Hotel Riu Chiclana - All Inclusive

The staff were outstanding, and the property itself is beautiful. Cleanliness was excellent apart from the two bathrooms and cigarette butts scattered around the grounds and pool chairs. But I wouldn’t return. The hotel seems to put money ahead of everything else, and I’ve advised others to avoid it. The biggest issue for me was smoking. There were smokers all over the patios, balconies and terraces, and the RIU Party was just as bad. Second-hand smoke is harmful too, and non-smokers shouldn’t have to breathe it in. I go to the beach for fresh ocean air, not cigarette smoke. The hotel says it can’t control individual guests despite the rules and laws, but security patrols the grounds and doesn’t seem to intervene. There should be no-smoking signs. The hotel might lose some smokers, but I think it could attract more non-smokers. It’s sad to see people smoking in Spain. It will damage their skin and voices and make them age faster. Smokers get annoyed when someone asks them not to smoke, but it isn’t personal. Please look into the harms of smoking. This is an all-inclusive hotel, with drink stations around the property serving tap water, coffee, soda, cheap beer and wine all day. It’s a good idea, but hard to keep clean. Cups and glasses were often dirty, and I saw bees, roaches and ants around the stations. The large dining and entertainment area had only two restrooms for thousands of people, so they got dirty quickly. Food quality was low, there wasn’t much choice, and the food area felt too small for the number of diners. The entertainment needs work. The Flamenco show was weak, and the singer’s scratchy voice sounded more like shouting into the microphone. People left because it hurt their ears. Other shows were mostly for very young kids, and there was no mini disco. Resorts in Majorca have mini discos followed by adult entertainment. The kids’ pool and indoor facilities were also geared toward very young children, with little for ages 10 to 14. The RIU Party was fun, but it only happened one night a week, and the smoking there was out of control. The hotel also sells day passes, despite already being overcrowded. That doesn’t seem fair to people paying thousands of dollars to stay overnight for several days. I understand money matters, but is it all that matters here? The hotel is lovely to look at, but I don’t plan to return.

Getting to the beach was easy, but there wasn’t much to do within a 30-minute drive beyond the hotel. We went outside the summer holidays hoping to avoid crowds, yet the place was huge and very busy. We arrived with a lot of other guests on the transfer, and our room wasn’t ready for about an hour. We’d been up since 3 a.m. with our 2-year-old, who needed a nap, and we needed things from our suitcases. That wait was rough, especially when the transfer and guest numbers were planned. The hotel says it’s family-friendly, but it didn’t really feel that way for us. There were two kids’ pools for different ages, but the restaurant meal times were awkward: the main restaurant served lunch at 1 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m., while the other three restaurants started about half an hour later. The kids’ show began at 8:15 p.m., which might suit older children but was too late for our toddler. Music and shows went on until around midnight most nights. Even though they knew we had a toddler, they put us in the building closest to the entertainment. We could hear the music and feel the bass until midnight, and it woke our son several times. Our room was okay, but there were only two electrical sockets in the whole family room. We were on the ground floor and found ants everywhere. Reception sent a cleaner, who got rid of them for a few hours before they came back. The room wasn’t soundproof, so we heard the very loud people upstairs running around late at night. At about 7 a.m., staff cut the grass outside our room, covering things we’d left on the terrace to dry with grass clippings and waking us up. Food was okay, but labels often didn’t match the dishes. Our son is dairy intolerant, and when labels were missing or wrong, staff usually couldn’t tell us what was in the food.

The price felt well worth it, and the gym was nice. The room was pleasant too, though much too hot and humid. Apart from that, the hotel was perfect.

The food got repetitive, and our child was struggling with it by the end. There was some variety, but they reused leftovers from the previous day in new dishes, and anything that seemed different ran out quickly. We tried to book the other restaurants as advised, but they were all full through our departure. We arrived on Monday and later found out only one restaurant besides the main buffet had opened. I don’t know how or when anyone managed to book. For children under four, there were hardly any activities. The hotel advertises itself as family-friendly, but the kids’ and splash pools seemed neglected compared with the other pools. The soft drinks and coffee machines in that area didn’t work. The soft play was for children over two; our younger child, who was already walking, had nowhere suitable to go except a tiny, dirty, moth-filled corner with no gate and three broken rocking toys. The floor around it was uneven and damaged, and my child fell several times. The only kids’ entertainment started at 8 p.m., too late for younger ones, and the same songs played every day. Wi-Fi failed for half of our stay. Reception didn’t seem surprised when we told them and did nothing to fix it. We had to pay for extra roaming data we hadn’t budgeted for. At checkout, they also tried to charge €5 for a replacement password we’d asked for after two days without internet, though the new password didn’t work either. At check-in, nobody told us towel service closed at 6 p.m. We took our time going to the room, then went to eat because our child was hungry, so we couldn’t use the pools on the first day, even though it was still about 30°C at closing. Reception said we could exchange towels anytime and as often as we liked, but the kiosk closed at lunchtime and limited swaps to one per day. Maybe that works for people who get sun on their balconies. We had damp towels and swimsuits for our whole stay. Many of the towels and sun loungers were frayed or broken. The rooms were large enough for a travel cot, but our bathroom had flies because of the damp. The shower leaked somewhere, and we got hand soap but no shampoo. We left disappointed and made a formal complaint to the hotel. They didn’t seem to care and told us to take it up with Booking because that’s who we’d booked through. I don’t see what Booking has to do with the state of the facilities.