Thomson Holidays - Hotel Reviews of the Hotel Sol Y Mar Sharks Bay

Writing on 03/05/2013 Anonymous  from East Yorkshire said...

My wife and I stayed for a week at the Sol Y Mar late April 2013. Having paid the price that I did for the break, I was not expecting five star luxury, but travelled with the expectation of being in a hotel of resonable standard with regards overall cleanliness and room conditions. The holiday was booked after reading reviews on both Trip Advisor and the Thomson site itself. All these reviews were positive and as a result, we felt this was a decent enough option for a late availability holiday. Sadly these expectations were not met. The room had not been used for a week by all accounts and smelled foul when we entered it for the first time. The solution was to run water, turn the shower on and flush the toilet. The bedroom walls were covered with squashed mosquitoes as were the lace curtains. The balcony was a disgrace with bird droppings on the balcony floor, handrails and upon the two chairs and table on the balcony itself. Only a mediocre attempt to clean the handrail was made after we commmented, but nothing done about the table, chairs and balcony floor. The food from he restaurant was adequate choice and quality, but the food from the poolside snack bar was poor. Add this to the fact that the floor in the poolside bar was not clear waste food leading to an unsatisfactory environment in which to eat. The waiting staff wore dirty and soiled outfits all of the week we were there with no noticeable change of clothing available to them. Service was intermittent to say the least. It was ridiculous that only one guy ran the lobby bar of an evening. Queues bulit up and tempers frayed because of the time taken to be served and the obligatory queue jumping. The location of the hotel is quite remote from the main centre of Sharks Bay. The free shuttle bus to the Jaz Belvedere is a good option to take. Use that to go to their pools and access to the beach and far superior poolside cafe. The main pool area of the Sol is probably its best feature and the glorious weather made sure that the week was not completely spoiled. As I said in my title, if there was a little more effort in giving the place a lick of paint the first impressions would be more positive. Addressing the staffing issues in the bars of an evening would also assist. I would not book the hotel again and equally could not recommend it to friends or family.

Review based on a trip in April 2013