Hotel Residencia Bahia Playa

I stayed in this hotel in September '05 and found it to be excellent value with friendly, helpful staff. It is located near Port des Torrent, with the beach only a short walk down the road; it has a bus stop right outside the door for easy access to anywhere on the island, and the complex also has car hire facilities.

RECEPTION:
24 hour reception desk with bureau de change and small shop selling essentials such as sun cream, ...
...great first impression of the hotel (unless you arrive in the night, in which case you'll find the night porter sitting in a corner smoking). On arrival, you will have to show ID, usually your passport.

ROOMS:
All rooms are ensuite with bath, shower, toilet, basin & bidet. The rooms are not huge, but are certainly plenty big enough for a couple. The hotel advertises itself as a family hotel, but having a child in your room with ... more

I stayed in this hotel in September '05 and found it to be excellent value with friendly, helpful staff. It is located near Port des Torrent, with the beach only a short walk down the road; it has a bus stop right outside the door for easy access to anywhere on the island, and the complex also has car hire facilities.

RECEPTION:
24 hour reception desk with bureau de change and small shop selling essentials such as sun cream, cameras and film etc. It is fairly spacious, very clean and sets a great first impression of the hotel (unless you arrive in the night, in which case you'll find the night porter sitting in a corner smoking). On arrival, you will have to show ID, usually your passport.

ROOMS:
All rooms are ensuite with bath, shower, toilet, basin & bidet. The rooms are not huge, but are certainly plenty big enough for a couple. The hotel advertises itself as a family hotel, but having a child in your room with you would make it a little cramped. Each room has a terrace (some bigger than others), a ceiling fan and the windows do actually open. They are clean and well decorated, but are very basic (only a phone other than the furniture) unless you hire extra equipment, such as TV, safe, kettle & fridge from the reception - at a cost, of course. There is daily maid service, although the bedding seems to be replaced every other day, quite irritating when you manage to get sand grains in the bed as I did. As far as I'm aware, all rooms allow smokers.

RESTAURANT & BAR:
Residents have access to a non-smoking dining room for a buffet-style breakfast, which is included in the price. Breakfast gets boring after a few days as it is almost always the same thing - bread rolls, ham, cheese, cereal (but the milk is long-life stuff and not refridgerated), toast, bagels, unless you pay extra, in which case the choice is quite extensive, including a wonderful 'full english' for about €5. Tea, coffee, orange juice etc is free until the 2 hour breakfast session ends.

The bar is very popular with the local workforce and you will regularly see them drinking spirits at 8am!

The daytime and evening meals (not included) are very good and not very expensive (approx €10), and there is a good selection of both fish and meat dishes. I found the tapas to be very tasty and they do a great bacon & tomato sandwich for a nice midday snack.

The bar area is air-conditioned and has satellite TV (3 of them).
You must wear a shirt/ tee shirt when in the bar area, even if you have gotten out of the pool to get a drink. Don't ask me why, I don't know. I was told it's something to do with religion and decency, and this is not the only bar with this request.

OUTSIDE:
There is a large terrace to the front of the building with lots of seating and another garden/terrace area to the side that leads to the pool and childrens' play area. There are a few pool tables outside. The play area has a climbing frame, see-saw and swings and is turfed, the pool is a reasonable size, but is situated in the shade and not heated. The pool has 3 sections, a very shallow part for small children, a section approx 4ft deep, and then the main pool with diving board. The water is very cold and makes a great hangover cure! There are showers and toilets alongside the pool, but there is no lifeguard (which is one of the reasons the hotel only has 2 stars - the other being that there is no lift, so therefore no disabled access to the rooms).

STAFF:
Most of the staff speak fluent English & German, the ones who don't still understand well enough for you to get what you want. They are friendly and helpful and will do everything they can to make sure you enjoy your stay. The manager actually says goodbye to everyone personally when they leave for the airport.

SECURITY:
Not brilliant. Apart from asking for ID when you first arrive, the security is a little lax. They ask that you leave your room key at reception when you leave the premises, but this is not done in person, people just lean over the reception and leave/retrieve their key from the pigeon hole with the right room number on it, which means that almost anyone can get access to any or all rooms. I have 2 friends who have stayed at this hotel 4 times a year for the last 15 years who assure me this has never happened, but the point is that it could.

PRICE:
Very reasonable for the quality of the accomodation. Ranges from €18 to €36 (each, based on 2 people sharing a room), depending on the season.

SUMMARY:
I like this hotel and would recommend it to couples and adult only parties who don't want to break the bank, whilst still getting quality, comfortable accomodation with a great atmosphere. It's in one of the quieter areas of the island, but is within easy access of the more vibrant areas and it makes a great base for exploring the island.

 

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