Insotel Punta Prima Resort & Spa

We stayed in one of the hotel's new swim-up rooms, a class of luxury room which they added last year with their own pool. The room was very comfortable, clean, enough room to sleep parents plus 2 kids, pool was great - can't really complain about the room at all. Away from the room, the communal areas were all were kept and preserved and covid meant that it wasn't over-run. The main problem which I had with the hotel is that the new rooms are in a different price category to the rest of the hotel, but the food and service for those rooms isn't of a level with that price category. If you got one of the main rooms in the hotel, then the food is about the right standard for what you're paying. However if you're paying the much higher price for the posher rooms, then at that level you expect a better level of service - someone to meet you at the front of the hotel, someone to take your bags up the hill to the room, food of a better standard, restaurant which is a bit less rowdy. The problem they have is that 95% of the rooms are in their standard price category, and its only a handful of rooms in the higher price bracket...so they're not used to, or set up for, people who by virtue of what they're paying, expect a bit more. I'm not sure how they solve this but its like having a 5* and a 3* hotel in the same place and giving the same services. So nice enough place, and we had a good time, but wouldnt go back

Where do we start... We typically book an adult only hotel and we almost have this time. We decided to 'upgrade' to this hotel, as it was more expensive and looked much better from the pictures, we ended up paying almost ??1700 for a week for the two of us (all-inc). When we arrived, the grounds were beautiful. Nice reception quickly checked in and off we went to find our room. When we finally arrived at the room - I cried. I could not believe in the standard of the room. It wasn't even a room - it was a studio of a sort - with a dodgy kitchenette in a cupboard and a disgusting bathroom. Having stayed in many 5* hotels previously (some also with TUI), this place is officially 5* and marked as TUI 4+ Platinum hotel. Well, it is definitely not. It was 3* on a good day - and I mean on a good day. There was a fridge and some cooking utensils and a small TV. That???s it from the amenities. There was no ironing board/iron, safe cost 17 euros to use and towel deposits were 20 euros/per person! There was nothing in the fridge, we had to go shopping to the local supermarket (because the minimarket on the premises doesn't allow card payments for less that 10 euros and we had no cash with us). As stated above - bathroom was disgusting. There was mould in the shower, dirt in grouting, broken tiles. Toilet wasn't cleaned when the cleaning lady came in - as it smelled every time, we had to use it. The only thing that was cleaned were the towels and the bedding - everything else remained dirty - the floor was filthy as well. We immediately went to TUI to request a hotel change - as this was not what was advertised on the website - TUI reps weren't even surprised that we complained. Additionally, they said to us that this is the biggest family hotel on the entire island - didn't we know - to which we responded saying that they forgot to mention that on their website!!!! I sat there crying in their office, saying how we feel cheated, as the pictures online do not match what we found in the rooms. Reps were friendly, they said that it would take up to 48 h for a hotel change form to be processed. We waited over 48 h and they issued us with a quote for another hotel, 1 h away from this one, where it was only half board and we would have to pay almost ??500 to stay there for 4 days, not including the ??50 administration charge, cancellation cost of the current holiday and transfers were not included either. We replied saying we wanted an all-inclusive option and not HB, to which we had to cancel our moving request as by the time another 48 h would have passed - we would have had 2 days of our holiday left. It was total shambles how TUI managed it and I will be complaining to them separately. Let's get back to the hotel though. ROOM - disgusting, outdated, mouldy and clearly tailored for self-catering NOT all inclusive. No ironing board, no mini bar (paid or otherwise) and no front door! We had to enter through the balcony. Horrible furniture with the design glued onto it (some was falling off or was ripped apart). Shower was leaky. There was barely any hot water and the water pressure was very low. POOLS - there were 3 pools in total - two main, one for kids and the other one deeper and one up on the hills, by the minimarket. The hotel was completely dominated by children. Screaming and shouting was constant. Loungers were taken at 8 am, some people even leaving towels the night before!!! Pools were dirty - whenever I was swimming with my goggles - I could see all the debris floating in the water. Throughout the week at Insotel - I only saw them cleaning the pool ONCE. FOOD - all the a la carte restaurants were closed and the only thing available was the buffet. The food was disgusting. NOTHING was labelled. I have food allergies and lots of intolerances and my fianc?? had to try things before I could eat it. I complained to TUI about it - that not only it is illegal not to display what you are actually serving - but also, they are going to kill somebody with this bad practice. It slowly improved throughout the week, but things were still either missing labels or mislabelled. Scrambled eggs were raw, vegetables were uncooked, and fish was uncooked. I ended up eating bread and cheese for every single meal and we ended up going to local restaurants as my stomach was upset every day. ENTERTAINMENT ??? this was all catered to the children. They had a variety of things on every evening, and even though the web app for Insotel said that adult entertainment started at 9:30 pm every night ??? that was simply not true. Especially sitting on the terrace ??? most days there wasn???t even any music (only for children indoors). DRINKS ??? this is the ONLY positive about this holiday ??? drinks were nice. Soft drinks were served from bottles and alcoholic drinks were made using quality alcohol. However, glasses were not cleaned promptly, a few times on our way to the breakfast in the morning ??? we still saw masses of glasses left at the terrace of the bar, clearly not picked up before they shut the night before. Beer ??? the only option was Estrella, which after a while became tiring. All in all ??? I have not enjoyed this holiday. Food was terrible, entertainment for adults was non-existent, the room was DEFINITELY not a 5*, maybe a 3* at most. Facilities were poor. I have no idea how this place has 5* or how TUI labelled it at 4+ Platinum hotel. If you actually thought this was going to be 5* - it won???t be. If you don???t have kids ??? this place is definitely not for you. If you have any food allergies/intolerances ??? I would also avoid Insotel.

After reading the recent reviews we were a bit apprehensive about staying here but I???m so glad we did. We didn???t experience any of the problems which other reviews mentioned, maybe it was just teething problems as hundreds of brits rushed abroad. The hotel was welcoming and clean. The food was good, a few queues but only what you would expect for Covid times. The staff were friendly at all times and the cleaners were also amazing. We had such a great week and especially liked the location with a really good beach nearby. We didn???t want to be involved in the evening entertainment and because it was inside and a good distance away we didn???t even hear it. There was a bit of loud music round the pool but only a couple of hours a day so also easy to avoid if it???s not your thing. Menorca is gorgeous and we plan to return next year, thanks for a great holiday Insotel.