Iberostar Waves Bahía de Palma — Hotel in Palma

Overall Waves Bahía is a very nice hotel but it comes with some significant caveats. We booked a standard room for a two week vacation. Whilst the room was of the dimensions advertised I don’t think it’s unreasonable that two relatively light travellers should have sufficent storage space for clothes and other holiday essentials. The room unquestionably did not. There were two small drawers and a couple of inadequate clothing rails. The only other space was out of reach on top of the wardrobe. Efforts to rectify were largely ignored. The single shower was located in the middle of the room and leaked into the bedroom when used, the single sink and loo were of childlike proportions. We were offered an upgraded suite at a “very modest” €70 a day and repeatedly told the room was what was advertised. It was size wise but given the grade and certainly price of this hotel any room provided needs to meet basic needs. They need to employ some decent space consultants to bring the rooms up to scratch. Otherwise the air conditioning in the brutally hot month of August in all common parts was clearly inadequate. Whether it was turned down/off to save money or simply not up to the job I don’t know but it was inadequate. Three further small gripes. The hotel seemed to be overwhelmed with besuited middle managers (usually 3 at mealtimes) who seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever. They didn’t engage with guests or even staff but rather just floated around talking to each other with no evident purpose. Guests are paying for these overheads. While the staff were generally extremely pleasant and helpful I can’t not comment on the standard of waitressing. The dining room waiting staff seems to be made up of some disinterested lifers and a bunch of individuals on I assume work experience. Whatever they were unbelievably dozy, slow, incompetent and wouldn’t have survived 5 minutes in any other spainish hotel I have ever stayed in. Maybe they didn’t like their uniforms which looked like and probably were issued in the 1959s! Finally, there is an extremely nice elevated area over the “Origins” restaurant with a bar, spa pool, seating areas etc which are roped off all day/night unless you pay a €46 daily charge to sit in this area. No one did. With a relatively small amount of space elsewhere it is a ridiculous waste of a very pleasant area. To my knowledge the bar was used once in our two week stay for a private (and very loud) party. ||All the above said the hotel is very well appointed, the common parts are nice, the pool area and pool extremely clean and welcoming and food exceptionally good. The hotel is also located right on top of a...

I rarely write reviews, but this experience was unacceptable and I suspect most of the positive reviews in this page are coming from the hotel staff/friends.

My husband and I have traveled the world and are well familiar with differences in the characteristics of a good hotel. We have even visited Mallorca two years ago and stayed at a hotel we were beyond satisfied with. This time we decided to visit Mallorca once more, and only for the occasion of my husband's birthday and our wedding anniversary during this stay, we concluded that we should try another hotel for another experience.

Mallorca has plenty of hotels along the beachline to chose among, and to end up booking at this hotel was mostly due to their pictures and positive reviews. Upon arrival, we were met by a receptionist named Sara who immediately told us that we booked the least attractive room in the whole hotel complex, showing us drawing of the map of the hotel which (unbelievably) shows that in each building, there is ONE room located on the backside of the building, with a balcony facing nothing, and that the standard is low. Knowing that we booked our room carefully from pictures and reviews, we knew this was not the truth. We went to the room they were trying to scare us with, which obviously had not been used in years and the standard was horrific and size much smaller than pictures. We believe this is a trick they pull in order for their guests to upgrade asap. The upgrade would cost from 60 euros and up, in addition to the price for the standard room. We were told that we can look at both rooms, but if we want to see the more expensive room, we would have to confirm that we want too book it before we see it. During this time, a guy from the staff is following us to and from the elevator. My husband and I are trying to compare our booking information on our phones with what these people are showing us. This guy is all up in our phones trying to look and interrupting, claiming that whatever has happened must be the agency's fault. I should also mention that this hotel did not look anything like the pictures, not nearly as large or spacious, and it looks old.

We gladly paid the hotel cancellation fee right there and then, and walked straight over to the same hotel we visited two years ago, which is My Sea House Flamingo, with outstanding quality of service, rooms, staff, food. I would recommend absolutely everyone to visit My Sea House Flamingo, which completely saved our whole vacation with their beautiful...

Exceeded expectations in every possible realm - location, accommodation, and dining. Beautifully renovated with super nice decoration and layout in the shared spaces (lobby, pool, bar, spa, rooftop). We had a normal room with ocean view and although it was relatively small and the bed was two double beds joined together, the design of the room and the amazing balcony looking out on the pool and the ocean made up for the small size. The bathroom, also extremely small, was similarly extremely well designed to function well for two people in light of the small Floorplan. The shower was a nice rain shower enclosed in glass. The room was very light and had a nice mural on the wall. The highlight of the room is definitely the balcony, where we would sit all evening after dinner listening to the live music and the waves. The buffet really blew us away with the amazing array of options and the fact that there were different options and themes each night. The quality of the food really was far better than any buffet I have ever had. At dinner each night there was a grill station with fish, meat, and vegetable options. The desert options were really unbelievable, with more than 10 varieties of cakes and sweets in addition to the ice cream bar that you could use. At breakfast there was a grill station with omlettes, grilled cheese, or fried eggs. This was in addition to pancakes, every possible bread you could dream of, a variety of fresh fruits, and a freshly squeezed juice bar with at least five different juice options. In addition to the food being a major highlight, the location was another standout point. The hotel was located directly on the beach and directly at a point where the beach was not too crowded and you are sufficiently separated from the drunk antics of the "Ballermann" party crowd. It is literally like you are in a nice 300 m stretch of beach that is separate from the extremely crowded and rowdy parts of El Arenal Beach, couldn't be better. Oh yeah, there is also a little pool on the rooftop! This is really more of a gimmick than anything but it's nice to go up there and chill for a while with a beautiful view of the beach. Again, can't understate how amazing of a value this hotel is. I honestly have no clue what could have kept this from receiving a fifth star. The experience we had was definitely on pad with the experiences we have had at Ritz Carlton and Intercontinental properties that were considered five star. We will...