Our second time here and just as good if not better than our first visit last year.
This is a serious 5 star experience and once again the staff seem to have a knack of knowing what you want before you do!
This year we had a room in Casa Ducales which was superb. With an adjacent small private terrace it was another world with a super view across to Port Colon to one side and the sunset on the other - we were extremely lucky with the weather for our week (constant sunshine) as they had had a lot of rain the previous week.
The food in the restaurant El Bernagal has definitely improved and we saw no need to eat at any other restaurant with such a fantastic fresh selection every evening. The only criticism would be that the wine by the glass selection is very limited as a whole bottle can be a bit too much.
We managed to avoid the UK half term but there were a number of children from - shall we say far eastern Europen regions who with their parents could be rather a pain - especially when it came to manners. Still this is not the fault of the hotel but seems to be a creeping worldwide problem!

Unfortunately, considering the actual ranking- level this hotel was not able to fulfill the personal and family- acceptations.
Place was absolutely not prepared for a rainy period for 5 days, people must wait for more than 20 minutes in the rainshower before breakfast and dinner. Hotel was overcrowded with Russian people, very noisy and arrogant atmosphere. Food in restaurant "Brasserie" was spoilt and cooked by microwave. Had breakfast- buffet in Salon Espagnol, no cooling devices were used so the different products were also warm presentated. Very noisy atmosphere in the corridors and elevators from 06.30 hr am till 23.00 hr pm. Very noisy rooms, bathroom, open terras .... could hear the neighbour. Lack of maintenance for the rooms, spots were out, bacterial rests on shower.

Great hotel which felt like its own little village. Room was on the 5th floor, which meant it was a long walk down to the main pool and main restaurant. After day one, all 8 of us gave up wearing our high heels to dinner due to the lovely landscaping crazy paving a cute little bridges, totally impossible in killer heels . Food in the buffet restaurant was really good and the service there was excellent with the amazing Jaun looking after us so well. Breakfast was so fabulous that we didn't want for anything other than that we were having to bob up and down so much as there was so much choice we wanted to taste everything. There could have been more than 1nespresso machine as ther was always a queue and the coffee brought to the table was not good . Lunch in the spa was very disappointing with slow service and a surly waitress, however Diego the manager was very appreciative of our constructive comments and I'm sure that will never happen again. Loved the stretch classes and the aquagym and Monica was amazing, she was lively bubbly and fun. Great nights in the piano bar and great singers and we loved dancing. Yes I would love to go back , but I need to save up again for a long time as it was not cheap,

There is no doubt that this hotel feels more like a resort in terms of sheer size. To compensate, the staff do their best to remain pleasant and helpful no matter what their role entails.
The layout of the hotel is adequately described in previous reviews therefore I will concentrate on the positives and negatives of some of the facilities:
1. The restaurants are generally very good. If you have selected the HB option and "upgraded" to dine-around, there is little need to eat elsewhere in the locality. Personally speaking La Brasserie, Asia-Khan and Las Aguas are our favourites.
2. The buffet restaurant can, no is, a little hectic in the morning although the choice and quality of food is amongst the best I've seen in a hotel of this size. The staff do their best to assist and remain helpful despite the well documented manners of certain "guests".
3. Half way through our stay we upgraded to the Casas Ducales wing of the resort partly due to the above issues around breakfast. The difference was profound. The facilities available are certainly worth it if you like a tipple or two in tranquility. The selection of complimentary drinks available in the clubhouse is extensive. The private solarium located next to the Hacienda restaurant is tranquil with a never ending supply of cold soft drinks available in a fridge.
The personal service is amongst the best I've encountered anywhere in the world. All staff appear to be multi-lingual and only too willing to prevent you doing anything for yourself!
The only slight negative was that our room 118 smelled musty. The air conditioning unit didn't work at all on arrival and when it was "fixed" it was much noisier and less effective than our previous system in room 429. All in all the upgrade fee is definitely worth it if tranquility, enhanced service and all day complementary drinks appeal to you. However and thankfully I'm not sure it's the place for small children, particularly as the solarium is some distance from any of the pools.
Conclusion, we will definitely visit again and would recommend the resort to friends.