Trh Palmanova, Magaluf > Reviews (1)

May 2011 saw us visiting Magalluf, Mallorca for the first time. The TRH Palmanova is situated next to a strip of bars, shops and restaurants and is just a few minutes walk away from the main Magalluf Strip which is renowned for its busy nightlife.

WHY DID WE STAY THERE?

We were booked into the TRH Torrenova and arrived via transfer from Palma Airport at around 9.30pm, we were told by the rather unfriendly receptionist that we were actually booked into the TRH Palmanova due to an error by our travel company (who later denied the claim). There was another couple with us who’d arrived on the same flight so along with them, we walked partway up hill and partway downhill to the TRH Palmanova which was approximately 500m away. We were quite miffed than we’d paid for transfers and then had to walk about half a km to another hotel but what could we do aside from just get on with it?

CHECKING IN/RECEPTION

As we walked into reception we got the feeling of not being very welcome, the (male) receptionist) couldn’t have been more unfriendly if he’d tried. He asked us to complete a registration card and gave us the room keys, didn’t say anything about the fact that one was a key to enter the room and one was to get the electrics to work, we were just left to figure that out for ourselves. I asked what time breakfast was as we had paid for breakfast for the 3 days of our stay too, we wee told 8-10. I then had to ask where breakfast was as this information was not volunteered. I felt the checking in experience was one of the worst I’ve experienced.

Once we’d been to our room I realised there was no information on the hotel facilities and it wasn’t evident from the room phone how to call reception so I went back down to reception to get some info on the hotel. I was given a brochure on the TRH hotel chain which was of no use to me as it was all in Spanish. It gave no information about the facilities such as gym, pools, children’s’ play area, restaurant opening times, etc. Aside from asking the unhelpful reception staff we found out where the facilities were by wandering around ourselves.

THE APARTMENT

Our room was easy enough to access by lift or going up one flight of stairs. On entering the room we thought on first impression it looked very basic, clean but basic. There was a bedroom with twin beds with a table in the middle separating them (we had specifically requested a double room but obviously these places can’t even be bothered to tell you they don’t accommodate specific requests or that they don’t have double beds at all?). There was a small dresser with a rather small mirror above it and a wardrobe which we felt was large enough to accommodate you for a stay of at least a week or two. Inside the wardrobe was also a chest of drawers and a safe (for which I understand you can rent a key for about 3.50 Euros a day to use. There was no natural lighting in the bedroom, i.e. no external window and it resembled a prison cell to me more than a bedroom! There was a window near the ceiling which was covered with blinds which couldn’t be moved and this provided absolutely no sound proofing at any time during our stay (more on that later)!

The bathroom was clean and spacious but very basic where toiletries were concerned; there were a couple of sachets of body wash and 2 small bars of soap and a couple of individually wrapped plastic cups but no shampoo or conditioner which was rather annoying as I’d brought conditioner with me but no shampoo. There was a bidet beside the toilet, which seems to be quite standard in European hotels. The shower was actually very powerful and ideal for a refreshing shower after spending hours in and by the pool or the beach, although I was very glad I’d brought shower gel with me as the toiletries provided were not enough for even a small child to shower with. The supplies were not topped up during our stay.

The living area consisted of two sofas large enough to sleep one person on each, a bleak looking dining table with four chairs, a two hob cooker and a fridge which was off (which took some figuring out how to get to work). There was also a wardrobe in the living area as large as the one in the bedroom although there were no mirrors here. I thought this was quite strange as the area seems to be popular for hen and stag parties so one would assume a bunch of girls (or guys) getting ready to go out for the evening would want at least a full length mirror to check how they looked! There was also a small TV in the living area with about 10 channels available, 2 or 3 of which were UK channels.

As I mentioned earlier the apartment seemed clean when we entered it the first evening, which was around 9.30pm, but it wasn’t until proper daylight the next day did we notice that surfaces were not exactly properly dusted and imagine my horror on the afternoon of the second day to see a used condom on the floor under one of the beds, I just happened to spot it by chance when having a little lie-down during what seemed like the only quiet few minutes during our stay. I felt quite sick wondering how many days or weeks it had been on the floor (the beds were wooden about 6 inches off the floor).

There was an air conditioning control on the wall by the room door but we couldn’t get this to work at all during our stay; although it being early May it wasn’t actually hot enough to need to use the a/c.

We had a balcony outside the living room area which had a plastic table and a couple of chairs and an ashtray. The balcony just overlooked the street outside, really not an interesting view! People on the other side of the hotel had balconies which overlooked the pool but those rooms (so we were told by other residents) had constant loud music coming in from the pool area from midday to midnight!

NOISE PROBLEMS

I’d never been to Magalluf prior to this and to be honest; I wouldn’t stay in this hotel again if you paid me. I managed to get about 2 hours sleep over 3 nights and that wasn’t even in one go, it was literally 5 or 10 minutes here or there. The night life in the area goes on till 5 or 6 am and loud music from the pool area was heard to midnight (not an issue as the music was enjoyable) and the nearby bars had their music blasting till around 4am.

All night the guests (I call them “guests” because I don’t want to really use the language I was mentally using towards these selfish people) of the hotel run riot in the corridors like monkeys on acid. I was horrified to hear people screaming and shouting abuse till 9am each day. It’s not as if you could go out and tell them to be quiet as they were obviously very drunk and who wants to confront big groups of drunks at any time of day let alone when you’ve had no sleep all night?

The hotel had no security whatsoever, people just came in and out through the main doors as they pleased and even though the reception was manned 24 hours a day, the staff did not even look up to see who was coming or going. On speaking with other guests that we got into conversation with over breakfast or by the pool, it seems the noisy residents were a problem no matter which part of the hotel you were in. One couple said people were ringing the buzzer on their apartment till 9.30am and shouting abuse!

