Mrs. Raindeer and I just spent five nights at the beginning of the month at the Mardavall. The hotel is indeed lovely, but it feels very generic. As one person pointed out to me, you could be in Majorca, London, or Dubai when standing in the hotel. There's little that's authenticly Majorcan about it. The grounds around the hotel are also well-maintained, but the property itself is right on top of it's neighbors on either side. Hence, you don't get a sense of serenity at the property like one does at Manele Bay (a former LC property). The view across the bay there is of a bunch of hotels, so the feeling is that one is on a very crowded part of the island, which is really the case. There is a "beach" in front of the property, but you need to walk down a hill, there's no sand, it's very narrow, and, once we got to the water's edge, all of us felt the pool was a better option. Bottom line: there effectively is no beach. The tiered pool does, indeed, rock, and the spa pool is awesome.

The room itself was quite big (Grand Deluxe), but I am convinced this was no platinum upgrade. The room was ground floor, meaning the view was of a railing (it may have faced the sea, but one could not actually see the sea from this room). I asked about an upgrade and they said they'd let me know the next day. They never got back to me, and, eventually, we gave up trying. The bathroom is large and awesome, the toiletries lovely, the rooms comfy. The safe failed halfway through the stay, causing the front desk to have to come and unlock it (I always wondered how that worked if someone forgot their code, etc....) The charge for the internet was 29 euros a day, which I found to be a bit excessive (the hotel is fairly new construction, so it's not like they had to pay up to rewire some antique property.)

The food is really awesome at the property (and at Plat d'Or at one of their sister properties) and not overpriced. Lunch ran 25-35 euros per head, and the food was several levels above burgers and fries. We never did breakfast (always slept through that meal.) Drinks on the veranda are highly recommended in the evenings (5-8 euros), but avoid ordering water by the pool. Yes, it is very hot and one should hydrate, but at 5 euros for a small bottle, you should bring your own....

They need to work on their concierge staff. There were a few people who didn't speak English, though they insisted they could. We had fun on several occassions getting driving directions from them. Well, maybe not "fun".... In fact, the working assumption, if you are pale like we are, is that you are German, and most conversations start in German. That should give you a feel for the typical guest at this hotel.

So, bottom line, the hotel has a wonderful physical plant on a very mediocre piece of land. The Platinum recognition is lousy, the staff tries hard but needs to understand that Americans speak English, and, to the extent that they are marketing themselves to Americans (as they are LC, the working assumption is that they are), they need more English speakers. We fell in love with Majorca, but, next time, having discovered the west coast of Majorca, we will be staying at La Residencia (and eating more meals at Il Olivo.) Now that place is amazing, and, unbelievably, it seems less expensive for a regular room....