Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort and Thalasso Hotel

We had a pool-view double room with everything we needed, and the service was good and professional. The site itself is lovely, with great architecture, style and gardens, which I think are the best in the area. Breakfast was great and the buffet food was good quality with plenty of choice. There are several bars, and the entertainment was decent for that time of year. The corridors echoed and could be noisy, but not enough to make me complain. We booked half board through jet 2 and would definitely stay again.

The room was big, clean and quiet, with a comfortable bed and a well-kept bathroom with both a bath and shower. We got clean towels each day and had tea and coffee facilities and a minibar. The location works well for the beach, facilities and public transport. My one small irritation was that there was no phone charging socket by the headboard, so my phone had to charge far from the bed overnight. That's minor, but it's why I gave four stars.

Josieu in customer relations was amazing and helped us get a car to go to Tejeda. The family activities like darts and tennis were good, but the kids' club needs longer hours. We were told a sister resort had more for children. The resort seems to need more than six customer relations people for 1,000 guests. Staff are trying, I suppose, but didn't seem trained to a five-star level. We got lost, and when we asked where the restaurants or a particular building were, staff said they didn't know. We were told we couldn't take our own snacks in, couldn't take coffee outside, and shouldn't take a banana from the buffet. My partial ocean view was mostly trees and set far back. Breakfast was disappointing: broccoli seemed overcooked by about 30 minutes and had no flavor, there was very little salad, and the tomatoes were so unripe I couldn't eat them. No granola, watery porridge, and eggs cooked for 10 minutes looked worryingly raw; even the 12-minute egg had a strange texture. In my longer review I also said other guests were unhappy with the food and lack of service, including being told I couldn't sit and eat my own snacks. If you only want to sit by the pool, don't mind not having an ocean view, and are fine with service that felt more like a three-star resort, you could try it. I also said the system seemed to prevent medium or bad reviews from being posted, while five-star reviews went through without a problem and two-star ones had problems.

The resort itself is attractive and has a great atmosphere. Pool staff were knowledgeable, and the breakfast team did a good job. But the dining service was inconsistent and left me disappointed for a place of this caliber. As a celiac traveler, I found it frustratingly hard to get suitable food: labels didn't clearly list allergens, and staff couldn't help me. At dinner on January 22nd, staff said I hadn't ordered a gluten-free meal, even though I could see my order and room number on their list in front of them. Some servers were unfriendly, unhelpful and close to rude, far from the smooth hospitality I'd expected. I'd skip the dinner upsell. Nearby restaurants had much better food and service. Overall it was a good stay, but those service gaps let me down.