Jon Clarke (Publisher & Editor)
WITH its Padi dive school, gym and round-the-clock entertainment, you hardly need to look outside its four walls.
Add in three restaurants, a supermarket, hairdresser and beautician and it feels like a town in itself.
This is the Sunset Beach Club Resort, one of the most successful hotels on the Costa del Sol.
Occupation has been up every year for the last decade, despite the recession, and the hotel caters for nearly 2,000 guests a day in peak season – and rarely under 1000 at any time of the year.
And is it any wonder, with the amount of activities on offer, including aerobics, cookery and Spanish classes all year round, not to mention billiards, live music and power walking.
And then come the weddings, with around two dozen in the key months of May and September alone.
“We get over 90 a year and starting at €5,400 (40 guests) an event we think that is terrific value,” explains manager Mark Wardell.
It doesn’t seem much. But, of course, by the time you have factored in the guests rooms, their meals and mini-bar tabs (the majority are Irish, after all), it becomes a profitable business for the hotel.
Sitting on a fantastic headland next to two lovely beaches, it is perhaps no surprise that Sunset has continued to grow every year for the last seven, despite the recession.
An incredibly well-run ship, the hotel – one of the biggest on the Costa del Sol – consistently delivers to holidaymakers from all around the world…. over 50 different nationalities this year so far!
And it definitely does not scrimp and save on food, entertainment – or indeed on its fantastic rooms – having spent a whopping €22m upgrading its facilities since the Millenium, and millions more being spent to keep the standards up.
Without a doubt the price/quality level is one of the best in Southern Spain and the food in all three restaurants is excellent.
Locals rave about the live concerts – some of the best on the coast – which are free to expats, as well as the beach restaurant and fantastic pool and playground area for kids.
“My ideal guest never leaves the premises and is never in need of anything,” explains Dubliner Wardell. “Security and safety would always be our number one priority but on a day to day basis from the moment the cleaning team moves in at 2am to the last bar closing at 4 am our real job is to make people happy.”
“We are now investing regularly to keep us at pole position on the Costa del Sol.”
