Don Pancho - Benidorm, Spain 

Stayed at the Don for 11 nights, just returned. This was a last minute,' needed some sun holiday'. Hotel itself is clean, bedding changed every 2 days, bedrooms are small but adequate. Public areas are badly in need of refurbishment, dated and tired:; staff are indifferent. Food is typically English, roast beef, yorks pud, bread and butter pudding etc. but plenty of salads, fish etc. I dont think Gordon Ramsay was lurking in the kitchen, but it was adequate, in fact I had to blow my food it was so hot!!!!!!! (never known that before) Its well situated for the beach, and its a good job because the pool is far too small for the size of the hotel. The beach is lovely and kept very clean, but its a pity about the rest of Benidorm. Streets are dirty with litter everywhere and overflowing wheelie bins. Theres lots of stag and hen do's with bars and clubs catering for this. I saw on several occassions men urinating in doorways. Theres also smoking anywhere you like, so if your a smoker you'll love it.The old town is a 20 min walk away and much more pleasant. On the whole you get what you pay for, personally I wouldnt return.

We've just returned from a week in Benidorm, staying half-board at the Don Pancho. Having done our research before we booked the hotel we were aware that this was one for older people. We didn't see this as a problem since we only wanted to sleep and (maybe) eat there. Rooms: The room was a little smaller than expected as we had been told it sleeps 2-3 adults (I'm not sure where the third person would have had to sleep). It was a reasonable size though with an en-suite bathroom and a balcony. The beds, however, were horrendous. Very uncomfortable. Satellite TV was available in the room but without many channels (CNN, Sky News and Five as the main ones). The room was cleaned daily and there was a little mini bar which had enough space in there for you to store your purchased water (rather than buy theirs!). Food: We never actually made it back to the hotel for lunch but breakfasts had a choice of everything you'd need and dinners were ok. I'm a pretty fussy vegetarian so am difficult to please but I still found enough to eat. Men are expected to wear trousers for dinner although one or two didn't. One thing to bear in mind is that at dinnertime, all drinks are chargeable (even water) which was a surprise to us. You can drink as much orange juice/tea/coffee as you like at breakfast though. Location: The hotel is perfectly situated - about 100m or so from the Levante beach. I'm not sure how busy this beach would be in peak season but there was a lot space when we were there and you could hire out sun beds and umbrellas for 4? each. There are lots of bars and cafes to eat and drink in near the hotel too. I would recommend Bar Sol (head down to the beach from the hotel and walk left along the beach front). Good food (lunch) and drink there. There's also a supermarket shop just out the front and to the left of the hotel and a machine across the road that sells bottled water and coke etc. Hotel in general: From the outside, when the bus first pulled up to drop us off, we thought the hotel looked a bit shabby. It wasn't though and we were pleasantly surprised once we reached the entrance. Checking-in was pretty quick and the Reception desk staff were all very helpful and spoke good English. This is not a hotel for children though and is predominantly full of older people (some of whom were quite rude and would push in or push past you, particularly at meal times). This was a little annoying but it was also quite amusing. There were two pools (looked quite small) but we couldn't think of a reason to go to the pool when the beach was so close. The evening entertainment was definitely intended for the older guests (we didn't go but we could hear the 'tie the yellow ribbon round the old oak tree' song being piped out while we were in the bar downstairs). All in all a good stay for the price. I wouldn't take children here though.