Fiesta Club Palm Beach - Ibiza, Spain 

Let's start with the positive points: As many other reviewers have pointed out, this hotel is near the airport but it really isn't a problem and it didn't bother me that the planes were a little larger in the sky than normal. All the other hotels nearby are closer to the flightpath than the Fiesta Palm Beach. The Hotel is situated on the beach and the beach really is excellent - fine sand, warm shallow waters, plenty of space, some cool beach bars nearby. The Hotel food is excellent with a very wide choice food which varied every night, although less thought went into the deserts. The rooms were clean although they were cleaned a little to eagerly by the maids who arrived very early each day. There was plenty of entertainment for kids although the entertainment provided by the hotel was infinitely more professional and enthusiastic than the half hearted efforts of the Thomson reps. I reckon this hotel attracts at least 50% Germans, 30% British and the rest mixed. The people we met, of all nationalities, were generally courteous and friendly. Now for the negatives: This hotel seems intent on reminding you at every turn that you are in a three star hotel. The check in was a shambles and not all the reception staff spoke english particularly well. Some bar staff also spoke very little english. (I know that it is presumptious to expect everyone to speak English but these holidays are sold in blocks as packages in British travel agents - they aren't city breaks). The general decor and grey colour scheme was drab and gave no feeling of comfort or luxury, reminding one of an airport lounge. The hotel has no lifts which means that you could be carrying your cases up three floors of stairs. Our party contained 1 pregnant woman, two elderly people and one 3 year old who all found the stairs a struggle at times. There is no way that people with disabilities could use this resort. The hotel rooms have no fridge but, like the safe, you can hire one for 55 euros a week. The rooms all have a tiny portable TV but News 24 is the only English speaking channel. The pool bar had an extremely limited range of snacks and the beach bar stopped selling its snacks at 4. Soft drinks were unreasonably expensive at 1 euro 75 for a very small coke. Beer was OK at 3 euro 25 a pint I suppose but a gin and tonic was 4 euro. There is an all inclusive drinks option at 14 euro a day per person but for our party it wasn't really worth it (everyone would need to drink 5 pints a night to make it worth their while). The Thomson reps were as usual intent on selling you their overpriced excursions and helping out in no other way. As usual they spoke no Spanish and when I asked whether there were excursions to the caves in Ibiza it was suggested that I "hire a car and drive there then pay in". Thank God for reps with their intimate local knowledge! The hotel is maybe a 20-30 minute walk from the main shopping area which is really no more than a collection of supermarkets and cheapo shops. Although it is a short walk it is tough in the heat. There are some bars and one or two clubs but if I were a clubber I'd go somewhere more mainstream like San Antonio. For me they weren't really worth the walk. There is a bus into Bossa which also goes all the way to Ibiza Town however a party of four are always better off getting a taxi which are plentiful and well run. The bus quickly gets dangerously overcrowded and I saw one passenger almost have a panic attack after the 200th passenger was squeezed on to the bus. What is most galling about this place is that if you go next door, say to the Hotel Bahamas, you immediately see how a nicer atmosphere can be created by just spending a few thousand pounds on better furniture and art work. While the Palm Beach has ubiquitous white plastic garden chairs the Bahamas boasts a trendy beach restaurant with wooden tables and lots of wicker. While the Palm beach uses tatty grey tub seats indoors the Bahamas invests in a few leather couches. Another major annoyance is the TV. There was one 40 inch TV in the entire hotel. The European Championship Final was on (featuring Germany and Spain, so a lot of local interest) as was the Wimbledon final (also featuring a Spaniard). Despite this 200 guests had to cram around this one TV. I have a bigger TV in my living room. The hotel Bahamas next door, needless to say, offered a projection screen for these events. Even in your room the solitary English channel is really an insult. I know we don't go on holiday to watch TV but there were 6 German channels, 6 Spanish channels and even two Italian channels. If British holiday makers regularly make up a sizeable percentage of a hotels guests then the hotel should make an effort to make them feel comfortable if they want them to return. As it was there were times when I wondered why I had given up so many home comforts to pay to stay in small prison cell.