Iberostar Selection Albufera Park — Hotel in Muro

Travelled as family of 4 with two under 2 (2 & 10mths) by private transfer (50mins drive) for 7nt stay at Iberostar Selection Albufera Park. Highly recommend door to door transport instead of shared/coach if you’re travelling with small children, others mentioned their transfer was in excess of 2hrs. We used Mallorca North Transfers who provided adequate child seats. ||Note: we stayed in a Premium Kids Garden Access Room with separate double bedroom, and lounge with bunk-style beds. The sofa does not convert into a sofa bed. ||CHECK IN ||Few stragglers awaiting departure but no other arrivals so straight to front of check-in desk. We did the prior check-in online a day before travel but can’t comment how much time this actually saved;|• NB. whilst you can download the Iberostar app before arrival, you cannot book a la carté restaurants (regardless of knowing your room number in advance) until reception has acknowledged you as onsite. ||ROOM (#1129)||We preselected this room (booked direct with Iberostar) due to its immediate proximity to the splash pad and onsite playground. Plenty of space and beautifully decorated though definitely seen better days. Being able to walk straight off the balcony onto the splash pad is unquestionably a trade off with undisturbed nap-times and a decent nights sleep. We could hear every footstep and furniture scrape from the room directly above and regrettably, we experienced an entire week of prolonged running and thumping in the dead of night. Having stayed at resorts with larger footprints, we were concerned about needing to return to the room frequently hence picking a lower floor. However, the grounds are relatively tight and a top floor room would still be manageable with a baby and toddler.||OTHER ROOM ISSUES;||• No cot on arrival despite pre-request. Resolved within a day but the cot provided had a whopping huge hole in it. Subsequently, mum co-slept with two babies and dad made do with a single/bunkbed. |• Standard lock on the entrance door and a missing fire door mechanism, plus the balcony doors were also broken. There were no additional child locks or gates. Our 2yr old had multiple successful escape attempts, so a significant safety hazard for small children. |• Water refill station is directly outside the door with fairly loud patrons at all hours (day and night). This also meant room access/exit was blocked each time the machine was used - the hotel should consider moving these to a less disruptive space. |• Note the “direct pool access” room across the corridor (#1101) has the only Lift access to the Skybar right outside it. |• Balcony was entirely shaded for most of the day, so drying swimwear and towels became a real issue for us. ||HOUSE KEEPING ||• House keeping cupboard was both directly adjacent and next door to our room. Due to issues already discussed we were awake when house-keeping congregated here, but it might be annoying for late sleepers. |• Cleaning itself was okay. We missed several days due to using the room for nap-times but was able to hand off rubbish bags and swap bath towels when needed. |• Beds made 3 times, sheets changed once during 7nt stay. ||HOTEL FACILITIES ||SWIM||• Fantastic experience with the waterpark/slides, though evident aging and damage in some areas that let the hotel down i.e. sections of missing pool tile and holes in the waterpark fibreglass. |• Children’s pool shoes are a must, as the pool areas were extremely slippery and we did witness multiple falls by both children and adults. |• Splash pad whilst in fantastic condition, too cold for intended users (babies), at least in September despite weather being on average 28/29’C with minimal cloud. |• Great immediate access to beautiful clean beach!||KIDS||• Great slide and trampoline at reception, playground next to splash pad more suited to older children. Playground behind main stage is good for little ones, as was the public playground directly outside the hotel. |• Unable to explore kids club due to minimum age requirement (4+), but didn’t stop our confident 2yr old getting involved in planned activities like the pool run, or bouncy castle slides.|• Mini disco okay; our toddler did enjoy it, but it’s an odd time just before first dinner sitting and most children still in swimsuits. |• Can’t comment on later evening entertainment as little ones asleep by 20:00hrs, but definitely plenty going on and lots of variety throughout the week. Entertainment is definitely the selling point over Service quality. ||MISC||• Disappointing gym offering, tight squeeze for 4/5 patrons. Free-weights topped out at 30kg and cable machines broken. |• Fab experience using the Skybar and infinity pool. Easily secured a daybed each morning to use as our base - really difficult to secure main pool/waterpark sun-beds due to usual bed-saving antics. |• Overall quality of service a bit hit and miss, definitely some standout staff members but an underlying distain from others. |• Bikes with child-seats available to hire from reception, didn’t get a chance to enquire about helmets. ||FOOD ||Would suggest most all inclusive joints are fairly standard quality of food, nothing to write home about but usually something edible. The food here surpassed our expectations and was actually enjoyable. Several themed nights at the buffet reduced the repetitive feel, and the deserts (specifically cakes) are definitely the stand out feature. |• Good access to a variety of food, snacks and drinks at various locations around the clock. ||A LA CARTÉ ||• We did have difficulty securing bookings at the a la carté restaurants via the app - zero availability until last two nights and only late sittings. Reception kindly offered to put us on a waiting list and subsequently, we were offered bookings at the Mexican (good food and service) and Spanish (food and service both poor) at reasonable times for little ones. ||MOSQUITOES ||Hotel is rife with mosquitoes! When using the balcony, we kept the doors firmly closed so the room stayed relatively mozzie free. No overnight bites, but did pick up minimal bites from the beach and restaurant areas. We used a combo of repellent bracelets, Avon skin so soft and Jungle formula (sprayed directly onto bed sheets). Hubby picked up some nasty welts in the last fews days, as with sprays running low, we prioritised protecting our children. ||Overall, would we return? Probably not. Would we give Iberostar another chance elsewhere else?...

