Stayed here last week with the family. Facilities are fine, and there's a good choice of food. Cleaning was excellent and staff friendly. The location is good, not far from some brilliant, if busy, beaches. Also, the resort itself is quite "Spanish", great if you like that kind of environment, rather than the British and German influenced other Costas.

There is a downside though - the property has many clients on all-inclusive and can't cope: meal times are extremely busy and there's no room around the pool, unless you are up at 7am to claim your sunbed. Entertainment is patchy.

I'd say it's good for families, not so good for couples wanting some peace!

We stayed at this great hotel for 10 days with our 3 year old daughter. Booking direct with the hotel, arranging our own flights and hire car was still several hundred euros cheaper than with a holiday company. It is a large, very clean, modern hotel. For the price we paid we couldn't believe the quality. The rooms were huge. We opted for half board and we were very impressed with the food. Lots of choice, lots of Spanish dishes which we enjoyed, also excellent for little ones.

We didn't venture much out of the hotel as it had everything there. A great spa (60 euros for the most amazing Thai massage), fantastic kids club (my daughter stills talks about the staff now) and entertainment if you wanted it every evening. (It wasn't tacky!) There isn't much to do outside of the hotel but there is a commercial centre with a choice of half a dozen restaurants about a 5 minute walk away.

If you need a complete rest and just want to do 'nothing' on your holiday this is the place to go. Not the place if you want loads of bars and tourists.

I would love to go back and I have recommended it to my friends with young chldren.

Me and my husband have just returned from our 6-day break in Islantilla.
We picked the Iberostar particularly because it offered very good rates and large rooms.
Our overall impression was excellent because:

1. The hotel is exactly what we expected it to be - spotlessly clean with large, spacious and modern rooms and bright airy public areas
3. The pool is huge with plenty of sunbeds and the pool area being constantly cleaned! The indoor pool with jacuzzi were well maintained and there was even a selection of complimentary soft drinks and juices provided. The Thai Zen Centre was not overly busy, but the staff were very helpful to answer any queries + the prices looked very good value (starting from about 45 EUR for a 60 min treatment)
4. There was plenty of choice of food in the buffet restaurant (we were on half-board basis and for the money we spent, the food was brilliant, although I wouldn't probably go all-inclusive, unless I was holidaying with children)
5. The reception staff, the waiters and the animation team went out of their way to please everyone (the hotel shows were well prepared and varied, targeted to various types of clients - children, adults, the Spanish or the British and other holidaymakers. Everyone could find something that suited them - bingo, fantasy show, mini disco, flamenco show, acrobats/magicians or Rio Carnival extravaganza.)
On our arrival we had a slight problem with the safe in our room and called the reception and it was fixed within minutes.

I would recommend this hotel as a good value for relaxing break and definitely to families with children. Especially if you are not into 'fish-and-chippie' type of holidays and want to feel like you are holidaying in Spain. (Yes, there are a lot of Spanish families with children, but we didn't mind their company at all as they were all extremely friendly and made the hotel lively at times which was a nice change. The evening shows wouldn't be the same withouth the Spaniards as they all got up and danced and really enjoyed themselves.)
Also, a visit to Seville which is about 140 km away from Islantilla is a must! It's a wonderful city and we plan to go back in autumn.

Islantilla : this is mainly a Spanish resort unlike say the Algarve or the Costas further East. It is perfectly fine although no major tourist attractions nearby. Great if you want a relaxing beach holiday but not if you want to do lots of sightseeing or shopping. Hotel backs onto a golf course but didn't visit it.

Hotel : Large business / holiday hotel. Many young families. Friendly, clean, pleasant.

The room: we stayed in a family suite during April 2007. The suite actually consisted of two good sized double rooms each with ensuite bathroom and one with a lounge area. Overall, very pleased with quality of room and amount of space.

Rest of hotel : Large, built over 5 storeys overlooking a large central lobby/atrium. Airy and open feel to it but as a result can also be noisy.

Outside Pool : The outdoor pools were fine but very cold! Plenty of sun loungers and well served by the bar.

Spa : we used the indoor pool. No supervision but otherwise more than adequate although not luxourious. My wife had a few treatments - reasonable value but staff a little disorganised, nothing to write home about. Still, good to have access to the facility. Good quality gym available also.

Food : we went half board so had breakfast and dinners at the hotel. Format is help-youself buffet. We are vegetarian and the vegetarian selection was very limited and unimagnative. There was a lot of variety otherwise but quality of food adequate not great. Large desert selection. Unfortunately, no nearby restaurants.

General : We went before the start of the main summer season so hotel was a little quiet. There is meant to evening entertainment but there was only one show in the week we were there. But the show was actually excellent.

Beach : Fabulous. The hotel is one block away from the beach itself but it is only a short (about 5 mins) walk down a wide walkway. Beach is clean and wide and was not at all crowded.

Would stay at this hotel again.