Hotel Saratoga — Hotel in Palma

I was going to give 4 stars, but overall I do think our stay was excellent.||||We returned a few days ago from a 4 night stay. Because JET2 still have the slightly older pictures on there website, with none of the new heated pool downstairs, we were very surprised and happy when we arrived. 3 pools!!!!||||We had booked a Deluxe double room. When we checked in (at nearly midnight), we were given a room on the third floor overlooking the road at the front. That first night we got no sleep - the road was too noisy (lots of motorbikes/scooters in Spain, and naturally a lot of drunk people walking by the front of the hotel!). Also noisy selfish guests in the hotel at 3am/4am, but the staff can’t help that. While the room itself was lovely, I was surprised at booking a ‘Deluxe’ and getting such a noisy room. The hotel offers cheaper room rates, so these lower road front room should be kept exclusively for the cheaper rates. ||||We went to reception the next morning and asked for a quieter room, overlooking the interior. They were very helpful and arranged that straightaway. Our new room was peaceful and quiet, it’s just sad that we didn’t get that the first night when it seems there was quieter rooms already available. No further issues with our room for the stay (although being English, I wasn’t interested in the coffee available in the room, as nice as I am sure it is!). ||||Would have to give a big mention to the shower and toiletries (Rituals). Very, very nice. Amazing, huge, BIG comfortable bed.||||We couldn’t believe how lovely the rooftop terrace and pool were, and the downstairs pool area (not the original kidney shaped pool…the new sauna area pool). It really felt like we were in a nice beach resort, yet we were on a city break. It meant we dedicated a whole day just to being at the hotel, having a pool day. We could easily have done 2 whole days lounging by the pools.||||Service at the bar at the downstairs pool was great. I don’t recall the two guys names, but they were great. Very polite, friendly and professional. I had a different cocktail each day, and a glass of sangria one day (next time I would just stick to sangria - it’s only €6.50 and it’s lovely but the cocktails are €15 - they were ‘nice’, but I honestly couldn’t taste any alcohol in them. Even on a single measure in the UK I can still taste the alcohol - for €15 here they should be using premium spirits ie Bacardi, but I am suspecting local spirits if I can’t taste any alcohol? A shame). ||||The service however at the rooftop pool was strange and very disappointing. Didn’t feel it had anywhere near the professionalism. The main guy up there was, how can I put it, a bit of a knob. He was dressed in what I can only describe as hospital scrubs for a start, whereas everyone else in the hotel was in a smart uniform. He swaggered around with an attitude and came off as smarmy. There was no clear understanding of ordering on the roof terrace - some people were getting table/lounger service…we waited a while then I went to the strange hatch round the corner where the staff seemed to congregate. They ignored me for a long time before I was eventually able to order. I wasn’t best pleased, as coming from the ground floor service, it was night and day. ||||There was only one menu on the rooftop, which was tucked in to the interior of the strange hatch. So no public menu. Service was not with a smile. I loved the rooftop terrace for the views and the vibe (music was playing up here, but none downstairs), however I didn’t like the service at all. That guy needs to sort his attitude out and realise he’s not gods gift, and get a smart uniform on. ||||On a side note, the ladder getting into the rooftop pool needs some serious maintenance, it was ready to come off it’s hinges. ||||The downstairs pool area near the sauna, with cabanas - wow. Really lovely. Please take note - you may think from the lovely pictures on the hotel website and the look of the place when you arrive that it’s going to be peaceful and luxurious at the downstairs pool area…after all, it’s set up near a sauna and has a whirlpool bit. It is actually rampant with little kids!!! They can use this pool, and boy do they use it! Kids jumping in, flippers floating everywhere, snorkels on the go, screaming and shouting…if you are looking for somewhere peaceful, either the rooftop pool or another hotel would be my recommendation. It didn’t particularly bother us, but it did some people (understandably). It’s just to make people aware. ||||As you can imagine, none of the parents were telling their kids to keep the noise down (ie stop screaming at the top of your voice, your friend can hear you she is right next to you) or to stop jumping in the pool right next to the couple relaxing, or to look where your going when you have the snorkel underwater so the lady swimming doesn’t get her legs knocked by you!!!! Nope, no parenting going on here!! But if your English, you will be very used to that!! ||||I would say though the clientele is not the constant beer drinking, heavily tattooed crowd you would normally think of when you think of the English. It’s really nice, decent people, no constant drinking and not many tattoos, just noisy kids! Even the middle classes don’t appear to discipline their kids now!||||The one part of the stay I was most disappointed in and I was going to take a star off for, was the breakfast. It was not great. The ‘hot’ options were not hot, they weren’t even warm. Freezing cold. Every day. On the first morning, my husband put some beans, sausages (not pork like we are used to in the UK or USA, but chorizo. As they seem to have a majority UK/USA clientele I think normal sausages would be more appropriate), hash browns and tomato on his plate. All cold. I cannot eat cold food like that, just vile. He left most of it. ||||The pastries were extremely disappointing. Most were dry as sticks and tasted of nothing. We tried the cinnamon buns a couple of times but didn’t resemble any cinnamon bun I have ever tasted - on our last morning they looked more like what you would expect, with like a vanilla frosting on top. Great, I thought!! To get it back to the table and discover it was uncooked dough. The whole thing stuck to the fingers and you could see it wasn’t cooked, it was like raw dough. ||||We tried other pastries on offer, and just all them were bone dry and not nice. ||||So, for the price we paid we lived off cereal, fruit and yogurt on the mornings. It was fine, but I didn’t expect to pay the price I did and go to a 4 star hotel and just have ‘fine’. ||||Note - the coffee and hot drinks are at a self service station. There is nobody comes around on a morning to your table asking if you want tea/coffee etc. On our first morning, the staff member at the entrance to the dining room just took our room number - she didn’t ask if it was our first morning…therefore because the set up wasn’t explained, I had assumed, like other European hotels I have stayed in, that someone would come round asking if I wanted tea or coffee to the table - waited a while before I realised that doesn’t happen, then noticed the self service stations! The coffee was nice, actually. ||||Also, bottles of iced cava available at the juice station so you can make a morning mimosa! Which I did, twice and it was very nice!! ||||Overall a great stay and we are looking at returning the same time next year. JET2 have said they haven’t sorted the contracts out for June 2026 onwards pricing for this hotel yet, so I can’t book yet as it’s not available, otherwise I would have!! ||||If you have the option, I would honestly just do room only and get breakfast elsewhere as it’s really not worth the price. Massive improvements needed to keep the hot food hot, and the pastry assortment needs a huge quality...

