htop Pineda Palace & SPA 4Sup #htopBliss

I've booked an all inclusive 7 night holiday at Htop Pineda Palace, in early September and overall my experience was ok.

Positive aspects:

- LARGE VARIETY OF FOOD. If you book an all inclusive stay, expect to get a lot of food at this hotel. They serve all three meals here and you will definitely have plenty of variety to choose from. Breakfast is always the same, with slight changes in the hot buffet, but lunch and dinner are always different and delicious. They have a salad bar, fruit bar, dessert bar and even a corner where they serve diet food. I've really appreciated that they sign posted every item of food, so if you're a celiac, you know which items are suitable to eat. Worth mentioning are the hot tapas, which are mostly consisting of seafood but they also have chicken, beef, rabbit etc.

- HARD-WORKING AND HELPFUL WAITING STAFF. I really appreciated the great effort the catering team had to make to accomodate such large numbers of people, every day, during meal time. Even though the restaurant can't accomodate a fully booked hotel, the staff work quite hard and efficient to clean the tables and to make room for new clients. During dinner there is always a queue outside the restaurant but it usually takes 5-10 minutes to get in. Also, kudos to the lovely live chefs who cook in front of the clients, always with a smile on their face and greeting everyone. They truly make a difference! And one last mention is Jose, from the bar. He's a remarkable guy who despite being so hard-working, is also very polite, friendly and accomodating in every way. Thank you for making my experience better, Jose!

- PROXIMITY TO THE BEACH. another positive aspect of this hotel is its proximity to the beach. It takes 2 minutes to cross the street and get straight to the beach.

- SHOWER AND BATH TUBE IN THE ROOM. I loved that the rooms had both a shower cabin and a bath tube. Very handy to take a shower when you're on the run, and also use the bath tube when you just want to soak and relax.

- BIG BALCONY - Not a big fan of balconies, but this one was equipped witb rails to dry the towels/bathing suits, which was wuite handy. Also, I didn't had the chance to a balcony facing the sea, but the back of the hotel.

Negative aspects:

- CARDBOARD WALLS. My no. 1 negative aspect is clearly the soundproofing of the room. I had the misfortune to be in a room which had neighbours on the top, left and right side at the same time and I could clearly hear every noise coming from their rooms. Please don't forget to bring your earbuds, otherwise is hard to survive.

- EMPTY MINI-FRIDGE. Although in a 4* hotel you would expect it to have at least a few drinks.

- ALL INCLUSIVE IS NOT ALL INCLUSIVE. The all inclusive bracelet doesn't get you everything for free. At the bar you have a few drinks that are free but you still have to pay for others.

-NO SHOWER GEL IN THE SHOWER CABIN. You can find shower gel only in the bath tube, so if you're planning to take a shower, you'll have to bring your own shower gel or soap unless you want to jump in the tube to get some.

- TOURIST TAX AND NO BILL TO KEEP. They charge a local tourist tax of 2.5 euro/night but they don't offer you the bill. They show it to you so you can pay, but in the end they keep it to themselves. Not sure if we're talking about some tax evasion or not, but i can certainly say they did the same with all the people from my group.

- POOR BREAKFAST FOR CELIACS. Very few options for celiacs at breakfast but plenty of sugary and pasrty for non-celiacs. Also quite a lot of cheap quality sliced cheese and salami/ham.

-MEDIOCRE PICNICS. 3 out of 7 days I've requested a gluten free lunch to go (picnic) which consisted of: a box with 2 slices of cheese + 2 slices of ham, 2 gluten free mini-baguetts, 1 apple, 1 orange, 1 still water and cutlery. If you're skipping lunch and have to order picnics, go to the reception and ask them for it, but definitely recommend to mention you want a sandwich. Also, if you want a decent sandwich, ask for veggies as well! They don't put any by default

Very good location, near the station and near the beach, and near the city center. Cleaning staff and other staff was very friendly. The rest was not good. Small rooms and mold in the showers. Breakfast was always the same. Pool was dirty. Animation was mid. When you have a room with view on the sea you have a lot of noise of trains ( they always honk really loud).

We requested a sea view twin room, and that’s exactly what we received the view was beautiful so close to the sea. The Rooms were spacious and comfortable. Overall a very old hotel with friendly staff.
The food was unfortunately not that great for the price, very basic.
Pineda de mar is a beautiful area, however very little to do, small amount of bars with lively music. Could have depended on the time of year. However one bar right next door had amazing staff, drinks and food!!
You have to travel elsewhere for activities.
Barcelona easy to travel too which was really good.