Aparthotel Fontanellas Playa — Hotel in Palma

This was an okay hotel for a pretty nice price. My expectations for a good hotel are pretty high, so it might be entirely possible that this hotel would be considered a good one by many.

Location: The location is very nice, right at the beach, with different buses that run to the center of Palma and one to the airport, which is not far. This may be bothersome to some people, but I was surprised that the planes were not very loudly hearable. It was perfectly fine, most of the time the people on the street at the beach would be louder than air traffic. There are some pretty nice restaurants and bars for a lot of different tastes around.

Rooms: I stayed in a Junior Suite which was pretty much the usual size for a room of that category, they do have bigger rooms in the form of apartments and Standard Hotel rooms which are a little bit above averagely sized. The beds are comfortable. The rooms look neat, however I had some experiences with small ants that would come out of the drain in the bathroom. The bathroom was rather poorly cleaned, it had some mold in the shower, but apart from that the room was cleaned well. The balcony, which in my case had direct sea view, was also of slightly above average size for a hotel of this kind and had two chairs and a small table. A water kettle is provided in the room, along with a refrigerator, which both were pretty nice to have.

Amenities: They do have an outdoor pool, which is modestly sized and not tempered, which made it rather chilly at the time I was there, in early May, with poolside sun loungers. They also have a rather small spa with an also small indoor pool, which is tempered and pretty warm. They provide beach towels. The beach is, public and the hotel does not provide loungers for the beach, those can be rented from a local service not affiliated with the hotel, however it is perfectly okay to just have your things on the loungers at the pool, which is about 20 meters away from the beach.

Gastronomy: I had booked half-board and the food was good. The breakfast and dinner buffet were not the very best, but both were very decently sized and with pretty nice variety of choices. They do have some local cuisine, which is authentic, and international food, which was also very good. The poolside bar attached to the hotel is very nice, just look up some reviews, along with my own, here on Maps.

Service: The staff here is mostly fluent in English, Spanish, Catalan, French and German. I speak all of these languages and their ability to communicate was impressive. I've rarely stayed in hotels with staff that could speak so many languages so well, so a huge plus for that, especially as most of the guests are German and french, along with some Russians and Brits. The housekeeping service was the usual, I didn't have any trouble with that. Reception staff was always helpful and friendly, so was staff at the restaurant and bar. They were at times a little bit slow or would forget your order and have to ask again, but there wasn't not much else that would create problems with the service. They also have a bike rental and storage service.

Price: Now here comes the reason why this hotel almost got 5 stars from me: the price I paid for it. I paid 400€ for 3 nights (for 2 persons), with half-board supplement, which is not a lot of money, especially considering all of what this hotel has to offer. If this was an expensive hotel, it's shortcomings would not really be acceptable, but for this very good price, I don't really have a basis to complain.

Conclusion: This is a hotel with rather big, okay-ish-ly cleaned and maintained rooms and apartments with solid, but not perfect service made especially for families from outside of Spain. The location is almost unbeatable. The spa and pool are nice to have, but don't really suffice for the swimming needs of an average tourist, but the sea is right there. The food they have is very nice for a hotel of that class. The prices are usually very good. So if you're okay with some tradeoffs for a good price, this is the...

We've previously holidayed in Majorca, usually Palma Nova, and had a lovely time. We chose Can Pastilla and Hotel Fontanellas Playa Apart because of the location and we can't fault that. Our daughter has disabilities, and with the Hotel being just 10 minute drive from the airport, and the beach directly over the road, it appealed to us. This is the worst 4-star hotel I ever stayed at. Staff were rude and unwelcoming on arrival. Very poor customer service.

The bed and sofa bed were uncomfortable. No window in the bedroom, I do like a window in a room especially when on holiday. The balcony overlooked the pool and beach, which was lovely, but it never got sun (no fault of the hotel's, I should have done more research) No privacy on the balcony, you can see your neighbours on either side. I thought the balcony area was also dangerous because there was room to climb over into the adjoining balconies. No ventilation/extractor in the bathroom, and the light in the bathroom was on a timer and turning off even if you are in there. 4 star hotels usually gift you a complimentary pack for use in the bathroom. Fontanellas Playa Apart Hotel provided soap and shower gel.

I didn't request room service so can't comment on that. But we had a kitchen area and we did need the waste bin emptying regularly. When I saw a member of staff cleaning. I took the waste bag to her and asked her to dispose of it. She said it wasn't her job. So it was decided we should leave the waist bag outside our room? It did get removed at some point in the day. The whole stay was unpleasant due to the unhelpful staff.

