Barcelo Margaritas Royal Level

"Every now and again, a hotel stay just falls into place. The food, the staff and the clientele just all align to make a fabulous holiday and one you’ll end up talking about for years. Never could this be truer than at the Barcelo Margaritas Royal Level, in Gran Canaria. The hotel is two buildings. One is the standard Barcelo Margaritas and the other is dedicated to the Royal Level with its own restaurant and pool. I travelled in an all-male group of four friends. Every first week in December we find somewhere to stay in the Canary Islands and this year we opted for Gran Canaria. I do a lot of solo stays in the Canaries throughout the year, but I also enjoy the occasional travel with friends. As a guy who has just turned 50 most of my friends are married with kids so getting to travel with someone else is a rare gem for me. That said, solo travel is nice too as you get to meet new people. When I arrived at the hotel, I was greeted by a very welcoming receptionist who offered me an upgrade to all-inclusive for just €39 a day which I was happy to pay. With an efficient check in, I was soon in my room which was ready on arrival. The room itself was very spacious. Some rooms have a separate bedroom whereas others have a tv that swings around between the sofa and bed. The beds aren’t doubles, they are two singles pushed together but from what I gathered whilst I was there, all rooms are simply sold as Junior Suites. They’re spacious, modern and well maintained. All good so far! At this point, it’s probably worth mentioning that my friends like our own space so we often go off on day trips on our own. After a couple of days, I was just looking around seeing who to talk to and I noticed another guest who looked unhappy, sat on her own at dinner. Most of the guests here are couples so if you’re looking to make a new friend, you either have to become friendly with a couple or just try to find another solo traveller. I’m pleased I did because she turned out to be one of the nicest, funniest women I’ve ever met! Now I’m quite a shy person at first, but the very next day we ended up touring the island together and even ended up somehow buying pyjamas with her - so I’m stood there with this girl I barely know in an underwear shop in Mogan - certainly not how I imagined the holiday to go, but new experiences and stuff! I mean, when was the last time someone told you they got excited about being robbed in New York? I didn’t stop laughing. Anyway, one evening I was just sat having drinks with one of my friends in the restaurant and right in front of me, a guest just fell flat on his face with quite a loud thump as he hit the floor. I jumped up, went to see how he was and to summon assistance from the hotel staff. The restaurant manager, Carolina (I think), was brilliant. To cut a long story short, one ambulance later and a quick chat between us all, and our friend was recovering ok at the hotel. In terms of the restaurant, I heard some guests complaining about the food but I liked it. Lunch is a la carte with dinner being buffet – I’d always prefer a la carte but I’m not sure how that would work in practice. We also ate one night at ‘El Fuego’ which is a more intimate setting with basically a condensed version of the lunchtime a la carte. You make restaurant bookings in the app. The area itself you have to take with a pinch of salt. It’s pleasing to some and less so to others. My friends and I enjoyed playing crazy golf at the Yumbo Centre but the whole place is stuck in being both a 70s bucket and spade type place and mainly modern very nice hotels. Also, the beach is a fair distance away although I had a car so it wasn’t really an issue for me personally. As my friends reflected, in years to come we’ll remember “that holiday in Gran Canaria when a guy fell flat on his face and you bought pyjamas with a girl you barely knew”. On my flight back up to Luton, I found myself telling others about how nice the hotel is as well. As for the Hoff, well, not quite! I don’t carry a rescue can around and nor am I Mitch Buchanan – but in my mind it was a great rescue of the chap who fell over! Great memories, great hotel, lovely staff and met some great people. I would come back here without question. -- I booked direct on the Barcelo app about a year in advance, paying €1400 all inclusive. I booked my flights separately from Luton with easyJet costing £55 return."

"a great stay rooms very clean ,clean towels and cleaned everyday food was very good pool areas very clean "

"We booked this holiday quite last minute as we had had a problem with a holiday we had originally booked so we hadn’t spent much time researching it and wasn’t really expecting anything too special. However we were pleasantly surprised, the hotel was really great and everything about it was a good standard. The room was very spacious, kept very clean and was well equipped. The staff throughout the hotel were excellent. Food was consistently good, especially the à la carte lunch service. All the drinks were of a great standard, with a choice of several nice wines. Pool area was very nice and peaceful. Our only slight criticism is that if you wanted to watch the evening entertainment you have to go across to the other hotel. This wasn’t so great, we didn’t really like the atmosphere over there so much, also as a couple of evenings were quite chilly that was the only place with an indoor bar. We have already booked to go back in January!"