We have just returned from an almost faultless week at Iberostar Albufera Park. Without question the greatest assets this hotel has are its staff. Everybody from the effortlessly multilingual, unflappable front-of-house staff in reception, through to the cleaning and facilities staff who constantly go above and beyond to keep your room and the whole environment so clean and well-maintained, the kitchen staff and waiters/waitresses who somehow make feeding hundreds of people of many different nationalities and food preferences seem effortless two or three times a day, the entertainment, animation and kids’ club staff who are so upbeat and fun in a way that people of all ages really respond to, the gardeners who keep such pretty and trim displays of local flora and fauna even in intense heat, the ever-present bar team keeping everybody refreshed and no doubt many other staff members behind the scenes I haven’t mentioned. Everybody we met was positive, upbeat, and a credit to the organisation. They define what good service looks like - I say that as somebody who had many different service industry jobs back in the day and knows how hard it can be. Whatever they are paid, it isn’t enough!

The hotel itself has some slightly older rooms (being renovated after high season 2022 I believe) which Jet2 sell as ‘superior family rooms’ when they really are quite basic/standard rooms. We chose to pay a little extra to get a better room which was well worth it - go for one with the infinite/glass balcony, first floor up, if you can, although these have large showers instead of a bath - worth knowing for those with very small children. The pools - there are about 3 or 4 outdoor pools in Park and as many again in Playa next door which is really the same hotel, you can use any of them. The best kids’ pool is in Park which includes the water park and slides. The quieter, more adult side is in Playa, with some deeper, simple pools. You need to get a sun lounger fairly early in the day if you plan to hang out at the pool as they fill up, or just take your chances - there’s always one or two somewhere. You can borrow towels from the hotel for a 20 Euro refundable deposit which everybody does and change them for clean ones whenever you need to.

The food is very good overall - a selection of local seafood and Balearic/Spanish dishes is always present along with everything else you might expect from buffets. There’s enough to keep even the fussiest kids eating all week and plenty of grown-up options too. Certain elements reappear everyday as is the nature of a large, international buffet, but you could eat there almost constantly for two weeks without getting too bored. In a perfect world there would be more outdoor seating as it is at something of a premium for breakfast and dinner, but you soon learn to time when you go for your meals to be most likely to sit outdoors if you want that. Probably in the middle of August it gets too hot out on the terrace for most small kids anyway. Drinks prices were pretty reasonable for those not doing all-inclusive. There are drinking water towers dotted all around the hotel and around the accommodation floors - this approach should be mandatory for every hotel, particularly in warm climates and clearly saves a lot of wasted single-use plastic (and lots of shopping trips for expensive bottled water).

