Most people research a resort through its booking page, a handful of photos and a pile of reviews. There is a better document that few travellers ever see: the fact sheet. Some operators publish one for each property, and it reads very differently from marketing copy. This guide explains what a fact sheet is, how to find one and how to read it so that it helps rather than misleads.
What a fact sheet is, and why it differs from a booking page
A booking page is written to persuade. A fact sheet is written for travel agents, tour operators and event planners, who need to know what a property actually contains. It is usually a dated, structured table rather than a story. Some operators offer it as a free PDF on their own website, sometimes under a Spanish name such as ficha tecnica. Others publish a meetings-and-events version that serves the same purpose.
Our research page on what a resort fact sheet tells you found that the sheets we have read can include an exact room count broken down by category, airport distance and drive time as separate fields, the colour of the sand and whether a lifeguard is on duty, accessible room counts, restaurant opening hours and dress codes, and the year the property was built and last refurbished. They also carry their own publication date, so you can judge how old the information is.
How to find one
Start with a search that combines the property name and the words fact sheet. If the operator is Spanish-speaking, add ficha tecnica. Adding PDF helps, because many sheets are stored as documents rather than web pages. Try searching the operator’s own domain rather than a general travel site.
If nothing turns up, search the property name with meetings, events or MICE. The events version is often published when the general one is not. And if you find a sheet for one property in a group, the same web address pattern frequently works for its sibling resorts, so it is worth testing a neighbouring name.
Read the numbers with care
A fact sheet is more reliable than a brochure, but it is still a document with traps. Three are worth knowing.
- Hotel totals versus complex totals. When two hotels share a site, both sheets may print the same pool, bar and restaurant totals because the figures describe the whole complex. In one pair we examined, two properties of different sizes showed identical bar and pool counts while showing different room counts. The room counts were specific to each hotel. The rest were shared. If a number is identical across two properties that differ in size, treat it as a complex total.
- The date. A sheet from last year describes the resort as it was last year. Renovations, closed venues and new rules will not appear. If you are worried about building work, pair the sheet with our guide to checking for construction or renovation noise before booking.
- Tables that do not add up. One sheet we read listed a room category containing 252 of a stated 253 rooms. We recorded the total and ignored the breakdown. A small mismatch like that is a reason to trust the headline figure and be cautious about the detail.
Use the build and refurbishment years
The most useful line on many sheets is the one that most websites leave out: when the property was built and when it was last refurbished. A photograph can be flattering and a review can be out of date, but a refurbishment year tells you roughly how recently the rooms were reworked. Our guide to how old your resort is and when it was last refurbished explains how to read those dates and what they do and do not prove.
Use room counts to judge scale
Room count is the simplest guide to how busy a resort will feel, yet many operators do not publish it. We have written about why resorts do not publish room counts, and keep a list of resorts that publish a room count. A fact sheet is often the place where the number appears even when the website is silent. Combine it with the pool and restaurant counts, adjusted for whether those belong to your hotel or the complex, and you get a much better sense of crowding than any photo gives.
Check accessibility details
If anyone in your party has mobility needs, a fact sheet can list accessible room counts, level access and pool access. These are far more useful than the phrase accessible room on a booking page. See our guide to what operators actually publish about accessibility, and use the sheet to frame precise questions to the resort.
What even a fact sheet will not tell you
A fact sheet is a specification, not a review, and its gaps are consistent. In the ones we have read, the following were usually missing:
- Mandatory fees and resort charges.
- Kids club age bands, more often than not.
- Minimum ages at adults-only properties.
- Anything about the food, service or atmosphere.
For those, you still need to write to the resort or your travel advisor, and keep the reply. The sheet narrows the questions you need to ask, which is its real value.
A simple routine
- Search for the fact sheet by property name, then try the events version if needed.
- Note the publication date.
- Copy the room count, the build and refurbishment years, and the airport distance and drive time.
- Check whether the pool, bar and restaurant totals belong to the hotel or the complex.
- List what is missing, such as fees and minimum ages, and ask the resort in writing.
Ten minutes with a fact sheet will usually tell you more about a resort than an hour of browsing photos, and it gives you a short, specific list of questions to put to the operator before you pay.