Caybeach Sun

I really hope the managers or CEO of Caybeach Sun read this review and take effect to improve their hotel. I understand it is only a 3 star, but it has a higher score potential. Firstly, we arrived roughly at 3:30pm and was greeting by the reception staff member with a smile which is always a pleasant thing. Checked in within a few minutes, there is a deposit of about €1.6 euro per day so a week is €10 which you get a key to put in the safe and then this sorts your safe out. The hotel is a mix of modern, outdated and tired amenities. Personally, I believe the hotel should be shut down for 2 weeks whilst they repaint and modernise the rest. This includes the hotel buying at least 20+ more sun loungers, hiring 4 more staff members and a new food menu for the restaurant. But more on that shortly. For an honest review for those who are worried about their stay here or are just curious what they will encounter at this hotel here you go, I will put it in sections and with recommendations. Hotel - Once again, it’s a tired and modern build with the amenities of: • A gym [Absolute waste of space, there is about 3 benches, 1 cross trainer, a bike, 1 multi gym machine, and a rack of free weights ranging from 1kg-14kg. The room is massive with far too much space to warrant such minimal equipment, so they really need to increase the equipment and weight rack] • Sauna and Turkish bath [at additional cost] • An indoor pool with a lot of seating area, not many people go in here so if you want to have a quiet seating area but with the sun then go here. • 1 Pool Bar/Snack Bar - MASSIVELY understaffed, this is a massive fault for the hotel. You WILL be waiting between 2-12 minutes for a drink mainly because there usually only 1 staff member at best of times who is quite lethargic but that could be because he works like 18 hours a day here! So, hats off to him and give him a little slack [Very neat eyebrows, you'll know who I mean]. Plus mostly the English are very rude, intentionally abrupt and not understanding as they should be about their wait [I'm British and an ex barmen so I can vouch for this comment](More on the snack bar in the 'Staff Section' of this review). The alcohol selection is not limited but you feel bad for ordering strange concoctions as the staff members I assume are not all too perfect at their English and doesn't know his bar very well because he was constantly looking where the bottles were. You will have to order 2 drinks per person because the ice cubes are massive so the drink volume is a lot less, plus you only get about 200ml cups [these change style daily which is ridiculous, they are also plastic and are disposable rather than reusable like most hotels. This is very hypocritical of the hotel as they have a sign stating (to sum up)... “Go green and stop using plastic straws to look after marine life”... well buy Caybeach Sun personalised cups and wash them like other hotels do. This also advertises your hotel. I recommend the beer they have on draft; at the pool bar it states "Stella Artois" however a staff member told me it is called "Tropical" so... false advertisement there. Needless to say, this Beer is located in many stores throughout Playa Blanca and which I HIGHLY recommend it for a light refreshing beer (Especially when it’s a cold can) ranges between €0.50-€1.00 per 33cl can at 4.7%. • Shop on site - Do not listen to other people's review on this shop, it is actually a lot cheaper than people said it was and including convenience it’s a lot more worth buying here for your water or beer cans. €2.50-€4.50 for 6x 1.5Ltr bottles of water and €0.75 for a can of tropical. • The pools - Only managed to go in the pool once, due to lack of sun loungers we couldn't exactly leave whatever possessions on the floor, go for a dip and come back and dry; standing up so we took to the beach instead (more on that later). They are 4 outdoor pools, 1 near the restaurant which is good, nice and deep pool to swim in. The other near the pool bar; not too sure about as didn’t , 1 - not so much a pool but its where the kids slides lead to and a tiny pool for infants on the other side of the pool bar. The areas also have multiple sun umbrellas but these cannot be moved as they are in the ground so if you enjoy the sun but can’t be out in it a lot this is a fault. • Restaurant - Big area, once more...very understaffed with about 2 people cleaning and 1 on cooking fresh food [excluding the chefs at the back cooking the other food]. This ideally needs a minimum of 3 staff on cleaning and sorting tables out including bring the plates out. This was a major minus on the hotel for not having something better in place, no end of times Breakfast/Lunch or Dinner was people finding themselves without a plate or having a soaking wet plate [every day this happened]. I guess certain people should stop wasting so much food and reuse their plates…guess there’s no curtesy any more…. • Games room – Pointless, not exactly much going on in here. Pool tables were in dire need for replacing or re-felting. Minimal arcade games to go on. Just a waste of space, possible here just for an amenity so the hotel can say they have one but it’s useless. • Staff – Most staff are still pleasant to you if you treat them properly and greet them nicely and not just because it’s their job to treat you like you’re royalty… if you want that; then go to a 5 Star hotel... if you can’t afford it; then keep your attitude away from the staff members. That being said, they should be something mentioned to the cleaners. For 3 days there was mess in a corridor on the top floor where we were… 3 DAYS. There were also various glasses left outside for over a day (assumed was left at night day before), which I even took a photo in the morning and at night and in the morning again instead of taking them away, they stocked them up! •The room – I won’t mention too much about this because I assume a lot if not most are all going to be different per section of the hotel. But that the apartments are nice and spacious. Fridge with good amount of space including a small freezer part. There is a Coffee maker, recommend buying your own grounded. The beds are nice and comfy. The aircon there looks outdated and should be seen too or you’ll catch an illness if you pay extra to use them. [Recommend buying and taking a USB powered fan - £5 minimum]. We had a nice seating area on the balcony, *be careful of the pigeons or they might fly into the room*, the room underneath us obviously was not vacant as it was not cleaned for 5+ days, the tiles were filthy with mud and dust, mess everywhere including leaves everywhere, then when someone was coming in they finally cleaned it. Assume they only clean when they have to and not when they want to. Needless to say, that wasn’t our room so we didn’t care only it was noticeable. The sofa is nice too, be carefully putting spray sun-block in the apartment as the tiles get dangerously slippy if it gets on the floor. Finally – I was a little confused as to why there was a small building saying restaurant and yet there was not mention of this ever opening/in refurbishment or “to be open” sort of thing. I will hopefully be coming back here in the near future, perhaps my review gets noticed and the managers do something about my observations. To sum up, if you can’t look past the little bits or a hotel during your holidays then look elsewhere. If you can and make a hotel what it is by not just the hotel then definitely without a second thought, book this hotel.

