"Been back from the Occidental Jandia Playa a week and here is my quick review.
Stayed here for 6 days in March, during which time Storm Theresa visited the Canaries, but thankfully for us, we only got the edge of it with some cloud, high winds and a few small spells of rain. Looking at other islands, particularly Tenerife and Gran Canaria, looks like they had it much worse with flooding etc.
So, firstly check in. Usual check in process, passports, details of what's where etc, but just like their sister hotel up the road where we stayed last year, you get 10 minutes of upselling to their premium offering, with premium branded drinks, slippers, bathrobes, spa usage, free safe etc. I know some people might like these services and its the way of the world these days that wherever you go, there are trying to upsell you something.
Id much rather they took 30 seconds to say here's a leaflet, have a read at what you get for a little extra, if you want it come back to reception and we'll organise it.
Next they told us where the bars, restaurant etc was, but never told us where our room was. Just told us to go outside and wait for somebody with a golf buggy. Rather than wait, our room was literally a 5 min walk from reception, so Id rather they showed us on the map where to go ourselves. Just personal preference.
The hotel itself is fine. I've seen a few reviews saying cracked tiles, could do with a refurb etc. Yes there were some tiles with cracks in them, but they weren't loose. When we were there, they were doing some work, re cementing the crazy paving on the paths, repainting the pathways, sorting out the path lighting etc. In terms of being modern, it doesn't look that way, lots of brown wood in the reception areas and bedrooms. Its fine, functional and looks ok to me. I suppose that maintenance can only be done at certain times of the year, when its quieter and weather dependant. But overall, there is nothing wrong with it. Lovely gardens, nice pool areas and spacious communal areas.
The rooms were nice. Large bed, good sized bathroom with amenities, plenty of storage space and cleaned every day. Each day they left a carton of water as well.
Aircon was fine, although didn't use it much as we were there in March and the night time temperatures were fine.
Your just a 10 min walk from the beach area, you can head out the bottom gate through the small shopping centre and across the road. The beach is vast and there are a number of beach bars along the beach as well which were nice to sit and have a drink on.
Your maybe 20-25 mins from Morro Jable town, with its shops and restaurants, so not too far from anything really.
So all pretty good so far.
The Snack bar was nice for that wee snack. Usual stuff, burgers, hot dogs, pizza, pasta, chips, salad, ice cream etc. Help yourself soft drinks, wine and beer. Can sit inside or outside which has a few covered areas. Was nice to sit out and have a little snack and a cold beer on a sunny day.
The WiFi. When it works it was brilliant. Really fast 5GHZ connection. The issue was you might get 5 mins, or 10 mins or 20 mins then for no reason, the connection would drop and it would take 30 mins or longer to connect again Often it would say connected but no internet. So it was hit and miss, especially the rooms itself. Seemed to be better in the bar areas etc. I did read a post that they were working to improve that, so hopefully that's what the issue was. If you do need to rely on a consistent internet service whilst you are here, then maybe ensure you have a data plan or but a data sim when you get here.
The main issue for us was the restaurant. Firstly, the majority of the staff were nice, smiling and had a "hola" for you. Tables were cleared and reset fairly quickly. Took a bit longer at busy spells but on the whole all good.
I know its a buffet and buffet food isn't always the warmest, but when 80% of the food is cold, its not appealing. Day 1 breakfast. I had sausage, bacon, scrambled egg and beans. The only thing that was "warm" was the sausage. The rest was stone cold. I know there are microwaves, but we shouldn't need to use them. Part of the issue is the plates are cold. They have what appears to be a couple of sections with what looks like fans behind them, so I assume there are for blowing hot air on the plates. Sadly they never seemed to be switched on so the plates were always cold. Plus the lamps over the food are not heat lamps, so there is no ambient heat to keep the food below hot. It was the same at dinner time, apart from the soup which was always nice and hot, unless you selected something from the freshly prepared meat or fish sections, everything else was usually cold or lukewarm at best. This let it down for us. This was the same over the 6 days we were there.
All the food itself was nice and tasty, so no complaints there, just let us have hot plates and warmer food.
Overall, despite the few small spells of inclement weather, we had a nice holiday, relaxed, chilled and had a nice time.
Would we stay here again? If the food temperatures and a bigger choice were offered then maybe. So that's something for the hotel to improve upon."