We booked with Thomas Cook and thought this would primarily be a British resort. The hotel and area have many Germans and Spanish so it would be better if you can speak German or Spanish. Some of the staff struggled to speak English. I'm not judging that, I struggle to speak Spanish. The children's entertainment wasn't English so we hadn't a clue what was said and what was going on. So that was disappointing.

The outdoor pool is extremely small for the hotel's capacity and is pretty cold. The indoor pool was heated but smaller still. The day I was returning home, I decided to use up some coins, mostly €1 and €2. I bought drinks from the poolside bar, what a mistake. The bar lady was visually not happy, tutting and making comments to her work colleague.

This was very much a poolside holiday due to our daughter's mobility disabilities issues. In the morning like a lot of people who were staying there, we placed our towels on sun loungers and went for breakfast at the hotel that we had pre-paid for when we booked our holiday. After breakfast, we returned directly to the poolside, as we had done on previous days. Our 3 towels had been removed. There are signs that say towels can be removed at any point if you're not in the pool area, I understand and accept that, What was upsetting is only our towels had been removed. There were 20+ other towels on loungers unattended by people, some of those longers stayed unattended for a good part of the day. We left the loungers at most 30 minutes to have breakfast at the Hotel. When we asked the pool attendant why had he targeted us? Three British people. He said he didn't understand English or what I was saying. Went to the reception, and they mentioned the sign but couldn't answer why we had been singled out If that's their policy that's fine. But they should have removed all the towels from the unoccupied loungers.

I will be forwarding this review to Thomas Cook. I could do with a holiday to get over...

Hotel Infrastructure The hotel’s infrastructure is wonderful, the food is good, and the location is fantastic, especially with the beach right in front. The cleanliness is excellent. I’d like to give special thanks to the gentleman who cleaned our room — he was very dedicated and meticulous. He always left little candies on our sheets and kept everything spotless, fresh-smelling, and perfectly organized.

Reception Service Hebbert was excellent — friendly, flexible, and welcoming. On the other hand, we had a poor experience with David. He was the complete opposite of Hebbert — looking visibly grumpy, showing no willingness to help with something simple, and even being rude to my family. That’s not acceptable for someone in customer service. In my opinion, a hotel should always try to assist guests, especially with simple matters, or at least show that they’re making an effort. His attitude created an uncomfortable atmosphere and spoiled what should have been a relaxed hotel experience.

Cleanliness Overall, the hotel’s cleanliness is very good. The common areas are well-maintained, and the bathrooms smell fresh and look new.

The outdoor pools are enjoyable, but the indoor pool was disappointing in terms of cleanliness and maintenance. I honestly didn’t feel comfortable swimming there due to visible dirt. The outdoor pool was slightly better.

The female lifeguard was exceptionally kind and attentive to everyone. We really appreciated her care — she even helped me with a spray for my injured knee and was very sweet with the children.

Restaurant & Bar The gentleman at the outdoor bar was very attentive and always smiling — a pleasure to interact with.

The restaurant desserts, including ice creams and cakes, were excellent. The food overall is good, but it sometimes lacks flavor. Occasionally, there were more delicious options, like a spinach fritter, but in general, the dishes felt basic and could use more care in preparation. For example, the pancakes at breakfast were not good, and the tomatoes were cut into four large chunks with the core still inside — for a 4-star hotel, finely sliced tomatoes without the core would be more appropriate.

On the positive side, the fried eggs, omelets, and potato fritters were absolutely wonderful!

One thing I didn’t like: even water is charged separately at dinner. I believe drinks should be included with the meal to make things easier and avoid unnecessary hassle during payment.

Entertainment The outdoor DJ creates a lively atmosphere, and Rafa from the kids’ entertainment team is great. However, the entertainment is very repetitive — the same shows every week and the same songs for the kids. I think hiring entertainers who organize fun activities like musical chairs, scavenger hunts around the hotel, freeze dance, or bingo would be much more engaging for the children than simply repeating the same dances every day.

Daytime kids’ entertainment was also repetitive and a bit dull. I missed activities like poolside music with dancing, crafts, and fun painting sessions. We did enjoy the day Spider-Man and Batman came, but it was over very quickly!

Air Conditioning & Wi-Fi Both were excellent — strong and reliable throughout the hotel.

Room The room was a delight, and the view was...