Monteplaya - Malgrat de Mar, Spain 

Just got back from a week staying at the Monteplaya in Malgrat. Have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The handful of staff were friendly and made you feel welcome, the others were extremely proffessional, but quite cool and indifferent (think there was a bit of a language barrier with some staff though). The hotel was spotlessly clean, the cleaners turned up daily with fresh towels and cleaned the floor - the cleaners and the handyman were actually more friendlier to talk to then the bar staff and the receptionist. The pool was lovely too, it got cleaned out every morning, and was never too full, perhaps because it took a while to get used to the freezing temperature, but once you where used to it, it was fine. The sun terrace area though was in shade for half of the day, the sun reached it at about 11 ish and it was in shade again by 4pm, so sun worshippers should had for the roof area above the pool - that has no shade whatsoever, but gets more benefit from the breeze when there is one. The food I found was pretty awful, luke warm and greasy, everything tasted of fish (recommend Legends bar just round the corner) however the desserts were absolutely lush and to dye for. Probably ate 10 thousand calories a night just in desserts, they had everything imaginable from fresh fruit to sponges, whipped cream and mousses, absolutely recommend the puddings but not any of the rest of it. Would not recommend the kids club. I know they were only entertainment and not a baby sitting service, but I was extremely concerned that they let a four year old girl slip away unnoticed. As for the rest of Malgrat, I would advise to go the other way into Santa Susannah. Malgrat was a bit too commercial. Recommend taking a trip into Santa Susannah at night when they have a night market, it's all crafts and a great place to be.

Stayed at this hotel in May, and was really impressed. The reception area was lovely, with lots of comfy sofas. The room was fairly small, but clean and comfortable - as with most hotels, not enough hanging or storage space. The pool was a lot smaller than it looked in all the photos. The food was really good - lots to choose from. The staff were great, although I found that the standard of English wasn't as good as other hotels I've been to in Spain. All in all, a really nice holiday.