Pino Alto

We won’t return to Pino Alto. We’d been coming every summer since 2011, usually for up to two weeks, and our last visit was in 2019, before COVID and before the hotel was sold to Medplaya. Even back in 2011, the hotel needed renovation, but its location and excellent service made us overlook the old furniture and worn floors. Now the location is the only reason we’d consider coming back. The service is gone. The restaurant is chaotic and noisy, like a factory canteen, with too few waiters who are often poorly trained and overloaded. Guests have to get their own food, drinks, salt and pepper. There are no condiments on the tables, just little plastic bags somewhere in the restaurant. The plates, cups, spoons and other dishes are in short supply, and about 90% are old, chipped or broken. They’re also dirty and wet, often spotted or with food residue. The dishwashers seem outdated, and apparently run for too short a time because there aren’t enough dishes. In the past, we could order water or wine and have it brought to the table, opened and poured. That table service is gone. The food selection has shrunk a lot since before Medplaya. There used to be a good range of muesli, cereals and yogurts, but during our last three days there wasn’t even plain yogurt, only two or three very sweet flavored kinds. Fresh juice is gone too, replaced with powdered mix. The food itself has declined, with mostly cheap canned items and some vegetables cooked with so much iodized salt that they taste like iodine. Butter, jam, honey and some cookies are individually packed in small plastic bags, apparently to preserve the environment, and are the cheapest kind. The ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard come from large dispensers, like in a cheap street café or train station. Industrial jam and Nutella come from large, dirty dispensers. The coffee and tea machines are strange and slow, sometimes dripping leftover coffee or cocoa into the next cup. You may need two or three cups before getting one with only hot water. The black mildew spots inside our room’s air conditioner were another problem. On the second day, we spoke with manager Veronica. She said she didn’t know about the dirty, wet dishes or that the staff were overloaded and not skilled enough, and seemed genuinely surprised. First they offered a refund if we left the hotel, with no penalty. We weren’t happy with that, and later they upgraded our all-inclusive plan to all-inclusive premium. In theory, it offered more alcohol choices at the bar, but some of those were sold out when we tried to order. It also let us order better wine in the restaurant instead of the cheapest option. The children’s mini disco that used to happen every evening is gone, and there are no animators anymore. The shows from previous years seem to have been considered too expensive, so they’re gone as well. They’ve also removed the public shower next to the swimming pool. Medplaya’s management motto seems to be “Save, save, save,” by any means. The old guests who returned year after year are gone too. It’s a pity, because we loved staying here before.

The room we were given was the wrong one, a tiny downgrade for all four of us even though we’d paid in advance. We got no apology. The place was so badly run that nobody seemed available to help: reception, the bar and restaurant were either short staffed or empty, and when we asked for the manager, we were told it was their day off, every day, and that we’d have to wait and see if they came in. There was no manager on shift. Dirt, stains, rubbish and cigarette butts were all over the place. The bar, squash courts, gym and indoor pool were locked or closed, so we couldn’t use them. Queues were everywhere. We had more than 30 stairs to carry all our luggage, with no help, and the lift was broken. Loud music went on until 11 pm, making it a nightmare to get the children to sleep. I never write reviews, but this experience can’t go unmentioned. It was one of the worst stays you could expect, and I’m genuinely shocked this is called a four-star hotel. I wouldn’t give it three. Faulty Towers would be a generous description of what we went through. After we kept complaining, they gave us a small refund at checkout, a token amount that should have been much more.

The hotel is just a two-minute walk from the beach, but the rooms are small and unclean. They didn’t provide towels, so we had to buy some before using the pool or taking a shower.

A good choice for a weekend. The location is lovely and peaceful, among local houses, and Cristal beach is about a reasonable five-minute walk away. It’s also near Hospitalet and Miami platja. There’s plenty of free parking across the street, as well as parking inside for €6 a night. The pool is lovely, with lots of hamacas in the garden, and both the entertainment club and poolside bar are well run.