Entertainment was just that - different elements appealed more to us as a family, of course, but the Frozen show had our 6 year old mesmerised and he threw himself into Aqua Zumba with surprising enthusiasm. Even if you and your family aren’t into whatever’s going on, there’s always other things to occupy you - we didn’t feel like we scratched the surface of it all, really. In the evenings it was just nice to listen to the music, have a few drinks, and keep an eye on the kids playing with each other in the park or on the trampoline and playing in at least four different languages.

We will return to this hotel, it just has an amazing feel about it that puts you at ease. Muchas gracias...

8 nights here - loved it & would come back.|2 kids - 2 year old & 6 year old.||Food|- Buffet is excellent wide range of food - really delicious, really love the self help to Beer & prosecco and wine at lunch.|Kids choice great as well.|Chef's amazing.|Allergies - our son is Dairy & gluten intolerant. Food labelling was OK! It could be better as sometimes especially at breakfast there were no labels on the cereals & very limited choice of food at breakfast that our toddler would eat.|Only one flavour of dairy free ice cream available at the ice cream parlour and sometimes that wasn't it stock & no gluten free cones, but you can get lollies from the main bar.|Dessert at dinner time was hit and miss - the majority of time they had jelly (with cream on top..we scraped this off) and if they didn't we found a chef and they found us dairy free ice cream!|They will also cook gluten free pasta but there is a 15 min wait! |I think offering dairy free yoghurt would be a huge benefit especially at breakfast where if you don't want a fry up options are limited! ||Snacks|This isn't your traditional all inclusive - there is a cafe open 24 hours that serves Sandwiches, Fruit, Cakes & drinks - but that's it. If you have allergies there is limited to no food available - you need to ask at the main kitchen for food to be made for you or you need to take food from the buffet! The only thing our son could eat was fruit, cake or croissants!||Drinks|- Cocktails OK!|- Pina Colada with no coconut milk...|- Aperol spritz - good|- Mojito very sweet |- Beer - good|- Rose prosecco - AMAZING and available all the time! |- Lots of choices for kids.|- Water fountains all around the hotel & in all areas - bring a bottle you can refill & it can be cold water or tepid! Also in the main bar they have sparkling water you can help yourself to ||Restaurants - BOOK quick if you want a good time with young kids & make sure if you can't find a slot you talk to reception as reservations are usually pretty good at finding slots for you. I do think at peak times they should limit the amount you can book to allow everyone a chance - we booked the hour we arrived and could only get in to one restaurant before 8pm! With a 2 year old this is too late but luckily in the end we managed to eat at the|- Spanish|- Greek |- Mexican|ALLL AMAZING!||The grill at lunch time is amazing - the food and views incredible but it gets busy!||Rooms|- Great size & set up for kids ||Activities|Kids club isn't all day - its certain slots for certain ages but the staff are amazing and the evening activities great!|- Cinema night|- Magician|- Stage show(doesn't start until 9:15pm though!|||If you want a hotel that is calm and serene this isn't for you - its hectic and crazy and the music at night is loud until about 10:30pm and you can hear it all around the resort.||Sun beds were an issue - people are allowed to reserve so at 8am all beds are reserved - there were deck chairs available, but if you want sun beds round the main pool be quick.||The roof top pool is smaller and more a splash type pool and there is food (ice creams, nuts & crisps) available which is great!||We loved the pool in the other hotel middle one - the kids could stand and we tended to get a sun bed and its away from the noise of the main pool.||Lots of playgrounds hidden everywhere.||The staff are amazing - everyone worked to accommodation our kids allergies - its just extra effort - I think additional training would go a long way! ||We found out on the last two days that around the main pool various things happen - we didn't see this advertised anywhere which was annoying! So make sure you ask especially if like us you don't want to sit at the noisy main pool all day you do miss out on things! ||- Fruit market - fresh fruit available to take away|- Drinks served - in coconuts (and rum for the adults) |- Paella made and served...|| Overall we loved our stay - clean resort, lots of eco friendly touches like straws in drinks being edible and ice cream spoons...