To start the room is tacky in design compared to the pictures we had seen online when booking the hotel, The cleaning is not even mediocre there is still plenty of dust and dirt around the room, The shower drain is loose and on our first night i had tripped into the wall, The flooring in the shower tray has chipped as seen in pictures below, The mini bar prices are extortionate for the amount you get, It says all soft drinks and yet the only drinks available in the fridge are water and alcohol and as someone who doesn’t drink its not very handy.

The bed is stiff and the pillows are uncomfortable, its not like the covers are nice to the touch either. the curtains are a tacky pattern which are displeasing to the eyes, The balcony railing is not sturdy in the slightest i nearly fell leaning on it. The balcony door has a 3 inch lip which i had caught my feet on multiple times. the toilet space is made for people under 4ft apparently because as a 6ft male i have to sit sideways to be able to use it. the bed sheets were stained not by much but you could still see them.

On the first day at 10:07am I was taking a shower and room service walked straight in without knocking then again later in the day roughly 14:00 walked in without knocking not understanding when i said we did not need a clean.

The noise from the hallway starts at 17:00 and doesn't stop until around 03:00am. This includes drunks shouting, people slamming their doors, Shouting from the street, loud talking from neighbouring rooms.

There are scuff marks on the walls and somehow the ceiling, the curtains have holes in them. the chairs provided in the room have stains on them as well as the sliding doors being put in upside down which provided me with a good laugh.

Although their faults with the room the reception staff seem friendly and keen to help however when we asked where the indoor pool was the male receptionist had given us a look as though we were stupid. The “indoor” pool is a outside pool with a couple metre’s of cover and at that it wasn’t all that special.

Had discussed the shower with reception and we are currently waiting on a technician to come fix it. The shower had broken, you could not switch between the hose and the over head as the switch had broken.

The “good views from your rooms” is what attracted us to the hotel and yet were looking directly at a tree and what looks like a slumlords dream across the road.

For someone who loves mallorca i will never visit palma again as this has completely sullied my views on the area.

The only good thing about the room is the smart TV.

Looking at other reviews it seems the hotel like to pin most of the blame on the customers i agree with the hotel for some of the complaints as it is just human stupidity but the accusations against them that should be taken seriously are almost laughed off so wouldn't be surprised if this never sees the light of day

Picture included were taken...

The Hotel Saratoga was the perfect place for our first visit to Palma and a great base from which to explore Palma City and Old Town. Nothing was more than a 15 minute walk away and the bus from the airport stops just one minute away!

We stayed in Room 611 on the sixth floor. Despite being just around the corner from the lift, we never heard it and neither did we hear other guests (unless they were in the pool!) The room was very clean, spacious and had a balcony that overlooked the pool and had a great view of the cathedral.

Loved the Rituals toiletries but was surprised that there were no other amenities like a shower cap. We appreciated the robe, complimentary slippers and luxe pool towels. Housekeeping were great and came every day. The bed and pillows were super comfy - we got a great night’s sleep. The bathroom was a good size and the walk in shower was fabulous. The opaque glass door might be an issue for those who want some privacy but it wasn’t an issue for us.

We didn’t have breakfast but we did enjoy some drinks and food from the cafe by the pool. We thought the prices were fair and the food was really good, especially the club sandwich. We enjoyed drinks at the roof top bar a couple of times - the view is sensational.

The choice of pools was one of the reasons we picked the Saratoga. The rooftop pool was stunning (and adults only) but it got a lot of sun and there were no umbrellas. Unfortunately, almost all of the sunbeds, bali beds and loungers around the main pool were reserved with towels from very early on in the morning and it was impossible to find a bed especially one with shade. We actually saw guests saving their spot in both the courtyard and main pool and going between the two! I wish there was a clear hotel policy on towels so everyone could enjoy the space. The courtyard pool was great with lots of shady spots although there were no sunbeds, chairs.

All in all a great stay - fab location, lovely staff, well appointed rooms and pools - would definitely stay here again next time...