Sol Pelicanos Ocas - Benidorm, Spain 

Me and my boyfriend, both 19 stayed in the Pelicanos for 2 weeks. we had never been to Benidorm before, and we were really looking forward to going on a relaxing beachy holiday. We had a stupidly early flight - we were up at about 2:30 am to go and catch our plane. When we arrived at the hotel at about 11:30 - tired and exhausted as many of the other passengers were as well, we were told that our room would not be ready until 1pm. Frustrated, we went to find some couches and i went to sleep. My boyfriend went back to the check in desk at about ten to one, and they told him the room wouldnt not be ready until 2pm. He said if our room wasnt ready, we would like another - they gave us a room on the third floor. The room itself was o.k. A nice size, a working TV and a good shower - not very big though. Our balcony was nice, it had a table and chairs to sit in, and our aircon worked nicely. The beds were o.k. My boyfriend got an electric shock from accidently touching an uncoveref broken wire underneath the TV. The location is nice, not a long walk to the beach at all - 3 minutes tops! Loads of restuarants along the beach front with o.k food and o.k prices - i would reccomend the Bar Sol for lunch - very good price and delicious food - it doesnt do dinner though which was a bummer! The food at the hotel was bareable - breakfast was lovely - the same things every morning, but a huge array of it - cooked, pastries and fruite. Dinner changed every so often - i didnt enjoy it at all - we went out for dinner quite abit. The negative things about our holiday cemented the decision that we wouldnt return to this hotel - After the evening show at about 12:30 - every night, 2 people would go around 'stacking' all the chairs very very loudly - our neighbour even shouted over the balcony one night but he ignored her and carried on throwing chairs around - and again, they would come out at around 8:30am to put out all the sunbeds out - throwing them around and waking everyone up - truly awful. Its all tower blocks in benidorm with thin walls - i found it very annoying to hear people walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night, babies crying, people walking down the corridor, even people talking in their room. We lost alot of sleep this holiday, which actually defeated the point of the it - to recooperate! The day before we were to return home, after breakfast we went back to our room to find our door wide open, aswell as all the others on our corridor - and mattresses laying outside. They were changing the old mattresses for new ones - we had no warning, and anyone could have walked into our room and taken somthing - not good at all. Its a good job we had packed most of our things already otherwise we wouldnt have been able to. A few points about the hotel to end this - the night staff talk very poor english - no good asking them anything really. The pool area is great - happy hour at 5pm is always a plus! Ask for a lower floor in both sister hotels - the lifts are tiny and break often - there are 15 floors in both hotels so sometimes its a long wait for an elavator you cant even get into.

I read so many reviews on trip advisor of people moaning about staying in the Pelicanos and not to stay in the Ocas... Trust me... there is absolutly no difference! We arrived about midday to find we were in the Ocas (which is the smaller hotel of the two) When we were checking in the receptionist was extremly rude, whilst checking us in, a spanish lady came to desk (I think to ask about a day trip) he completly left us and started helping her we stood there in shock for about 5 mins before he returned!! That was a bit off putting. The room was big enough for the 2 of us on the 7th floor with a pool view, the only complaint we had was we arrived to find we had 2 single beds! My partner went to reception to ask if we could have a double room, the room we were shown was horrendous!!! It was tiny and overlooked a roof! Not nice at all so we decided we would make do with pushing our two single beds together. Even though we stayed in the Ocas, we were able to use the facillities in both hotels as they are right next door. There is a pool in the Ocas which is nice but the pool in the Pelicanos is HUGE!! We spent our whole holiday there it was lovely! But watch out for the woman who stands at the enterance to the Pelicanos pool. She takes your room number and watches for you leaving the pool. If you leave your towels on a sunbed, to go and get breakfast or lunch- she goes and removes your towels and you loose your sun lounger!!! She did that to us and we were not happy!!! The food is ok, as long as you like fish... no options for vegetarians. Be careful as some of the food is not labelled most of it contains meat or fish. The meat was always pink inside so i lived on vegetables for the week! So be careful! We never had any problem getting a table in the Ocas restaurant although for the first few nights.. we had to clear our own tables!!! Benidorm its self is good, be careful at the beach because in the water it is not sand it is very rocky, my partner cut his feet really badly! I would not recommend children to go in there! Overall we had a good stay, the weather was amazing!! In the 30s everyday but the reception staff really need to be more tolarent of English speaking people and need to learn how to smile!! :-D