HG Jardin de Menorca

Family visit in August and had 2 junior suites on BB. Cannot fault either suite - spacious and comfy. We had a wet room - could have done with shelf or similar as no where to put toiletries. Other room had low shower head which was annoying. Loads of storage and kitchenette was perfect for doing hot drinks and making lunch. We did not cook at all. Handy to have fridge. Small supermarket next door who baked pastries and baguettes every morning. and not expensive. We would buy provisions to make lunches - we hated seeing families every morning piling up plates of rolls, ham and cheeses and fruit and making them up and "hiding" them in their bags. Really! - to save a few euros? Breakfast was OK - fresh juice and not squash. Eggs station - quick cooking of omelettes but meant most times they were very under-done. Pool bar and snacks - did once for lunch. Prices were sky high €5.50 for a plate of chips, toasted sandwich slightly burnt, chicken strips borderline burnt - oil too hot maybe.. Real shame as there is nothing nearby for lunch and they could really up-sell on this. And also bar in evening - practically empty every night possibly due to poor offering on drinks and total lack of atmosphere. Same for large reception area - no atmosphere so a waste of space. Would have been nice to be able to have a pre or post dinner drink here but we just went into town every night. Shuttle bus - we used this often but a ticket system would be beneficial as some people do not understand the concept of queuing and would barge on leaving families often with young children having to wait for the bus to return. This happened at both ends. Only other gripe - sun beds. Review here from 2 years ago said same. The white ones are awful - covered in mould and loads left under trees so covered in bird droppings.and with no adjustable head rest. If they could get this changed it would be an easy win for the hotel. Son Bou itself is lovely with some amazing places to eat and drink : Buddha Lounge and Mai Tai and Allessandro's topped our list.. Overall - good but could do better.

Ok, this this sounds bad; this is not a 4 star hotel. There aren't the facilities to justify calling this a 4 star hotel. Now let's be clear, this is not a bad hotel, we thought it was very good but we have stayed in 4 stars elsewhere and this isn't one. Tui shouldn't sell it as one. Their rep changed the welcome meeting time so we never met them. We spoke to the dutch(?) Tui rep but she wasn't much use, pretty clue less, not sure what we paid all that money for... We arrived very early due to a morning flight and unfortunately the room wasn't ready. Marc at reception was very nice and helpful about it showing us where we could change and leave our luggage. Sadly it went down hill from here. Unfortunately we did have to wait very long for our room, finally getting it just after 4pm after arriving at 10am. This is unacceptable bearing in mind we had been up for about 16 hours by this point. We went to the room and was quite impressed. But we couldn't work out the sofa bed. Several trips to reception later and after being told someone would come to the room to show us how the sofa bed worked a few times we finally got a sensible answer from one of the receptionists; it wasn't a sofa bed and the room was only a double, not suitable for a family of three. Again, unacceptable. Finally we got a suitable room. This was about 17.30. Really not good enough, bit of a wasted day. The room was a good size and clean. Air con was central rather than units. It didn't seem great initially but once you came from outside you could really feel the benefit. The room has a card switch that operates the lights, sockets and air con. I left my Tescos club card/gym membership/library card in the slot so the air con was running whilst we were out. There was 2 hobs, a microwave and a fridge in the kitchenette. The pots, pans, plates and cutlery were suffcient for us to eat in. The fridge seemed to take a long time to cool down but was at the correct temp by the second day. Maybe it wasn't switched on. The bathroom was ok, if not a little tired. The shower temp wasn't always consistent but not too much of a problem. Clean towels were replaced daily, the beds were made daily but the sheets were not changed. There was a tv in the room but only 3 English language channels, there were others "tuned" but they wouldnt display which was disappointing for my little one. Didn't use the Wi-Fi, thats not we go on holiday for and had plenty of mobile signal. The 3 pools were good, cleaned daily. Plenty of lougners and parasol, never a problem to get one. Most importantly none of the usual reserving of loungers that us brits annoyingly do. There was a life guard on duty but they can't see the deeper pool or much of the middle pool from their position. There was a massage area but I only see the masseuse one day, and I'm pretty sure the same guy was tending the gardens the day before. I didn't see any one use this service any way. Prices were pretty steep, probbably why there wasn't any take up. The kids club was good and very friendly. The adult day time entertainment again was friendly but not too loud or pushy. Evening entertainment was quite low rent, definetly not 4 star. Think tv's Benidorm. This was finished by 22.30 at the latest. There was a pool bar, this was open during the day and evening up to 10.30pm. There was a big bar inside but I never see any one use that day or night. Strange in the busy period. So this is probably where the 4star ratings came from: Couldn't find the gym but it was still signed. From reviews didn't miss much. The inside pool and spa area doesnt exist any more, all the windows are whitewashed and access is blocked off. Not a 4 star facility any more, not quite a shadow of its former self but we were starting to get that impression. Breakfast was always good with plenty of choice, cereals, bread/toasts, cold meat and cheeses, plates, jams, spreads, pastrys, cooked (3 types of sausage, bacon beens), scrambled egg/omelette station cooked to order, juices, fruit and more. All served buffet. Shuttle bus saved a decent walk to town/The beach but got very busy at 11am out bound and 3-4pm onwards return. The minibus needs to be bigger but it does make multiple trips if you are prepared to wait. Overall very good but not quite up to what was advertised.