Sandos Monaco - Adults Only

The Buffet Food was very good most days but there were 2 days and we found the food not good maybe they should do a themed night some hotels we stayed in do this, the staff were all very friendly and helpful 😍the Bedroom we stayed in room no 203 this was very dowdy the decor and the furniture was well outdated my daughter and her husband stayed in another room and this was beautiful pity our room was not great Entertainment was fantastic there was something on every night they should think about doing Bingo as well they all love that overall we did enjoy our hols

Great location but this hotel gets it wrong at so many levels....see below
1. Reception too small for check in
2.Not enough staff overall
3. No evidence of patrolled security around the resort
4. Minimum age for all inclusive should be 18 AND NOT 16 who certainly cant take their drink to excess !!!
5
Smoking area right in front of entrance to pool area had to wade through tobacco smoke daily... awful !!!
6.no all inclusive basics such as soap in the bathroom coffee or tea bags or milk or tissues and one bottle of water in the fridge nothing else !!!
7. Absolutely no branded drinks at the bar you have to pay extra for them.
8. Internet wasn't constant
Good points food was ok
To summarie this hotel has so much potential but needs a management overhaul ASAP we won't be back im afraid .....uk couple review

It was our first time at the Sandos Monaco hotel, but we will certainly be going back. It had everything; the staff were all very friendly and helpful, and the bedroom was lovely and clean. The hotel was very relaxing, and the entertainment was top class. The dining room was spacious food was first class

Location, clean and staff were all lovely.

Enough good points to be worthy of a positive review. However is everything five star ? No it is definately not.

To start, a very important piece of advice. Unlike rival hotels, the 'all inclusive' is only a small additional amount more than 'full board'. It is a much better deal.

This was our second visit this year (and my second review of the place). To be fair there had been 1 or 2 improvements.

The Sandos Monaco is situated in the middle of the Centro Area in Benidorm. One direction for the Old Town and the opposite direction for The Strip (British Zone). The Levante Beach is about a minute walk.

As with ouy previous visit we went "top of the range" again. This gave us a very spacious high floor room, all inclusive package, access to the self service mini lounge (snacks and branded drinks), 2 free visits to the spa area and 1 entry to the Indian Restaurant.

WHAT WAS GOOD/REALLY GOOD??

The room and the daily cleaning could not be faulted in any way. Big balconey with sea views. Safe. Air Conditioning. Flat screen TV. 2 very comfortable double beds. Fridge drinks included. Bath robes and slippers. Decent bathroom. Tea/Coffee facilities. The good cleaning was done every day, what ever time we left the room.

The special guest longe, much improved this time. The snacks were fresher and were topped up. Compete range of soft and alcholic drinks, hot beverages and draught beer. There was always enough glasses or cups.

The large terrace/pool area does get a lot of sun. It has a nice atmosphere. The "towells on chairs" problem was not as acute as previously.

The Spa area, is a very unique experience. I have not seen anything like it before. A huge heated indoor pool area. with many different water massage possibilities. Includes Jacuzzi, Steam Room, Sauna Etc,

WHAT WAS OK / BUT DEFINATELY NOT 5 STAR

Restaurant Lunch / Dinner operation. The hotel is big, so it is a massive operation for the staff. Most of the time, the food is of a acceptable standard and quality. Given the reputation and reviews of the hotel, most would expect better.

WHAT WAS NOT OK

I am not the first to mention it, but easy winner of this catagory is the breakfast operation. Easily the worst of the Benidorm 4 star hotels. Guests are mainly British, so the British style breakfast is popular. The bacon is always stone cold, sitting in a pool of grease. and in 35 years of reviewing I have never seen fried eggs that are served in such terrible condition. Damaged, overcooked, rock hard, it is hard to imagine them being worse. Rival hotels would not serve breakfast of this standard. I did mention this in previous review, the reply suggested this would be sorted, but it has not.

2 STRANGE INCIDENTS

The hotel does have a very laid back atmosphere, but two events that are worthy of mention. And both are connected to the Spa. Firstly, in the changing room area of the spa, I found a gold chain that had been left in the bottom of a locker. A very elegant and expensive looking piece and its weight suggested that it was almost certainly gold. I handed it in to reception and left our room number. The guy in reception seemed surprised that I handed it in, and also thought it was gold. We never heard another thing about it !!!!!!!!!!

Secondly, on the final day, my partner went back the Spa alone. There is no supervision inside the Spa area, only at the entry point. Unfortunately there was a lone male guest that followed her all around the area, and to each treatment. So she got out and left early.

Not sure how relevent the 2 above points are, but they both stick in the mind.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

Big repuations and top reviews create very high expectations. Standards should be measured against the best hotels and not the worst ones. Be it noted there are many good positive reviews of this hotel. The hotels gets masses of reviews, and due to the new Trip Advisor format, the less than favourable reviews get quickly drowned out. Before, if you wanted, you could click on to only 5 star (or only 1 star) reviews, to get a full picture. Now you can not.

