Avlida Hotel

We booked a 28-night stay at this 4* hotel and were really looking forward to it having read all of the positive reviews and escaping the UK weather for a month in nice surroundings with good food ! but we were so disappointed with the hotel, its cleanliness, lack of usable facilities, and extremely poor food. we cut our holiday short and got an earlier flight home. First impressions are good as we arrived with a nice entrance and grand reception and lounge area. However, there was no one at the reception desk (I know it was almost 10pm) so after 5 minutes, I went to the bar to see if anyone could help us check in and a very helpful young Asian member of staff went to find someone, 10 minutes later a pleasant young lady appeared and checked us in, we had contacted the hotel beforehand to request a ground or low floor but were advised that this was not possible due to renovation work on the first floor so our allocated room was on the 2nd floor up 6 flights of stairs (my partner will not use a lift ) The ongoing renovation work is basically a guy painting everything with magnolia paint and leaving drips over the windows, doors, skirtings, floor and even on the paintings hanging crooked, on the walls ! As soon as we left the grand reception area, we found ourselves in a very dated, grubby stair case with broken mesh on the widows, the central bannister wobbled in my hand and was very sticky and broken in a few places. The 2nd floor corridor looked like we were back in a 1950's Butlins resort, there was a table with a large chinese style pot surrounded by lots of used drinks glasses, fire extinguishers are left just standing in corners. Our room was large with 2 comfortable beds, old fashion wooden furniture 2 chairs and a table, a patio door led onto a small balcony overlooking the pool, a fair sized bathroom with a nice walk in shower which always had hot water but had a rusty mirror under a wall light with a bulb out, my partner wiped her finger over the top of the wooden headboard and collected a lot of dust ! Tea & coffee was provided initially then refills charged for, The bedroom door did not fit properly with large gaps all around, there were no fire emergency escape instructions anywhere In the room you could hear everything that was going on in the adjoining rooms and the corridor. The air conditioning had been turned off as it was winter but the outside temperature was 20'c and the South facing room with glass patio doors got very hot The restaurant was very large with a central area where the buffet was, which was built on very scruffy looking cabinets with doors that had dropped on their hinges and didn't fit. the room was allocated one end for half board the other for all inclusive to allow the staff to police that no half board guests helped themselves to the wine & soft drinks ! The main reason we cut our holiday short was the food, I fully understand that all inclusive buffets get repetitive after a week but the food here was never hot, and consisted of very poor quality ingredients (cheap value brand products) frozen vegetables, the same overcooked chicken, pork & beef served in a different sauce each day and left to dry out further under heat lamps for some time, the same tasteless soft white fish served the same way, at breakfast again there was cheap sliced bread, fried eggs that had been precooked and left on a tray to go rubbery  under heat lamps, fatty streaky bacon that had been layered on a tray and oven cooked so the top was hard but the underside enemic, fried cocktail sausages & very pink hotdog sausages, beans and soggy french bread, there was a guy cooking lots of pancakes one day and omelette's the next which he cooked one side then just rolled them over leaving raw egg inside (these were cooked in very old burnt looking pans that left black bits on the outside of the omelette), All of the food was just left out for the two hours the restaurant was open (and possibly quite a time before) it was never hot and any refills were just dumped on top of the remaining food in the trays, Quite a f

Very good experience overall. The service and amenities, at the price point, was a great bargain. Breakfast is rich in variety and tasty. Rooms are clean and nice, not luxurious, but they don't lack anything essential. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Hotel also offers bike rental, which is worth it if you enjoy cycling, as it makes moving around town easier. One can use the cycle path that goes towards the harbour (either through the amazing beachfront, or through the normal road), then from the harbour you can reach the waterpark by continuing along the coast. A special thanks goes to the receptionist, miss Mikaela, for the outstanding service!