Stayed here for a week on all inclusive basis and thought that in general hotel was very good. My two young kids certainly enjoyed it and hotel is very much geared towards families with young children. Majority of people staying at hotel were spanish and many staff did not speak English which was a bit of a pain but we got through okay.
Food is repetitive but good quality. rooms are excellent in size and well maintained - we had a family suite (two connecting rooms) and found facilities excellent. Pool is massive but area around is too small at busiest times with limited numbers of sunbeds. Weather was very hot so did not do too much exploring except to say that resort seems to lack a centre and everything seems to happen around the hotels. Beach is great with excellent facilities - about 400 metres away. Golf at Islantilla is nearby but course is difficult. Tip - book direct with Golf course as they offer better rates than hotel. golf courses are better standard in algarve. All in all i think Royal Marina Palace in Bulgaria (we went last year) was better and i would go their before Islantilla. however if you have booked here you will not be dissapointed!

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.