We have never gone to adult only hotel before so we thought we would try it and we liked our stay very much and will be back next year and you are all very friendly we also liked the spa and also the people that stayed as well were very friendly and also it is not very far to the main centre which we found good also the select club was very good and very clean the rooms were very clean and also liked the double beds as well which we found good

The hotel is amazing...all the people working hete are so lovely and helpful ... Nice coffee and breakfast platters..... Would absolutely recommend to anyone who would like to visit adult only Benidorm hotels...

El trato del personal increíble, todos fueron atentos y amables todo el tiempo. Las instalaciones limpias y bien cuidadas. El bufet variado y la elaboración muy buena. Sin dudas lo recomiendo y repetiría

Bueno

Overview:
This was the second time we stayed here, previously was about 10 years ago and we had better memories than this new stay.

The hotel is adequate but the feeling I had was it lacked good management and attention to detail.

We won't stay here again but I wouldn't say it's a bad hotel.

I know we all have different opinions but I do feel the 5 star reviews are extraordinarily kind.

Location:
Brilliant location and one of best selling points of hotel. Short walk to beach and ideally placed for Old Town or Levante.

Rooms:
Best description I can give is 'Functional' but does need modernising.

We had a Deluxe Select Room and it was good size but balcony small.

Air con was fine and cleaning ok although floor always appeared not particularly clean.

Strange obsession with hiding bins under furniture, in the bathroom the flip top bin is always placed under the stool so you can't access it and the bedroom bin under the chair so you can't find it!

Safe wasn't set correctly when we arrived but Reception resolved that quickly.

Fridge was ok but you had to really bang it shut to get it sealed properly.

Walk in shower nice but nowhere to place your own shower gel or shampoo easily.

We were on top floor (16) and not bad views (mainly tower blocks but a sliver of sea) and lifts were slow but could have been worse.

Food:
Was very average.

This is where there seems poor management or common sense, an example was they did a Roast Dinner and by the Beef (which was like eating your own shoes) were Yorkshire Puddings, Gravy, and some Veg. Then there was Pasta, Chips, and Pizza in that section. Weird. Then over the other dining section, which is quite sperate, there were more Veg and Roast Potatoes. Why not put them all together? Move the chips to where the Roast Potatoes were and make an effort for your diners.

The egg station was one of poorest we have had, chef hardly there and the omelettes were well undercooked, also this hotel seems to not know what mushrooms are as there wasn't any our entire stay for breakfast or dinner. Fried eggs were normally cooked well in advance and not to order which was disappointing.

Table service massively hit and miss. I thought you had to get your own drinks but very occasionally a waiter would come over and ask or see you getting your own wine and explain they would serve it for you.

It feels very canteen in the restaurant, not a massive issue but it never really felt like a nice evening meal.

One shout out to a waitress that made a very nice gesture (think her name was Winner). My wife had a very bad cough and she came over and gave her a glass of water and gave her a lovely squeeze of the shoulders.

Clearing plates away was very slow as was replenishing the food.

Entertainment:
Just my opinion but very poor.

Didn't engage in day activities so can't comment on them but they looked basic.

Evening entertainment was rubbish (Joe King, you must be joking the guy literally can't sing!).

The best example of how poor it was (including poor decision making) was when the World Cup started. They made a big deal of this, put decorations up, had a big screen outside with the Opening Ceremony, etc. Great I thought, right up my street, and was looking forward to the opening game. Sat outside watching the preparation to the game on the nice big screen then we got told the actual game would be shown downstairs. Strange but they have a nice entertainment bar downstairs (Metropole I think its called) so that could work with nice air-con. Oh no, it was the room next to that, which was like a café style set up with a few tables and chairs and a screen no bigger than what we all had in our rooms! We and others just walked out as the screen was too small for the number of people wanting to watch and there was nowhere to get a drink. Why make such a big deal of the World Cup and then make such a silly decision like that for the actual game (maybe they changed this as when we were leaving it appeared they advertised games were in the Metropole). We went back upstairs and the entertainment they had moved us all for was a 'World Cup Music Quiz' and the 'Hotel Entertainers' dancing to music!! None of that used the massive screen they had which could have shown the football, bizarre and when you mentioned it to the entertainment team they didn't seem to understand what was wrong!

One final note, last time we were at the hotel all evening entertainment was in the Metropole bar, move it back would be my decision. Its a good space, air-con, and a nice bar. I appreciate the nice weather means you can have it outside but all you get is smokers ruining it for everyone as if you sit outside you get second hand smoke all night.

Drinks:
We were Select and maybe was worth it but not sure.

The Select Lounge is ok, but some of the drinks we had access to the non-select customers also had behind the bar (branded drinks).

