About me:I am playing catch up again after being away on holiday - I've not been ignoring anybody and will ge...
Member since:01.08.2005
Reviews:213
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Review rated by 30 Ciao members on average: very helpful
I stayed at the Flamingo Benidorm in October 2007 for 7 nights between the 11th to 18th with my mother. We were on an all inclusive package booked on Jet2holidays.com which cost us £398 in total for the two of us including flights and accomodation but no transfers.
The hotel and facilities: The hotel was neither too old or new - just basic and did it's job - however it did look quite nice upon entering with an array of seating and marble floors. The lobby area was always really busy as this hotel was constantly full and guests were coming and going all the time - the front desk were helpful at check in and explained where everything was.
The hotel had a decent size pool in comparison to some of the other hotels that we could see around our's but, really, for how many guests were actually here, it could have done with being bigger. They also had a childrens play area and childrens club which looked nice enough and the staff in here were really good too. The
hotel had an entertainment programme which included daytime activities such as archery, rifle range darts etc so quite a lot going on but there were no spa facilities at the hotel that i could see of. Somebody else mentioned a roof top adults only pool but, we were nvere told anything of this and we could not see anything of it either so wether this has now been taken away i'm not sure! The hotel had it's main entertainment on in the evening and there was a club located downstairs, however, this was closed during our stay so I cannot comment on it. The hotel had a bar in the restaurant which was small and a larger main one in the upstairs salon area where all the nightly entertainment was etc. The staff in the main bar were really chatty and super efficient. Ther was a 3rd bar outside near the pool but this was closed during our stay. Drinks were a plenty and there was always a really good variety of drinks on offer.
Location: The hotel was located about 500 metres from the beach and was on a straight road to it. There was a variety of shops going down this road but also lots of shops about part way down this road to once you got the the main crossroad. There was frequent buses in the area and taxis are easy to come by. We got a taxi directly from the airport and that cost us 60 euros for 2 of us for a 40 minute journey. There is lots of bars and restaurants within easy reach but at the same time as the hotel is set back there isn't too much noise at all! The hotel is quite a high rise property (as most are in benidorm!) and it has 27 floors so the view is pretty good from up in the higher floor rooms but as you are at the back end of the strip there isn't a great detail to see - just other hotels!
Food: Food was served in the main restaurant for breakfast, lunch and evening meals and all the snacks in between - guest weren't given a set time to eat as long as they went into the restaurant between the opening times for whichever meal they wanted for example dinner was 6 - 9pm so you could go any time between then to eat. The restaturant was large and always quite busy - it was quite a brightly lit room and always people coming and going no matter what time of day.
Service was good from the bar in here but all food was self service and the staff made sure fresh food was coming out continously. I personally thought the food was really tasty and there was always a big choice of starters, mains and desserts.
Rooms: The rooms at the FlamingoBenidorm are relatively large - there was staying here but the room technically is made for up to 4 people so i guess it felt a bit larger for us as we didn't fill it! The room was always clean and was designed in principle very well as it had a bathroom to the right of the front door, a bedroom to the right side facing the door, a living room which has the extra sofabed in to the left facing the front door and then lastly a small 'kitchen' to the left of the front door. I say 'kitchen' because there was a fridge and a sink but no amenities to make food or drink etc. Apparently this is from when the hotel wasn't an all inclusive property. The room seemed in good enough condition but nothing stood out as exceptional! The mattresses were the usual bottom range that cheap hotels provide and the view from the room looks towards the sea but there are quite a few buildings blocking a full view of the sea. There was no room service available.
Overall the price is excellent considering it's based on all inclusive so not bad when you think this includes entertainment too - the only downside is that the hotel is amazingly busy so if you prefer a more chilled enviroment then this isn't the hotel for you as with over 200 rooms that can all fit a maximum of 4 people in it does get busy - plus the hotel shares facilities with the Flamingo Oasis hotel acroos the road but the guests of that one tend to come to this hotel as facilities are better here. The downside to this hotel I found, was that there were a lot of children running around all the time so if you are travelling without children in the party it might be better to look elsewhere.
You can book the hotel on it's with various websites on the net but, price wise the cheapest deal I found was the one with Jet2holidays.com that included flights! You can book transfers with Jet2 aswellbut this does work out cheaper to book these seperately with someone like resorthoppa.
by (17%):
16.12.2007 15:33
Great Review and you seem to have got a good deal. Thanks for the info. Catherine x
25.11.2007 23:03
Detailed, informative review, have an "E" on me! P x
18.11.2007 23:34
Great review, very detailed. Have never been to Benidorm, but I like the comedy programme they showed on TV about it! Lol xx