(In case anyone actually uses the search- Reco D'es Sol, Reco Des Sol)
In what is likely to be my final stay in San An (four times is more than enough), we opted for the Recó d'Es Sol. MyTravel showed us a decent-looking (3 star) hotel which was quite low-priced (with the missus saving for a car, forfeiting a star for a few hundred £s was the order of the day) so the decision was made.
The Recó d'Es Sol is situated in Sant Antoni de Portmany/San Antonio down towards San Antonio Bay. There are three supermarkets within reasonable walking distance, and the beach is about a 350m walk. The marina, town centre and 'West End' are all within walking distance (probably just under half an hour), and in the other direction all the attractions of the Bay area are within walking distance also. If you are unfamiliar with the area, click here for the low-down on San Antonio, or here for info on San Antonio Bay.
Click for the map
At first glance, the Recó looks a little 'worn-in', perhaps even 'tatty'. The outside could do with a lick of paint, and its surroundings include: some cacti-covered wasteland, a building site and some rubble-covered wasteland. Of course, by 2005 the building site will most likely be done with and be buildings. So, the locale is not the most attractive and unless you're on the top floor with a west-facing room (which luckily I was) your view is not going to be that good. At first glance, the pool area looks very nice, with a good-looking pool bar- which as pool bars go- is very good- well stocked and a decent choice. The pool itself was average size- seen smaller, would have been nice if it was bigger, and generally quite clean (although dead-bug-build-up could become quite substantial). There were quite a few young children, both in the kiddie paddle pool and the main pool, which is great if you're a family and have brought your children as there will be plenty of other children for them to play with, however if you're looking for a relaxing time, then it is probably going to be too noisy for you.
The reception area is very well presented and as you would expect from a Spanish tourist resort the (majority) of the reception staff were very friendly and helpful- although when placing our luggage in the luggage room we were left completely unsupervised and, if we had wanted, could have had a go at any of the other cases in there. The stairs and hallways were pleasantly decorated and we took this in the daytime as the lift is very small and hot. However, by night the stairs can be a risky fayre- sometimes the staff or other guests see fit to set the easily-accessible-by-day but impossible-to-find-by-night light switches to off, and as some of the stairs are curved the odd stumble occurred. Cleaning days also seen bags of linen left in some silly places, like at the top of a flight of stairs- which makes you think the elevator is a much safer option (although that needed repairing on one day!).
The room was nothing special to look at, again merely average. The air-conditioning unit was faulty, and from the moment we turned it on dripped water. Called reception and was told "someone will be straight up", two hours later the 'technician' arrived- a top man- very friendly and chatty but not a technician; the fixing process involved lifting the cover banging it a few times and putting the cover back in to place. Great. It continued dripping, but on returning to the room later it had stopped- so apparently just hitting worked in this instance.
Another downer for the room was the bed- never have I slept on such an uncomfortable bed- lumpy, rickety and creaky.
The bathroom was very clean, but if the window was left closed and the plugs open you could smell the drains. Now, leaving the window open constantly would be a problem normally- except for its location- right on the walkway. So if you're having a shower or using the toilet, anybody could poke their head in and have a look at you! The nosey Irish people in the adjacent rooms actually did this!
We were fortunate to have one of the rooms with a good view- the Hawaii and Bahia blocked the view of Bahia de Sant Antoni, but we had a cracking view of the harbour, the town and Eden/Es Paradis. The only downside to the balcony was the amount of ants, which would find their way into the kitchen if the balcony door was left open for a period of time.
The cleaning staff were very friendly- and did a good job of cleaning, however on a couple of occasions, there were odd splashes of bleach left around which ended up damaging two shirts and a handbag! Also, as mentioned before, bags of linen were left at the top of flights of stairs, which is asking for trouble.
The Recó has a "Dizzy and Shades Kids' Club", although not having children I am unable to comment on the service offered- there were two Airtours children’s' reps on site to run it.
The bar was pretty average, not much to comment on- and they do an "all you can eat" barbeque (for €10) on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
The entertainment is traditional English-family-on-holiday style music (which included "I am the Music Man" and such!) which is obviously to appeal to the kids (although the majority of people who went looked 60+).
The majority of the clientele was Irish, and there were smaller numbers of Scottish, English and Welsh (there did not appear to be any other nationalities staying there- although some of the hotel leaflets contained English and German information.) There were quite a few families (50%), a number of old couples (20%) and also young groups (30%); unfortunately for the people on the second floor, a couple of the young Irish groups played music pretty much constantly (and loudly).
In conclusion, I would not recommend the Recó to anybody after a relaxing and peaceful holiday, and I would not recommend it to young couples or groups, unless you don't mind having a lot of children around. If I had to recommend it to a group I would recommend to families, but then I would suggest looking at other options before settling for the Recó- I'm sure there are nicer hotels for a similar budget.
I hope anybody considering this hotel has found this information useful. If you would like any further detail then please PM me and I will try to help.
