Apartamentos Formentera I

( 2 stars , Ibiza Town , Spain )

We stayed in Es Calo Playa at the end of August. Admittedly it was a late deal and cost just ?295.00 but that was ?290.00 too much. The first room was a shoe box on the inside of the building,a room designed for two beds but with a third stuck in. When we asked for a better room the receptionist couldnt have been less helpful or friendly. We did get a new room eventually but it was still incredibly basic. The apartments are in a good location but it would be more apt to call them a hostel. Shouldn't even have a two star rating im afraid.

Me and a friend have just returned from a trip to Ibiza and we were greeted pleasantly enough by the staff when we arrived.

On arrival we had to wait 5 hours before checking in, which we then had to leave our luggage in what they call the curtesy room (disgracefull, full of other peoples rubish, wouldn't even let my dog stay in there.

I went on holiday with my wife, a friend and his wife. We took our time booking and although booked late we paid a little extra for this as we had been promised a good size room with a balcony. We arrived in the early hours of the morning and were placed in the main Es Calo playa building. The room was awful. It was like being in prison. It was extremely small, no balcony, just a full length window with bars on it and basic hob for cooking. My wife was distraught. We went to the reception and explained we were not lads on tour but with our wife?s. They said we had to wait for the manager and that would be 9am. So we went to sleep for a few hours in the room we had been given. (Oh this is after the lift broke on us don?t use it). At 9am prompt I got my Friend and we went to reception. The manager told us we could have a different room but we had to wait until 1pm due to people checking out. True to his word at 1pm he gave us a different room in the second building (Formentera).

I booked the holiday last minute on the Monday and we were flying on the Friday. I found the website of the hotel on the Internet and everything looked fine. I decided to book incase the offer went. It was only until a day before the holiday I decided to look up places to go and see in Ibiza. I came across hotel reviews and decided to look up my hotel. I was hoffied, there were very little reviews but the ones that I read all said that the room was awful, the staff were awful and so on....... (mostly written 2004) Well, it was not awful, a brilliant place to stay if you want a hassle free holiday in the middle of the action. It's a 10 minute walk to the West End (don't bother going out before 10.30pm as nothing picks up until then.) The pool is small but adequate. The beach is two seconds down the road. We arrived early hours of the morning and the staff didn't seem to know what room to put us in, but soon we were settled and started the holiday. You had to pay a deposit of 60 euro's for the air conditioning remote and 20 euro's for the tv. I borrowed the remote paid the deposit and then took it straight back to recieve the money, it was better to leave it on 24/7 however the spainish woman on the desk, even though I had infomed her I was going to do this, did no approve!! (Tough!!) There is safety deposit boxes by the reception and you have to hand in your passports at check in. The maids were pleasant, and came to clean the room every day. However we sent them away as there was no need. The room was a good size with three beds even though there were only two of us! There was a good size fridge and small cooking area (don't bother your on holiday!) Don't take children here, it's a place that 18 - 30 year olds stay. The hotel is noisy at night but that didn't bother us as we didn't get in until late like most people. The hotel is quiet during the day when everyone is sleeping. Please don't be put off by this hotel, from the bad reviews. I just came back from a stay there and it was serious hassle free, and a good location to stay as long as your up for nights on the West End! Ibiza is a brilliant place to go!!

I've just got back from this hellhole...booked with Sunset who deserve a mention for their complete ineptitude. Arrived at 3am and was greated by a spanish guy in his 50's who seemed wacked out his box on weed. Showed him our booking and specific request for a 4th floor room with sea view. The booking sheet he had was completely different 1st floor prison cell with no view. Made my feelings known immediately and was then handed keys for rooms that simply didn't exist. Eventualy at 5am accepted we were not going to get what we wanted and settled for a 4th floor room. After getting head down for an hour was awoken by what was to become our 6am wake up call played at full blast so the entire floor could hear..."I got into a ring of fire" trumpted by some inconsiderate [--]. Beleive me after 3 days of this I wish they had kept their word and set themselves on fire. I nearly offered to go to the petrol station up the road and buy them the petrol. After the 6am wake up came the 9am daily noise of the cleaners who sounded like a hen night of spaniards...peace and quiet you may as well forget it. Shower was simply a hole in the wall where a trickle of water came out depending on what time of day you wanted to use it. Balcony resembled a view from a prison cell and the cleaners for some reason always made sure they left the patio door open so anyone from the 3 rooms opposite could simply help themselves to whatever you left. Only saving grace was the Budha bar at the bottom of the street and being able to use the pool area of the Blau Park which offered us our poolside shower for the week. I can gladly send anyone interested in sharing this experience photos which should hopefully convince them to look elsewhere.

