Grifid Arabella Hotel - Ultra All inclusive & Aquapark

Very comfortable 4-star hotel. I made a mistake by choosing it for the location instead of checking the clientele. It's a good family hotel with lots of families here and very loud animation, 2 pools, 3 restaurants, snack bar, lobby bar and disco (even small kids in the disco along with loud, half-naked men at midnight!). Staff coped well though, always friendly and helpful throughout the hotel. Not mentioned were the approx 100 steps down/up to the beach/promenade. All not so welcome for a single 70 year-old! Very positive was the quality, range of foods in the restaurants, the service, the room size, seaview (in the front) and a special thanks to the housekeeping staff who made me feel very welcome. Probably quieter in the off-season. Should have chosen another Grifid Hotel like the Elcanto (adults only, on the beach, quieter) - my fault! Still, enjoyed the stay in a good quality hotel.

This is a very nice hotel that's located a very short walk from the Golden Sands beach. Our room (439) was clean and had a great view of the hotel courtyard and the sea. If you want a great view of the sunrise, the view from this room is a great one. On the balcony, there was an extendable clothes drying rack, so there was no struggle to figure out where to hang our wet swimsuits and towels. Security is also good. The room doors operated on card locks and there was a small safe in our room. The safe was not big enough to put a laptop computer in, but certainly big eough for mobile phones and smaller tablet sized mobile devices. All the staff were friendly and attentive and all areas of the hotel were clean and well organised. The offer of food at all meals was very wide, it really was difficult sometimes to decide what to eat. All food was freshly prepared and presented in a self-serve style. The wellness section of the hotel was also very nice and we got very good back massages there. The hotel has three small swimming pools, two outside and one indoors. As good as this hotel is, there are areas it could improve: The main way to get to the beach is through a gate at the back of the hotel property. There is a large, steep set of stairs to go down from the gate to the road that leads to the beach. If you have mobility issues, you may need to find a different way to the beach. The three swimming pools at the hotel all keep the same operating hours, it would be nice if one of them could open later and stay open later than the others. Noise from activities going on in the hotel courtyard is a big obstacle to sleep if you have a room that faces that way. Every night, there was some organized activity going on until late in the evening. Even closing our room window didn't block the noise. Perhaps the hotel could consider putting sound proof windows on the rooms that face the courtyard.

Hotel room is very spacious (incl. the bathroom). Beds were comfy and special softer pilows were offered upon request. Minibar with daily free water, soft drinks and beer. Good free wifi connection. Good Extensive breakfast, Lunch & Dinner in buffet form. Highlight: A la carte Asian restaurant! Friendly staff but with the exception of the front desk it’s very hard to communicate with them due to language barriers. The entertainment team of FRAM is mainly focussed on French hotel guests and play very loud music through out the day (about 85% were French elderly people). Pro: 100 m walk from the hotel beach area with free sunbeds & parasols but nearby beach bars/clubs a la Ballerman produce an annoying bass drum beat until the late evening. High

Pros: + very tasty food, + nice and helpful staff, + clean and spacious room with plenty of storage space. Good soundproofing and sunproofing. + we arrived as a couple with no kids and fully aware this was a family friendly hotel. Still, there were a lot of fun thing to do like tennis, football, billard + we actually liked the fact that you had to walk some distance to the beach. Thanks to that the hotel feels more homey and like a safe space separated from the kitsch of the promenade Cons: - even the largest pool was on the smaller side, in peek times it was difficult to swim normally. Pool floaties and jumping into the pool are forbidden but only in theory so the not that big pool is filled with floaties and also be prepared to be splashed a lot by jumping kids. - SMOKERS EVERYWHERE the open area was filled with people smoking the absolutely most smelling cheap cigarettes and you couldn't escape the stench. Even worse when you're stuck on a sunbed next to a smoker. - poor AC in the common spaces, there's no difference between eating outside or inside, it's that hot. Hellish heat in the downstairs club, probably why it was always half-empty Overall, we had a good experience (especially the food), I wouldn't come here again but could imagine that people with kids may really like this hotel