Sol Principe

I’ve just returned from a 7-night stay at Sol Principe Hotel with a family group of 14. Overall, I would rate this hotel 3 stars maximum. There are definitely some positives, but unfortunately there were also several things that let the hotel down.

Staff & service I didn’t have a huge amount of interaction with the hotel staff during my stay, but unfortunately, when I did, it wasn’t particularly pleasant.

On 30th August, I had an issue with a member of staff named Elizabeth, who was working in the lunch area. I was supervising the all-inclusive children and helping them get their lunches. One of the children in our group is only 3 years old and wasn’t able to reach the tables where the food was being served.

I raised the situation with hotel management and they apologised on Elizabeth’s behalf and they are aware of the circumstances of complaint and I did mention I would leave it in the review, and left it there, but I feel Elizabeth needs to understand that guests are paying a significant amount of money to stay at the hotel, whether they are all-inclusive or not, and the way I was spoken to was completely unacceptable. Unfortunately, it really put a downer on what was otherwise the last day of our holiday.

Pools The pools were one of the highlights of the hotel. We spent a lot of time around the pool area and had no problems getting sunbeds, even with such a large group.

Large toys and inflatables aren’t allowed in the pools. While this may disappoint some people, I actually think it can be a positive as it means you can properly swim without lots of people taking up the pool with large inflatable loungers.

The lifeguards also appeared to keep a good eye on the pools at all times, which was reassuring with children in our group.

Food I personally only ate in the hotel restaurant once and wasn’t particularly impressed with the food. For me, the biggest issue was how some of it was cooked — I found certain food to be undercooked on one side and overcooked on the other.

That said, I am quite a fussy eater, so I chose to eat out most nights. I still accompanied my family to the restaurant on occasions and had a look at the food available, and there was definitely a large variety of options. In my opinion, the food is fairly standard for a 3–4 star hotel.

Rooms & cleanliness Unfortunately, this was another area where I felt the hotel fell short. The rooms are quite outdated and, in our experience, weren’t cleaned particularly well.

There is also no toilet brush provided in the rooms, which I personally think should be standard in every hotel room.

Our bedsheets also didn’t appear to be changed during our stay. We would return to the room and find sand/dirt in the bed, which gave us the impression that the beds were simply being made rather than the sheets being replaced.

Wristbands & room access We were staying on half board, while the rest of our family were all-inclusive. For some reason, this meant that we were given physical cards to access our room/resort facilities, whereas the all-inclusive members of our family had their access incorporated into their wristbands.

It seemed unnecessarily complicated, particularly when travelling as one large group. It would have been much easier if everyone had the same system.

Children’s entertainment The children’s entertainment was probably one of the biggest disappointments. It is there, but we didn’t feel that there was a great deal of quality or variety.

The four children in our group really enjoyed the children’s pool, but in the evenings they were regularly complaining that they were bored and there wasn’t enough for them to do.

Noise One thing to be aware of is that the entertainment on the resort goes on quite late. Even with our balcony doors closed, we could still hear the music and heavy bass/thumping from our room.

If you’re a light sleeper, I would definitely recommend bringing earplugs or requesting a room away from the main entertainment areas.

Location The location is good. The beach is directly across the road from the hotel, which is very convenient, and there are plenty of places to eat and drink nearby.

If you walk along the coast towards Benalmádena, you’ll find even more restaurants, bars and places to visit, and it’s a nice walk along the coast.

For anyone who loves an English breakfast, we also found Tudor Cafe, around a 5-minute walk from the hotel on the beach side. It was a real highlight for us — very much a home-from-home style English/Irish café, and Sophie, the waitress, was particularly welcoming and made us feel very comfortable.

Check-in & check-out Check-in and check-out were okay. There appeared to be plenty of staff working at the desks, but despite this, we still had to wait a while before being attended to.

Overall & value for money Unfortunately, I do not think this hotel represents good value for money at all.

We did have a good family holiday overall, and being with a group of 14 obviously created plenty of good memories. However, I genuinely feel the hotel itself played a big part in why the holiday wasn’t as good as it could have been.

For the price we paid, we expected a much better standard from the hotel. Had the rooms, cleanliness, entertainment and overall service been what we expected for the price, I believe we would have had a considerably better holiday.

There are definitely positives — particularly the pools, location and beach — but for me, they don’t outweigh the negatives from the hotel itself, I would recommend looking at other hotels in the area if you want this location.

Overall rating: 3/5 stars maximum.

I personally wouldn’t stay here again, nor would I recommend this hotel.

We've just come home after spending one week all inclusive at this hotel with our 6 year old. After reading all of the negative reviews for months leading up to the holiday I was really anxious to arrive and it spoiled the lead up for me and my family! So I'm going to leave an honest review about our experience for anyone else in the same boat! The main thing I would definitely agree with is that the check in was extremely slow, as it seemed the staff were either trying to up-sell the rooms or just a lot of chatting with other Spanish guests, which is nice for them as staff were friendly enough, but a bit frustrating when you're in a long queue waiting to start your holiday!

Once we got to the room though I was pleasantly surprised as a lot of the reviews said it was dirty and tiny, which we didn't feel was the case at all! There was a third bed added at the foot of ours for our daughter but that was fine with us, there was still more than enough room for us all, and we didn't plan on spending much time in the room anyway! The view from our balcony was of the sea and it was stunning. Spacious wardrobe, clean bathroom and everything worked fine! Shower pressure was nice! Pools were great! Yes a lot of people, and sometimes a little harder to find a sunbed if you aren't out there first thing, but we never went without one for the whole week despite the fact we didn't venture poolside until about 10.30ish. We thought it was good that staff go around to leave notes for those that don't seem in use, they give you an hour's notice to return before moving your things which I did see happen a couple of times but is completely fair enough! We had a great time in both the pools and the splash pool and could have stayed there all day every day. We did venture out to the beach a couple of times, which was pretty and not too busy. The food was absolutely fine! Breakfast was pretty samey everyday but there's a very big buffet with a fair amount of choice, not my favourite selection of the day but you make do! My daughter loved it as lots of sweet options! For lunch we mainly went to the separate all inclusive dining room by the second pool which was always lovely - all week I've had so much paella and fresh fish and the burgers were great too. The last evening in the main restaurant had an excellent selection of sushi. We were very happy, and the view of the sea in the outside part of the dining room was beautiful, we ate there everyday and never struggled for a table! Also the token system that everyone is complaining about is no bother at all and actually is a simple way of reducing litter around the pool and the only reason I can think that people don't like it is because they are so used to being waited on hand and foot! The bar isn't far from either pool or dining areas so it was fine just taking your cup back and getting a fresh one! The kids club was fine but I will say it's all probably much better if you are Spanish, some of the evening shows had some English speaking in them during the disco, but the daytime activities were mostly catered to Spanish children, so I can't say what they were like as my daughter didn't want to take part. Overall a really enjoyable week, your holiday is what you make of it and I think some people expect a bit too much! Majority of staff were efficient and friendly and helpful so don't let the reviews put you off if you've already booked!