"We are recently home from this hotel. I try to give an honest appraisal whenever I review a hotel. I made notes when I was there, so my review will seem to meander, so hopefully you will pardon this. I accept that one person’s opinion may be poles apart from another’s, but I speak as I find. To start, I particularly liked the wristband issued on the first day that gives you access to your room. It’s very convenient, and solves the problem of two people sharing one card. The indoor swimming pool was lovely and warm. The choice of house lager was very good. Estrella is a quality brew. The food was excellent most days, in both selection and quality, and well-cooked and hot, where appropriate. On arrival your fridge is stocked with various drinks and chocolates free of charge, which is a nice touch. Butter pats were served at ambient temperature, meaning that your bread doesn’t get destroyed when you are preparing it to be eaten. There were lots of English-speaking people there to talk to, and not just people from the UK either. Many parasols were provided, all safely secured to the floor, so there were no health and safety issues caused by the regular gusts of wind that the island is well known for. Each sunbed is clearly individually marked in five languages that they cannot be “reserved”, which is backed up by staff removing towels from beds that are unoccupied before 10 am each day. An excellent safety measure at the outdoor cold swimming pool was the descending walkway into the pool with handrails at each end. All sunbeds have the facility to be slightly raised at knee level to increase the user’s comfort. Going to bed at night was a pleasure due to having quiet people living around us, and above and below too, and the very supportive beds were an absolute joy to sleep in. I am a very light sleeper and enjoyed getting a full night’s sleep every night. The air conditioning was first class! The hotel having a lockable, dedicated luggage room was very reassuring and very useful.
The customer facing staff were very friendly and pleasant. Conversely, the pool staff, some cleaners and ancillary staff too just seemed to ignore the guests, even when spoken to pleasantly in Spanish. There were insufficient people to staff the bars on many occasions meaning some long waits for the guests. One poor staff member was left alone to struggle all evening for four hours in the temporary bar outside. The outdoor swimming pool was very cold. According to the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG) guidelines in the UK, acceptable public swimming pool temperatures range from 27°C to 29°C for general recreational swimming and adult lessons, and 29°C to 31°C for children's teaching and babies. Despite the hot ambient weather, the outdoor pool was still very cold and uncomfortable, and leaving the sun to heat the pool sufficiently does not achieve the desired result ever. The adults in my group were really looking forward to the advertised foam party, but found out just as it was starting that it was for children only, and was not held in the swimming pool as expected, and they were left disappointed. There was no “white party”. Despite us having three kids with us, the Animation Team were noticeably absent when it came to chatting with the guests, and when they did they seemed to be only interested in talking to people in their teens and twenties. Some of the evening entertainment was very good, but there were a few “Hackneyed” acts like Spanish dancers on several nights, a strong man lifting people up, and a few instances of two people playing instruments accompanied by a computer. Still, this was better than many hotels who use karaoke to fill the gaps in an evening, where the audience are effectively entertaining themselves. H10 didn’t do that. The outside entertainment was bolstered by just 45 chairs being temporarily moved outside before the evening progressed. This was insufficient on occasions. The comments made in previous reviews by some other people mention dirty crockery and cutlery, and sadly there was evidence of this.
I would suggest making the refreshment stations close to the cold swimming pool continue to have attended service for alcoholic beverages and cocktails, but self-service for soft drinks and water to reduce the queues. On that note, a dedicated cocktail bar would be ideal where space is available, as making cocktails is the cause of many delays. Also, a greater choice of sugar-free dinks other than just Coke Zero would really be appreciated."
