Gran Hotel Bali

The reception staff were offensive. Took nearly 3 hours for them to find my voucher from stay for long. They had no interest in resolving it and I had to repeatedly contact stay for long myself after travelling all day A phone worth 300 euro was stolen from my room, while I was at breakfast. I was only gone from the room for 30 minutes

The blond young madam on reception is comically rude, abrupt and could seriously do with some customer service training - that said all the other staff that we came into contact with were fine. The hotel is very big and the rooms are a little dated however the view more than makes up for it, just amazing.The Wi-Fi throughout our stay was very poor. The food was more than adequate, plenty of variety and no complaints. If you are expecting to stay in the middle of Benidorm then you are going to be disappointed it is a bit remote, however if you prefer a much slower pace near a really nice beach then it is very well situated. All in all we found this hotel to be great value and of a good standard and we would certainly consider staying here again if we come back to this resort.

I would like to think I give honest reviews of where I have travelled and this will be no different. I have been to Benidorm twice before. This hotel is along the Poniente Beach end and probably around 30-40 min walk to the Old town or around EUR 10 in a taxi. There are taxi's outside the hotel and there is also a bus stop at the side so lots of accessability options. There are a few shops & restaurants opposite the hotel but not lots of options. It is around a 10 min walk to the beach. The hotel is striking on approach as being the tallest in Benidorm with 43 floors. Thankfully we were on floor 9. The reception area is large and bright. Reception staff were quite slow and didn't seem to end there chats when a customer was waiting. Checkin was smooth and there was no queue, but I could see how there would be a big wait if many people were checking in at the same time. The rooms were very dated but I have to say clean and cleaned daily with fresh towels provided each day. The beds were super comfy. The rooms also had A/C and although not super powerful, it did keep the room cool from the beating Spanish sun. There was a safe although I am unsure how it works or if you had to pay for it or get a key of some description from reception but we never bothered. The patio door also didn't lock, although being 9 floors up I wasn't worried, just odd that it never locked. There was a fridge in the room which is always a bonus. Plenty of storage and hangers. The bathroom was very tired, but again clean. The toilet and bath/shower was seperate from the sink area and where the shower was there was a very bizarre light with a red bulb????? The sink area had lots of mirrors and lights which was great for getting ready. There was a hairdryer and toiletries were provided in little sachets. We went to the restaurant downstairs (we were B&B only). It was very modern, bright and spacious. Lots of choice, hot food, hams, cheeses, cereals, fruit, yoghurt, bread, juices so something for everyone. We went to the upstairs restaurant once and found it less spacious and much noisier. The pool area was really big and there are several pools although each one was as cold as the next and none were heated so I didn't brave the cold. There are plenty of loungers and if you get the right spot you have the sun all day. Although one of the pool attendants did tell us we weren't allowed to turn the bed to face the sun as the sun changed position throughout the day. I have never ever experienced this in any hotel I have ever stayed at. There were plenty activities, although one morning we were waiting for the water aerobics to start but no one showed up. There is a pool bar and 2 other bars off the pool area, drinks were reasonably priced and spirits were the usual huge spanish measures!!! We did ask for some ice one day only to be told they would have to charge us, for ice!!! Again, this was a first and we didn't bother with the extra ice. We opted to have a late check out and that was charged at EUR 10 per hour which was fine. The hotel has a viewpoint on the 43rd floor. You pay EUR 5 to get in but get a free drink. However the bar doesn't open until around 8pm which isn't made clear by the staff that you pay to enter, if you enter before 8pm like we did. Seems odd the bar isn't open all day as it would make a fortune. The view is stunning!! We had to then go back down 43 floors and get our 'free' drink down near reception. A bit mis-leading. Also you can't go in and out during one day after paying, you would need to pay each time. There were plenty toilets in the common areas and also a few clothes shops. All in all it was a good trip. Although the rooms weren't modern, for what we paid for the trip and for how long we were actually in the rooms it was good value for money. I heard that they are slowly renovating the rooms, but because there are so many, I guess this will take time and I wonder if the prices will then increase to reflect the room renovations.

The rooms are simple (no luxury) but super functional - big wardrobe, lots of hangers, great space for suitcases and big table around the sink in the bathroom. Restaurants are huge and thus serve a lot of food, and we think the food quality was quite OK for such a big restaurant. The upper one we found a bit noisier than the one in the basement, hence we preferred the latter - they serve the same food. Pool is nice, cold in April, but in our mind that's very common. Pool towels are available to rent at €5 per day with a €10 deposit per towel - so bring your own if you can. WiFi was unusable, worked in the gym but in the rooms not at all, even not late a night - so it seems to be more a coverage than capacity issue. It was many years since we we were in a hotel with such bad WiFi. Also the elevators are a disaster, we were in the highest tower, but we heard from friends that it was similar in the smaller tower. Some days only 4 out of 7 elevators worked and we had to stand in line 20 minutes to get one around breakfast time. A hotel with so many floors really has to invest in top notch elevators that always work, and as well have intelligent control that don't stop on every floor when they are already full. And just a small thing as indication would improve, I was standing at our floor (18th) and after 5 minutes my wife came and asked if I hadn't pressed the button? Turns out I had missed it. The elevator just arrives silently without a "bing" sound, so you have to scan the 7 elevators around you constantly. Also the light on the button indicating that an elevator is demanded is so faint, you can't really see if it is lit or not. Overall we are happy with the stay, but WiFi and elevators lower the grade.

brilliant service, very welcoming, lovely room and view,staff very friendly and helpful