Bless Hotel Ibiza — Hotel in Santa Eulària des Riu

We stayed with Bless for two nights at the end of our trip to Ibiza and Formentera. As this is a “five star” hotel, we thought we were saving the best til last so spent a little more on the room. Sadly, it’s the only hotel we stayed at that I’d not return to, nor recommend to others. I can’t really understand how it’s achieved five stars, compared to other five-star properties I’ve stayed at in the past (for example, Six Senses resorts, Villa Cimbrone, Belmond hotels, Auberge resorts in the US – all of which are in an entirely different league to Bless.) I heard a few couples saying they were on honeymoon, and honestly if I’d chosen Bless for my honeymoon I’d be sorely disappointed – I’d likely move on elsewhere. There are of course a few positive points, but these are outweighed by the negatives.

Pros: • Location is lovely, as are the views from the sea rooms (though ours was also overlooking the hotel bins…) Location-wise, you’re right by Cala Nova beach looking out on to the ocean which is very pretty. • The hotel decor is very modern, chic and Instagrammable (I imagine it was designed with this in mind). Rooms are stylish, bright and well equipped with amenities – Nespresso machines, straighteners, combs, toothbrushes, razors etc. The views are lovely the and the infinity pool upstairs is gorgeous! • Breakfast buffet has lots of options which is good, and you get a glass of Champagne on your first day.

That’s where the pros end unfortunately.

Cons: • The service is far from five star – and I think that’s easily the biggest issue here. Both of the other hotels we stayed at on our trip – Hotel Rural Can Jaume and Gecko Beach Club, both four stars – blew Bless out the water. At Bless, the were a few helpful, pleasant people – the concierges and breakfast wait staff – but many of the “pleasure tenders” were lax and disorganised. It’s not peak season, so the hotel was definitely not at capacity, so I’d be interest to know how they cope during high season. • On day one, we got to the pool at 6:30PM and were told the bar was shut (?) and we’d need to order from the informal restaurant, but then another waiter then told us he could serve us. He didn’t, he just walked off and stood chatting to the others, and then we were told the restaurant was shut too. The rooftop bar was never busy, but you still felt like you were inconveniencing them by being there, whereas at the other hotels it felt like the staff couldn’t do enough for you. • To use one of the beds on the rooftop pool you need to meet a minimum spend of €250 (easily done as the drinks and food are overpriced for what they are). While I understand this requirement for non-guests, I think it should be removed for those paying to stay at the hotel. Again, from a five-star hotel – considering what you’ve already paid – it feels quite distasteful. • The cocktails we had in the rooftop – and presumably throughout the hotel – are premixed. I’ve never in my life experienced this at a luxury hotel. The margarita was €16 and the sangria was €50 – I don’t mind paying high prices for good quality drinks, but for premixed cocktails that feels very steep. • Nobody seemed to know what was going on across the hotel. Plus, the downstairs bar never had anyone tending it, despite supposedly being open til 2am. • If you drive to the hotel, you’ve got to pay €15 a day to use the valet service. On the last day, we had an early flight and 15 mins to get a quick bite and leave. My partner told them we needed the car out front in 10 mins, but we went to leave and they hadn’t brought the car round so we had to ask again and wait. • On checkout they didn’t ask how our stay was, which says it all really.

Overall, it was quite a disappointing stay. Nothing awful happened, and I can understand why people would want to stay here for the aesthetics, but for us it just...

