Palm Beach Hotel Benidorm

The Hotel Palm Beach is situated up a hill in the Levante end (New Town) of Benidorm. The facilities at the hotel itself are second to none, and the views from the upper floors are terrific, but there are steep hills to be negotiated if you want to wander down to the shops, pubs, clubs or beach.

It is about 10-15 minutes from the beautiful but crowded Levante Beach.There are plenty of tourist-type shops to wander round between the beach and the hotel.

I used to stay in an apartment very close to the Palm Beach Hotel, and can assure everyone thinking of staying there that having to negotiate Cardiac Hill (Calle Londres) to access this hotel is no joke.

On the plus side, the hotel give out free bus passes to its guests, which you can obtain from reception. The local service bus has a stop right at the hotel, and provides a half-hourly service throughout the day until 9.30pm.

All Spanish service buses are fitted with a motorised ramp especially for wheelchair users.

The hotel has 4 stars, and offers

• all-inclusive
• half-board
• bed and breakfast
• full board.

The hotel bars are open to all-inclusive guests from 11am until 11pm and serve locally produced spirits as well as well known brand names and have sangria and beer on draught.

[Note on the term 'locally produced spirits' - they are not locally produced, they are the cheapest that can be sourced and may well come from another country.]

As the Palm Beach Hotel is situated in the 'English' end of Benidorm, there is every chance the staff speak passable English, but don't depend on this. From all accounts they only speak English when they want something. All other times they make out that they do not understand you.

Should you wish to book a stay there, call either 0034 965 850 400 or 0034 966 831 214. The postal address is Calle Oslo n 2, Benidorm 03503 Email‎: reservas@palm-beach-hotel.com‎

I have no association with this hotel, nor receive commission if bookings are made. This article is purely informational.

• Air conditioning
• Bars
• Entertainment
• Gym
• Elevators
• Children's Pool
• Pool/billiard tables
• Indoor Heated Pool
• Restaurant
• Kiddies Club
• El Templo, in-house nightclub. Open Saturdays only.
• Currency exchange at Reception desk
• Laundry facilities

• bathroom
• hair-dryer
• direct dial telephone
• satellite/cable TV
• mini-bar
• air conditioning
• furnished balcony or terrace

There are 290 rooms at the Palm Beach Hotel. While most are double with two single beds, they also have family rooms that either contain 4 single beds or 2 doubles.

Before reading this, please remember that more people will make the effort to write about their holiday hotel if they weren't happy, than the vast majority of those who were happy and had a great holiday. The following list may seem long, but when you think about the thousands of guests who stay here annually, to have a list of less than 20 complaints (several people made the same complaint), is pretty good really.

According to the reviews I have read of the Palm Beach Hotel ( never having actually stayed there)

1. The food is in the main excellent, though not to everyone's taste. Some people have described it as muck and talk about being served bread with blue mould on it.
2. The staff have been known to be rude to guests, especially English guests.
3. They have openly degraded the guest in front of them, but in Spanish so that what was said was unknown by the victim (but was overheard by Spanish-speaking guests).
4. The bar has a strict one drink at a time policy, again strictly enforced to their English all-inclusive clients, but not their Spanish clients apparently!
5. The entertainment in the hotel is mostly in Spanish with no translation offered.
6. The pool is too small when the hotel is full in peak season.
7. There are not enough sunbeds.
8. You have to get to the poolside by 9am to reserve a sunbed.
9. There are no free drinks before 11am.
10. The staff have been known to scream and shout at guests in Spanish when they are unhappy with something.
11. The rooms are small.
12. The kiddies disco is held at 9pm every night, instead of 7pm.
13. The adult entertainment starts at 11pm, and the all-inclusive free drinks stop at 11pm.
14. The drinks are then really expensive
15. There are no security safes in the room. Safety boxes are provided at Reception instead.
16. Some people have accused staff of stealing from rooms, but when it was reported, reception staff weren't interested, saying they should have paid for a safety box at reception.
17. Several complaints have been made that the maid only wipes down the bathroom every day and changed the towels, but doesn't clean the floor of sand from the beach.
18. No cleaning materials are provided for guests to clean their own rooms.
19. The TV's provided in the rooms are portables connected to a wall bracket, and the only English speaking channel is Sky News International.

It is also worth remembering that those staff must have the patience of saints to put up with loud-mouthed drunk holidaymakers whose idea of making themselves be understood is to shout louder in the same language! If the staff flip now and then, who could blame them?

1. Great location, if you are young and fit.
2. Fantastic views over Benidorm due to its elevated position.
3. The food is excellent.
4. The free bus service is excellent.
5. The hotel is clean, and the daily maid service very good.
6. Staying there outwith school holidays is perfect.
7. The staff relax the strict one drink per customer outwith peak season.
8. The staff are friendly.
9. Some families have enjoyed themselves so much, they always return to the Palm Beach Hotel and love it.
10. There is a distinct lack of Spanish pensioners taking a vacation at this hotel.
11. The Hotel provides a free open air barbecue once a week.