Holiday World Polynesia Hotel in Benalmadena

Do not recommend. Bed bugs found in two rooms – extremely distressing experience, and no responsibility taken by the hotel.

During our stay, we encountered bed bugs in two different rooms. I captured live bugs on video, and both myself and my 12 month old baby were bitten multiple times on the face, neck, arms. From the first night I was already reacting to bites but didn’t realise the cause until later.

I had to bag and spray all of our belongings myself, including our suitcases, because staff did not do this, despite the infestation. The situation was made even harder because we were travelling with two children and a pram.

It’s important to state clearly:
• We have never had bed bugs before this trip.
• Once we moved to a completely different hotel, the bites stopped immediately.
• We had no issues whatsoever in the new hotel or anywhere else afterward.

This makes it clear that the problem originated from the Polynesia, not from us or our belongings.

When I returned home, I had to take time off work to steam-clean all of our items, including our car. I also had to throw away a fabric suitcase to be safe. This was an enormous amount of stress, time, and money. It was a preventative measure to ensure we did not bring home contaminated belongings.

Although the hotel refunded part of our stay and transferred us to another hotel, their insurer ultimately denied all responsibility, despite the evidence we provided. The hotel offered to provide me with a full refund in exchange for not pursing any claims or action regarding the issue. We refused as see this as an extremely serious issue.

I am now pursuing an official consumer complaint because of how this was all handled.

This was a deeply upsetting experience during what should have been a family holiday. I do not recommend this hotel.