before we booked we read the reviews and said to ourselves they can't of all had a bad time. I now wish we had taken notice of them. Never agin

Stayed here for 3 nights last week. Lovely clean comfortable hotel. Good breakfast  included in  our deal and and we took advantage of the evening buffet which was on offer at only 10 euros per head per night whilst we were there. The hotel is right on the beach in a quiet location about 800 metres west of Banus harbour. Quiet enough for the South Korean national Football Team to use the hotel for a training base when we were there. There is nothing but apartments and villas in the immediate vicinity of the hotel and getting to the harbour at night on foot is a bit tricky. The quickest route is along the beach road which is basically an unlit track. Why they haven't built a proper lit path is beyond me. There is an alternative lit route through the residential area but is a lot longer.Plenty of street car parking nearby. Hotel tricky to get to from Malaga Airport direction as you have to drive west beyond the hotel on the A7 ( dual carraigeway ) for about 1 mile and turn around at a roundabout coming back in the opposite direction on the A7 eastbound to find the turn off for the hotel which is signposted. Also watch out for toll roads on the A& / E15, take the non toll dual carraigeway, its just as quick.If you are looking for  a good clean comfortable hotel with very friendly staff you shouldn't be disappointed with the Guadaplin Banus. 

Stayed 11-20 October in Beachfront Banus Suite.
Already when entering the lobby at Gran Hotel Guadalpin Banus it is clear this hotel does not have the quality and class of a 5 star resort. You will have to carry your luggage yourself. Slow and somewhat uninterested persons at check-in. No introduction of the hotel services, facilities, breakfast etc. Find your room on your own. What really chocks me is finding out this hotel opened in spring 2005!! How can you let a hotel run down so fast? The interior design lacks any design what-so-ever and is worn down with boring colors following you in the hotel areas as well as in the rooms. Our room had brown-beige colors; sofa, wallpapers, kitchenette and carpeting. Looked very old and is quite worn down. The “fully equipped” kitchen (read: kitchenette!) had no casseroles or any cooking tools. When asking for a casserole reception sent us a kettle. Sigh! Even though the bedroom and living/dining room were good size, the bathroom was tiny! No separate shower, just a bathtub. And again, really worn down. However, what made up for all the flaws was the remarkable floor-ceiling window view in the bedroom and living room. Furthermore, the suite had a large terrace with a magnificent view. The terrace was surprisingly nice decorated with comfortable sofa/sitting group and outdoor dining table. The half way open wooden shutters blocked most of the sun during day, but not the view. The room had some technical gadgets such as electric controlled curtains and possibility connect your mp3 player in living room or bed room for the built in speakers in the ceilings as well as on the terrace. No DVD player in the room or hotel. Our friends stayed in junior suite which was smaller but had a better kitchen and bathroom. Their terrace was smaller and not as private but with nice sea view. We visited one of the deluxe junior suites with roof terrace. In short: horrible! I wouldn’t sit in any of their worn down, dirty furnitures on the terrace and certainly NEVER set my foot in the Jacuzzi! It was filthy! The general service was slow and inefficient. A charge of 6 euro to get ice to the room (5 star hotel???). The buffet breakfast was excellent though. The restaurant was not. Instead of having the bar facing the ocean with a nice view, it was located by the hotel entrance with its terrace facing the taxi stop. The pool was of nice size with comfortable sun loungers. Pool bar close at 6. There is a beach bar but it was closed. However, the beach was good and nice swimming. No personal on the beach this time of the year so towels had to be collected at the pool area (the “towel card” only allowed one towel per person ) and any drinks or food to be ordered in the hotel. Location was good with only 10-15 minutes walk to Puerto Banus. The air-condition in the small gym was not working and never repaired despite several reminders. Staff in general friendly but obviously lacking the service level and knowledge of a 5 star resort.

In conclusion: For our terrace, the views, pool and beach – Yes a nice and possibly 4 star quality. For the rest I would not rate it more than 3+ and with no renovations being done, I would think it will fall down to a 2 star quality rating pretty soon.

My husband and I stayed at the Guadalpin Banus to celebrate my 40th birthday and had a very enjoyable stay at this hotel. Whilst the public areas of this hotel are very nice, I feel the rooms are rather tatty and worn, certainly do not command a 5* rating and are in general need of a refurb. We stayed in a superior room, which was in our opinion very small, however it did have a lovely view of the pool and sea. On the downside every item of furniture in the room had at least one chip in it and two walls had watermark stains on the wallpaper. We had an inconnecting door in our room which did nothing to muffle the sound of our noisy neighbours. Food and drink at this hotel is also very expensive and heavily overpriced. We had requested a queen size bed and arrived to find wo twin beds. This was however rectified within an hour of requesting a queen bed. We also requested an iroing board and iron which was delivered within 15 minutes. Service wise I think this hotel rates very highly, the only downside was the cost of the food and drink along with the condition of the room.