Arrived very late check in was fast tried to get a pepsi but as it was a few minutes past the cut of time 11.30 for all inclusive they tried making me pay. Paid a deposit for my key card and air con machine which is only good for the bedroom that it's in if it's been on for hours while out which doesn't work if ya card isnt in the thing. paid for a deposit box which in a 3 star hotel is rediculous the higher class dont charge at all. Recieved one small bottle of water on arrival and was not replaced once not standard in this place so when ya cleaner takes ya bottles you have no choice but to pay for basic things as a bottle of water.and food I dnt expect 5 star restaurant food but lunch and dinner is pretty inedible my kids pretty much starved and lived of crisps that I brought brekkie was ok but the same each morning the same thing each night with 1 thing different save ur money do bed and brekkie and eat out each night or ul be looking forward to going home. Wifi doesn't work at all

We recently stayed here and enjoyed it. The hotel is spotless and the staff work very hard to make it work. The hotel was extremely quiet but I think this was due to Thomas Cook cancellations as there was only about 30 guests for the first few days. It seemed to lack atmosphere due to so quiet which is also a bonus for us to relax. The food was fish chicken meat, salad bar, desert bar and we always found something to eat and never went hungry. There was not as much choice as other hotels we have stayed in however, what was there was very good quality and tasty. Special mention to Sam on reception as always greeted guests with a smile and so helpful, the two ladies on reception were not as helpful and always appeared too busy to speak or look up. Iran the animation guy was fantastic with the kids as he was the only entertainment at the hotel so he was trying very hard to entertain everyone. The bar and restaurant staff including the chefs were all fantastic and hard working, they must have been so bored as not many guests staying so they were all helping each other in their departments so great team work. Apartments were good and clean and cleaners always spoke in the morning and very friendly. Even the guy cleaning the glass on veranda was friendly. My only negative comment is lots of guests requested to keep the room on departure day as have to be out by 12 and not leaving until 7pm. 7 hours without a room is not the best with children and was told that it was because hotel busy! This was not the case, this was due to they did not have the cleaners available to clean them. The ladies on reception would not allocate new guests to other empty rooms and was just using the same rooms. If they would have allowed guests to keep the rooms this would have generated more income for the hotel. There is no entertainment at this hotel and a good walk away from the centre. Great for walking and relaxing but if your looking for a lively hotel this is not for you. Overall enjoyed the holiday but would like to see them extend the rooms on the last day would make it perfect.