Marina

Just had a brilliant week in Marina Resort and we are an older couple. We had a Joy room on the ground floor (no balcony) but found it to be great. We were then lucky enough to spend 2 nights in an Ultimate Room on the 18th floor and it was fantastic, will definitely book again. The hotel is spotless. The staff have been so helpful (Mar on reception). Security Guards also great.

Second time staying here. The location is fantastic if you want to be near the strip, the hotel itself is lovely, and obviously the pool/pool party is a massive selling point.

However, the one thing that really lets this hotel down for me is how they treat the guests. At times it feels less like a hotel in Benidorm and more like an open prison with a very nice swimming pool.

I stayed over the Bank Holiday weekend with my Mrs. I’m 40 years old, but somehow spent most of the weekend feeling like I was on a school trip with particularly strict teachers.

You can’t bring friends back to the hotel during the day, there are full-on security guards stationed at the entrances, and at one point I came back with a plastic carrier bag containing crisps and water and actually had my bag searched. The reason? “I was checking there was no alcohol.”

I’ve stayed in plenty of hotels over the years, but I can honestly say I’ve never been searched on the way to my room in case I’ve smuggled in a bottle of alcohol. I’m in Benidorm — I don’t think wanting a drink on the balcony while getting ready for the night is particularly outrageous behaviour.

The highlight came when we got back at around 1am and I was told I couldn’t take my cheesy chips up to the room. Apparently the chips represented too much of a security threat and had to remain downstairs. My alternative was room service: around €15 for a club sandwich plus another €6 surcharge. At that point I half expected the cheesy chips to be confiscated and placed into an evidence bag.

And that’s really the problem with the hotel. The relaxed atmosphere you expect on holiday just isn’t there. There seems to be far too much focus on rules, security and catching people bringing food or drink into the hotel.

I completely understand not wanting big groups bringing random people back at 1–2am, or having people who aren’t staying at the hotel sleeping in rooms. That’s perfectly reasonable. But when I’m there with my Mrs, getting a bag of crisps searched for contraband alcohol and being refused entry to my room with cheesy chips, I think things have gone a little too far.

The lifts are another story. There are four of them, but getting one can feel like entering a lottery. We were on the 14th floor and regularly waited around five minutes just to get up or down. One of the lifts also seems to believe two adults constitute maximum capacity, with the weight warning appearing despite being nowhere near the stated limit.

Overall, it’s actually a good hotel. Great location, lovely pool, decent food although quite pricey, and it has everything needed to be an amazing place to stay.

They talk a lot about the hotel’s “vibe”, and I think that’s exactly what needs improving. Relax the rules a little, let adults feel like adults and remember where you are — you’re a hotel on the strip in Benidorm, not HMP Benidorm.