Gavimar Ariel Chico Hotel and Apartments

This is such a beautiful place, we had payed extra to be in an apartment and it was definitely worth it, there was lots of space and the beds were comfy, entertainment was amazing, love that they include the guests every night, dances and songs gets stuck in your head and will often find yourself singing along, entertainment team Sabrina, Justin, Margot are fun and interactive and you can tell they are enjoying it as much as you. Lots of different shops near by and close to the beach. Staff are friendly and approachable. Meal times can be a little busy depending on the time but we always found some where to sit, tables were always clean and ready for the next guests, Bar staff know how to make a decent drinks, measure spirits from the heart which is good if you like strong drinks, overall a good experience, already looking in to booking again for next year.

Stayed here all inclusive with 2 families, totalling 9 people end of May/beginning of June for 7 nights. Hotel is clean, rooms clean but one of the rooms had no mirror. Reception offered to change our room the day after but didn’t move as had already unpacked. I bought a long mirror from a shop up the road. There were some very noisy residents at the hotel especially the first few nights, running and singing up and down the corridors and on balconies, slamming doors. Went quieter as the week went on. Pool area nice with plenty of sunbeds with no mad rush as they don’t open the area until 10am which is a good idea. Food was good and always found something to eat as some in our party can be a little fussy. Sometimes quite a wait in a queue when waiting for the chef to cook breakfast and meats/sausages in the evening, perhaps have more than one chef. Tables always cleaned instantly. All restaurant staff very pleasant. Animation staff very friendly and bubbly but found evening entertainment wasn’t the best and wasn’t our thing. Plenty of bars and restaurants in the area just up the road. Spoilt for choice for restaurants. We went to Tropical Gardens a few night with live tribute bands that were really good, great atmosphere. Cala Dor is a beautiful place with lots of shops, bars, restaurants and lovely beaches. Eric from behind the bar was lovely and also Fran too, although Fran struggled to understand orders a lot of the time but with a little help from other staff all was ok. We had a late flight home when we were leaving and had to vacate our rooms by 11am but can still use AI up until you leave. They provide information that you can pay to keep your room on but had to ask 4 times for them to be able to let us know, which we couldn’t as they said hotel was full but wasn’t as we looked online and there was still availability to book plenty of rooms. No courtesy room was provided but was told we could use the gym showers up to 6pm then after 6pm to use the disabled toilet with shower facilities. As there was 9 of us we wanted to use the gym but was told we couldn’t at 4.15pm and had to use the disabled toilet. Felt we took over part of the seating area near the toilets which wasn’t ideal for people sat having a drink. It took ages as we had one shower for 9 people. Hotel really needs to look at providing courtesy rooms like other hotels. All in all we had a good holiday, lovely staff and love Cala Dor but due to some of our issues, unfortunately don’t think we would stay here at Ariel Chico in the future.

We are a family of 6 and met up with 2 other families,extended family, which made us a group of 12. Weve saved for 6 years for a family holiday and it did not disappoint. Suntai and Justine, and the animation crew, were absolutely fantastic. They made our trip so special and made all our kids feel very welcome. Our kids ranged from 5-17 and there was something for all, and us adults /big kids. It was lovely to watch our kids gain in confidence as the days went by. You can be involved in activities as much or little as you like, but to get the most out of it, get involved. We especially (kids and us adults) loved the aqua zumba classes! You can find the activities on the board in the restaurant. Great food for picky kids and wholesome food for others. Very accommodating. Hotel was clean. Bathrooms could do with updating but very clean. Comfy matress. We'll be back!

This was our 6th time staying at the Ariel in the last 10 years so I feel it's only fair I write another review! We stayed for 9 nights on an All inclusive basis as a family of 4 with our 10 year old daughter and 7 year old son. I emailed the hotel a couple of weeks before our arrival asking for a ground floor apartment in a specific block... we didn't get ground floor but we were in the requested block which was fine, I understand rooms are not always available. We've stayed in this block before (around the small pool at the back) so knew what to expect. Room a good size, clean, good mattresses. Shower head could have been better but useable. Maid came every day apart from 1. Food was good and varied, we ate different things each day and our kids never went hungry. Always meats and fish on the grill. A couple of the grill chefs need to cook meat a little longer though, on a couple of occasions meat was undercooked. Paella good. Damian at the restaurant was great, and spared time to greet our children and give them the occasional sweet. Our usual member of staff clearing tables Kevilin was lovely and smiley every day. Entertainment was 'ok'. We've had a lot better in previous years with good shows etc, this time was the usual parrot show, quiz nights, karaoke. The animation team were a friendly bunch. Eric on the outdoor bar is fantastic and deserves a shout out, he is super quick and a great barman. The other barman Fran was a little slow and spoke pretty much zero English which made things a little difficult sometimes. Someone in front of me spent about 5 minutes trying to ask for a gin and lemonade 😄 Snacks were hit and miss, one day we returned from the beach around 3pm so went for snacks having missed lunch and there was pretty much nothing left and they cleared it away until a few pastries around 4.30. The grounds were kept lovely as usual with gardeners on site regularly. Behind our apartment block was a bit scruffy with old sunbeds and chairs which the staff (who seem to sleep under the apartment block) use at night to smoke on and drink... not the best of looks but they caused no bother and were quiet. If you come here expecting luxury it isn't the place for you... If you come expecting a well priced 3 star in a good location with nice food and reasonable rooms it's great. I do hope Gavimar will put some money in to the hotel soon, especially on things like the playground which is very tired with flooring all dried out/lifting, the mini golf, and maybe fix the flooring around the pool by the restaurant so it can be used.. such a waste that it's been shut off for years! It's crying out for some TLC having barely changed in the 10 years we've been coming... a shame as the lovely staff all work hard to make it great. Thanks again for a lovely holiday, I'm sure we will be back again.

