Sheraton Mallorca Arabella Golf Hotel — Hotel in Palma

Just returned from a stay (family with toddler) here in early July 23. One night paid Junior Suite, three nights on points.

Chatted with Front Desk the day before and got an upgrade for the points portion of the stay to remain in the same room. The property is close to the Son Vida golf course, and the grounds are extremely beautiful. The property is a bit dated, but very well kept.

Check in experience was mediocre. Arrived at 11am and no room ready, was told that 'we don't know how long it takes'. I had to suggest to change in the spa to visit the pool, which was possible. I also asked to pay the first night directly at check it which gave the front desk quite a headache.

Once in the hotel, the pool has a rather good size and was never crowded. Plenty of sun loungers available. There are also two further pools for kids. There is a pool bar service (slow) but the drinks and food menu was good.

The food at the Spanish restaurant was very good. Service sometimes took a bit long however, and staff is friendly, but not really polished. I have heard several complaints about long wait times. Otherwise, the out door seating is nice in the evenings.

Breakfast was good, the terrace is also quite nice but all seats are taken after about 930am. Selection is ok, the egg station was super slow. Generally, nothing outstanding and I wouldn't pay anything like 40EUR plus for that.

The Junior Suite was acceptable in size, we had a big balcony, the bath room is good. I had to chase for my welcome present (salt and olive oil) and it was brought to the room after my chaser. I had to fix the hotel safe (the batteries were falling out).

I got a free bottle of wine after speaking with the hotel manager during the resort drinks (every Thursday at 630pm).

Generally the hotel is fairly quiet, mostly Golf players, together with a few families. Definitely the more upper class crowd when it comes to holidays in Majorca. Trip to downtown Palma is about 15 EUR and takes 15min.

Overall, the hotel is in one of the nicest parts of Palma, still fairly central, and within beautiful grounds (like the hotel itself). The place is quiet with good and friendly, however not excellent service. I prefer it compared to the other Bonvoy property up hill given the nicer pool. If you are used to American Bonvoy standards, the hotel is most likely excellent in comparison (but there's a service gap - almost as expected - to ME and Asian properties).

My wife and I agreed that...

It took me practically a month to write this review about your wonderful hotel and staff. We began our Vacation by getting lost for 5 hours in Mallorca upon arrival and were having a hard time navigating through our ill working GPS. Needless to say we were cranky, tired and totally upset but it all changed as soon as we arrived at the front desk. The beautiful Maria welcomed us with open arms and and great smile and told us to put our worries behind and that she will take care of us from here on -- and that is exactly what she and your wonderful staff did for the next amazing week. I cannot mention everyone by name as I have written the info. down but totally lost it once I returned. I just want to say "thank you" to the wonderful front desk (and yes, Maria, who one day made sure we made it to one of excursions on time by waking us up early one morning -- unasked -- but was definitely needed -- as we overslept and thankfully she looked at our itinerary during the late night she was working and was worried we would not make it to the boat on time -- who does that at a hotel? Right, Maria :) and your staff!

Dragon (I hope I have the right spelling), put together our itinerary and the front desk and wonderful valets (especially the cute soccer-playing valet who has a Mother that works in the breakfast area and is a total sweetheart and so lovely to greet each morning at the breakfast feast). Can you believe they took care of programming our GPS for every excursion we made out of the hotel to ensure we didn't get lost when we left each day. They even got in the car with us to make sure the GPS was working correctly before we left.

At the breakfast area, Tony who is so great, welcomed us each morning and gave us the same amazing table he "saved" for us. Sabrina and the wonderful Mother of the Valet (I hate myself for not remembering her name!!) were so welcoming and wonderful to talk to each morning. At the other restaurant, Jose kept us laughing and entertained and was so lovely to talk to.

I will be coming back for sure with my husband next time (went with my cousin) and I hope the same wonderful staff will be there to greet us and it will be a joy to see them again and introduce them to my husband who heard so much about them and was thrilled we were...

OVERALL IMPRESSION: A beautiful Mediterranean-style resort on the edge of a picturesque golf course, this hotel is superb for rest and relaxation. The tropical setting is magical. The inflexibility of the management significantly less so.

SPG RECOGNITION: Due to a major service issue, quite lacking…if this is how they regard a Platinum Ambassador guest, I feel for the one-off guests. Lack of a Sheraton Lounge to me is unforgivable. And no compensation in terms of drink vouchers or happy hour is insult to injury. Platinum amenity is...ahem... golf balls!

THE ROOM: Beautiful roofed balcony overlooking the pools was the only memorable feature - decor quite pedestrian “contract” style.

LOCATION: In a compound somewhat removed from the historic centre and airport.

EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS: The breakfast buffet is spectacular as is the terrace setting.

DID NOT MEET EXPECTATIONS: I made a booking several months in advance and as I was not sure my partner could join me and breakfast was quite expensive at 35E, I booked as a single expecting if, later on, I wished to add my partner, it could be done with the payment of the breakfast supplement. When I attempted to make this change a couple of weeks before arrival, they quoted me a rate nearly double what I was paying to add an additional person and would not budge… At this point, I could have been offered the entire top floor of the hotel and it would have not been enough to make amends. This leaves me with a very sour impression about the hotel’s willingness to cultivate positive relationships with its guests. And even more so as I asked twice to be contacted by a director to discuss my hard feelings whilst in house and it never happened.

ONE THING TO KNOW: There is a great sauna/jacuzzi/indoor pool spa facility which makes this property practicable even...