"BLUESEA Aloe Corralejo Spa — Fuerteventura
We booked this hotel expecting a three-star all-inclusive. We weren’t expecting the Ritz. We weren’t expecting chandeliers. We weren’t expecting a man named Nigel to emerge from behind a velvet curtain and feed us grapes.
We expected clean, safe accommodation, functioning facilities, some food and a sunbed.
Apparently, we were being wildly ambitious.
Welcome to the BLUESEA Aloe Hunger Games, where the strongest survive and the weakest get a towel on the floor.
The sunbed situation is genuinely unbelievable. The hotel has a policy about towels being left on sunbeds, but appears to enforce it with the enthusiasm of a Victorian policeman watching someone steal a horse from three streets away.
Guests put towels out overnight. They return in the morning. The towels remain. Nothing happens.
There were days where we went out at 9am specifically to get a sunbed and didn’t manage to get one until approximately 4pm.
SEVEN HOURS.
At that point I wasn’t looking for a sunbed. I was looking for a new hotel all together.
And the consequences of this are now spilling over into the guests. People are arguing with each other. There is constant conflict around the pool because everyone is fighting over the limited facilities available. It genuinely feels like the hotel has accidentally created a social experiment called “How quickly can 200 British people lose their minds over a plastic sun lounger?”
The worst part is that the guests aren’t even really the problem. They’re frustrated because the hotel has rules but doesn’t consistently enforce them.
It is giving Lord of the Flies, but with all-inclusive wristbands.
And unfortunately, the sunbeds are only the beginning.
The hotel is visibly tired and poorly maintained. There is damage to walls and floors, loose tiles and bits of building material lying around. Our bathroom has mould. Our bidet leaks water all over the floor. We’ve continued finding bugs in our room. Our apartment door was faulty and we couldn’t reliably get into our own accommodation.
We appreciate that Fuerteventura is warm and that insects exist. We are aware. We have met insects before.
But perhaps, before sending us an educational pamphlet entitled “Did You Know Spain Has Bugs?”, clean the room properly.
Our room was supposedly cleaned every other day. In nine days, it was properly cleaned twice. On one occasion we had to put our full rubbish bags outside the room because they weren’t being collected, and we’ve subsequently been left without rubbish bags at all. When the room was mopped, it wasn’t properly swept first, leaving a delightful layer of mystery residue on the floor.
The pool toilets?
Doth. Not. Butter.
They are absolutely vile. Dirty, poorly stocked and not consistently cleaned throughout the day. One went several days without hand soap.
There are pool showers which guests are instructed to use before entering the pool.
None of them work.
There is also visible scum around the edge of the pool.
So naturally, the solution is to put up a sign telling people to shower.
The showers, meanwhile, have apparently chosen early retirement.
The drinks situation is another triumph.
The pool bar is supposed to open at 10am. During our stay, it repeatedly opened late, sometimes around 10:20am or later. The buffet drinks machine also broke, leaving guests with nowhere to get soft drinks until the bar eventually opened.
There is frequently only one bar operating, resulting in huge queues.
The all-inclusive drinks end at 11pm, meaning you’re paying for drinks from 11pm until midnight, despite being sold an all-inclusive holiday.
And the drinks that ARE included?
Let’s just say I’ve tasted more sophisticated beverages from a garden hose.
The food is similarly disappointing, with dirty plates frequently appearing in the buffet.
To be completely fair, the staff are working incredibly hard. The problem is that there simply don’t appear to be enough of them. The entertainment team, for example, are doing their absolute best, but there are only three of them.
Three.
At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same woman was simultaneously running the kids’ club, serving drinks, performing the evening entertainment and repairing the plumbing.
We have also had concerns about the lifeguards, including seeing them on their phones, arriving late and appearing inattentive. That’s particularly concerning given that this is a swimming pool and not a branch of WHSmith.
We have raised all of these issues formally with the hotel and have provided photographs.
We have received no response.
We have also raised our concerns with our holiday provider.
Their response?
£75 cash between three people or £100 holiday credit.
For an experience which has included cockroaches/bugs, mould, poor cleaning, faulty accommodation, broken facilities, inadequate pool amenities, sunbed chaos, poor drinks, disappointing food and an all-inclusive experience which has required us to spend additional money outside the hotel simply to have something to do.
Doth.
Not.
Butter.
We fully understand this is a three-star hotel. We genuinely do.
We weren’t expecting luxury.
We weren’t expecting champagne fountains.
We weren’t expecting a butler called Sebastian to gently waft us with a palm leaf while whispering affirmations.
We expected the basics.
Clean. Safe. Functional.
And unfortunately, we haven’t consistently received those basics.
The most disappointing thing is that this has been our third consecutive year booking with easyJet holidays and we’ve never previously had a problem. This holiday has genuinely made us question whether we’d book with them again.
We work hard all year for our holidays. This was supposed to be nine days of switching off, relaxing and enjoying ourselves.
Instead, it has felt like every day there is a new problem, a new argument around the pool, another broken facility or another thing we have to chase.
At times it genuinely feels like we’re watching The Hunger Games: Fuerteventura Edition.
May the odds be ever in your favour.
Particularly if you want a sunbed.
Would I recommend this hotel?
No.
Would I return?
Absolutely not.
Would I rather spend nine days trapped in an airport toilet with only a warm can of Fanta for company?
I’m considering it.
BLUESEA Aloe Corralejo: three stars on paper, but currently giving one star, two thumbs down and a strongly worded letter to whoever invented the sunbed."