We stayed here for 8 nights in August. I gave 1 star for the beautiful property and another for its proximity to the beautiful beach Cala Nova. If you are expecting to experience a 5 star hotel, this is not the place for you! Run! This hotel is run by a bunch of kids brought in from other parts of Spain to fulfill their summer job pay check dreams. No one who works here is actually from Ibiza or even over the age of 21. So if you ask them anything about the area they can’t help you as they’re also visiting and since they’re all kids, many of them also lack common sense and manners. All the food here is below mediocre apart from the poolside menu which is passable. The rooftop is a waste of space, you have to pay an additional fee to use the sun loungers in the only adults only area, the food up there is just unacceptable and inedible. The amazing Giovanni is the one employee on the property who knows how to make an iced latte (or any caffeine drink) so if it’s his day off you’re not getting one. The daily buffet breakfast is sadly also mediocre limited and understaffed. The most difficult item to obtain in the mornings is a pot of hot water and lemon wedges. It takes asking at least 3 different servers and over 30mins wait time, every day. What would really improve this hotel “guest experience” as they like to call it, is some adult staff/supervision, customer service training and a new chef. The customer service and the food here is extremely disappointing. The hotel is short staffed which I have learned is a known issue on the island. So if you’re going to import your hotel staff, at least give them some training at the start of the season and an adult supervisor to maintain it. This feels more like a boutique hotel run by a bunch of kids who are working at their summer jobs. The beach next door is beautiful but it is a public beach not associated with the hotel Do not take your “nice” things to the beach my son just got his $400 slides stolen by the family sitting beside us (the thief was wearing them when we got back to our spot) whom by the way lives in the parking lot next door to the hotel. Yes there’s a camping grounds right next door so keep your valuables safe and your curtains drawn! The beautiful sea views from the pool are only disturbed by the sounds of young children and babies yelling, crying and screaming continuously. Wish they had a kids area for them, I feel sorry for the honeymooners making out in the pool right beside them. Perhaps the hotel could drain the cesspit of a pond in the cirner of the pool area and make that the kids pool. Kids stay free here so you can imagine the racket. Lorena, Lucia and Melodie the WhatsApp concierge’s really made our trip. They went the extra mile to secure all of our restaurant, taxi and boat bookings as well as fulfilling all of our general requests since our room phone wasn’t working. All the others were either unresponsive or unable to answer questions Housekeeping are so understaffed i feel terrible for them but at the same time at over $1000 a night for a room, I expect a clean room. I would only come back here with the knowledge that the customer service, quality of the staff and the food had improved - by a lot! I don’t know how they are a Leading Hotel of The World nor how they managed to get their Michelin Key or even how they are a “5 star” hotel as it certainly doesn’t feel like it. Dear Bless Hotel thank you for everything I know that you all did your best for that we are very grateful we had an unforgettable time here I hope this place gets the help...

Just returned back from a week staying at Bless hotel in Ibiza. Will be following up directly with the hotel itself regarding issues with our stay, but both myself and my partner were left wholly unimpressed in large chunks. The room was decent enough without being spectacular, and the sea view was fantastic - pool facilities, etc. were good.

The biggest issue was around charges associated with almost everything whilst staying at the hotel. In paying £5,000 for a week at a hotel, I would thoroughly expect water and breakfast to be included - it wasn't. Bad enough in and of itself; however, water at the mini bar was charged at a rate of, I think, €9 per ~400ml can, and I believe it was €8 for a small bottle of coca cola. The breakfast was chargeable at a rate of €40 per person per day for a pretty underwhelming buffet; €560 for the week if you are eating breakfast every day in addition to fees for staying. It's utterly wild that they think this is an appropriate way to treat guests, particularly in comparison to their competitors.

Having stayed at 5-star hotels which are both more and less expensive than The Bless Hotel, the other major issue was around communication and service. The staff were all generally kind and friendly; however, the service was just not at a level I would expect of an allegedly premium 5-star hotel. Not even close. Couldn't get an answer when phoning reception multiple times over a half hour period - happened on more than one occasion; had to wait nearly an hour for room service - again, on more than one occasion; waiting half an hour for drinks orders by pool, with some orders not even showing up; etc. In addition to the above, a big issue was just the overall quality; food not at standard it should be for price point, and some of the cocktails were just outright not good.

Communication also a big faltering point. Information on accessing amenities was not conveyed well at all, and information around pricing for breakfasts and other things was very unclear, in large part due to - I think - a slight language barrier. We visited from the UK, and whilst most staff spoke English quite well, I felt that some detail was lost and not always well understood when we asked. Particularly when you want to charge €9 for a bottle of water and charge €40 pppd for breakfast your staff and room welcome pack should be extremely clear in communicating this and in answering questions around it. It wasn't clear at all, and there wasn't much of a welcome pack to speak of.

Finally, we booked a room as a couple. We had a room with twin beds when we arrived and I immediately phoned and said I wanted it changed. As we arrived late, around midnight, we were told they couldn't facilitate, but it would be addressed the next day. No one ever came back to us on this. First time I have experienced that significant a lapse in service at a 5-star hotel. This should have been dealt with the same night, or first thing the following day.

Really felt the hotel was pretty awful in terms of value for money. My partner has stayed at 5-star hotels elsewhere in Ibiza previously and not encountered anything like these issues. We had talked of staying on for an extra few days in Ibiza rather than the 7 days we were booked for. If we had had a better experience of the hotel we would have stayed longer, but as we felt the hotel a bit of a let down we...