I went on holiday with my wife, a friend and his wife. We took our time booking and although booked late we paid a little extra for this as we had been promised a good size room with a balcony. We arrived in the early hours of the morning and were placed in the main Es Calo playa building. The room was awful. It was like being in prison. It was extremely small, no balcony, just a full length window with bars on it and basic hob for cooking. My wife was distraught. We went to the reception and explained we were not lads on tour but with our wife’s. They said we had to wait for the manager and that would be 9am. So we went to sleep for a few hours in the room we had been given. (Oh this is after the lift broke on us don’t use it). At 9am prompt I got my Friend and we went to reception. The manager told us we could have a different room but we had to wait until 1pm due to people checking out. True to his word at 1pm he gave us a different room in the second building (Formentera). This was worlds apart. Recently refurbished, big balcony, air con (60euro deposit for remote) new bathroom and new kitchen, although still only 2 basic hobs. My wife was much happier as was I. From here our holiday was brilliant. The location is superb. The beach is at the bottom of the road as is Golden Buddha which is the best chill out bar ever, massive outdoor sofas, reasonable drinks prices and good food. The Restaurant (Italian/Spanish) on the corner opposite the second building we had been placed in is superb (Chamontezza or something). You are 5 minutes from Coastline, 10 minutes from Mambos and Cafe Del Mar and 15 minutes walk from the west end. There is a great little pub on the front of es calo playa building with loads of offers on and also games to play inside like Jenga and such (If it rains as it did when we were there this is handy). The guy can make any cocktail/shooter you like. Loads of places to eat near by we didn’t have a bad meal the whole week. The pool area is very poor. It totally surrounded by the hotel blocks and another Spanish residents block. The pool itself is freezing as it never sees the sun and allot of locals hang around the back of the sitting area smoking weed and shouting at young women, although they did not bother us. The youths are there well into the night and I could see that young women on there own would be intimidated by them. The maids came in every day apart from one with clean towels although you could tell them to go away if you wanted. All in all we had a top week in the Formentera. Super location quiet later in the evening and a very good 2 star room. It close to San Antonio centre and you can get cabs on the main street at the top of the road. If we had stayed in our original room i fear our holiday experience would have been very bad. Maybe if i had been on holiday with the lads it wouldn’t be to bad as you just crash there and wouldn’t be to bothered. But for couples it would be very bad, i suggest you request when booking a room with a balcony as not all have. If this fails persist with the manager and/or rep that you are moved to the other building. They will do as when we were there it was not full. i have a feeling they reserve it for couples and older people, as that is what we noticed of the people in our block. There is nothing in your room by the way apart from a few plates and cups. You have to hire everything including toaster, kettle etc. Although there is an old fashioned kettle to heat on the hob. (It took 15 mins to boil!!) PS. Our main aim for the holiday was to go clubbing. If you want a quiet one don't stay here you will only get annoyed at the noise. People don't go out ‘til midnight and music is loud out of rooms until at least 1am.

