I stayed at the Viva Tropic for 9 days in May 2011 when I was in Alcudia to race the Ironman Mallorca 70.3 triathlon. I was super excited to go Mallorca and thought the hotel looked great as well. By the end of my stay I couldn't wait to leave. There was not one big thing that was terribly wrong but just a lot of small things that lead to disappointment after disappointment.

The summary of my review is that it is not at all up to the standard I would expect of a "4 star resort", the staff were often rude and unhelpful, the rooms were okay but small and full of bugs, the cleaning staff never really cleaned our room very well. The breakfast and dinner buffets were pretty good though.

Read on for the expanded review:

I should start by saying that I am Canadian and typically travel within North America. I am told that in general, hotels in Europe don't have as good of service or the same basic amenities as hotels in NA. So I am comparing this hotel to what I would expect when travelling in NA.

Overall, the hotel looks nice enough and the room is pretty nice too, but very small. The living area and combined kitchen space is extremely tiny. You could barely even pull out the chairs at the kitchen table. The bathroom however was huge and probably the best feature of the whole room. The walls were very thin and we were often awoken by kids running down the hall. The kitchenette was not very well stocked and didn't even have bowls! The hotel provided dishsoap and a tea towel but no sponge. Assuming that they just forgot the sponge I asked for one and was told I would have to buy one at the supermarket.

Another big issue with the room is that it was full of bugs. Mosquitoes would fly around our head at night and keep us awake. We were full of bites, but we were getting some other sort of bug bite too all over our bodies. We both had a bunch of tiny red bites on our face and arms. We asked at the front desk if the hotel had a problem with bed bugs and they told us that the bites were from mosquitoes (we knew they weren't as they were completely different bite marks and were not itchy). They did not offer us any help with the issue.

There was no wifi in the rooms, which was really annoying (and standard in North American hotels). So you had to sit in the lobby with your computer on your lap to use the internet. One day when I couldn't not connect to the internet with my laptop I went to the front desk for help and the staff pretty much just shrugged her shoulders and didn't offer me any help at all. I needed to do something for work and was desperate and the staff were extremely unhelpful.

On one occasion our water stopped working when I needed to shower quickly. I went to the front desk and told them the problem and asked how long it would take something to fix it and they said something rude and didn't give me an answer. On another occasion our electricity stopped working overnight. I got up in the night and had to use the washroom in complete darkness. In the morning I went to the front desk to complain. In both cases someone came to fix the problem fairly quickly though.

There was one older male server with glasses who often worked at the front entrance to the buffet that was particularly rude to us on several different occasions and seemed to be always scowling. I started to make a point of trying to avoid him, which isn't exactly a feeling you want when you are on vacation!

Another annoying thing was that they tried to force us to store our $5,000+ bikes in the bike storage room who everyone staying at the hotel had access to. Anyone who owns a bike this expensive does not let the bike out of your sight, so we were not at all happy about this.

I can't help but assume that there are better hotels than this one in Alcudia who will treat their guests better. There is no way I would stay here again if I went back to Mallorca.

My friend & I stayed here in early May & were absolutely delighted with our week, both the hotel & the resort. We weren't sure what to expect having taken pot luck on a bargain from the 'net, but we were so surprised at the quality of the hotel. The lobby is an oasis of calm & greenery & the staff were always pleasant, helpful & charming, both at the reception & around the hotel.
Our self catering studio was in Block 3, opposite the main block, on the 2nd floor & to our delight, looked over the main pool which was particularly pretty at night, It was plenty big enough for the 2 of us, with a small but well stocked kitchen area & a very clean bathroom. In fact the whole hotel & grounds were immaculate the whole time we were there.Our room was cleaned every day & fresh towels left whenever required. Extra pillows were provided within a couple of hours when requested & we were very happy with the facilities.
The adult only relax area was bliss. Great big Balinese beds, muslin drapes, bubbles, sprays & soothing music. Some people have criticised the fact that it is next to the kids pool, but it is completely screened off by high hedges, accessed only by a gate & to be honest, the sound of children laughing & enjoying themselves is not a problem to me. Anyway, because it was such a relaxing place to be, it was very easy to "zone out" & enjoy the sun.
We ate in the restaurant twice & it had a very good choice. We weren't all inclusive & dinner cost 15 euros, which was good value, but most evenings we chose to eat out at the little restaurants along the sea front & around the port. Breakfast cost 13 euros which was a bit over priced & again a good choice of food, but we chose to buy local pastries at the supermarket & eat them on our balcony. The snack bar by the pool provided good lunches, all of them available to take away or eat at one of the tables, & while not cheap, everything we tried was delicious.
The beach is a 5 min walk away & absolutely stunning. The Port area was pretty & not too crowded at this time of year. No clubs, but lots of little bars, restaurants & shops to browse.Didn't notice any rowdiness. Most visitors seemed to be very polite Dutch or athletes there to compete in the Ironman heat on Alcudia beach. Historic Alcudia was beautiful & cost about 4 euros to get to in a taxi. Worth it to visit the market & soak up the atmosphere.
Gripes? The entertainment at the hotel was pretty dire, but easy to avoid.
All in all, the whole holiday was a delight from start to finish & considering it was my first experience on a "package holiday" I can't wait to go back. I don't know what it would be like in full season, but i would definately recommend May, this hotel & this resort. Loved it.