Hotel Costa Mediterraneo - Adults Only +16 in L'Arenal

Absolutely awful reception staff. Very rude trying to con/scam us as soon as we got there on the night. Me and my mom went alone to this hotel and it is a 16 year old+ hotel but when we got there my mom was told she would have to pay another 200 euros because i was apparently put down as a child (I am 16.) But it is an ADULT ONLY hotel that is 16+ so i could not have been put down as a child. We contacted Love Holidays who we booked with and got it sorted and didn’t have to pay any more. But we had another issue on the morning. My mom went down to reception in the morning to see if the booking was sorting and to confirm she wouldn’t have to pay more money and she didn’t have to as love holidays contacted them and picked up on their lie. But she was told i wouldn’t be able to use the pool as I'm not 17 which makes no sense because it is a 16+ hotel and i searched up and it said i can in fact use the pool because you cannot be booked in unless you are 16 years old. The staff are just unhappy they couldn’t get more money out of us.

I do not recommend this hotel if you are either a woman travelling alone or a woman travelling with a 16 year old because they will attempt to get more money out of you and it is a SCAM.

I arrived at 11pm and 1 hour after arriving (now midnight) I still wasn't in my booked room. It took 20 minutes for the rude man at reception to be on the phone to somebody to help find my booking. He gave me the key to a twin room without balcony when I had booked a double room with balcony. When I went back to query this, he told me to wait while he checked in other people when I'd already arrived 45 minutes ago and all I had done was wait! He hardly apologised for the inconvenience and even had the cheek to tell me to "be happy"...happy about what exactly?! Then asked me to stay in that twin room for the first night and a lady at reception in the morning will change my room to the correct one and refund me at least for the difference in the room price.

The air conditioning didn't work in the twin room (I needed it for heating because it was very cold at night and there were only thin sheets, no blanket) so I was only able to sleep 2 hours, plus there was a strange generator/machine noise for several hours in the morning coming from outside of the room. I visited reception early in the morning to sort out the correct room and the lady told me they can't refund me and wouldn't really explain why not when I told her I'm due at least the difference in room price because I booked a more expensive room to the one I had to stay in. I had to check out of that room at 11am and check into the new one after 1pm (losing access to a room I'd paid for during this time so they also technically owed me something for that too). I was eventually given the correct room after 1pm and no issues with it - air conditioning worked and there was a blanket too (really wish I had that during the first night in the twin room!)

I complained to Hotels.com who I booked through and they contacted the hotel and confirmed a few days later that I would receive a refund for the first night. As they should.

The hotel pool is in a strange position where all sunlight is blocked so it remains completely in the shade. Only approx 10 sunbeds for the whole hotel. Walls are very thin so you can hear all talking and music etc from neighbouring rooms. Hotel is very basic but that's what you pay for and should expect in terms of the room and hotel facilities.

This hotel is a complete disaster when it comes to customer service and professionalism. My flight on the 9th was cancelled, so I called the hotel to explain and asked if I could shift my booking from 9–12th to 10–13th. They said it was fine.
When I checked in on the 10th, I even reconfirmed with the lady at reception that I would stay until the 13th. She clearly said: “Yes, I know, it’s ok.”
Fast forward to the 12th: I came back at 5pm only to find all of my belongings dumped at the front desk and was told my booking had ended that day. To make things worse, the receptionist was rude, furious, and completely unprofessional. Instead of helping fix the situation, he told me “I don’t care.”

I was left stranded and had to pay for another hotel last minute which costed me a lot. This is unacceptable treatment of a paying guest, especially when the mistake was 100% on their side.

If you value basic respect, honesty, and professionalism, stay away from this place. They clearly don’t care about their guests at all.