Just home from our trip to the Sol Principe. Have stayed there on a number of occasions pre-covid. The group consisted of 7 adults, a potential adult as my son turned 18 the day he arrived home!!!! and 3 teenagers. From previous visits we did notice change and felt it may be a process of recovery after our uncertain covid years. Our package was inclusive of drinks and food and our accommodation was the family suites.

The suites were very suitable for our group and were very well serviced by the cleaning staff. They could do with a little bit of TLC but that would be just to freshen them up. The block was very quite on our previous stays but there appeared to be a lot more noisy traffic in the early hours of the morning combined with strong smells of recreational drugs. Accept that we were on holidays but it may impact families with young kids.

Pool area is great and particularly for a member of our group with inclusive access to the pool with the lift. This allows wheelchair users access to the pool. Like all hotels umbrella and bed access is limited but in the vast majority of the time I believe people were catered for. The staff are active watching out for bed hoarding and did remove towels where people had been gone for too long. The pool area was well cleaned every day

There were shows every night and what was on offer did appear to cater for all ages. The bars weren't over staffed so queues did develop very quickly and at peak times particularly you could be waiting to get drinks. We as a group felt this was may be due to staff shortages post covid. Bar closes at midnight so if you have gone for a stroll and want a night cap remember this. We didn't visit the sports bar so can't comment on what happens in there but I feel its not promoted enough particularly for older teenage guests who might want escape from their adult parents. The games arcade near the main pool area is still there. This is a bone of contention for us as we feel it doesn't sit with the hotel complex and is a money pit for young children.

In comparison to past visits the restaurant experience was different. Staff appeared to be much busier therefore less attentive. Proved difficult to get drinks and if you wanted a second then better to order well before first was finished. There was waiting times for the food so I would suggest experimenting with times to determine when the waiting times were shorter. Unfortunately though there were waiting times so be prepared, again we felt the issue was a shortage of cooking staff. The restaurant is big so be prepared for the volume of guests and the back round noise as a result.

With respect to food the group felt there was a slight drop in standard. Always plenty of salads, fruit, deserts. There were lots of choices of fish and meats and whilst the meats were generally repeated nightly, it required being inventive with salads/sauces to make each sitting different. Again from our previous visits there were themed nights to give diners a different dining experience but this wasn't evident on this trip. Possibly an Irish thing but we would have liked a greater choice of potato rather than the preferred offering of chips, even my kids got fed up of them!! A suggestion would be to take time whilst having a look at the food on offer and make choices wisely to vary what you eat every night. Not a hotel issue but beware the queue hoppers.

The snack bar available at the pool was only fair being very honest. The foods on offer in the past were much more plentiful and regenerated regularly. If you use this area for food try and avail of the food when it's put out initially rather than having sat there for too long. Once you understand the dynamics of the snack bar it keeps hungry teenagers bellies content.

New this time was a child friendly area in the lobby whilst not used by our group it was a nice addition to the lobby area. Used by many young families it was a positive for those with very young kids and an obvious effort by the hotel to be child friendly.

Overall we had a positive holiday and comments made are as a result of previous visits. There are differences in standards and we put this down to as previously stated to hopefully post-Covid difficulties rather than a change in hotel management mentality. The staff cleaning the rooms are particularly helpful so don't be afraid to speak with them with respect to room towels, bedding and cleaning. Planning next years holidays already we will be going to a different destination based on a desire for change and when we revisit Torremolinos I will consider the Sol Principe but will have a good look through the reviews to make sure the hotel is at a standard we like.

There are some positive things to mention like location is very good and staff is very friendly. And breakfast was good also. Beach is also very close, and the Amillo beach (and staff) was really nice.

Unfortunately there are several negative topics, which do not justify four stars. In my humble opinion.

It seems that Sol Principe management does not care what is going on at this hotel.

Check in took like 45 minutes even though I had checked in via Melia mobile application in advance. Only 2 of 7 (?) counters were open. During check in there was not any guidance given, when the restaurants are open, where those are located etcetc. Why there is not enough staff available at the receiption?

Room was a large one located on upper floors. Condition of the room was average, please check photos. It is a strange that housekeeping/service can see these faults every day, and they do not inform their supervisers.
Minibar was filled in with stuff (yoghort, juices) from previous occupants. Gladly, service visited the room and filled in minibar with accurate goods, but the service did not remove existings stuff. Strange.
Room was also clean but during the stay, housekeeping entered to the room very late. The latest timing was half past five. It seems that there is not enough people at the housekeeping team.

There was a clear guidenance that sunbeds shall not be reserved in advance. Howerver, every morning (8:30) all sunbeds were taken. Why managemement has given this type of guidance if it is not followed?

There is also a guidenance that people should wear shirt inside the common hotel areas. Still some men were wandering in the areas only shorts on.

Restaurant was also a short of staff. In the first evening, we got drinks when we already had eaten. Waitresses were too busy to serve all. Lesson was learned, and we located ourselves close to the waitresses' counter to get drinks asap. It worked. Generally, food was average, normally they heated up leftovers from the previous night (like shrimps).

When I had this experience at Sol Principe, I will avoid other Melia locations.

Just come back from a week away here as a couple and it is a lovely hotel but has it’s negatives.
Positives - All inclusive drinks were really good and lots of choice.
- Rooms are lovely and we had a side sea view room and it was spacious and clean.
- Right on the beach front and the pool areas/hotel are clean and tidy throughout.
Negatives - A very busy hotel, long queues for reception, the bars during the day and evening for drinks. The hotel does not accommodate for the amount of the guests there are.
Very hard to get a sun bed, some days we were up at 7:30am and there was very little left which meant we had to go to the beach which wasn’t ideal when we had paid for all inclusive.
The food isn’t good in the restaurant, it is very repetitive and if you don’t eat fish, there is very little to choose from and the very little we did eat considering we aren’t fussy eaters at all wasn’t good.
The front pool doesn’t open until 11am which we thought was quite late but the front is a lot quieter than the main pools and this is the only place we could get a sun bed.

We did enjoy our stay and would return to Torremelinos however, probably not to this hotel.