Renovation work going on directly next to the restaurent where the breakfast buffet was offered. lots of drilling and hammerig on weekdays. - this was not indicated on the hotel web site, nor did reception provide this information on arrival - not worthy of a kempinski hotel.

hotel staff was overall friendly with few exceptions.sometimes reception staff seemed a bit inexperienced and/or new to the hotel, the information provided was not always correct.

the room was reasonably sized. the (in Spain and Portugal common) hard mattress was heavily worn out and saggy - definitely not 5 stars. decorative cushions with an unpleasant rancid smell. carpet with some stains. sleeper sofa cover very dirty. signs of moisture in the wall close to balcony. bathroom spacious. In average only 2-3 out of 4 towels were really clean, some towels were frayed. a bit of mold in the shower stall.

the breakfast buffet offered a lot of choice and seemed excellent on first view. the quality of the products was however varying from very good to just average or even less. bread and pastries were not always fresh. in fine weather, part of the buffet, including ham and saussages (not on a cooling plate!), was in bathed in plain sunshine. very often, coffee served at the table was not really hot. staff was polite though, so it was no problem to get some hot coffee, but one had to ask.
roomservice: the service itself was swift and reliable. food of varying quality. it happened that the dish served did not fully match the description in the room service menu. and lukewarm coffee ...

beautiful garden with several pools. service around the pool however partly poor to nonexistent. on a beautiful, sunny day i heard and saw an elderly gentlemen complaining about a long unsuccesful wait at the pool area bar and that he and his wife (both apparently well in the seventies and using a walking stick) had to come all way back and struggle up the stairs to the lobby bar for a drink. there was no apology or expression of regret from hotel staff.

hotel "drugstore": opening hours were posted on the door. the information that the store was closed during weekends was not provided though. annoyingly, even on weekdays the store was sometimes closed during opening hours. reception commented that the lady would be in the storage area or having lunch. again not the slightest "sorry for the inconvenience".

internet was 7 €/hour (ridiculous) and 35 €/week. many hotels still charge for internet access - but one could expect that a kempinski hotel could read the signs and provide free internet access (or just include it in the roomrate).

hard to imagine that this hotel could stay in the market as a "kempinski" without any profound renovation and re-structuring of services.

all in all a very disappointing experience. would i come back - definitely not.

after many years of traveling and staying in hotels i have come to realise that there is no such thing as perfection.

the important thing about a hotel is that the parts that you like the most are the reasons that you go back for. the little things that irritate you about every place have to be overruled by the great things.

the Kempniski Estepona was not perfect, and there wasnt really anything that made me want to go back.

Pluses - the gardens are beautiful, the rooms are clean and a reasonable size. the breakfast has lots of choice but the service outside (if you could get a table) was painfully slow.

minuses - the SPA was closed for rennovation and they hadnt told us (wasnt even on their website). the restaurants were closed except one that served cooked frozen food (yes, really for a five star hotel this is poor), the service was mostly miserable (one staff member during our stay was semi-friendly) and slow. they charge 40 euro to use the relaxation bed in the grounds (unheard of by me) and needless to say no-one was using them. the beach is not child friendly (i.e. cannot make sand castles!)

I was under the impression that the service level was a national trait (Manyana), but after we ate at two restaurants outside the hotel which were fantastic everything I realised it was just this hotel.

I would like to go back to the area, but you can be sure I will not be staying here.

Getting around to some old reviews.. I stayed here last year with my wife. When looking at the pictures from the website, the place appears to be amazing. However, it's not quite as nice as it appears. It's still nice -- I mean you're in the South of Spain and along the coast -- how bad could it be? :-)

However, a few things in particular stand out to me:

- The beach is a bit rocky -- into the water it's very rocky. You won't be able to go into the water very far unless you have shoes, steel feet, or don't mind bleeding everywhere. If you go to other places not far away, the beach situation is a lot nicer.

- King bed = two beds pushed together. I think this is sometimes common in Europe but I hate it. Just get a real single king mattress!

- Sixt -- The onsite rental car place tried to screw us. The next day after I returned a car we rented for part of a day, they tried to tell me I had damage on the vehicle. I was rather astounded and thought they were kidding at first. We drove to one place -- parked for the day -- and drove back. Never was there an opportunity for the car to be damaged. I come out and they show me one of the smallest scratches I've ever seen in the front bumper. This wouldn't even register in the U.S.. Even more important.. I didn't do the damage. I video taped the whole thing and took pictures and refused to "fill out an accident report." You could use a sharpie to cover this up .. or touch up paint. What a joke. I said they were welcome to proceed how they saw fit and that I would dispute the whole thing. I never heard back from them. I assume it was some weird type of shake down. I'd recommend you video tape (with our phone) your car when you get in and when you return it for evidence against this kind of B.S.


If you're there -- you have to go to Gibraltar. Try to negotiate a cab rate in advance -- both there and back. They have a book they can pull out -- make sure you don't get ripped off.

I'd also highly recommend going to Tarifa! This place is amazing. It's quaint and has amazing beaches that are *empty*. I predict this place will become a big tourist destination one day. Tarifa has one of the ports you can catch a ferry to Morroco (Tanger). We did this on our trip and had a fun time. People there will try to sell you stuff pretty much non-stop. Very pushy. So be prepared to bargain or tell people no thanks 100,000,000 times.

Booked through a travelzoo special offer, we stayed here for 2 nights in October. We travelled by hire car and did find the hotel quite difficult to find but were not disappointed when we got there. The hotel is modern and luxurious. We had been allocated a room overlooking a very busy road and asked to be moved and were offered 2 alternatives. We chose a garden view room and were delighted with it. We went out to explore the area the first night, Estepona was very quiet at that time of year but looks like it would be a nice place in the summer months. The gardens and pool areas are beautiful and towels and sunbeds were plentyful with enough space between that it felt quite private. Breakfasts were fantastic with a huge selection on offer, eggs and pancakes are made to order for you. Dinner was included on our offer on one of the nights and we chose the second night as there was soul/80's singer/pianist entertainment on in the dining room that night. Dinner was from a restricted menu but was delicious and was served with wine as part of the offer. Loved the turn down service and the little sweet left by the bed. A lovely short break and great value for money. Would def recommend.