Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol — Hotel in San Roque

I wanted to share my experience of stay in Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol from August 10-17, 2025. Below I am listing the facts of our stay as a warning to potential guests. My aim is to inform them not to spend their money on service which is not worth it – not a five star but rather unpleasant service, which results in frustration of the best days of your holidays with your family.

HEADLINE: If coming to Costa del Sol and wanting to stay in a five star property, stay anywhere else than Fairmont La Hacienda.

OR What does 25 000,- EUR gets you in Fairmont La Hacienda.

• Check-in. We arrived a little early at around 2pm and were not allowed to check. Even at 3 pm, which is the official check in time, the villa was not ready. We were told that it would not be ready for another more than an hour. We went to the beach, hoping that somebody will contact us when the room is ready. The hotel had my phone number, so even if they could not locate me, they could have called. At 7pm we decided to go back to the villa and found it locked without any information for us where to find the key. I had to call three times to get somebody to come to open the villa and give us the keys. None of the people that I talked to had the information that we have not been checked into the room and “had to go find out what is happening”. My 3 small kids and pregnant wife waiting on the pavement the whole time that I was trying to get somebody to open the villa for us. • The private pool went totally green and grown with algae on day 5 of our stay. To be honest, we did our best to stay outside of the hotel due to poor service quality, hence were not using the pool on a daily basis so day 5 was when it became so green that we noticed. • The welcome cheese platter was left in the villa for several days, even though it was already getting moldy. • The room service order took 1 hour 20 minutes to be delivered. When complaining about it, the hotel staff told me that 1 to 1,5 hour is the SLA. • The room service dishes were not cleaned the next day and stayed in the villa for a couple of days. • The air conditioning was not working in the bedrooms – the hotel claimed that it was fixed on day 3 of our stay. The performance of it was very doubtful – very little air coming from the vents. We had to resort to setting the temperature in the living room to 18 degrees centigrade to make sure that the temperature in the bedrooms was bearable. • The outside shower was not functioning at all. • The beach is not private, which is normal in Europe. However, the services provided by Fairmont to their guests in their sunbed section are sub par. The hotel has several sunbeds on the beach. There is one person from Fairmont manning the beach, who provides you with little information which sunbeds are taken – hence you have to go and ask and beg yourself to see what is available. • I asked to see the GM on day 1, then again on day 3 and then again on day 4, when I even left a written note for him asking for a meeting. The meeting took place on the day of our departure – day 7. • The GM confirmed that the property was not ready for normal operation – it had opened in February and was still dealing with teething issues. The hotel is understaffed and not able to provide appropriate service. At the same time, the management booked a large group of guests and took the occupancy to 80% in this poor state of affairs. • By the way, Juan Miguel Losado, the GM responsible for opening resigned two weeks ago (information from the temporary GM who met me). I can clearly see why – the hotel is unmitigated disaster. • The temporary GM did provide 4 000,- EUR of credit, which is by far insufficient to compensate for the poor guest experience which seriously influenced the enjoyment of our vacation.

Summarizing the above – having paid 25 000,- EUR for one week in the private villa and receiving the above mentioned service? As I have mentioned in the headline: do yourself a service, stay...

We had not originally booked this hotel, we were placed here after the hotel we booked was not able to be occupied at the time we were meant to arrive. So we thought, OK Fairmonts are awesome! We did not know that this was also a brand new hotel. Once we arrived, it looked absolutely beautiful, the landscape is lacking a lot of character, but since it’s a new property that makes sense. The staff greeted us, we were overloaded with staff at our arrival. our check in process was really great, Johnathon got us checked in and he was helpful and friendly, super attentive.

Our room was absolutely stunning, truly one of the best hotel rooms I’ve ever stayed in. It also helped that we were probably some of the first guest to be in that room. Once we started wandering around the property, we noticed the staff wasn’t very ’with it’ (for lack of a better term), There was a lot of confusion among the staff. And our first night at dinner was absolutely horrible. The staff was nowhere near being ready to cater to a full restaurant. It was one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had, sat for 3 hours and ended up leaving without dinner. Helena was really helpful, we could tell they pulled her from somewhere else in the hotel to bring her in to help with the situation. She followed up with us the next day as well and she was so kind and service orientated.

The hotel did everything to make the situation right, but throughout our three nights there we just experienced a hotel that was not ready to be open. The hotel itself is absolutely gorgeous, but it lacks the community space. There’s no central bar or gathering space to connect guests. The restaurants don’t stay open too late and there aren’t a lot of options around the area. The pool restaurant/bar closes very early, I think member experience would benefit quite a bit by keeping things up and running a bit longer.

The pool is incredible! We spent a lot of time by the pool, but we truly are beach people so the walk down to the beach is a little long and it’s tough to get back up. I will also say that the beach club is not very nice. The beach itself needs some work and the area that the hotel occupies on the beach needs a lot of work. I don’t think this is a focal point for the hotel but I think people that love beaches want to spend time on a nice beach with good amenities.

I’ve worked in the hotel industry since I was in my teens and there were certain times in our stay where I thought, man I really need to get behind the bar or get into the kitchen and help these people’. It wasn’t necessarily a relaxing experience and I think the hotel has a lot of work ahead of them.

Since it is a new property, we tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the price for the service, even at a discounted rate, just does not match. They are working out the kinks, figuring everything out, we did have the power go out in our room two times which made the air conditioning go out as well. Our last day we just woke up with no air-conditioning, but since we were leaving, it was fine.

One more thing that was pretty amazing was the spa and the gym. The gym is very well equipped and everything is very new and clean. We were able to use the spa facilities free of charge and the pools and saunas are really beautiful and...

We had a wonderful stay at this hotel. The complex itself is absolutely stunning. The staff do try to be attentive, but the service is still missing that refined touch you’d expect at this level—such as remembering customer requests made over the phone or ensuring housekeeping is completed within the promised timeframe while guests are at breakfast.

Breakfast was fantastic. The seating area offered a wonderful view, and the staff were attentive and proactive. We especially enjoyed the egg station, the small salad section, the selection of cheeses, and the fresh fruit. Everything was consistently fresh and well presented.

We spent most of our time at the beach club, which unfortunately has plenty of room for improvement. General cleanliness—both of the property and the beach—was disappointing. Indoor carpets had debris for several days. There were many cigarette butts scattered around (perhaps a dedicated receptacle would help prevent them from blowing around), as well as restaurant garbage like straws and napkins. Over several days, the beach club area wasn’t cleaned once, which felt unexpected for a hotel of this caliber. The beach attendant handing out towels should also be assisting guests with moving the heavier sunbeds, particularly since there are two types. Additionally, the wooden walkway needs better securing, as some sections are quite wobbly and feel unsafe.

Our room, on the other hand, was lovely. I really appreciated the earthy décor, clean lines, comfortable bed and linens, and the abundance of shelves and drawers. The inclusion of a steamer was a nice touch. One detail I still don’t understand in high-end hotels is why toilet doors aren’t fully sealed—there was a nearly 2cm gap, which compromises both noise and smell privacy. That said, I did appreciate the bidet option.

Upon arrival, we were welcomed with complimentary scones and pears, both of which were delicious. The in-room tea and coffee selection was satisfactory, and I liked having a separate kettle. However, a few small cream portions would have been a welcome addition.

A funny little observation: the elevator panel was arranged in a rather odd way. The ground floor was labeled as 0, and the lowest floor—located below ground—was labeled as 5 instead of -5.

Finally, the spa area was absolutely amazing. Tranquil, beautifully designed, with a sauna and powerful water jets that were a...