Sightsee11998810284
September 11, 2024
Just returned from my first stay at the Rio Park with my family. Pros: -Hotel clean -Comfortable and spacious room (junior suite). Unfortunately, there were marks on the wall from previous guests. However, the air con worked well and the shower pressure was good. Nice touch with welcome drinks in fridge on arrival, bathrobes, pool towels, and slippers -Good breakfast selection. Full english, continental, cereals, fruit, bread, pastries, cakes etc -Most staff friendly and helpful -Bar prices relatively reasonable. 8.10 € for a litre jug of Sangria. 3 € for a pint of San Miguel, but this was often flat -Decent snack bar poolside which serves burgers, toasties, pizzas etc. all of which were reasonably priced -Nice bar nearby ‘Wooky Hollow II’, who do a decent pint of Madri and a nice Sunday lunch served everyday Cons: -Long queues for check-in when we arrived. Took over half an hour to get to the front, plus rude people kept pushing in. On the plus side, at least our room was ready -Location. The hotel is on what is called the ‘yellow brick road’ which didn’t seem to have a good feel about it. Apparently someone was mugged outside the hotel while we were there, plus some dodgy characters hanging about often begging for money. We didn’t walk down there after dark as we didn’t feel safe. The hotel is situated in a quiet area of Benidorm and is quite a walk to the beach (not good for people with walking difficulties as on a slight incline). Some supermarkets nearby, but was expensive. Taxis expensive (9€ into the old town, 7€ from the indoor market for three of us) -Food selection in restaurant wasn’t great. Sometimes it was very difficult to make a meal with what was there. Fussy eaters will struggle here in my opinion. Chinese/Oriental night was good though -Staff sometimes very slow to clear tables due to the amount of people in the hotel (hotel was rammed) -Be careful when you use the sauce dispenser in the restaurant! When the problem was raised with the restaurant manager, he didn’t seem to care about guests getting the dregs of tomato ketchup all over their shirts, because of the air inside the dispenser. Instead of apologising, he chose to blame it on the guests, but he did say he’ll ‘change the system’. Hopefully the hotel will take note of this going forward and make improvements -Often long queues for the restaurant for the first sitting and at the bar -Some entertainment wasn’t good -Lifts sometimes slow and random, but didn’t appear to be a big problem for us (we were on the fifth floor). However, it could be for those staying on higher floors, especially those with reduced mobility -Some clientele noisy, rude and scruffy (no fault of the hotel though) Sadly, we won’t be returning as there were just too many negatives for us to consider a return visit or even another visit to Benidorm. The hotel and location was just not for us, and unfortunately, Benidorm has changed drastically since our last visit six years ago, and not for the bet