Hotel San Agustin Beach Club

Despite the fact that this is obviously an older hotel from the 1970s architecturally, you are immediately struck when entering, that it has been internally designed, to make you feel as if you have boarded an ocean liner during the golden age of travel. Yes, if you look into some of the corners you will find it a little shabby chic and threadbare in places, but the overall concept is very fun and retains something of the elegance of a bygone era. The public areas are immaculately clean! I never failed to spot hotel staff constantly mopping and polishing every surface, everyday. Bedrooms are spacious and well appointed with everything you’ll need and could best be described as traditionally Iberian in their decoration. This is certainly not a featureless modern hotel, but one with a distinct and unique character, which personally I felt added to our holiday. I would however add at this juncture, that I found the bed rather too firm and uncomfortable for my personal taste, the other half enjoyed it and found it to be excellent. The bedrooms are very clean, with bedding made and changed daily as required. A detraction on the accommodation front is however the dreadful smell that emanates from the plug holes in the bathroom at night, it could best be described as what we in Britain would call the smell of “drains”. I complained about this twice during our stay and credit where it’s due, the management immediately sent a cleaner and technician on both occasions to try and rectify the issue. I would say at this point, that it was probably nothing to do with the hotel directly, but more to do with the way that the infrastructure over there works. There is a distinct waft in the air of a night in some places. Let’s come onto service and food. I did read several reviews that were politely critical of the staff, but from my own experience, I found all staff to be very helpful, courteous to a fault and attentive to detail when actually being served. The only ever so slight criticism I would give, is not towards any particular individual, but to service in general in the restaurant areas. Staff don’t seem to be well organised with regards to looking after designated sections and tables and you can end up feeling like you are waiting a long time to order, as they’ll be mob handed in one area whilst another can be unattended. There is also a lack of being asked if you’d like another drink with your meal during dinner service. The food itself is in the traditional format of a starter, soup, fish course, main course and pudding to a set menu not to be found in many hotels these days, but was generally tasty and well presented. The hotel does a BBQ twice a week and the freshly cooked steaks were sublime! I would not recommend this hotel to young families with small children who can invariably be very picky with foods, it’s definitely more of an adults hotel for those with broader palates who enjoy eating interesting dishes. Breakfast was first class, with a very wide variety of foods on the buffet, both hot and cold. There is certainly something for everyone. I did read that some complained about the bacon, but I found it more akin to streaky bacon and rather tasty for sure, but you definitely won’t be getting a traditional banger. Lastly, I’ll inform you as to location, the hotel is nestled on a little point at the end of a small bay, with the beach literally outside the rear entrance to the hotel. We spent all our days on the hot sands and in the warm sea, no point going to a hot place and merely lounging around the pool and not soaking up the quaint picturesque ambience of San Agustin. The pool areas though, were very clean, with comfortable loungers and those large four poster type day bed thingymajigs and the hotel offers both a fresh water and salt water pool. If you like a bit of tradition and enjoy something that harps back to a bygone era of travel and would like to feel that you’re stepping into an ocean liner with dark wood panelling and brass work then you’ll throughly enjoy this hotel.