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Review: the new Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

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This is our review of the new Grand Hyatt La Manga Club Golf & Spa resort near Murcia in Spain.

As it turns out, La Manga is a bit of an institution, with multiple readers reaching out after I posted a handful of stories from the Grand Hyatt on our Instagram page. Many have been returning for over a decade.

Let’s start with a bit of history. When it opened in 1972, La Manga Club was the first resort in Spain to open with two golf courses, with Californian businessman Gregory Peters attempting to recreate US-style golfing resorts in Europe.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

In the 80s, a small hotel was added which was then completely rebuilt in 1993. It started out as a Hyatt Regency in 1993, before becoming independent in 2008 as the Hotel Principe Felipe, before returning to Hyatt as a Grand Hyatt in May – a step up from its previous incarnation as a Hyatt Regency.

Despite 192 rooms, the Grand Hyatt is just a small part of the overall La Manga Club which spans almost six square kilometres and is apparently more than twice the size of Monaco!

In addition to the hotel, there are over 2,000 private residences across the site which makes this more of a small town than a resort. You don’t quite understand the scale until you’re there and realise that all the buildings and houses you see creeping up into the hills are part of the resort.

Earlier this year the hotel went through a six-month refurbishment program that changed the layout without the construction of any new buildings. This included:

  • the full refurbishment of all the rooms and suites
  • the addition of an adults-only infinity pool
  • relocation and expansion of the spa, now in the hotel basement
  • reorganisation and complete refurbishment of all the bars and restaurants in the hotel

One reason for the renovation, in addition to the fact that the hotel was getting quite tired, is that it is hoping to improve its luxury proposition and compete better with properties such as the Ritz Carlton Abama in Tenerife. As you’ll see, I think they’re well on their way.

I visited as a guest of the hotel as part of a group press trip.

The resort website is here.

Where is the Grand Hyatt La Manga resort?

Tucked between Valencia and Andalucia you’ll find Murcia, one of Spain’s smallest regions and the smallest south of Madrid. If you think of Spain as a squarish land-mass, then Murcia is in the bottom right corner.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

This is a historically less developed region reliant on exporting agricultural products such as lemons, tomatoes and other vegetables to the rest of Europe. The land here, although relatively dry, is apparently fertile and warm year round, with long growing seasons that don’t require the use of greenhouses.

The biggest cities here are Murcia City and Roman Cartagena. The Grand Hyatt La Manga Club is just 30 minutes from Murcia’s new airport and due east of Cartagena. Alicante is a little further – about an hour north.

The resort takes its name from La Manga, a Cancun-style coastal spit that creates one of Europe’s largest inland seas. La Manga resort is nestled in a small valley next to the Calblanque natural park.

Inside Grand Hyatt La Manga Club

In the centre of this sprawling golf resort is the hotel, which has remained (on the outside, at least) relatively unchanged since it was rebuilt in the early 1990s. The entrance is almost discreet and faces a small car park:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Inside the lobby has been completely refurbished and now features an open-plan layout with more space for lounging and working:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

There are three check-in desks on the right, and I was quickly checked into my room.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Rooms and suites at Grand Hyatt La Manga Club

The hotel had just reopened after its six-month refurbishment and was still relatively quiet, so it very generously upgraded me to one of the suites.

As this is not the typical experience, I made sure to see a standard guest room. Even these are impressively spacious:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

All the rooms come with a storage area for a golf bag by the door.

Opposite the king bed is a large 65″ TV with Chromecast built in, whilst the sofa by the window can be converted to a bed to accommodate a third person.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

The only thing that hasn’t been refurbished are the bathrooms, since these feature real stone tiles and units. However, the fittings have been replaced and the bath tub has been ripped out in favour of a shower:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Toiletries are by Balmain in big pump bottles:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Suites at Grand Hyatt La Manga Club

The suites at the hotel are similarly refurbished, albeit in a slightly more muted fashion. They are roughly twice as big: one half is dedicated to a large living space with sofa and dining table:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

…. whilst on the other side you’ll find a large king bed as well as a desk:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Connecting both halves is a toilet accessible from the bedroom and living room as well as a huge bathroom / walk-in wardrobe:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Suites come with a bathtub in addition to the shower, so you get the best of both worlds.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Overall I think the rooms are stylishly renovated. My only complaint is that it took 5+ minutes for the hot water to reach my room each time I took a shower, which was a bit of a faff. The hotel has also forgotten to provide soap dishes, which meant that housecleaning placed my used bar on top of a drinks coaster. On the second day they replaced it entirely which seemed a bit wasteful.

