Mixed review
My friend and I recently stayed at Vivra Bay Aparthotel, and overall we had a good stay. There were plenty of positives, but also a few negatives that stopped it from being excellent. The location is fantastic. It's perfectly situated between San Antonio and San Antonio Bay, with plenty of bars, restaurants, shops, beaches and supermarkets all within a 10–15 minute walk. The hotel was very clean, with our room cleaned every day. The room also had a fridge and hairdryer, which were both useful. The air conditioning was excellent too, with a remote control, it worked really well and was much appreciated in the heatwave! Breakfast was a good variety every morning. The cooked items were fairly basic but perfectly acceptable, and there were also cereals, fruit, cold meats, cheese, pastries, juices, tea and coffee, so there was something for everyone. The pool area isn't huge, but it's a nice size, and we never struggled to find a sunbed. It was refreshing to see that guests generally didn't reserve beds with towels all day, which made for a much more relaxed atmosphere. Unfortunately, our check-in experience wasn't great. We arrived just behind a large family who appeared to have an issue during check-in, possibly relating to the tourist tax. And then after a long time disputing their issues rather than completing the paperwork together, each person came up individually to fill out their form despite there being a queue behind them, which made the process take far longer than it needed to. While this wasn't the receptionist's fault, it was disappointing that other reception staff came and went without helping those of us waiting. We ended up standing there for around 40 minutes for what should have been a five-minute check-in. The Wi-Fi was another downside, as it was weak and unreliable throughout our stay. There also isn't much happening at the hotel in the evenings. The pool and small bar close around 6pm, and guests aren't allowed outside near the pool. The TV wasn't great either. Many channels had no signal some days, and there weren't any English-language channels available, not even BBC News. I know most people don't go on holiday to watch television, but it's sometimes nice to have something on in the background while getting ready or winding down before bed. The biggest issue by far was the noise. We were unfortunate enough to be next to a large group occupying several rooms, and the constant door slamming was unbelievable. They didn't seem to realise you only need to pull the door gently and turn the handle to lock it instead of slamming it! It genuinely sounded like gun fire echoing through the corridors, even with our room door and windows closed. I did record the noise on my phone but it seems i can only upload photos on here. Maybe updating the door knobs or using soft close doors might help this? It disturbed our sleep every night and was easily the worst part of the stay. Finally, something happened on our last day that was quite concerning. While waiting in the lobby for our transfer, I used the lobby toilets at the same time as a member of the kitchen staff. She used the toilet while still wearing her black kitchen gloves, then afterwards, she simply rinsed the gloves under water without using soap before returning straight to the kitchen. Hopefully this was a one off incident, but it wasn't something I expected to witness and it left a poor final impression. Overall, we enjoyed our stay thanks to the great location, quiet pool area and decent breakfast. With improvements to the check-in process, Wi-Fi, door slamming noise levels and hygiene standards, this could easily be an excellent place to stay.