The bar staff were perfunctory but nothing more and in the main non-select bar there could be a bit of a queue at busy times.

Spa:
We had x 2 free vouchers for this and used x 1.

Its nice enough, I am slightly surprised though that they have no life guard around.

When we booked we were told to bring a towel and sandals or similar. When we got there we were told we also needed money for the locker and swimming cap that was never mentioned. They gave us the money for the locker as you get it back after.

Staff:
One area I was really disappointed with and I have never experienced before was a lack of class with my wife's birthday.

I made them aware it was her birthday when we were there and they did nothing at all to acknowledge this. Everywhere we have been they have done at least something small like a birthday card, birthday cake, bottle of bubbly, etc. I appreciate not an obligation but just a small gesture goes a long way.

For me that summed up the hotel, it feels they are complacent and rely on previous good reviews that likely make their overall score look better than the current experience actually is. They could make small changes that would show they do care and are considerate of their customers experiences but I never saw that.

Staff in general were nice and we found Reception good on the whole although when we asked them to order a taxi for us to the local Winery the taxi that turned up didn't know where they were going!

Pool:
Didn't use it once.

Weird position as gets little sun until much later in day and always seemed a range of sunbeds taken (the usual with not so many people using them!).

Pool bar was ok for food but wouldn't serve drinks which was bit odd. The food was ok and had decent selection but kebab could have been hotter.

Sunbeds in general were limited but usually obtainable.

Very clean
Every thing u need

Simpatia dos funcionários.

Two weeks in sandos Monaco,fourth and last time,over last three years I have asked why a hotel will put caviar on at breakfast but not English bacon,answer everytime is they have to cater for all nationalitys,but by far the majority of guests are English,30euros for the safe and a paper that says they are not responsible for any loss if broken into,if it's all inclusive why charge extra the agua Azul and princessa don't and the select room which we used first visit,wife does not drink so if I wanted branded drinks I still had to pay for both of us ,eight euro a day extra a bit dear or£16 for two,food was good on the whole only gripe was breakfast bacon and tomatoes,staff very good friendly hotel clean but it's the same in all benidorm 4stars outside hotel looks good but local people exercis there dogs down there and dog mess is all over the soil under the trees,hotel should pressure the council it smells,this hotel needs to alter things,there are plenty to choose from in benidorm a shame as the location is good but I was annoyed at having to go out for breakfast every day an extra eighty euros for us,so will save £110 on food and safe next year by going elsewhere.hotel entertainment not changed for years go for more than a week and first weeks entertainment comes around again so next year will be giving it a miss

Stayed here for a week the room was nice clean and the air-conditioning worked well needed it as it was literally 40° outside disappointed with the breakfast quality and the chef that cut the omelettes fresh needs lessons in hygiene he was handling food with bare hands wiping the sweat off his brows, not washing his hands and then grabbing raw meat, which he then threw on the hot plate with your egg to make an omelette. Let’s say I didn’t eat it never went back for breakfast again. My wife had a raw burger from the snack bar by the pool and the pool was very cold. Staff very friendly reception staff were very helpful. We hide out a double buggy for the week and had great fun. Recommend getting one yourself to see the sites are better on overall wouldn’t come back just because of the pool area not being big enough but worth a stay.

The hotel is in a great location , a few mins to the beach and near also to the Old Town. The staff were friendly, the hotel was clean and comfortable and the bedroom and bathroom were a good size. We thought the food was very good, plenty of choice and I would think something to suit everyone. For us the only downside was the evening entertainment. It is pretty poor, having said that there are plenty of bars and entertainment venues nearby so it’s not a huge problem. Also getting a sunbed can be a problem as the hotel seem to allow people to leave towels on them for long periods of time. Some guests admitted to going into the town for several hours!! Having said that, I would still recommend this hotel.

After arriving very late in the evening, we checked in and our room was on 16th Floor. However there was no tea bags or milk or coffee in the room which was a massive disappointment to me when we was worn out and tired. There was a kettle and empty cups in the room. One litre bottle of water in fridge when there should be at least 2. The hotel itself was fine and food was okay. I would not go back to that hotel again.

Friendly staff. Lovely accommodation. Extremely clean.
Great customer relations team, who are helpful and offer advice as well as support.
I would definitely return. I would also like to say, I would feel safe and happy to visit the hotel as a single female.
Food was great, good selection. Room service was above and beyond.
Really I could not ask for more…

Just got home from another amazing stay at this amazing hotel. Everyone made us feel so welcome again ☺️. The lovely thing for us this time was talking to so many guests who had never stayed here before, or had never even been to Benidorm before and how much they were blown away how fantastic it was. Everyone works non stop to make sure that you have a great time. If you visit the Sandos, just take a moment to see how hard the staff work. Thanks again to Nicky in reception and all the Sandos team. Superb

el personal del hotel