Fairmont La Hacienda Costa Del Sol

“Great Resort”

Absolutely beautiful property with breathtaking views. The breakfast is excellent, and one of the best and most convenient touches is the option to take a takeaway breakfast box for later — a simple idea that makes a big difference. Tip: go around 9h when there is less crowd. The swimming pool is … lisää

Absolutely beautiful property with breathtaking views. The breakfast is excellent, and one of the best and most convenient touches is the option to take a takeaway breakfast box for later — a simple idea that makes a big difference. Tip: go around 9h when there is less crowd. The swimming pool is fantastic, and La Cala Beach Club is truly top level. All the staff are warm, welcoming, and always willing to help with every request. A special thank you to the Hotel Manager, Carlos, who went above and beyond to make our stay as enjoyable as possible and handled every request in the best possible way. If you're planning a peaceful and memorable vacation, I highly recommend choosing one of the villas with a private pool — absolutely worth it. Thank you, Fairmont, for a wonderful stay. We’re already looking forward to coming back!

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“Wonderful week at the Fairmont”

We went to the wonderful Fairmont Costa del Sol for nine nights in August. Where is a new property and very beautiful with a stunning view of Gibraltar. As with any new property there are teething problems, added to that we went at very peak season. Despite our issues I wanted to write this review… lisää

We went to the wonderful Fairmont Costa del Sol for nine nights in August. Where is a new property and very beautiful with a stunning view of Gibraltar. As with any new property there are teething problems, added to that we went at very peak season. Despite our issues I wanted to write this review specifically to express our Gratitude to the management team of Pablo and Tino. They end up with the issues with absolute professionalism and always a smile on their face despite being under a lot of pressure. There were also some wonderful members of staff such as Mira and Laura who made the whole experience wonderful for myself, my wife and my daughter despite the issues Already planning our return.

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“Beautiful hotel for a relaxing break.”

First thing to say is I loved this holiday. It was perfect for relaxation. We stayed in a three bedroom villa with pool and it was the best room set up I’ve ever stayed at anywhere. House keeping in the room was excellent. The point of our holiday was to recharge so we didn’t leave the resort. T… lisää

First thing to say is I loved this holiday. It was perfect for relaxation. We stayed in a three bedroom villa with pool and it was the best room set up I’ve ever stayed at anywhere. House keeping in the room was excellent. The point of our holiday was to recharge so we didn’t leave the resort. The beach club was well set up and the water quality was clean at the beach. Water is cold but that’s perfect when it’s hot. The restaurant at the beach serves good food. Service there is a little unpredictable and sometimes quick and sometimes slow. But the atmosphere is wonderful and I liked eating here. The Dalmar restaurant offers an adults only breakfast- the offering is actually excellent. Getting drinks is sometimes slow. The order goes in and it comes back very slow. Some training is needed and it seemed like one or two people are doing all the work. For dinner service was much better- the food was ok but I didn’t find it that special. The Faro restaurant had good service and food was ok. The pool side restaurant was my favourite for dinner and had a great atmosphere. However the staff wear headpieces and I think this contributes to service problems. They get distracted when they are doing things and lose their way a bit. At lunch this restaurant is overrun with families with small children, but suitable if you have small children. The in room service is fantastic btw- we had it once for a late lunch and it was very good. There are buggies that take you around if you want. There is a large swimming pool area in the main section. I imagine it is great if you have small children. Fairly overrun by children. The spa treatments are excellent. There is an adults pool at the spa but it’s inside. Overall I would love to come back. Although there is a few issues ( the biggest one was our room wasn’t ready at check-in - but the room was worth the wait) the staff are a friendly bunch and we had a truly relaxing holiday. I’d want to do a villa with a pool again to avoid the small children. Nothing against them- just have older family.

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“Beautifully built resort with standout golf, but service and housekeeping need work”

I booked a Signature Sea View Suite and, as an Accor Diamond member, were upgraded to a Pool Villa. I was a little hesitant at first because I preferred the sea view. I wish someone had explained the layout to me to have a better understanding and expectations. Everything is built on a hillside t… lisää

