Pine Cliffs Residence, a Luxury Collection Resort

Stunning resort. We had the best time. Our apartment was well equipped and clean. Pool was clean. The grounds are stunning. Breakfast had a great selection of food for the whole family. Beach is beautiful. Great location

It was our first time at Pine Cliffs and we stayed in a two bedroom suite at the Residences. The suite was great size and loads of space, plus nicely equipped kitchen and utility room, the style of the entire place somehow dated but not too bad, the bed were comfortable and we slept well so not complaining about the style BUT: - no dishwasher tablets or washing products ( one tablet a day and some washing products would be great especially for the price you pay for the stay) - barely any sockets in there, with few behind furniture, so if you’re a family with multiple phones, iPads, iWatches etc bring an extension cable or you’re going to be juggling with the charging times. - the shampoos/shower gels could do with modernising as we’ve had few different types delivered to our room and it just looks messy and random (also for this price you’d expect something more from upper shelves) - the aircon is old and doesn’t give you the cold air you’d wish for at times (it keeps the rooms at comfortable temp but only when it’s on high speed which is quite noisy) - there’s few problems we’ve encountered like shower spraying everywhere but where it’s meant to, leaking sink in the kitchen which got fixed but you wouldn’t expect these in a “luxury” resort. The only issue we didn’t get solved was the terrace light which didn’t work. - you have to wait quite a while for everything, there’s not enough stuff for the number of guests and most of the stuff (also, apart from reception and waiters don’t speak a word of English) - the TV is aged and could do with updating so you could log in to your streaming services - there’s no entertainment in the evenings and the village outside doesn’t provide any either so you’re left to entertain yourself - breakfast in on the cheap side with quite reduced selection of products so to make it look better you’ll find two massive bowls of each fruit and two trays of croissants (it does look full when you first look but on closer inspection there’s very little to choose from) plus there’s only one omelette/egg station so the queues are massive. Also the omelette station is outside so you get to see tens of wasps walking all over the ingredients - the biggest problem that we’ve experienced was the cleaner we’ve had!!! On one of the days we left the “do not disturb” sign on the door when we headed for breakfast and what did we find on our arrival back? The cleaner in the room, doing her job! We didn’t complain as maybe the sign magically came off somehow but the next day we’re in the room with the sign on the door and she rung the bell and then was just about the enter the room when I got to the door! I mean that’s unacceptable even in 3* hotel!!! What if I was doing my naked yoga or having some quality time with my other half??? We complained and the next day we had a different cleaner but the aftertaste is still there… On the plus note: - the grounds are amazing and in great shape - the atmosphere at the resort is lovely, no pretentiousness (like you can find in Sani for example) great majority of guests are Brits or Americans and it’s all relaxed and lovely - the spa offers great services - the beach if breathtaking - the kids club looks amazing (our kid is too old for that) - tennis/paddle courts are great way to keep busy All in all we’ve had great stay and will be coming back but please look into the issues I’ve mentioned as this place could be top notch if the management got more involved… I wish Pine Cliffs all the best and I can see the that potential is there but there’s some work to be done.

Lovely room (Block S7 top floor) in the residences, lovey pool, lovely staff, very clean and well maintained and staff we very responsive if you needed something. The grounds overall are huge and very well looked after. Ubers also come direct to the room blocks if you are going out for the day/ night so no need to shuttle up to the entrance. No issues with shuttle either came within 10 mins when called or turned up at reception pretty quickly. Most of the walkways also have some shade coverage at points which made walking and jogging around the grounds quite pleasant. Managed at least 15000 steps most days which went some way to counter the enormous breakfasts. Breakfast is a good standard and good choice. Bar staff are very helpful and service is quick at the OBar. Piri piri was very nice and family friendly. Shop at residences good for water and snacks. Eating lunch and dinner is an expensive way to do it when not doing half board - but prices are not out of proportion versus other hotels, it’s convenient and food was pretty good in the clubhouse, o grill, corda cafe, o bar and zest. There were lots of options outside the hotel within a 20 min walk of S7 (or 5 mins walk of main hotel) and there is a great supermarket just at the entrance which makes it pretty easy to self cater for those meals where you don’t want to eat as much. It’s a lovely walk down to the beach too and we had no issues getting space on the beach and the facilities (showers, fresh towels and deckchairs or loungers) are pretty good down there. The pool facilities at the residences are also good and there are loads of other pools to chose from (although we didn’t need to move). If you want a good sun lounger on the front row of the pool it is worth getting your towel down before breakfast but there was always some space free and plenty of umbrellas so getting a seat in the shade in was never an issue. The kids (8&4) enjoyed the pool party (free) and some the other activities on the programme like air trampoline, mini golf, cars and paintball target practice (all priced between £5-10 a go) and the reptile show (free but optional photo £8-10). There was also a bouncy castle and playground (free) in the shade that passed a few hours. We also rented a pedals for an hour on the beach which was really fun. Only let down was the kids club childcare - we were told it was musical theme that session but the kids said they hadn’t really done anything in the 3 hour session (and my 4yo is normally very enthusiastic about these things) . We paid about £35 for each child and were told by our kids they had just sat around watching the babies and no activities had really been done with them (it was a bit boring!). Fortunately with the pool and other activities we didn’t really need to use it again and when we walked past on other days we did see kids on other sessions doing activities. So perhaps just check with the staff what specific activity is planned for that session before you book. Overall a really lovely family holiday, nice setting, nice staff