RD Mar de Portals

The website and details for the Tacande Portals Hotel do not match the reality. My husband and I stayed in a premium suite which looked amazing in the photos on the company website. This was a "Gold Level" room so situated in a separate block in the hotel grounds. We arrived late at night after an evening flight. There was a night receptionist who checked us in. He reluctantly took us to our suite which was up several sets of steps not all with ramps for cases. It was very quiet that night and the following two days as it was the weekend. On Monday the building work taking place in two spots on the opposite side of the street broke the peace with banging, drilling and sawing. We were set back from the road and could still hear the noise for the whole duration of our two week holiday. Whilst spacious, we felt that the suite and its terrace were somewhat neglected, especially the terrace. There was a dire shortage of storage space for our clothes - a small wardrobe, one drawer and one cubby hole above the kettle and coffee machine. I kept my suitcase open as a drawer. There needed to be further drawer space. After complaining about the cleanliness of the terrace in a mid stay review, it was freshened up. The maintenance staff member scraped the old paint off and re painted the top. We were left with paint chippings for the rest of the stay! The terrace was not cleaned again. The hot tub was old and smelled musty - the cover was the culprit! We paid for Half Board at the time of booking which would provide us with an evening meal. On arrival we discovered that the evening meal was served A La Carte rather than as a self service buffet. However, the menu was very disappointing as it didn't change for the whole duration and there were limited options included in the half board choices (blue dot). We were able to negotiate with management to take some meals at the pool bar instead of the restaurant just to mix it up over the 2 weeks. Also, the non blue dot options could be purchased at half the listed price. Even then we ate out on several evenings. The saving grace of the hotel was Vicente who manages the evening restaurant. He was a real gem and the company need to realise how hard he works to provide excellent service and professionalism. He was so attentive and made an amazing pina colada! The breakfast offered was good - lots of variety and freshly made buffet style. We had access to a Gold Level lounge at key times - we went once as it was rather sad - water and squash with a few rolls and sweet cakes, coffee and tea so nothing special. Most staff were friendly and greeted you when they met you around the hotel. Location - very close to a lovely beach, but an uphill hike to Portals Nous and not easy to walk into the Port at night. Shuttle bus to Palma was included in the Gold Level room x 3 times a week. Would we go back? No. If you decide to go, don't pay for half board as there are restaurants in Portals Nous and the Port to investigate and even a beach bar which opens at night.

The best thing about this hotel is the staff. They are all very friendly and welcoming & can't do enough for you. The hotel is clean & tidy with 3 nice pools. It is a bit remote so you have to get a taxi to the Mariner or into Palma . There is a very small village area with a few restaurants & couple of bars, if you are prepared to walk up the many steep steps to get there.