Let me start by saying that we were one of the lucky ones!!(Our party = 4 adults and 3 children aged 1,2 and 4 yrs)
We had booked 2 rooms but were placed in the self-catering apartments down the road with our own pool (unfurnished-no sunbeds etc) away from the hotel - thank goodness. This hotel was dirty, badly run with a few members of staff who really weren't interested.
When we arrived and found that we were not in the actual hotel my husband went to complain and had a look at the rooms. He promptly came back and said that we were staying put! The rooms in the hotel were ridiculously cramped. So we asked for a cleaner who came but ended up splashing my clothes with bleach. We also discovered there was no TV or air con which we had stipulated. The TV was not an issue but no air con! The hotel could only provide us with 2 fans.
This hotel was meant to be a family hotel catering for children. The children's area consists of a slide and 2 small seesaws (1 broken) contained in a small dark, dirty area sealed off from the back door by odd bits of timber knocked together. Needless to say I did not want my children in there. Not worth meantioning the "monkey club".
Everywhere you needed to go had an issue of steps and as I had 2 buggies it was a bit of a nightmare.
There is a definate lack of staff as there were always long queues at the bar (2 barmen serving) and to sit down for meals.
The main bar area was also dirty and there were no signs of the floor being properly cleaned. We would sit outside where my 1 yr old would crawl (after we had removed butts and old cups). After 2 mins she was filthy. I saw this area hosed down once in 2 weeks. Only 2 ladies loos in this area and 1 was broken the majority of the time with no sign of attempts to fix it, the cistern lid left lying on the floor. My husband found that the gents was the only area with air con but also had excrement smeared around the toilet seats - nice.
Some of the other guests can only be described as foul-mouthed yobs - just there to get drunk. The parents seemed to forget who they were incharge of as we would often have drunken teenage (groups of 13 - 16yrs)dramas outside the complex down our road. One day around our pool a group came in drunk, swearing, dropping lit cigs, jumping dressed in the pool. All the children stayed at 1 end until I asked them to leave (admittedly they did with no problems)where 1 fell drunk and the next day I saw him covered in plaster. That night they were all jumping the fence into our pool so we had to check it for any unwanted surprises they may have left. This was the kind of hotel we were staying in.
The hotel was also over booked and we met many people who were moved to another hotel further away but would have to come to Villa Marina for drinks and food.
I could go on and on about this poor excuse for a hotel but I appear to be writing an essay!
I am your average person who goes on holiday once a year, I am not expecting Le Meridian, but I do expect the hotel I'm staying in to be clean, efficient and not to be made to feel like cattle! My advise (and I think I can speak for all the people we met there) is do not ever visit this hotel!!!!

From the very first second of getting dropped off the bus I had made up my mine OH NO!!!! it can't be but its was... right on the outskirts...in the middle of nowhere!!!

OK if you like walking but with kids 7,10& 12 forget it!! a good 15 mins to the beach and 25 mins to the centre.
The rooms are very very small with very little hanging space with no draws!!!!

The air con is a joke. TV when workin was ok, but you have to give 10eu deposit for the remote control.
safe deposit is 2eu/day +10eu deposit.

The main swimming pool.... the one that gets the sun. is far to small for the number of guests, If you wanted a sunbed you would have to que for the sunbeds at before 8:00AM The pool did have a life guard who made sure all rules were enforced (jobs worth). No eating (even sweets!)
No lilos. No Diving.

Food was fine all with a good selection but got a bit repetative, You can get a lunch picnic!! forget it yuk!!

The staff worked very hard! but with only two bartenders the queues were massive, also the impractical management rules, 2 drinks (high ball glass) per visit lead to 10 mins queues.

The nightly entertainment was different! Kids running riot!! Parents fighting mainly the women!!!!
Teenagers unable to stand from being in a worse drunken state than their parents!!!! Foul and abusive language.
Not what I had in mind.

A holiday from HELL - NEVER AGAIN

We arrived early in the morning and I thought oh my god what have we let ourselves in for there was paper cups, staws, cigaret buts everywhere (they had not cleaned up from the night before). We were then told we had to wait 4 hours for our room to be ready. When we eventually got our room I burst into tears, it was tiny with a tiny balcony overlooking a building site. Then I got a text from my mum saying it was raining at home - we thought right we ARE going to have a good holiday AND WE DID.

FOOD

Very good, quite varied, piping hot.