Arrived at the hotel at 3am and found there was no reception for the Formentera Complex so walked down the road to what we assumed was the reception, this however belonged to another hotel called Es Cayo but they were obviously linked. Was met by about 15 people on the street with their cases who did have rooms. Spoke to someone walking past who said they've seen the same thing every night they have been there. The weirdo nutter guy on reception (I am not being unkind when I say he is a nutter the receptionist who is on in the day said he was crazy too!) had my name written down in his book but had given the room to some-one else although we had paid for it! He said we could get a taxi to Ibiza town and that they would put us up in a hotel there but we refused as it was at least 60 euros and he expected us to pay for it. We were tried to reason with him and get him to put us into a hotel in San Antonio but he said he was going to call the police on us, he was shouting and acting like it was our fault we didnt have a room that we had paid for! Not once throughout the 2 days we were there did we get an apology for what they had put us through. We ended up staying on a sofa bed in some guys room on the first night as they had spare beds, not very safe for 3 girls but it was either that or the pavement so was the only option. Finally got a room 14 hours later, it was shabby and not very clean. There was skank on the table and hair in the bath, makes my skin crawl thinking about it! There was mould on the wall in the corridor and constantly rubbish bags in the corridors. There were rumours peoples rooms were being broken into and that the weirdo guy gives out the master key for all rooms to anyone. The safety deposit boxes are in reception and god knows whos got keys for those! The pool was shut due to someone pouring washing powder in it but even if it was open you wouldnt want to go in it as its disgusting, it gets no sun and is in the middle of all the buildings. The noise of people shouting and playing music at 7am is ridiculous. There was also someone being sick in the corridor while we were on the phone this was the last straw for us. We kicked off to our tour operator and got moved to a much better hotel in the bay 2 days into our holiday but would advise people not to go here even if its cheap because its not worth the hassle. and believe me its cheap for a reason! They didnt even ask for our passports when we got there and didnt ask us to sign anything when we checked out! The staff have absolutely no idea who should be in the hotel and which rooms they are in! They were giving keys to people and asking them to try them to see if the rooms were free, sometimes they werent so people were walking in on people in their rooms! No wonder things were getting stolen! Surely it is against the law to tell people they are booking a hotel then put them in a completely different one next door which was nothing like the one advertised and certainly not newly refurbished. I wish I had read the reviews before as I certainly wouldnt have booked this hotel the tour operators ought to be ashamed that they are keeping a hotel like this on their books. I have photos of parts of the hotel so you can judge for yourself but I would not ever stay there again even if you paid me! If you are stupid enough to stay there and lucky enough to get a room then make sure you ask for both keys to room or the nutter guy gives them out to randoms! Also you will need 30 euros for a deposit for the air conditioning, they dont offer this information when you check in so most people thought the air conditioning didnt work! When you are there look out for the fact that they have taxi companies on speed dial ready to take people to other hotels so it is obviously something that happens all the time! Over all this was the WORST hotel I have stayed in!

Arrived at 3.30 a.m. to be told there was no room for us and we'd have to go to another hotel in the group. They provided a taxi. We got settled into the new room and went out. Arrived back at 8.30 a.m. and got a telephone call at midday to say we could go back to our original hotel and they were knocking at the door 30 mins later to make sure we were out. I would not recommend Es Calo Playa. Salt water came out of every tap, even the shower. Were three days without any covers on the third bed, despite several requests! Some days we were only given one towel. Had a wonderful view but no balcony, therefore had table and chairs in front of the wardrobe which we had to move each time we wanted to get in it. No tea towels, kettle or anything. The wardrobe door fell off and so did the kitchen door. Very noisy, mainly Italian and Spanish tourists, not many English people. Tiny pool which no one used. Air con was excellent and it was free, just had to pay a deposit, but didn't make up for the fact we had to shower in salt water every day. Would not stay there again. The location of the hotel is excellent, just round the corner from sunset strip with Cafe Mambo, Cafe del Mar etc. 10 mins walk to the West End and the main beach. There is a beach at the end of the street but not very good, mainly rock and very uncomfortable.

i went to this hotel with friends in July. We are all aged between the ages of 20-30 and were on a low budget clubbing holiday, expecting just basic accommodation. Nothing could have prepared us for such poor cleanliness and safety standards and total lack of organisation by the management. We arrived at the hotel during the early hours of the morning, so for that reason had booked an extra days accommodation for the previous day so we could have the room on arrival. (The rooms should have been ready at 3pm, it was 3am the following morning when we arrived) There were six of us and we had booked two rooms for the boys/girls. On arrival the girl on reception who did not seem to have a clue what she was doing, told us she couldnt find our booking. She went and got the man in charge who told us that only one of our rooms was ready as the cleaners had gone home without cleaning both rooms. This was due to the previous occupants not leaving on time. When asked why they werent made to leave the man simply shrugged his shoulders. Six of us were forced to share a room for four until the correct rooms could be allocated to us the following day. This room was meant to be for four people and had only one wardrobe, NO drawers and no bedroom area. The fridge was not working and we were told we would have to wait until later for an engineer to come but could not tell us exactly when. Bare wires were hanging out of the walls where there should have been electrical sockets and a television (which was also missing) The room had no balcony and bars up to the window. The view was of the back of the hotel with grafiti on the building opposite and rubbish was strewn everywhere. The next day the same male receptionist showed us to our second room, and when he let us in the current occupants were still in there! They explained to the man that they were not due to leave the room as they still had three days of their holiday left. When we eventually got both rooms sorted we had to complain as the toilet broke and would not flush. It remained like this overnight and six of us were forced to use the bathroom in the other room With what we saw of the rooms the only good thing was the air conditioning The whole situation was beyond a joke and very frustrating