Barceló Punta Umbria Beach Resort

I've stayed there a couple of times. The room and facilities are nice, and I love their mattress and bed linen! 🤩 The breakfast buffet is okay, but their lavazza coffee machine is one of the worst I've ever tried. 😖 My room was missing a chair. I asked three times and they kept forgetting to bring one, which was pretty bad.

The grounds are enormous, almost like a little town, with lovely pools and plenty of local people staying there. The bar staff, security, and cleaners we dealt with were especially kind and helpful. The dining room was a different story. Breakfast and dinner were bland, and dinner only included water, not soft drinks. When I brought an iced tea with me, a waiter tried to tell me off, but backed down when I asked her to explain in English and she couldn't. Staff watched the drinks machines so closely it felt like nobody was allowed to take a soda. I'd eat somewhere else. Reception was the worst part. They were arrogant and ignored straightforward requests, including asking for a bath plug and a do not disturb sign. I rarely encounter that attitude in Spain. I wouldn't stay here again.

We came hoping to rest, but the noise made that impossible. Kids were screaming at all hours, and music was still blaring at midnight with no security in sight. Dinner runs until 11, then everyone heads back across the resort making even more noise. The place is basically one long covered corridor, so you hear everything. The food was terrible too, and security seemed like a joke. A really disappointing stay.

The pool area was lovely, and we spent most days relaxing there. The hotel was also clean and well kept for a place of this size. We saw staff tidying the bar, restaurant, and pool areas regularly. Even so, we wouldn't come back or recommend it, mainly because it felt so remote and we often didn't feel included. We stayed six nights all-inclusive. The first room had stained bedding, a bad bathroom smell, and pictures hanging loose, so we asked to move. The next room was much better and cleaner. Its air conditioning worked, it was cleaned daily, and the towels and bedding were changed. The room was a decent size for two, though the view was mostly a lit-up Burger King sign and a couple of souvenir shops. Breakfast was easily the best meal, with plenty of choice: cereal, fruit, toast, cooked options, pastries, doughnuts, biscuits, and hot and cold drinks. Lunch and dinner were repetitive, with few main dishes, and most desserts weren't very appealing. We quickly got tired of pizza and ice cream. Dinner didn't start before 8, with another sitting at 9. Snacks during the day were mostly plain crisps, nuts, and stale sandwiches, though there were drinks available all day. There was hardly any evening entertainment apart from bingo around 10:30 every night. It seemed aimed mostly at Spanish guests, and we and another English couple felt out of place. When we asked at reception about entertainment, the receptionist pointed to a speaker playing outside and some flashing lights and said, "music." That wasn't what we had in mind. We were surprised by how little English was spoken. Some receptionists and bar staff wouldn't speak English, and those who did knew very little. Some staff were abrupt, too. At checkout, the receptionist just said "okay," without asking about our stay, thanking us, or wishing us a safe journey. Maybe it was the language barrier, maybe rudeness, or both. The location is very remote. We couldn't find decent bars, pubs, or restaurants nearby, and the town part of Punta Umbría had little beyond souvenir shops. One day we went to Holea shopping centre in Huelva, which was good and had plenty of familiar shops.