I was so wound up with the lack of the sleep that I sincerely had to resist the urge to go running around the hotel at 10.00 by which time the louts must have passed out screaming and shouting to get my own back but really I’m far too sensible for that plus I didn’t want to disturb the people who hadn’t been making any noise!

THE RESTAURANT

I only managed to make it down for breakfast on one of the three mornings as I was just too tired from lack of sleep. My husband managed to go to breakfast twice. I found the service at breakfast to be non-existent. The only waitress I saw was barely in the restaurant the whole time we were there, it’s a self service buffet but even though we went down at around 8.15 just 15 minutes after the breakfast buffet opened several items had run out and they weren’t replenished.

Breakfast items included: very dried up bacon, frankfurters, fried eggs, white or brown bread/toaster, croissants and other breads, fruit which seemed like it had been out for days, baked beans (at least they couldn’t mess those up), cold meats and cheese slices, jams and yoghurts.

The juice machine wasn’t working but hubby had figured out there was another one on the other side so he told me where to go. An elderly guest tried to get some juice and was told quite rudely by the grumpy waitress “Not working!” and she then walked off. The guest just stood there looking rather flummoxed by this so I told her there was another machine on the other side for which she was quite grateful.

We were very glad we hadn’t gone full or half board if this was the service in the restaurant. We asked some older guests that we met who were staying on a half board basis how the food was in the evening and they said they wished they hadn’t bothered as the restaurants nearby offered far better food and service and value for money.

THE POOL/OTHER FACILITIES

I have to admit that we loved the main pool area in the hotel, you could literally walk into the pool as the outer edges were sloping inwards and carry on walking till you found your comfort zone (which is great for non-swimmers like myself).

There were ample deck chairs around the pool which you could help yourself to. There was a lifeguard on hand at all times and he pretty much left the guests to it aside from asking a few people who seemed rather drunk not to dive into the pool – they didn’t seem too happy being told not to dive but we could see that he was only telling them not to dive for their own safety.

The pool was open till 8pm in the evenings and the pool bar was open till midnight although we only bought drinks from the bar whilst we were using the pool during the day. I felt the bar was very expensive – half a lager and a spirit and mixer came to 8 Euros which I thought was extortionate compared to the prices in the bars right outside the hotel. The bar staff here were just marginally more polite than anywhere else in the hotel but oh what a chore it was to get anyone to crack even half a smile!

There were two pool tables available near the main pool but we didn’t see anyone using these during our stay.

We went exploring from the main pool and found 2 other pools on a lower level, one of which seemed to be a children’s pool next to which was a children’s play area, and another pool which could almost be classed as an indoor pool near which was a gym of sorts. This gym consisted of a couple of treadmills, a stepper and a couple of unicycles. We didn’t see anyone using any of the equipment here. There was also a ping pong table near the indoor pool. By the indoor pool there was also a sauna room although it was locked.

There was a games room with lots of tables and chairs for which we couldn’t figure out what sort of games people would play. There were a few arcade games machines here too including a driving game.

We noticed various vending machines dotted around the hotel, there seemed to be a water vending machine on each floor, small bottles of water were available for 1.80 Euros which was rather dear considering there was several late opening supermarkets within 5 yards of the hotel selling large bottles for 1 Euro or less. In reception there was also a cigarette vending machine and a snacks vending machine.

CHECK OUT

The check out process was very easy. We just handed our keys in, we weren’t asked if we’d had a nice stay or if there were any problems so we didn’t volunteer our thoughts, I knew I’d be writing a detailed review on my return home to share with other potential guests what I thought of the hotel.

POSITIVES

• Comfortable beds (if you can sleep through the noise)
• Swimming pool area
• Decent shower
• Very close to local amenities such as supermarkets, restaurants, pubs and clubs

NEGATIVES

• Lack of customer service
• No information available in the rooms about the hotel’s facilities
• Disgusting stuff on the floor under the bed!
• No sound-proofing in the rooms whatsoever

OVERALL

Overall I’d rate the hotel with a 1 out of 5 and that’s pretty much just for the swimming pool area. The customer service was dire, the beds might have been comfortable but I didn’t get any real sleep in them due to the noise, room service was non-existent and, well, spotting a condom under the bed does not give one faith in the cleaning service either!

If I was 20 years younger and could manage a holiday without ANY decent sleep my rating might have been a few stars higher but as it stands, it wasn’t what I’d booked and I certainly would not stay at the TRH Palmanova again. During our evenings out we met people who were staying at the TRH Torrenova down the road away from the main nightlife area (where we were supposed to be booked in) and we felt very jealous of them having sea views with their rooms and the fact that they actually got some sleep at night.

Various websites say the hotel is suitable for couples as well as young people but personally speaking I wouldn’t recommend any couples staying here!

HOTEL INFO

The hotel is 15 minutes away from the city of Palma de Mallorca and around 20km from the airport. The beach is a five minute walk away. There’s a SPAR supermarket right next door and a plethora of restaurants, bars and shops just moments away.

Address:
TRH Palmanova Mallorca
Martin Ros Garcia, 15
07181 Palmanova
Mallorca
Tel: 0034 971 682 978
Email: recap.pnova@trhhoteles.com
Url: http://www.trhhoteles.com/en/hotels/holi​days/hotel-trh-palmanova-mallorca/hotel-​palmanova.html

Prices from 26 Euros per night per apartment with approximately 200 apartments in the hotel.

NB: despite the issues we had with the hotel we did manage to enjoy the rest of our holiday, the nearby beach was lovely as well as the local bars and restaurants and we met some lovely people out there too!