Pool, spa and sporting facilities at La Manga Club

Of course, one of the reasons why people come to La Manga Club is for the absolutely vast sporting facilities. This includes:

  • three eighteen-hole championship golf courses
  • 28 tennis courts
  • seven flood-lit paddle courts
  • eight FIFA-sized grass football pitches
  • a 750-seat stadium
  • “some of the best cricket facilities in Southern Europe”
  • two outdoor pools
  • brand new 1,700 square meter spa

…. well, you get the idea. No wonder La Manga often hosts professional sports teams, including the English football squad.

I know next to nothing about golf but I did enjoy a ride in one of the buggies:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

The North and South courses are more traditionally landscaped whilst the West course (a later addition) is more naturalistic, blending into the surrounding landscape. Grey water from across the resort is used to water the courses.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

I did make use of the impressive new spa, which is now in the basement of the hotel. This was previously underused as storage. The only annoyance is that you have to enter via the outside, although compared to the old spa I hear this is an improvement!

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

It features a lovely warm central pool:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Guests staying in the suites can use the facilities at any time; if you’re in a standard room you either need to book a treatment or pay extra.

On a lower level you’ll find a steam room and sauna which is open to all guests, whilst a number of experience showers are available throughout.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

Next to the spa is a very large gym which is clearly designed to cater to large sporting groups:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

When it comes to pools you now have a choice between the existing family pool:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

…. or the brand-new adults-only infinity pool overlooking the 18th hole of the South course:

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

The infinity pool is a lovely addition with a lovely vista, particularly in the evening.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

If you want to swim somewhere more natural, the hotel offers four complimentary shuttles to La Cala every day. This is a small cove on the other side of the park and is where you can find the hotel’s beach club and restaurant.

Review Grand Hyatt La Manga Club resort and spa

It is a gorgeous spot, albeit with small pebbles / rough sand. The water here is supposed to be particularly clear with excellent snorkelling and scuba diving. If I had more time I would’ve explored it for myself.

That’s it for Part 1. In Part 2 of this review – click here – I take a look at the restaurants and bars at the Grand Hyatt La Manga Club.

The resort website is here if you want to learn more.


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Comments (12)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • yorkieflyer says:

    Deary me, if I wanted to stay in an isolated golf resort in an amazing culture and food destination such as Spain I would wait until I was in my dotage, I feel terribly sorry for you Rhys, couldn’t Rob have gone😎

    • Rob says:

      Rhys insisted – I wanted him in London because it was just before the party! However I’d cleared off to Seville so didn’t really have a cohesive argument for making him stay 🙂

  • PeterK says:

    In the early 1990s, GB Airways operated twice weekly charter services to Murcia (for La Manga) on behalf of Barwell Travel prior to the airline becoming a BA franchise carrier. After the airline became a BA franchise these services switched to BA branded schedule services in the late 90s and increased in frequency. The route transferred to easyJet when the airline was sold in 2008 by the owners.

  • David says:

    The removal of bathtubs continues sadly.

    • tony says:

      “Residents in southern Spain face drinking water shortage amid persistent drought” – Euronews, 5th May

      “Unprecedented €2.2bn drought response plan approved in Spain” – Guardian, 11th May

      “Since 1980, Spain’s average available water has decreased by 12 percent and projections indicate that by 2050 there may be a further decrease of between 14 and 40 percent.” – CGTN, 11th Feb

      I guess the irony is that the water usage on that property to keep those golf courses green must be phenomenal, but Spain has a huge resource problem and it will transpose into an economic one…

      • sayling says:

        We should really, as a planet, stop bottling water

        • Mike Hunt says:

          No way I love bottled sparkling water – I drink several 500 ml bottles a day

      • David says:

        Yes I do follow the water situation in Spain, however some long showers can actually use more.
        And when you do the water loss calculation from swimming pools you will be horrified.

        An occasional bath is not the biggest culprit.

    • memesweeper says:

      Sadly? I don’t like hotels with *only* showers, and would avoid one for a long stay. But the environmental costs in water and heating for baths are significant. This hotel offers rooms with baths, if you want one, book one (and pay more). But, like lie-flat beds on planes, bathtubs ought to be thought of as a luxury item, or an upgrade item, not a standard one.

  • memesweeper says:

    “As this is not the typical experience, I made sure to see a standard guest room.”

    Thank you for making the time to do this, plus describing the room and showing the photos.

  • Duncan Orr says:

    Rhys
    How long and wide was the new adults only infinity pool?

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