ENTERTAINMENT

They all deserve a medal, especially Dino. There are 5 of them and they work really hard all day everyday. They have a childrens Monkey Club that runs from 11.00 until 5.00 (the children are free to come and go as they want). There are other activities during the day. In the evening there is a quiz (watch out for the trick questions) then the mini disco, then bingo (4 euros a strip with prizes up to 120 euros for full house) then the show - we saw flaminco dancing, pollensian dancing, singers, hipnotist, drag artist, fire eaters, snake charmers. It was only ruined by having to que so long for drinks. This is the best entertainment we have ever seen.

POOLS

Far too small for the amount of guests, a lot of the sunbeds are in the shade all day and you had to be up for 8.30 and que for half hour for when the pool opens at 9.00. The sunbeds are very uncomfortable. There is a life guard but he doesn't guard lives he makes sure nobody is breaking the rules (eating, diving using inflatibles).

ROOMS

VERY SMALL for 4 of us. Very dirty as well. The bath wasn't even full size. The balcony is tiny - not big enough to dry towels on.

PORT AVENTURA

NOT TO BE MISSED. It is beautiful - very clean. Rides are excellent, shows are brilliant. Beware Temple de Fuego - we took our 4 year old in there, she was so frightened - I think she will probably remember it for the rest of her life!

We have stayed in 3 stars before and this was probably the worst. There are too many guests and not enough staff. If you have booked go as we did and enjoy your holiday. If you are thinking of booking DON'T

After reading all the bad reviews about this hotel i was very worried about going. We arrived and had to wait 3 hours until our room was ready. The room was very small but clean, no drawers but one small wardrobe, nowhere near enough space for 3 people! The balcony.....what a joke, ive never seen one that small before!

The food was very good and always hot .The only complaint was the chicken kebab... twice it was raw.

The pools were too small for the amount of people staying and there wasn`t enough sunbeds. There was an unpleasant smell around the main pool too.

After a few days of being there,we noticed how dirty and sticky everywhere was becoming, it was disgusting, glasses, cups and fag butts left. Not once did i see a table being wiped or a floor mopped.

For the rest of the 2 weeks it stayed like that until the last day they hosed it down. I would NOT return to this hotel,I`ve visited 3* hotels in the past but nothing like this, this should be a 1 or 2*.

We were very worried indeed about going to this Hotel after all the bad reviews we had read but it turned out to be one of our best holidays ever!

On arrival we were given 2 rooms together which were absolutely awful (we later found out that this part of the Hotel had not been refurbished) we had no balconies or terrace and looked out our windows onto a roof with rubbish all over it, the ceilings were also damp and the rooms stank!

We immediately went to the reception to complain and they offered us one other room but it meant our rooms would be apart or we could wait till the morning and get 2 rooms together with balconies.

We decided to wait till the morning and get 2 rooms together and we were so glad we did. We were moved to 2 lovely new rooms with balconies, it was like a different Hotel (obviously this part had been refurbished) if we had not been moved to these rooms we would never have returned to this Hotel ever!

After this we went on to have a wonderful time. Food was excellent couldn't find anything to complain about always plenty to choose from.

Entertainment was good, Deano was one of the funniest people we have ever met! We never had to wait in any queues for food and only small queues for drinks at night.

We also found the swimming pools very clean and never had a problem getting a sunbed at anytime of day.

Travel agent had told us not to expect the Hilton, we didn't and after our initial hiccup with the rooms, had a ball.

We are seriosly considering booking up again for next year!

The room allocated was a bit small for a family of four, not much cupboard space either, although very clean with a daily towel change.

The areas surrounding the pool were very dirty. Both of my children and other children slipped on the slime beside the pool.

The food was excellent with a great choice at all times, the bar service could be slow at times but most staff were very friendly. I felt sorry for the people who could only get a seat inside the entertainment area, as it was very hot with no air conditioning. The toilet areas in the bar could have been cleaned more regularly

Hi have just returned from the Villa Marina and have slightly mixed feelings about it!!

Firstly the rooms are too small - it appears that whatever your party size you get the same size room, would have been fine for 2 people but too cramped for a family of four. I heard the apartments are brilliant but also heard they get broken into - even though the hotel is next to a police station!! Balconies are also very small - don't expect to be able to sit out and relax on them!! Rooms did get cleaned every day and new towels were always left.

First of all the food in the restaurant was very good and didn't have a problem with the kids finding something they liked either - but after a few days we did get quite bored of it. At the far end of the restaurant there is a carvery and pasta (weird combination!) which I don't think many people realised was there. During the second week the ques to get into the restaurant and then again for the food was ridiculous!! Don't get me wrong we know it was peak season but we have always had to go 'factory fortnight' so are used to it being busy but they had seriously over booked this hotel.

