Hotel Belvedere

I was completely gutted when I went to the Hotel belvedere in Salou. I waited for 14 months for my holiday and felt like I was staying in a nursing home, and a Spanish one at that. I fully understand that I went later on in the year, but still, there were no English people. Out of 396 rooms I would say about 10 were occupied by English. The rest were Spanish and German.

I went with my daughter who is 8 years old. On the odd night we did stay in the hotel she got up to dance (to the Spanish music, as they never played any English) and the Spanish pushed her off the dance floor because they was dancing.

If you have kids I really wouldn't recommend it. I was told there was a kids club, but there was nothing. There were activities all day for the Spanish, and all the evening entertainment was in Spanish, but there was nothing for me or my child to do. On the one night they did put English music on after the 4th song, the Spanish got it turned off.

The staff were OK. They never really spoke to you, mainly because they didn't understand English. If you're English, expect the Spanish to be served before you, even though you have been stood there for over 10 minute. I go to Spain because I love it, but staying in a Spanish hotel was horrible. I couldn't wait to get home.

The restaurant was good, and you could go back as many times as you liked (which I did, because this wound the Spanish up lol. You can see them watching you and how much you're putting on your plate), but nearly every night was pork. I was sick of seeing it. On a weekend it was impossible to get in the dining room, as there would be 4 bus loads of Spanish weekenders pulling up, all with passes and keys ready to use the dining room straight away. On the weekend they did chicken and roast beef, funny how we had that just for the bus trips. I'd say the food was mainly catered more for them than us (I'm not anti-Spanish, but staying with them for 2 weeks has opened my eyes a bit).

The rooms were basic, with 2 single beds together, but room service was rubbish. We didn't get our towels changed for 4 days, and the beds only got changed twice in 2 weeks. The rooms were never really cleaned.

The pool was OK, but it needed a clean.

I cried the first night I arrived, and after a week I couldn't take anymore and rang First Choice to complain, but they weren't interested (why should they be? They'd had my money). I was devastated. I'd saved for 14 months to stay for 2 weeks with no English and old people. In future I'll stick with what I know.

Salou itself is lovely, just not this hotel.