Hard Rock Hotel Marbella

Here at the moment as a supposed VIP with 2 kids. Whilst some aspects are great: the live music by the pool, family rooms have 2 toilets & breakfast is good. What I can’t get over is the ridiculousness of having all the Bali beds round the pool reserved for day visitors or those wanting to spend €250/day on alcohol whilst there isn’t any sunloungers for paying guests. Everyday there’s about ten reserved empty Bali beds.
As a “VIP” we were entitled to a day “free” to a Bali bed but on the day we booked we were told the booking hadn’t been made correctly and four different staff just passed us from pillar to post then said we could all share one for a few hours (there isn’t room for 4 so we let our kids sit in it for an hour before they wanted to be with us)….. 2 days in a row we ve had no where to sit. Today, the only sunloungers left have no brolly and are right next to a group smoking cigars. The other major floor is that go get to puerto banus you have to walk through a long dark underground passage which accommodates homeless men so there are articles scattered around the floor (along with urine).
Lastly, there are of course lots of hen/stag parties which is fine but they sit round the pools all day swearing loudly, smoking and generally being inappropriate for kids.
It’s a real shame the hotel don’t control these negative aspects as it’s simply impossible for a family with kids to find this acceptable. This was our family summer holiday and it’s definitely ruined our experience: we won’t ever come back. Also to add it’s September now so i can only assume it would be busier in July/aug.

Serious security concerns – extremely disappointing response from management

We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel Marbella from 13th–16th July for my wife’s 40th birthday.

On 16th July we checked out around 11:45am–12:00pm and then sat by the pool. Shortly afterwards my wife received bank alerts showing her card was being used fraudulently.

We immediately went to the information desk and were told to return to our room. The safe was open and our belongings were missing. At reception my wife purse and approximately £400 cash were returned. When my wife checked the purse her physical bank card was missing.

The card had been inside the purse, secured in the safe, for our entire stay and had never been used by my wife. The only transaction she made during the trip was using her mobile phone. The fraudulent transactions occurred shortly after checkout, between approximately 12:46pm and 12:54pm.

We repeatedly asked management to investigate the room access records, safe access logs, CCTV and housekeeping records. Unfortunately, when we raised this with management, we felt our concerns were dismissed. The response was largely to defend the staff and assure us that they were trusted, rather than provide answers to the questions we were asking.

After numerous emails, we were told everything had been reviewed and there was no evidence of staff involvement, but our specific questions were never properly answered. We were never accusing anyone. We simply wanted to understand how a card that had remained secured inside the safe throughout our stay could be there when we left the room, but missing when we returned, and then be used fraudulently shortly afterwards.

We will never stay at Hard Rock Hotel Marbella again. What should have been a special celebration has left us extremely disappointed and seriously concerned about the security of guests belongings and, most importantly, how this incident was handled by management.