The pictures shown for this hotel are somewhat miss leading , to use the pool you have to cross a road straight outside the hotel main entrance , the food is always repeated flat grilled chicken , pork chops , chips, and potato wedges . there are no amemities for the disabled as i use crutches to get around i could not use the pool due to no slopes to get in . they seem to always mop the floors at a meal time so i had to sit and wait for the floor to dry as the tiles were so slippy and dangerous to walk on .to say this hotel was all inclusive is a joke as you could not get a drink of tea or coffee , not even fresh water from the bars before 8am , they also turn off drinks in the main hotel during lunch and direct you across the road to the outside bar . to access the drinks it will cost you a 1 euro deposit on your plastic beaker to get a drink , and if you want a snack it will cost you another 1 euro to get a small plate but you do get it back when you return it. the entertainment was very basic and poor . we will not be going back to this hotel , we were a party of 6 adults and i dont think any of the others will be going back either . There are some fantastic restaurants up in the main town .

Cala D’Or is beautiful and we visit every year but usually stay at the Inturotel Esmeralda Park. Unfortunately by the time I got around to booking this year, it was full, but the pictures of the Gavimar Ariel Chico on Jet2’s website looked good and the price for All Inclusive was very tempting. I should have known better. The room allocated to us on arrival looked absolutely nothing like the room we had booked (this is not an exaggeration!). To be fair to the hotel they arranged for us to be moved the following day to the room we had booked, however I don’t find it acceptable to be put in substandard room initially. The room we were moved to was much better and pretty much as seen on the website, however the phone didn’t work, the balcony table & chairs were dirty, the shower was poor, and one of the maids knocked one of the kitchen cupboard doors off and it was never fixed. The towels were old and thin and we had to ask for extra toilet rolls almost daily as they weren’t replaced. Most of the hotel is old and tired and we saw improvement works such as painting & mending being done whilst we were there. Obviously this is in time for the summer season, but why wasn’t it done in winter? There was a pile of broken sun loungers at the bottom of the stairs under our apartment and staff would sometimes sit here smoking and playing music. The food is disgusting and we ate out daily. The pool area is quite nice and the location is good. The drinks are very generous measures. I feel that the hotel is suited to those who want to spend their days round the pool taking advantage of the all inclusive drinks and who don’t really want to explore the area, or eat/drink in the local bars and restaurants. Cala D’Or itself is beautiful and definitely worth visiting but unless you want to drink all day and eat canteen food, stay elsewhere.

We are just home after an amazing 10 nights at the Ariel Chico, the location is perfect, a few mins walk to the beautiful beach or to the great bars and restaurants, our room was a little dated but who stays in their room all day, it had a great pool view .Food was OK but I am very fussy & my Mrs thought it was great,beer is on tap, the restaurant manager was a lovely man who always said hello. A special mention to the great animation team of Suntai,Justin,Sabrina,Mario,Tereza&Ioanna who do a wonderful job keeping the guests entertained, we are in our mid 40s and had a great laugh doing aqua gym/zumba, playing water polo/volleyball etc, they are a great bunch & a real credit to the hotel and themselves. Cala d'or is beautiful and I can't wait to come back to Ariel Chico next year.

Terrible experience from the hotel, the pictures advertised are the sister hotel over the road, the hotel room is very un clean and unkept, we stayed in the rooms by the mini golf area. Very basic full room, the headboard was falling off the wall with electrical behind it, the lights flickered every other minute. We was given two ‘body’ towels everyday, which was like the size of a hand towel. Rooms was meant to be ‘cleaned’ however all the maid did was replace the towels, we had blood on our bedsheets from a nose bleed on the first night, that was still there today when we left, so clearly was not changed. The shower drainage stunk and was very mouldy, the sink was also the same. The shower just dripped water out you couldn’t even wash your hair if you tried. The balcony was to small and tight for two let alone three in a room, it was filthy. We stayed all inclusive however we was only allowed the food and drinks which was just on tap beer spirits and cocktails, if we wanted a bottle of beer we had to pay for this. The hotel is split into two buildings so one side is the pool and the other is the restaurant which is so small I don’t know how the whole of the hotel and fit in. In our hotel you can hear people get up and go to the toilet in the night it’s that loud. It is very loud and can’t ever get a peaceful night. There is an infestation of ants in the hotel room and all over the stage seating area which you could uncomfortably sit around, there is so many wasps. The entertainment was very basic, which I don’t think is anything bad on the animation staff they was lovely, just very basic considering the hotel varies from guests if children to teenagers and young adults and old. The food was so repetitive each night, the same food every night, no veggie option at all, so we was living of potatoes and salad for the duration of the stay, until we found a lovley resturant picco near by and ate there for pizza and pasta, which we really enjoyed. The staff couldn’t speak much English, and we do know the basic Spanish language however are not fluent so it was very difficult to communicate with our issue. Overall I would not recommend this hotel to stay in.

Before coming here we looked at the reviews and there was a mix, but I can honestly say the 12 days we had here were some of the best days. The hotel is a short walk away from the beach (which is beautiful at night) and only a short walk to the bars and restaurants. The hotel was clean everyday inside the main areas and rooms. All the staff here were friendly helpful and polite. The staff at this hotel honestly made the holiday, Damien in the restaurant was so nice he would go our of he's way every time we went into the restaurant to say hello to my 6 year old and made us all feel welcome. The animation team were one of the best I've seen around, they never ignored you when walking round weather it be a high 5 or a hello. Suntai, Terezka, Ioanna, Margot Sabrina & Justin made the holiday from games during the day to putting on the shows in the evening they really are a credit. If you want to just sit and watch they wouldn't force you to join in. We're 100% looking at coming back soon.