Hotel Samba, Lloret de Mar

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Average
Quality of Rooms	Terrible
Cleanliness	Poor
Quality of Facilities	Average
Family Friendly	Poor

Advantages:	Good Location
Disadvantages:	Un Helpful Staff

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Me and 3 friends booked 2 rooms at the Samba hotel in August 06. We booked a late deal as a flight and hotel from Teletext. We paid 450 Pounds each for all inclusive for 7 nights.

When we arrived on time with our flight with Ryan air from Liverpool, who were on time and quick with luggage in Gerona airport. Crew were great and helpful,and although you dont get food or drinks with your flight they can be purchased on board. The flight lasted around 2.30 hours and when we collected our luggage we went straight to get a taxi to Lloret de Mar, The people we booked with said it was a 10 min journey and that it would cost about 20 euro in a taxi, how wrong, we waited 30 minutes for a taxi which was not so bad because there were alot of people waiting. The journey in reality took about 45 minutes and cost 75 euro! (with tip).

We got out of the taxi and the hotel looked nice and as we walked in the lobby was nice and clean and the man we delt with on reception was also helpful even though he did not speak much english. We were told they did not have two rooms avaliable and we were all in one, we were just happy to be on holiday so we took that. We were given a room on the 4th floor and when we walked in the room was tiny. 4 single beds were pushed togther meaning no floor space at all and even the wardrobe and dressing area we vlocked so they could not be used. The balcony sloped downwards slightly and had a slight crack acros the middle, so we didnt use it.

Other Room Aspects:
The lock was broken on our door the second day so anyone could walk in, there was also no safe in our room which was worrying, we told reception they said they fixed it and it was broke again that night, we phoned them and they slammed the phone down on us and refused to look again until the next day, meaning we had to go to dinner in pairs not together as friends. At this time the electricity in ours and next doors room suddenly stopped (this could also not be fixed until the next day) which ment we came in at night with no lights, this did get fixed however the lock never did and reception were rude and nasty and couldnt understand why we were upset that our door was broken, as you can imagine it was scary sleeping and we had to take all our valuebles (passport, money, phone etc) with us incase someone went into our room,as we were on holiday and couldnt live in the room the whole time.

Food:
The food wasnt great and was served buffet style, but breakfast was fine with juice, fruit, bacon, (undercooked) eggs, sausage, beans and continental stuff and toast. It was served from 7am-10am. For lunch there wasnt much of a selection but what was there was ok. It was served from 12-3pm. Dinner was not nice at all, I had chicken and when I cut into it it was pouring with blood, I showed the waiter and he just looked at me. They had themed nights such as mexican and spanish but there was not much of a choice of anything else .Dinner was served 5pm-8pm. The best thing about all inclusive was the drinks, all soft drinks were unlimited and you can have 2 at a time. You could also have selected alcoholic drinks, (again fine at 2 each) there was vodka, peach shnapps, wines and other spirits. You could also have snacks served from 10am in the bar which included pizza, hotdogs and the like.

Rest Of Hotel:
Pool area was lovely with plenty of lounges and a bar, although the all inclusive could only be used inside. it had a childs area with a life gaurd and was open until 8pm. There was a small games area the children liked and a terrace area outside which was nice at night with some entertainment.

Lloret:
There is a water park a short distance away which is ok about 20 euro each and the bus cost a small amount to get there, there was some good slides, flumes, pools and a lazy river.
The clubs were good although they were expensive to go in at around 20euro a night and drinks for a vodka and lemonade were around 5 euro each. Clubs I would reccomend are tropics, get there early as it gets very busy and could que a while this played house, dance and rnb music, Londoner played rnb music which was also good, the people out side trying to get you in the clubs were very pushy even with a poilte no thanks. There were some other bars around which were also nice. There were some shops, not really that good, a bit tacky. The beach was nice but be warned its shingle ! ! I may well go back but for what we paid I would get a hotel with better rooms and more helpful staff.