Arona Gran Hotel

"A few annoyances, but overall this is a very nice, modern hotel. I'd probably visit again, but the location is not quite to my liking. (It's at the very south end of that SW Tenerife strip of resorts with limited walking options.) It's adults only, and when I visited it was mainly older couples - so no screaming kids or drunken young people disturbing the peace. Like most higher star hotels they promote it's eco credentials which means they don't supply single use plastic bottles of water (even though these are about the most recyclable of plastics). Since there is nothing in the mini-bar, not even water the hotel will sell you various packages for it. But the water is expensive, and probably the drinks too. However there is a medium size (SuperDino) supermarket literally across the road (from the hotel forecourt a pedestrian crossing goes to smack in front of the store) with a good selection of waters, drinks and much more, so you can easily get round that. There are 'recycling' bins by the lifts on each floor but these only take plastic, paper and general waste - glass and metals are weirdly absent. OTOH drinks at the hotel aren't extortionate. There are bars nearby offering both cheaper and more expensive cocktail options, so I was OK with the hotel ones. The main bar is advertised as open till 1am but on the occasions I was there during my 10 night stay it was usually shuttered by 12:30 and at least once by 12:15, so don't rely on that. (Maybe stock up from that Dino if you want to drink late.) Unusually for better hotels there were no tissues provided in the room. Earlier this year I commented that the internet/wifi in my Grenada hotel was a little sluggish. In the Arona it was often slow or really slow. Coverage wasn't great either with almost no signal in places. My balcony had an annoying water leak dripping from above and splashing the area. From the staining this has been going on for months, possibly years. My experience with reporting problems at hotels (even 4/5* ones) is that they never get fixed - not while I'm there anyway - but I reported this and a couple of days later a maintenance man came to look. The day after that it dried up. I was seriously impressed. But a couple of days later it started again - worse if anything. That was compounded by the complete failure of anyone to follow up my complaint and ask if the problem had been resolved; customer service 101 in my book. So I'm afraid that's a big miss. I guess that as most people are only in a room for a week or two there's no point in fixing stuff unless it's unbearable for them. As I was a single occupant (and engineer) I was able to mitigate the splashing but for a couple this could be horrible as half the balcony was basically unusable. Most other issues were minor and I really wanted to give the hotel 5 blobs, but I'm afraid it's only 4 mainly because of that failure. The aircon worked well but the controller was mad wrong. I had to set about 17C to get a comfortable (for me usually 22-24)C temperature and I often had to tweak it at different times of day to get the right t result. A bit strange. I bought the 1/2 board package when booking on the Spring website because it was so cheap I could happily eat out a few times without feeling a loss - which I did. The buffet is actually quite good, on a par with similar hotels, but can get busy. If you buy the evening option on site it's not cheap - €30+/person for a single meal, €20+/person/day to upgrade your holiday - so look at this carefully when booking. They have decently made porridge at breakfast - not burned or lumpy like some places I've been. The breakfast and evening buffets are extensive and mainly good - certainly as good or better than other 4* & 5* places I've been. My only real complaint is the labelling of dishes which is a bit patchy and as a vegetarian that's frustrating. There was one particular row with many fritter/breaded items that was usually alternating vegetable and meat/fish dishes but often there were no labels above some dishes, or even any on occasion, making it impossible to tell what was under the coating. And at times the description of some dishes was too long for the electronic display, so it would say something like "[this of that] with " - what? Tuna? Ham? Vegetable? Unhelpful. Other upmarket hotels in the Canaries like RIU have more in the way of alternative (non-dairy) 'milks' next to coffee machines, etc, but there wasn't much in that line. I'm not vegan, so it didn't matter too much to me, but I'd like to have the choice. On the upside there was a very good fresh orange juice machine at breakfast. The lifts were pretty good - enough of them and they moved fast. But having two signs in the cars with different maximum numbers of occupants did get some comments from guests (not that anyone was going to try and squeeze that many in). And one graphic seems to suggest you shouldn't catch fire in the lift. I guess it was a no smoking sign but it wasn't like anything I've seen before. Most of the rooms are pool view and some noisy activities are done around the pools - exercises in the day, entertainments in the evening - so quiet can be elusive. If that's important to you then check/ask before booking (or bring noise cancelling headphones). Aside from my water leak the hotel is really very nice - modern, clean, nicely decorated and the staff are very friendly and helpful (apart from that closing the bar early). I met one couple who have been returning there for years. Despite my personal reservations I can really recommend it."

"We have just returned from the Arona Gran hotel. I read so many reviews before we went because i sometimes feel they are not always accurate and you book your holiday on these facts so hopefully my review will help towards other peoples decisions.. First of all the hotel has a very grand entrance with lots of greenery everywhere (very dramatic) Check in was easy and the usual glass of juice or cava offered. No real information given at all eg: breakfast time , evening meals , in fact nothing we were left to our own devices. The room was a side sea view twin . Unimpressed with the view and over the service road . Constant noise from the road below something always happening from 7.30am in the morning. This hotel is not cheap and i did not think the room and the view warranted what we paid for it . £2500 for a week . We paid for half board and we were definitely not disappointed with the quality or choice. The staff in the dining room work extremely hard at making sure tables are cleared and on the whole were really pleasant. Entertainment was poor my opinion is a hotel of this standard should really be able to provide top class acts . Our favourite of the week was Barry Knight. The hotel is kept so clean and for a hotel this size that is no easy task . Evening bar service was understaffed on occasions however the staff on the whole were very pleasant. Food on the terrace bar was lovely and reasonable priced. Lots of quiet areas to lose yourself in. We love to use the onsite spa however no information anywhere about the facilities. No comment on the pool areas as we never used them albeit they looked rather busy ."

"Lovley hotel plenty of space everywhere entertainment on every night or a nice lounge if you want to sit and have a drink the food is excellent massive selection staff are lovley and a few times through the day if you are at the pool you were given a free presseco also some nights very enjoyable stay ."