AP Cabanas Beach & Nature Adults Friendly

I don’t normally leave negative reviews but I was quite disappointed with my stay. The hotel is relatively expensive and for the price of it I expected more out of my stay. The building my room was in had a high ceiling and had a lot of small birds stuck inside, there was lovely seating areas along the corridor but they were covered in bird droppings, every time I left my room I had to watch my footing and pray a bird wouldn’t defecate on my head! I could hear birds chirping all throughout the day from inside my room, I’m sure some could find this relaxing, I grew quite sick of it after a while as it was constant, up until about 10:30PM. The service at the bar was pretty poor, sometimes there may be only one person serving at a time, other times there may be four people behind the bar chatting amongst themselves practically ignoring every customer, they would then leave together, leaving one person behind the bar once again. The hotel offers a complimentary boat to the beach, which is fantastic. The boat stops for lunch between 1-2PM and this was documented on the brochure. I decided to wait for the boat at 12PM and by 12:45PM the boat still hadn’t shown up! I assume they took an early lunch but it was quite disappointing! I will say that the hotel is lovely, it does look just like the pictures, the pool was clean and well kept, public toilets appeared to not be cleaned regularly, bins were overflowing, toilets left unclean. I think management and staff aren’t prioritising the customer experience and are doing the bare minimum which apparently has been working for them so far. Cabanas de Tavira is a nice quaint town, I will say it’s a quiet area, some nice areas to eat and drink overlooking the water.

Hotel looked nice on the surface, but when we arrived there was a strong smell of sewage, it had been raining heavily when we arrived so I assume it had something to do with that, but when we mentioned it we were told there was no smell of sewage. The sunbeds on the roof top were very dirty and didn't look like they'd been cleaned for while (if ever). There were lots of tiles loose around the pool aswell which was quite dangerous. Again mentioned to the hotel, they said there was only 1 that was loose and it was fixed which again wasn't true. (I have a video but unable to upload for some reason). If you want to use the indoor pool you will have to wear a swim cap, take one with you or you will be charged €5 for the privilege. I wouldn't mind if the indoor pool was actually clean, but it was not. If you like privacy when you are in the bathroom this is not the hotel for you, as there is a giant glass panel to the bathroom with the curtain on the outside in the bedrooms which is very odd. They also cut off our wristbands on check out and we were told we would have to purchase any food or drinks after check out, which I have never had at an all inclusive, so be prepared for that on your last day if you have a later flight. This is not ideal given the hotels location. They also have a weird system of having to scan your room key every time you have food or drink, even though they make you wear a wristbands. Should be one or the other, this causes bottlenecks at meal times as people have to queue up to scan their room key to enter. I did try and sort these issues out privately but the hotel essentially called us liars and dismissed everything hence the review. Given a second star as the food was actually quite nice and the drinks were decent and as mentioned earlier, hotel looks nice on the surface. But the staff and odd policies knock it down. Definitely wouldn't recommend.

Beautiful hotel with tonnes of potential to be an amazing holiday. Unfortunately let down by the attitude of the staff. I went as a solo traveller, on arrival I was not allocated a room and unable to purchase a drink for 3 hours whilst I waited for my room to be ready. In line with their policy. First day of my holiday ruined! The staff were unapologetic about the inconvenience. I was put in a room beside a loud group of boys. As a solo travellers as I was forced to pay card or got reception to pay cash for every purchase . Apparently because i wasn't an all inclusive guest. Clearly not convenient when your trying to relax by the pool. The staff seemed to enjoy making my holiday difficult. Seriously don't go there if your a solo traveller.