Grupotel Orquidea

Before I start, I just want to say that I think we were just unlucky with our holiday here and that the problems we did encounter were treated seriously by the hotel staff. We arrived around 11pm ish on a Friday night. The flight and transfer from the hotel has been fine. The hotel had left a very simple cold buffet out for late arrivals. Our room was on the fifth floor and had a beautiful view of the coast. Unfortunately my daughter had an accident in the bed and the following morning, we informed the reception team who said they'd fix it straight away. The first day was very windy and the pool was cold. We went down to dinner on either the first or second night of our stay and the dining room was chaos. It was exceptionally busy, I'd never seen anything so manic in my life. We tried to find a table and eventually did. I went into the buffet area and struggled to get any food. Queues were being ignored, kids just wandering aimlessly dropping food and pushing in front of people. Even some of the adults did not have any common sense or manners. The kitchen and waiting staff were understaffed and stressed. I managed to get two slices of pizza and took them back to the table but by that point the pizza was cold and I was very reluctant to 'go back into' the bedlam in the restaurant. My son, aged 9, has autism and the noise, atmosphere and chaos were quickly having an effect on him. So we left the cold pizza and went to a restaurant in the square across the road. When we complained to the reception staff we were told that it was peak season and it was a crossover evening between guests leaving and arriving. Either way, it was utter bedlam, bordering on dangerous. My husband spoke to Ulrica the following day and she offered for us to eat in the à la carte restaurant next door, which was far quieter. We still ate from the buffet restaurant but carried our food through. It was much better and far quieter. To be honest, the restaurant was never quite that busy again but mealtimes were causing a lot of anxiety for my son so we stuck to the alternative plan. The restaurant staff worked hard but just couldn't keep up with cleaning the tables to make space. The following day we noticed a leak from the ceiling of the area just outside the shower. Water was just streaming down the ceiling, past the fuse box, creating a puddle on the floor. While I took the kids to eat in the restaurant, my husband spoke to the reception team. Naomi, the TUI rep did a fab job of getting us moved. David, the hotel manager was happy for us to move the following morning but we did not think it was safe. When we returned to the room to pack up our things, there was a maintenance guy fixing the issue. Apparently the air conditioning unit had leaked. He wasn't too worried about the safety but we were. We were moved to a junior suite which was a nice upgrade, now with a view over the main part of the hotel. It was a little noisy when the show was on but we weren't that fussed. W

Hotel rooms are ok, love the split level its gives the feeling of being separate rooms but the air conditioning, although cool, doesn't hit the beds & can cause a difficult nights sleep. The restaurants are okay if a little repetitive, I was fine but some members of my family were hoping for a bit more variety. They had an Italian night & an Asian night in the main dining room. I had a prawn cracker that almost choked me! It had a piece of what appeared to be plastic around 2.5cm round embedded inside it. My wife found a chef to complain to but he seemed to just shrug his shoulders & point her to reception. They were of little help too. A TUI rep was nearby & said that she'd sort it out. Sadly that came to nothing too. The morale of the incident is just your food in the main restaurant, just in case you have a child who likes prawn crackers! Le Tavern restaurant should only be eaten at if you're starving. The Sultan restaurant is well worth a visit with goid service & excellent food. There are always plenty of sunbeds around the pool, even if the water is a bit cool for my liking! The entertainment staff are highly talented & energetic. The evening shows are quite good. On the whole its a nice hotel but we felt let down by our treatment over the prawn cracker!

Firstly we come home last night and we couldn’t have been happier to be home sadly. My son is autistic and has quite a lot of struggles, he was in the swimming pool with a very small rubber ring as that’s what makes him comfortable when I’m swimming pools and 2/3 days in there was no problem with that, life guard was happy said he was fine etc to them be approached by who I believe was another guy in grey uniform no idea his role in hotel (I believe possibly towel guy) but please some quote me on that and my son was told no and to get out to which I told him he was told by the lifeguard he’s fine and has been for the past few days howver he stood his ground upset my son due to the situation was rude and not remorseful at all. My son being autistic got extremely upset and panicked and ended up wanting to spend the last of his holiday in his room, we spoke to what we was told was the hotel manager however recently found out she was just the assistant about the situation and after trying to push us to another hotel sister pool and other places around the hotel however after standing our ground she said the ring would be fine for my son in this pool. My son however was completely heartbroken at this point and felt horrible due to the treatment he recieved and myself also very angry and upset due to the discrimination against sons special needs. After returning to our room for a few hours we went for Lunch and I managed to change his mind in regards to the pool so we went back and as a family of 3 myself my son and his grandmother we continued to play and my son continued to try get comfortable practimg swimming and just in general being okay in the water as for him that’s a big step To them once again have the hotel manager assistant approach us at the pool while playing as a family to ask us to remove our review on the hotel which is wrong on many levels and to approach us in front of my son again I had to leave his grandmother to deal with it due to upset on my son. Thankfully we have witness who also had a child with special needs and spoke to me personally after and expressed how what she saw made her furious. Personally avoid this hotel it’s not 4 stars, some of the restaurant staff were rude, the food was extremely mediocre, the reception desk there was maybe 1 person who was nice however on the day of leaving they couldn’t find our passports and put them in the wrong place. I spoke to a tui rep in regards to the pool situation (I have names of all these people) to which she was also rude and showed zero care and interest to my son’s needs. There’s no signs around the hotel pools aswell as on the website which states inflatables etc are fine. The pool my son was in with his tiny inflatable also had giant inflatables which was shrugged off and fine (I have photos) many people playing ball games diving in etc however my autistic sons tiny inflatable to stop him panicking was NOT okay but the giant pink flamingo and rings was. (