Platja d'Aro, Hotel Planamar

Please do not let youngsters go there on their own. This hotel cares nothing for the safety of its patrons. My daughter and her friend booked and arrived at 2am but their booking couldnt be found although they had the booking confirmation. They tried to turn them out but I had to fight to let them stay the night and we could sort it in the morning. They agreed, then threw the girls out in the middle of the night. The girls put up and argument and had lots of english tourist sticking up for them in reception as they felt they were being treated unfairly and no one would listen to them. The hotel then called the police to calm the crowd and the police arrested my daughters friend!!. In tears and not knowing what to do my daughter asked them for the police station directions but they just kept laughing at her and refused to give her the information. She was not allowed back in to pick up her bags, had her friends phone so couldnt leave the hotel till her friend got back, did not know if her friend was going to be gone for hours or days so was left to just sit on a wall outside the hotel with just a little pair of shoes on with no money as her friend had it. It was the most terrifying ordeal and she did not know what to do whether to book into another hotel or just sit and wait there in case her friend showed. My daughter suffers from cyclic vomiting brought on by stress and was vomiting constantly while this was all going on but couldnt even leave to lie down or anything, just had to sit not knowing what to do or where to go. After about 8 hrs the British Consul managed to track down her friend, and my daughter could eventually leave and book into another hotel where she spent the night on her own, really sick, in a foreign country and not one hotel member felt any duty to help this child. This place should be closed down immediately as they put this girl at great risk, out on the streets on her own and vulnerable and it was all due to their own poor booking system. I have been a traveller for many years and have never come across anything like this before. where lives are so casually put at risk. Please do not go there!! Definitely do not let novice travellers go there as if anything goes wrong they will be in big trouble. Apart from that the girls said the only meal they got to try was breakfast (all inclusive) smelt off and the crockery was dirty, The shower box which was a tiny cupboard where you had to put your arms straight down just to turn around in it had mould. The floors were all broken and chipped and the corridors had paint peeling everywhere so believe it is probably a hotel which is coming to the end of its days so has no investment, no standardised training and therefore only attracts the poorest quality employees.

AVOID!!!! I do not expect 5* for 3* money but was hoping for something better than barely 1*. Its difficult to know where to start? I booked and paid for a four bedded family room, arrived late at night to find they only had a 3 bedded room available. The Receptionist was rude, uninterested and couldn’t care less! I had booked through Hotels4u, part of the Thomas Cook so expected that they would sort it out. Wrong!! They were appalling, they advertise 24 hour support, this is a lie, we arrived on a Saturday night and there was nothing other than duty cover who cannot take any action so no one was available until Monday morning. The first night I had no bed, the second night when Hotels4u still did nothing I insisted the hotel squeeze an extra bed into a room designed for 2 beds. Only one person could stand up at a time!!! The hotel is tired, scruffy and dated, the rooms are extremely small. The beds and bed linen were damp, the shower is a joke, the only mirror had no plug socket anywhere near it so good luck if you are hoping to dry your hair! The balcony doesn’t really deserve that title, only one person could stand out there at a time! Throughout my stay I requested many times to speak to the Manager, who didn’t put in an appearance throughout my stay. Hotels4u would not move us to a different hotel so we were stuck there. If I had not been travelling with my children I would have come home after the first night, I endured this hotel solely for my children’s sake!

This hotel functions around numerous pointless rules, designed to undermine any enjoyment you may be hoping for as you are supposed to be on holiday!!! If you have been in or worked in a prison you will feel comfortable here!!

The Pool is barely any bigger than a paddling pool, the hotel caters for several hundred guests yet there are 30 sunbeds around the pool. The pool area is not unlocked until 9am so if you want to sit out early, forget it!! If you like to sit outside with a cup of coffee before 10am forget it as you cannot take any drinks outside before 10am!!

The food was appalling, I have never been to a 3* hotel where I won’t eat the food. It was bland, repetitive and tasteless. You are not allowed to take any food, snacks or drinks outside of the restaurant. I am not fussy, I am happy to eat just a salad, or whatever but this food was awful!! Barely any salad, rice and vegetables were hardly cooked, the meat was vile. The dining room was nowhere near big enough for the number of people staying at the hotel. The All Inclusive system for getting drinks is a joke!! On arrival you are given an ID card and a green plastic card which you hand in every time you want a drink. You then take the plastic beaker back to get the green card returned. You can only get one drink at a time, in a plastic cup!!! If you are a man who drinks pints, forget it!!! The entertainment was so bad, there isn’t much to say about it. Most evenings there was a mini disco for the kids, held in a room not much bigger than a cupboard!! If you buy a can of drink out of the vending machines in reception you can only drink them in your room? Why???

Yes the hotel is 50 yards from the beach, what the brochure forgets to mention is between the hotel and the beach is the mainline railway!!!

Overall, I do not understand how this hotel obtained its 3 star status, it is nowhere near. I have also heard rumours that Thomas Cook are no longer ABTA registered, I can fully understand why if this is the service they are offering to holiday makers.This hotel is small and shabby run by small minded people. The most entertaining part was hearing new arrivals moan and shout about how bad it was!! There are many three star hotels out there in the same price bracket where you would have an enjoyable break, avoid the Planamar at all costs. You have been warned!!