There was also a snack bar outside - where you could get burgers, hot dogs, chips and pizza most of the day and night.

There was a bit of a sunbed war, there are 2 pools but only certain areas get the sun all day , we used the main pool which didn't open until 9 when the lifeguard Claudio arrived but to get a good spot you had to be in line for 8:30 - this changed to about 8 during the second week!!

Clauido is quite strict but also fair, he uses a digital camera to take pictures of towels left first thing, then at about 11 if people are not on the beds he will take them off - he gives you enough time to go and get something to eat but doesn't like people reserving beds and not using them which is fair enough. Lilos aren't allowed in the pool and your not allowed to eat in that area. He doesn't seem too bothered about the other pool.

Entertainment was ok for a few of the nights but the rest was just rubbish!! The entertainment team were brilliant though and seemed to work 24 hours a day - as did the barmen and reception staff!

We did find the hotel to be too far out for our liking it was a 15 minute walk to the beach - but the main busy area of the prom was at least 30 minutes. The free shuttle bus is very good though.

Overall we just made the most of our time there and made it a good holiday, for people that have booked it I wouldn't worry - its not a holiday from hell - but we won't be going back and wouldn't recommend it to those thinking of booking. Bear in mind though, we think our experiences may of been different if we could of gone at a less busy time.

Okay first the bad bits. The rooms are far too small for the number of people in them, we were a party of four and were in a room designed as a twin, we had two double beds with just enough room to walk between, there was a wardrobe that would probably be big enough to take one persons cloths at a push, no drawers, two very small shelves and no balcony. There was aircon in the room but frankly we got cooler air from opening the window. We had mailed the hotel to ask for an apartment and were told ok but on arrival they said there was no chance unless we were a bigger party, they did say they agreed the rooms were to small for the number of people but what could they do.


Now the good bits, the hotel is kept very clean and reasonably tidy, the food is very good no problems feeding the kids and ourselves for two weeks, theres a cavery down the bottom end of the reseraunt that my son loved. There is wine available by the bottle, white, red and rose or drinks from the bar. There are two bars one outside with a snack bar which is open until 10.30 and the main bar, dont worry about having to queue for drinks the bar staff are first class and the longest I waited was five minutes and thats when the hotel was full. One tip is take a big plastic glass with you and they will fill for you, if you dont they use small glasses which arnt up to much if you are drinking lager.

All the staff were very helpfull and the entertainment team which were all English (and work for an English company) were first class, the kids club was excellent, my kids loved it the team will even take them to lunch with them. Evening entertainment was typical of what you would expect with a early quiz, kids disco , bingo (if you like that kind of thing1) and then a caberet, sometimes with the in hose team and sometimes with various acts of which most were good (have to agree the Blues Brothers were a bir dodgy though).

Weather you think its a good location depends what you are looking at getting out of an holiday, the hotel is not in the main tourist area of Salou and is a good 10 min walk to the beach but it is quiet at nights and a short walk will bring you into the old town which has some great little Tapas bars we loved it as it was not like Blackpool (which the tourist end of town is) and everyone was very friendly also the drinks are much cheaper at this end of the resort.

We loved the whole holiday from start to finish, the hotel is really laid back I wouldnt call it a holiday camp it is definatly better than that

We have just returned from this hotel after 2 weeks and are we glad to be home.

The place was filthy, broken glass around the pool tables and chairs were old and tatty and were never cleaned, water dripped through the roof, bins were overflowing and rubbish everywhere. The entertainment was deafening from early morning till midnight.

The rooms were small for a family of four and the airconditioning was an absolute joke. We bought our own fan from a supermarket. I could go on.

This holiday was a holiday from hell.

I read a lot of bad reviews before I went but when we arrived it wasn't as bad as people made it out to be.

The room me and my partner had was big enough for the two of us to be honest, you aren't going to spend that much time in there.

The sunbeds were always taken up very quickly and you had to put your towels on in the morning if you wanted one. They were also cramped together. Pools were clean and there were life guards on both pools.

The food was very good there was a wide range of dishes for everyone and the the tables were cleaned quickly so was always a table for dinner. There were also a wide range of drinks available whatever you wanted. cocktails were nice.

It's a good ten minute walk to the beach with plenty of shops on the way but there was a free shuttle bus from the hotel so it wasn't really a problem

It was a cheap late holiday and i think we got our money's worth out of it. I would go back again for the price I paid.