionist) delivered some to our room. Since then, the towels have been removed if placed on the floor but we had no hand towels because they were not replaced. From Thursday till we left on Saturday we were left with the same two bath towels. They were not replaced and clean hand towels were not provided. Yet Wednesday I had 5 bath towels because they had left clean ones but not taken the old ones.

The cleaners empty the bin daily and I think are meant to make the beds. Now whilst I attempted this myself they were only actually made by them 3 times in our 7-day stay. They also semi swept the floor - by which I mean the line in their path.

One thing, which made me, wonder is we were provided with one very small bar of wrapped soap the sort you get on an overnight stay. This quickly disintegrated and was never replaced.

The Safe & Air Con

I was very upset on arrival to discover the room was not air conditioned or even had a fan, and that it was minus a safe, after a frantic call to mum back in England she told me it was probably down in reception - she was right.

The hotel rents small safes in a large unit at 13euros per week plus a 6euro deposit. We did this immediately and found ways of hiding our key in our room whilst down the beach. I figured if my bag were stolen at least we would still have access to the safe and our room. In doing so we removed the key from its tag and hid both parts separately.

Excursions/Lifts/Other

Excursions

I am led to believe that you can book excursions through the hotel, though we didn't. Though do not quote me on that, if it isn't possible then there are many, many places on the streets all competing for the best prices. We didn't take up any due to insufficient funds but boat trips etc are readily available and advertised everywhere.

Lifts

The hotel does have a lift - we used it when we first got our room key but wouldn't use it again. I'm not personally a fan of lifts anyway but this one is tiny. It would fit a wheelchair for disabled access thought not much else in addition. My boyfriend and I found that with the two of use plus a medium and small suitcase it was very claustrophobic.

Also on the day we left the lift was operating with no interior light.

Other

Internet - the Internet access if you need it is 1euro for 15minutes. I spent 30 minutes on Thursday night checking my mail (which I tend to avoid doing on holiday) and found the keyboard very difficult to work out. It isn't in the European style or English style - just different.

Payphone - I was required to reconfirm my inbound transfers from hotel to airport (just as well as my flights changed) I was advised by the porter that that 50cents would be plenty. Knowing that payphones in England swallow money I was dubious, however I held an 8-minute phone call and was still left with plenty of time so I need not have worried.

Leaflets and Information - The reception desk housed leaflets for local attractions such as Aqualand the water park, Marine World, Boat Trips etc these are all free. There is also a small stand with discount cards on it and a stand with 25cent postcards for sale through reception.

Keys - you had your key in at reception every time you leave the hotel and ask for it every time you come back. There is a porter on reception 24hours a day and they are very friendly and speak good English.

My opinion?

Originally I was seriously disappointed by how basic our room was but what did I expect for such a small amount of money? However the room met our needs (minus a fan which I feel all hotels in hot countries should have) and we used it mainly as a base.

I have no complaints about the service the staff were all friendly and very helpful they all spoke very good English compared to my very limited Spanish which I'm ashamed to say doesn't extend much beyond "Hello" "Please" and "Thankyou".

I am also aware that the hotel caters for half board holidays - however I would recommend the hotel of a bed and breakfast basis if you have little money to spend and do not intend to use the room for much other than sleeping. If I had spent more money then I would have been extremely disappointed as it really wasn't located where I thought it would be and the noise levels were not quiet. 

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