Barcelo Fuerteventura Mar

"We spent a pleasant week at the hotel. Pleasant environment, the rooms are spacious, clean, as well as the entire hotel and the restaurants. The main restaurant is quite large in the low season but sometimes you still have to wait in line to get in (10 minutes wait). The other 2 restaurants are good but don't have any regrets if you don't get the chance to go there. Thanks to the Eldorador team for their availability and enthusiasm. There were only 4 of them but in the end it was enough, Thanks to Cyrielle, Bahia, Shana and Jordan. Always smiling, the team was there to offer many activities and advise us on a few outings."

"Valerie is an exceptional worker very diligent &caring 8120 was always spotless The negative was the restaurant, why must senior managers speak with walki talkers & wave their arms like directing traffic With Barcelo wealth of experience surely you can accommodate large family possibly 8 to 20 adults plus children in a designated area and not having to drag tables at the last minute to accommodate. For me Barcelo did not live up to their projected image which is renowned across Spain"

"Returned recently from a relaxing wee stay at this hotel, they do so many things right but there were a few minor grumbles that meant it could only be an 8 out 10 experience for us. I'll start with the positives as there are more of them than there are negatives. We were welcomed warmly on arrival by the reception staff, arriving about 10.45pm, by the time we had checked in they said there was some food that we could access in the restaurant at 11pm which after a long travel day we welcomed but when we went down were really disappointed. It was a really sorry and odd mix of leftovers from dinner....some stale sandwiches, cold cuts of meat, a large platter of crabs in shells?, leftover desserts...but there were several small flies buzzing about and the food was uncovered so we didn't bother and went back upstairs for a few drinks before the midnight cut off. The hotel itself is spotless and this was kept up throughout our stay, rooms, pool areas. bars, restaurants are kept immaculate and a big shout out to the cleaning staff for this. After our late night snack disappointment we went to breakfast not expecting much but how wrong we were. The hotel is probably the best I've ever been to when it comes to the quality of what's on offer. As Scots it's the cooked breakfast where we focus most of our attention and here they have it spot on again, the scrambled eggs/omelettes are great, decent sausages on offer but they have a guy cooking British style bacon which is among the best bacon I've ever had! We stayed for 11 nights and for the first week the food was great, breakfast, lunch and dinner had plenty of quality options and honestly couldn't fault it, plenty of seats as well and we loved most of the food on offer. This changed on the second Saturday we were there for some reason. breakfast and lunch were still fine but the evening meal options declined considerably, we had to actually queue to get into the dining room and found a lot of the food was cold, not being replenished and the cooked meats on offer were poor so we started going out for dinner after that. Don't know if it was simply more guests and they couldn't cope with demand. The other annoying/bizarre thing was the way you have to wait on a staff member to get you a drink at lunch and dinner. There are no self serve options at all and it can be quite hard to get a staff member's attention and they were quite surly most of the time when you asked them for a drink! We ate at the Brazilian and the Mexican restaurants as you are allowed 1 visit to each per stay but I honestly wouldn't bother. The food and service at both were not great. The staff dont speak great English and seemed to fuss over the Spanish speaking customers. The buffet at the Mexican was decent but the mains were terrible and inedible. Again the Brazilian was quite confusing and the meat served quite haphazardly, I was looking forward to a nice bit of steak but it only came round once and just my luck it was a gristly last bit of meat left I got. We were All Inclusive and have to say there is a great choice available drinks wise and it's all the well known brands, AI cocktail list is extensive and excellent quality and presentation in the main lobby bar...the daiquiris and Pina coladas at the pool bar are from a machine but still aren't too bad...service can be a wait at pool and lobby bars, usually a wee queue as maybe not enough bar staff actually serving drinks. Again another annoying thing was the majority of bar staff being quite accommodating and giving you bottled beers or a bottle of wine to take back to your room no problem then some being quite cheeky and refusing saying you cant have it ( special mention to Jesus and 'Billy Beefcake' as I called him as didn't get his name in the lobby bar). Heineken 0% bottles you can have but not Heineken alcoholic bottles, what's the difference in giving you a bottle instead of 4 glasses of wine?...Anyway if Jesus is serving don't bother asking, when you're paying over £3000 for the 2 of you is it wrong to expect a wee bit better service? The location of the hotel is perfect, quick 15-20 min transfer from the airport, 5-10 to most of the bars, restaurants and shops, 2 min walk to the beach, a 10 minute walk gets you down to the harbour and more bars, restaurants and shops with the Show Factory Bar available for All Inclusive guests, a great wee bar and location with great cocktails if service is a bit slow but a great way to spend an afternoon. The layout and grounds of all the Barcelo hotels around the beach and harbour makes it feel like your own wee personal resort and is really well done. Caleta de Fuste itself is a good base for exploring the island as it's roughly in the middle. Regards the other few negatives it was that the furniture in the room was quite dated and done looking, lots of chips on surfaces and drawers taking the look off, also not a lot of drawer, hanging space, lack of hangers, think the cleaner whizzed round each day and didn't do much other than swap towels and make the bed, they definitely never mopped/cleaned the floors. Our first night on arrival the aircon unit sounded like someone was driving a tractor through the room and provided little cooling if any and we had to switch it off. We brought it to their attention at reception and they said they'd sort it. It did seem marginally better but the noise increased as the day went on and still didn't provide the level of cooling you'd expect, as we were there late September/early October it wasn't much of an issue but would be terrible in the hot months, we had to switch it off when trying to sleep. The beds and pillows were super comfy and you could at least get a comfortable sleep. Another gripe would be the lack of toilet facilities, there are only the toilets on the lower level next to the main buffet restaurant, fine if you're in there but a pain in the arse and a bit of a trek if you're at the Mexican/Brazilian/Pool Bar, especially if you're at the far end of the pool. There are toilets near reception and lobby bar as well but feel there should be more on site."