I booked a Signature Sea View Suite and, as an Accor Diamond member, were upgraded to a Pool Villa. I was a little hesitant at first because I preferred the sea view. I wish someone had explained the layout to me to have a better understanding and expectations. Everything is built on a hillside that steps down toward the water. Each villa building has four units: two Pool Villas on the lower level and two Signature Sea View Villas directly above them, with the same footprint. Because the whole resort steps down toward the sea, the villa building in front of you sits lower, so you see the top of it. That’s why they’ve planted a privacy hedge in front of all the Pool Villas, to screen that off. The trade off is that the hedge also blocks part of your own view, so from a Pool Villa you get a partial, obstructed side view of the sea, whereas the Sea View Villas above the hedge get an open view. That said, the kids did like having the pool right there on hot days. It’s more of a small dip pool, but it was a nice way to cool down. The main pool area is big and nicely laid out, so even though there were lots of families with young children, plus some couples, it did not felt too crowded. Everyone gets their own space. We especially liked the infinity pool, which was never too busy. The beach is nearby. You can walk, but it’s a bit far, and you go down and under the golf course where it crosses overhead on a bridge. There’s also a buggy that runs to the beach club, which we used and found easy. The drivers were kind, often stopping to ask if we wanted a ride when we set out on foot, so we never actually walked the whole way. On the way back, it is definitely challenging to walk uphill but there’s a button you press and they come right over. The beach was crowded on weekends, which was because the hotel beach club sits right alongside the public beach, a popular spot for locals on weekends, so it’s the public side that gets busy rather than the club itself. On weekdays it was quiet. The water was refreshing, around twenty degrees in early July. It’s quite wavy and rocky, so water shoes make sense, especially since the sand is very dark and gets extremely hot. It’s not really the most kid friendly water, though we saw plenty of Spanish children perfectly comfortable in the cold, wavy sea. It was a touch too cold for me to swim continuously, but the locals clearly enjoy both the temperature and the waves, and it was refreshing given how hot the sand gets. It’s not the clearest water or the most stunning scene, but it’s still nice to have a beach and the beach club was lovely, offering small complimentary drinks and snacks both there and at the poolside. We tried their cocktails and were disappointed. They were weak and too small for our liking. We preferred wine of cava. A lovely detail throughout: you can see the Rock of Gibraltar from so many spots, including through the big glass windows at reception and right from the beach itself. On dining, we ate at the poolside restaurant almost every day. It’s a restaurant by the pool, not a formal one, which made it easy to just stop where we were and eat, especially coming straight from the pool or the golf. The food was decent, nothing to write home about, but they had really good kids meals. The one downside is the menu could use more variety. We ate there most of the week and by the end weren’t sure what to order. One day when they were showing the World Cup at the library, we ordered from Faro, and the pizzas and salads they brought down were good. There’s also a restaurant at the golf club called Sal Verde, which seemed popular, but honestly the food was just okay and the service wasn’t great. It was very windy there too, with things flying off the table. I expected it to be nicer than it was, so I’d probably skip it and eat at the hotel instead. We only tried those because we went out to a different town almost every day and ate out while exploring, so we never got around to the other restaurants, including the fine dining Dalmar. Breakfast was good and plentiful, served in a beautiful restaurant with an ocean view, and it was lovely to dine outside. Lots of options and good quality food. The pastries were exceptional, and the cured meats, cheeses, and spreads were all really good. The main hostess at the main entrance of the breakfast restaurant was the same friendly face each morning, remembered us, and was very attentive. Honestly she was pretty much the only one who recognized us when we arrived during our 7 days stay as none of the servers did. One surprising thing for a five star, though: the eggs were tricky to get right. Sunny side up kept coming overcooked and flipped rather than runny. We even asked in Spanish for them not flipped, but they still came flipped, so eventually we just took whatever they made. The golf is a real highlight. We played the Links course and the Heathland course. The best thing about the Links is the views, you have the water close by from every single hole, really panoramic, plus that exceptional Rock of Gibraltar view you just don’t get at other courses. The Heathland has lovely mountain views and was well kept too. Interestingly, the Links is the better known course and was a lot busier, so we didn’t mind the more laid back Heathland at all. My son went to the summer golf camp and had a wonderful week. There’s a kids club too, which is very nicely built and cozy, with a small pool and a playground. The staff, though, weren’t very engaging. It was more the kind of place where parents stay with their children rather than drop them off. No one greeted or spoke to us, so we just wandered in, sat around, and left. The space is lovely, but the staff could do a lot more to welcome families and get involved. On childcare, the hotel doesn’t offer babysitting directly but gave me a contact when I emailed ahead. That company’s pricing was outrageous, so I found another called Sara Positivo. Sara was quick and efficient and found us a babysitter right away. Carolina came and we were really happy with the service, and it was about half the price of the one the hotel recommended. The room itself is modern and comfortable, with comfy beds. One odd thing: the pillows were really thin for my liking, so I requested thicker ones, and they sent up a giant pillow about the size of a big child. It was strange they didn’t seem to have a regular, fluffy, medium pillow, just really thin or enormous. Not uncomfortable, just laughable in hindsight. Honestly, housekeeping was the letdown for us. It really wasn’t great, with things missed here and there. When we raised it, a reception manager named Miguel followed up and helped sort things out. It did improve after that, but housekeeping and maintenance need work in general. It’s a new property, but they need to look after the corners and details, because the hotel itself is beautifully built. The lobby is stunning, with a fountain feature in the middle and giant glass windows overlooking the sea. Service was the other weak spot. It seemed like they had a lot of interns and very young, inexperienced staff across reception and the restaurants, so it didn’t feel like the personalized, polished service you’d expect from a five star property. There didn’t seem to be anyone with real ownership consistently present. It was a different server at the restaurants every single day and a different person at reception every time, even though we were there daily. At luxury properties you usually get remembered and greeted personally, and we just didn’t experience that here. On a positive note, the valet team was efficient, and one gentleman in particular was very nice. He recognized us and was very personable offering local tips. Dinner is their busy time, so we learned it’s best to call ahead to have the car ready, otherwise it took a while. When it wasn’t busy they were very quick, and they provided water to go, which was a nice touch. A note on location and getting around: the resort is about an hour and fifteen from Málaga Airport, or just twenty five minutes from Gibraltar Airport. It’s not especially close to Málaga, but it was a fantastic base for what we wanted. A rental car is a must here. Over our seven day stay we took a day trip to a different town almost every day, all of the equally charming: Gibraltar, Tarifa, across to Tangier, Ronda, Estepona, Marbella, and Sotogrande, where we had dinner at the marina nearby, which has lots of nice restaurants and seems to be where the locals hang out. For food supplies, we also drove to Sotogrande, which has several big supermarkets. There’s a luxury one called El Corte Inglés, next to the Mercadona, with a great selection of ready to eat food to go, which was really handy since quick food can be hard to find in Spain. The Mercadona is great for groceries too. There’s also a smaller supermarket closer to the hotel in the Alcaidesa area, plus a café and a small restaurant right there, convenient if you need something nearby. But I’d really recommend the takeaway selection from El Corte Inglés in Sotogrande. All in all, the resort is beautifully built with fantastic golf and great pools for families, and it’s a superb base for exploring Andalusia. But the service and housekeeping don’t yet match the five star setting. With attention to those details, it could truly be exceptional.

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