Stayed at the Son Matias after a Thomson Cruise.

I was concerned that the Hotel was up to the standard of the cruise!

My fears were unfounded!! The rooms, food,pool and the entainment was first class. The staff were a credit to the Son Matias.
In conclusion I would highly recommend this hotel. .

Stayed four nights April 2012,weather was good,hotel very nice rooms,lounge,restaurant etc,food was good and plenty of choice breakfast and dinner,had lunch outside as there are lots of good places for food and drink reasonably priced,central location on beach and nice walk to palmanova or magaluf,take a bus trip to Palma city,for marina,cathedral,shopping and good tapas bars,would return to son matias

'The best hotel in Palma Nova....superb food...'

We stayed at this hotel in October towards the end of its season, hoping for some late sun. Having stayed at many other 4* hotels in Europe and knowing it was an adult only on a lovely beach, we had high hopes for a lovely break.

Bu...no way is this hotel 4*. How on earth do hotels get their grades? The 4* we stayed in earlier in the year, and others of the same grade, had an indoor pool and spa, edible, hot food and decent indoor and outdoor spaces. The Son Matias has none of these. We lost count of the number of times we heard or were told that the Son Matias is 'the best hotel in Palma Nova' and that the food is 'superb/amazing/fabulous'. I can't comment on the best in Palma Nova part as we've never stayed there before but I can certainly comment on the food and other aspects of this hotel.

Positives

Beach location. Lovely views across the bay & all rooms with sea and/or pool views.
Staff, especially Keith (draws amazingly helpful little maps. Thanks, Keith) on the desk and Denny (they certainly saw poor Denny coming when they sent him there. They almost ate you up, didn't they, Denny? You were such good fun. Have a great time in Austria. We never did find out why the Entertainment Manager left before the end of the season and Denny had to get on with it. We're sure she must have had a good reason.) but all staff were lovely - friendly and helpful.

Negatives

Geared almost exclusively to its returning guests, some of whom have been coming 'for 15 years'. Good for them. They get points towards a celebratory lunch every time they come back. The hotel does this very well- namely giving these guests the holiday they want, in the order they want, in the seats they want, with the food they want... you get the picture.

Whilst staff didn't appear to discriminate (not that we saw or experienced anyway), there's absolutely no room for newbies - literally or metaphorically from these guests. Examples included 'saving' seats in the (only) inside room for non existent people, thereby denying anyone else somewhere to sit; glaring at any unfortunate that dared to speak in that room - no, not during the bingo, that was sacrosanct, but during the rest of the evening. We witnessed a horrible man literally drag his wife out of the room because he had spat the dummy at the couple, next to him, having a normal conversation. This amused us but ruined our breakfast the next morning as he was sitting opposite us and was STILL going on about it. His wife, sensibly, was ignoring him.

Another example was when several of us mentioned to Reception that the rooms had become unbearably hot towards the end of the week. We discovered that this was because 'a few', yes, 'a few' guests among the( full) hotel had complained they were cold so, the air con in the hotel was all switched off!

The food. Where do I start? Back to the nursing home/nursery. The 'superb' food consists of a roast every night, dried up fish, 'show cooking' - an example of which was sausages , frozen veg and crumbles with custard. Absolutely nothing to suggest you were abroad, leave alone a Spanish hotel. None of that 'foreign muck'. Honestly, why do certain people even go abroad?

Indoor space.

There is only the one room, with the bar. Here all evening entertainment is held, including bingo, prize awarding, line and other dancing (not for newbies). There are probably enough seats for all but you have no chance of getting one unless you're prepared to queue up at 5.45 (yes!) for your dinner then 'bags' a seat. You can't do that in the front row though because they're for the 'dancers'.

To sum up (apologies for long review), I would recommend this hotel if you recognise yourself in the above. If not, don't even think about it or waste Internet time looking. But don't worry because, apparently, it has 100% occupancy all year because it's 'the best hotel in Palma Nova'.

PS - we had a great time despite this because we met some fellow newbies and discovered that it 'wasn't us'. Thanks, N & G.

my partner and myself love this hotel it is like going home, the staff are like family too us nothing is too much for them especially asking for help and assistance, we have been going for a few years now and try too go twice a year, the food is brilliant and very varied, we try too meet up with friends we have made over the years the only downfall is you have too book a holiday a very long time in advance or you can,t get in i have never experienced any problem,s in this hotel and the entertainment is brilliant even disabled people are catered for.