Hotel Son Vilar

We went for my birthday, just me and my boyfriend. It was a really calm, relaxing stay. The hotel wasn’t busy, so we got to have a morning swim in the rooftop pool. Very relaxing.

We were glad it was only one night. The room stayed warm and dark because none of the lights worked apart from the bathroom, and the air conditioning was incredibly loud. The room codes also felt easy to guess, so the rooms didn’t seem secure. There was never anyone at reception, and we had to call each time to get someone. When staff did show up, they were friendly, and the hotel was clean.

The location worked well for us, within walking distance of the port of Mahon and Es Castell. Check-in, though, took far too long. The app or whatever system they use wasn’t working, and the person checking us in seemed to be having a hard time with it. Other places we stayed got us through the process much faster. 2/10 for check-in, 8/10 for location. We stayed for over a week. It felt more like a hostel with private rooms and cleaning than a hotel, and we wouldn’t choose to return, even though our stay wasn’t bad overall. The place was clean, and the cleaning staff were lovely, friendly and helpful. We didn’t meet any other staff, and there wasn’t even a receptionist. 10/10 for the people we met. Our room was small, with too few hooks and not enough room for towels in the bathroom. The beds were okay, but not especially comfortable, and queen-sized. The mini fridge warmed up on both the lowest and highest settings, and only got cold on medium, so our food spoiled. We liked the large mirror. The TV was good, but there were only 20 Spanish channels, so we were glad we’d packed an HDMI cable. Light also came in under and around the door at night. The rooms themselves were very clean, though the shower seal had some black patches, there was no toilet brush, and the cleaning fluid smelled like vinegar. 5/10 for the room, 6/10 for cleaning, not because of the staff. The pool looked nice, though we didn’t use it. There wasn’t a bar, breakfast or anything else in the way of facilities. The Wi-Fi was good. 3/10 for facilities. The room codes were ridiculous. Once you know one, you know them all. We won’t put the code here, but security gets 1/10. After we left, customer service was very poor. There were two dead, squashed cockroaches in the downstairs common room for several days, and we saw another in the hallway. I came home with bites I suspected might be from bedbugs. I only realized after leaving that they seemed more like bedbug bites than mosquito bites, so I hadn’t checked the room. I can’t conclusively link the bites to the hotel. We contacted them after our stay and sent photos of the cockroaches. They said cockroaches can sometimes “filter out of the street door because of the heat.” About the possibility of bedbugs, they said they carry out regular checks and had reviewed their history and comments, which were all positive. What bothered me was that they didn’t say they’d check the room right away. We expected some attempt to address it, rather than the sense that nobody else had complained, so everything must be fine and they could wait for the next inspection. By that logic, bedbugs could never appear for the first time if previous guests hadn’t had a problem. I know hotels sometimes offer compensation even for cockroaches in shared areas. I prefer to contact a business about fixable problems before posting a bad review, since reviews can have a big effect. But good customer service and dealing with problems matter, and even “just” cockroaches aren’t normal.

Lady Caty was the best part of the stay. She helped me by phone and was so professional, kind and efficient that she could make a one-star hotel sound like a five-star one. The self check-in was easy, and getting there was simple too. My room was beautiful, modern and spotless, with a small fridge that came in handy for keeping my Mahón cheese. Thanks so much for the great service, and please keep it up!