Everyone has different tastes, standards and expectations, and so you should only regard reviews as personal opinions which may bear no resemblance whatsoever to what you might think of the same hotel.

If majority opinions are either overwhelmingly positive or overwhelmingly negative, then the decision for you should be easy. But when opinions are fairly mixed, as they are with most hotels, then you just have to seek out comments about the points that are most important to you and use your judgement.

If everyone expresses the same negative opinions about food, or about cleanliness, or about entertainment, etc then it should perhaps set alarm bells ringing and make you look at other options. But where opinions are mixed, look at the dates of the reviews and find some closest to the period of year that you are travelling. Look for the same type of group whether that be couples, parents with kids, etc and then seek out comments on what is most important to you, whether that be location, food, facilities for kids, entertainment, etc.

David

Thanks David, some really good advice

Which Hotel or Hotels were you thinking about?

Best Regards - Taggy

venus, sol pelicanos, rio park

To be honest any of those hotels would certainly be a reasonable choice in my book. The Venus and Pelicanos are a little closer to the Beach and main Entertainment areas if thats a plus point for you, but the Rio Park is certainly not miles out, and is also a popular choice of many. I wouldn't worry about staying in any of them!

Best Regards - Taggy

Cazian

I,ve stayed in quite a number of different hotels- and venus wins hands down! The location is perfect, the rooms are nice (Ive always got a nice room facing pool- after emailing them!!!). Its the only hotel where my 15 year old son- actually ate any food- and went back for seconds!. The food was the best we have ever had- and we wouldn't go back anywhere else now!

Hope this helps!

Belly.

As you said in a previous post that your parents have walking difficulties I would say the Rio Park would possibly be the least suitable of the three as it is a bit further back from the sea and therefore slightly higher "up hill" (although not on what could seriusly be regarded as a real hill). There also seems to be almost continuous development work going on around there over the last couple of years, although having said that, we stayed very close and the building works caused us no problems other than reducing the available on-road car parking! If your parents are staying in every night they may also find the Rio Park's astonishingly loud outdoor "entertainment" a bit much!

Stayed in the sol pelicanos and venus and have to say the venus wins hands down

Thanks guys, just having a problem with the price at the moment, coming in at around £2300 for me, my hubby and my daughter, think thats a bit steep, so will have to keep looking

Have you looked at flights, hotel & transfers/car hire seperatley?
There are lots of low cost carriers these days and I have found alpharooms.com and lastcheck.co.uk to be the best for accomodation.

Stayed at the Ocas (Pelicanos sister hotel) and Rio Park, both are really good but personally would recommend Rio Park though. Thomson's number 1 customer rated hotel throughout Spain and you only have to see the hundreds of photos on the 'wall of fame' outside the dining area of people who return year after year to see they must be doing something right

venus ok.like said try diy.how long are you looking for a week or two.?.and when you planning on going.and which uk airport.your daughter is how old.ok i am on my own.but put it this way .i can go for 5 days all in f/b flights transfers taxi to uk airport ect.for £185.00 thats in feb.useing a few codes as well.

when we stay at venus- flights- jet 2.- and accomodation only with thomson.

Works out about £1,000 cheaper! (Depending what month you go).

Belly

there is other sites to get rooms at the venus.

To get the best prices you've really got to put the effort in i'm afraid. Sites such as Travel Republic and Alpharooms usually work out quite a bit cheaper than Thomsons....but not always, Thomsons often have some great special offers, on certain hotels at certain times of year. Portland direct also sometimes have good deals if you want to book the package deal, rather than DIY. Thres no hard and fast rule...other than research!

Best Regards - Taggy