In what is likely to be my final stay in San An (four times is more than enough), we opted for the Recó d'Es Sol. MyTravel showed us a decent-looking (3 star) hotel which was quite low-priced (with the missus saving for a car, forfeiting a star for a few hundred £s was the order of the day) so the decision was made.
The Recó d'Es Sol is situated in Sant Antoni de Portmany/San Antonio down towards San Antonio Bay. There are three supermarkets within reasonable walking distance, and the beach is about a 350m walk. The marina, town centre and 'West End' are all within walking distance (probably just under half an hour), and in the other direction all the attractions of the Bay area are within walking distance also. If you are unfamiliar with the area, click here for the low-down on San Antonio, or here for info on San Antonio Bay.
Click for the map
At first glance, the Recó looks a little 'worn-in', perhaps even 'tatty'. The outside could do with a lick of paint, and its surroundings include: some cacti-covered wasteland, a building site and some rubble-covered wasteland. Of course, by 2005 the building site will most likely be done with and be buildings. So, the locale is not the most attractive and unless you're on the top floor with a west-facing room (which luckily I was) your view is not going to be that good. At first glance, the pool area looks very nice, with a good-looking pool bar- which as pool bars go- is very good- well stocked and a decent choice. The pool itself was average size- seen smaller, would have been nice if it was bigger, and generally quite clean (although dead-bug-build-up could become quite substantial). There were quite a few young children, both in the kiddie paddle pool and the main pool, which is great if you're a family and have brought your children as there will be plenty of other children for them to play with, however if you're looking for a relaxing time, then it is probably going to be too noisy for you.
The reception area is very well presented and as you would expect from a Spanish tourist resort the (majority) of the reception staff were very friendly and helpful- although when placing our luggage in the luggage room we were left completely unsupervised and, if we had wanted, could have had a go at any of the other cases in there. The stairs and hallways were pleasantly decorated and we took this in the daytime as the lift is very small and hot. However, by night the stairs can be a risky fayre- sometimes the staff or other guests see fit to set the easily-accessible-by-day but impossible-to-find-by-night light switches to off, and as some of the stairs are curved the odd stumble occurred. Cleaning days also seen bags of linen left in some silly places, like at the top of a flight of stairs- which makes you think the elevator is a much safer option (although that needed repairing on one day!).
The room was nothing special to look at, again merely average. The air-conditioning unit was faulty, and from the moment we turned it on dripped water. Called reception and was told "someone will be straight up", two hours later the 'technician' arrived- a top man- very friendly and chatty but not a technician; the fixing process involved lifting the cover banging it a few times and putting the cover back in to place. Great. It continued dripping, but on returning to the room later it had stopped- so apparently just hitting worked in this instance.
Another downer for the room was the bed- never have I slept on such an uncomfortable bed- lumpy, rickety and creaky.
The bathroom was very clean, but if the window was left closed and the plugs open you could smell the drains. Now, leaving the window open constantly would be a problem normally- except for its location- right on the walkway. So if you're having a shower or using the toilet, anybody could poke their head in and have a look at you! The nosey Irish people in the adjacent rooms actually did this!
We were fortunate to have one of the rooms with a good view- the Hawaii and Bahia blocked the view of Bahia de Sant Antoni, but we had a cracking view of the harbour, the town and Eden/Es Paradis. The only downside to the balcony was the amount of ants, which would find their way into the kitchen if the balcony door was left open for a period of time.
The cleaning staff were very friendly- and did a good job of cleaning, however on a couple of occasions, there were odd splashes of bleach left around which ended up damaging two shirts and a handbag! Also, as mentioned before, bags of linen were left at the top of flights of stairs, which is asking for trouble.
The Recó has a "Dizzy and Shades Kids' Club", although not having children I am unable to comment on the service offered- there were two Airtours children’s' reps on site to run it.
The bar was pretty average, not much to comment on- and they do an "all you can eat" barbeque (for €10) on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
The entertainment is traditional English-family-on-holiday style music (which included "I am the Music Man" and such!) which is obviously to appeal to the kids (although the majority of people who went looked 60+).
The majority of the clientele was Irish, and there were smaller numbers of Scottish, English and Welsh (there did not appear to be any other nationalities staying there- although some of the hotel leaflets contained English and German information.) There were quite a few families (50%), a number of old couples (20%) and also young groups (30%); unfortunately for the people on the second floor, a couple of the young Irish groups played music pretty much constantly (and loudly).
In conclusion, I would not recommend the Recó to anybody after a relaxing and peaceful holiday, and I would not recommend it to young couples or groups, unless you don't mind having a lot of children around. If I had to recommend it to a group I would recommend to families, but then I would suggest looking at other options before settling for the Recó- I'm sure there are nicer hotels for a similar budget.
I hope anybody considering this hotel has found this information useful. If you would like any further detail then please PM me and I will try to help.
