Hotel Alay - Benalmadena, Spain 

Stayed at Hotel Alay June/July 2008 an a B&B basis. We were on the 7th floor and our balcony view was of the marina, beach and the med, so very good indeed. I dont think there is any need to do half board as there are so many restaurants. Rooms aint the hilton, but for the price and location we did not mind at all. It states itself as a 4* but really is a 3*. There are no fans or air con in the rooms but you could hire a fan from the front desk, 17 euro for a week. Breakfast buffet was lovely, very wide choice of foods, never disappointed at all, all staff were as friendly as possible. The marina near by def. has the best restaurants, a V.Good recommendation is La Rubia, a dutch owned restaurant who are famed for their ribs. Believe me, go there and try their spicy ribs, wow!! They come with layered potatoes, roasted veg and home made chips, worth every penny! They were that good we went there twice, inc. the last night. Some of the restaurants on the promenade, although cheaper can be a bit disappointing or throw in the extra charges (i.e. provide bread rolls which are later added to the bill, hmmm). Overall 4 out of 5 from us :-)

The alay is a nice hotel but in some respects a little tired and some of its services could do with updating. The rooms are ok, although there's no tea/coffee service, no mini bar and the TV doesn't have a great choice of viewing. The air con is a bit flaky too. But the beds are comfortable and the bathrooms have all you need.. Breakfast is ok, but i got the feeling the quality of the food was on the low side and cost rather than quality was the prime consideration. There is no need for anyoe to go hungry though - there's plenty of choice. The local Rotary club meets here, the place is geared to handle courses and meetings. holidaymakers probably make up the greatest numbers there but the hotel doesn't go out of its way to entertain them. The lounge didn't get much use - just an area to pass through. There's a small swimming pool, sun beds near the pool and on a nearby grassed area. But the ALAY is quite inexpensive. EUR 81 per night for our room including taxes and breakfast. Therefore it rates very highly on value for money, and its location, right accross the road from the Marina complex couldn't be bettered. We've stayed there 3 times now, we know its faults and we forgive them because of the value.