La Quinta Menorca by Portblue Boutique

Let me start off by saying that this review will be positively bias as my wife and myself enjoyed a great relaxing holiday at La Quinta. La Quinta Hotel and Spa – charm, quiet, relaxed, comfy and tranquil – that for us in a nutshell is La Quinta. In advance of our 10 day stay we had read a number of other reviews on La Quinta and I guess we knew what to expect – both good and not so good. Yes its adults only and this helps with the relaxing overall ambiance. Would we return. Yes, very much so, and we do look forward to returning – though maybe we would not again look to choose the last week before they close up for the winter season as we did think that this affected service levels and consistency of hotel offerings. The location was ideal, very quiet location only a 5 mins stroll away from a couple of beaches and the Marina. A shop is only next door for any odds and ends needed. The manager Eva and her staff endeavour to look after guests and care about the hotel which is shown by Eva not only responding to reviews on TripAdvisor but also sending guests a questionnaire two days into a stay and also post stay questionnaire as well. I personally feel that if Eva can ensure La Quinta can in future offer a CONSISTANT high level of service that future guests will enjoy stays even more. – Eva already knows this and I understand plans are in place in this respect. Check in. Very quick and efficient, although we arrived prior to the official check in time we were offered our room immediately and were pleased to see that they had provided a room in our desired location. Thank you. The reception staff also offered us a complimentary drink on arrival and also gave us a complimentary voucher for a glass of Cava whenever we choose to take it. Nice touch, thank you. The receptionist talked us through a fair few things we needed for our stay and also about the hotel facilities. Room. Our ground floor room was delightful and very clean. A good size with ample wardrobe and drawer space. The two comfy single beds were pushed together to offer a double bed although the bed linen and covers were still made as single beds. As others have said in reviews maybe could do with extra power sockets but we found that to be a minor irritant. That said, my wife may say different as she found it difficult to use a hairdryer with access to a mirror at same time. Bathroom was also very decent although maybe a little dated. A bath with a shower over the top was available. The air con was fully working and powerful. It was nice to be able to gain access to the pool from our veranda and to be able to wander back and forth as we wanted. Half Board – restaurant and food. Half board consisted of breakfast and dinner. At the time of booking we did consider only B&B but the extra rate for dinner was such a good price that we decided to book half board thinking that it was such a good rate that we may not use restaurant on some days any eat out. However, once we arrived and enjoyed the quality of food on offer at dinner I’m pleased to say we ended up eating dinner at La Quinta every evening. We found that the way La Quinta serve dinner is in the main to our liking. Although dinner is classed as 4 courses of soup, salad, main and desert it’s really a 5-course dinner as with the desert as well as ice cream and a desert selection cheese and biscuits are also on offer as a desert. At dinner the soup is served to you at the table as is the main course the remaining courses are available at the self-selection stations. We found the quality of food to our liking but sorry to say that on the service we did need to complain on service levels a couple of times (and we also noted that other guests also had the same complaints) and pleased to say that in our instances the matters were quickly resolved to our satisfaction. Dress code at dinner has I know been the subject of discussion in other reviews and La Quinta have now altered dress code to allow guys to wear ‘Bermuda style shorts’ which cover the knee, Breakfast is served in a similar way to dinner. Pre order a cooked breakfast served at the table and while that’s being prepared help yourself to cereal, fresh fruits, bread and toast. Breakfast with a glass or two of bubbly Cava some would say is a nice way to start the day. Who am I to argue. The other review that mentions the tatty breakfast menus was right, they still need to change them to fit with saying they are a 5 star hotel. Namecheck. Many thanks to Katarina for looking after us in restaurant and to Maya for her bar service. Top Tip. Half board. You are allowed to change dinner for lunch on a daily basis if wanted. But why would we do this as dinner was such good value. Top Tip. The Gala Dinner which was held each Thursday evening was a nice experience. Top tip. La Quinta offer a daily drink offer of €40 per couple for cava, wine, Sangria, beer, cider, water, sort drinks and tea/coffee during the hours of 10.30am to 6.30pm. Pool. You can see from the hotel photos that the pool is a large size and sits right in the middle of the hotel complex. The sunbeds and cushions are comfy, and we did a few times say to ourselves that sat around the quiet pool is very much like sitting in a library it’s that peaceful and quiet. The hotel does offer a drinks service to the sunbeds but the service we found to be a hit and miss and towards the end of our stay I simply went to the bar. Gym, Spa and Spa treatments. With the average age of guests being around 70 I read in another review, which I tend to confer with, I did find myself to be the only person in the gym on the 3 or 4 times I visited. It DOES have air con – it just needs to be turned on which I did on each visit. The gym has 3 or 4 cardio machines, 3 weight resistant machines and some small hand weights. Also used the Sauna, steam room, gave the hot tubs a miss. Top Tip,. Augustina offers great massage services and both my wife and I thought she was so good we went back a second time. Entertainment. The entertainment was only offered at a weekend, Beaches and Marina. They are only a 5 mins stroll away. One beach is quite small with no facilities. The other beach is a little bigger has sunbeds and umbrellas and has a café alongside. Both beaches have normal soft sand. The Marina is a lively area at night, plenty of places to eat and drink and we found ourselves a few nights sat in one near the open area with a stage having a drink while listening to the singers. I am loath to say that La Quinta has bad points, so I will call them areas that need attention. These are as follows. Our stay coincided with the last week that the hotel was open prior to its winter shut down. With the reduced number of guests the hotel without any prior notice decided to withdraw the courtesy but into town along with the entertainment. The second week was not as enjoyable as our first week due to a small number of other minor points, but we still had a good time overall. All in all a great relaxing holiday at a very nice hotel. Would we return. Yes, very much so, and we do look forward to returning – though maybe we would not again look to choose the last week before they close up for the winter season as we did think that this affected service levels and consistency of hotel offerings.

We have been to this hotel 7 or 8 times because we love it so much, some with a bridge group but also by itself. The rooms are comfortable and a good size with plenty of space for everything. It’s peaceful because of being adult only and there is a lovely view over the large pool which makes the hotel very spacious. Other hotels nearby all have sun beds cramped together and loud music ! It’s a nice area because it’s close to a varied selection of good restaurants, supermarkets and other shops near the marina. There is also a private doctor clinic and an excellent pharmacy. The breakfast has an enormous choice of buffet and hot dishes. As stated in other reviews, the dinner is part self service and part served. The food was very good but, as referred to in two reviews, there was an issue, particularly at the beginning, with trying to get a large group through in an hour which they aren’t used to. the bridge group hasn’t been there for probably five years and they aren’t used to large groups with a time constraint . They did open 15 minutes early for us but on another occasion, it would have been useful to have someone in charge of making sure that the pace of service was more even rather than risking some tables finishing early and some late. Another option would be to start the bridge 15 minutes later!