"Positives at the end of the review.
Before booking, I contacted the hotel to ask whether two Sun Terrace rooms could be placed next to each other so that we could share the rear communal terrace. As this was our first time not staying in a joint or connecting room with our two teenage daughters, this was extremely important to us, as the youngest has just turned 16. I was assured this would be possible and was advised to reconfirm after booking and closer to arrival. I did this multiple times by phone and email, including calling the evening before arrival.
Despite all confirmations, on arrival, this request had not been honoured. Although we were given consecutive room numbers, the rooms were in entirely different blocks, so there was no shared terrace. We were placed next to strangers, and so were our daughters. People were sitting directly outside our patio doors, smoking weed.
The level manager said she could move us next to each other but not for not for 2 days - this was a huge disappointment especially as when we got in the rooms there is a kingsize bed and a double sofa bed in all of the rooms (we’d been in 3 so far so could have all shared ) we paid 8k for 5 nights and already I wanted to leave !!!!
We were on the 4th floor, and the noise was crazy! The maids are up and down the concrete/pebbled corridor before 7 am, pushing their noisy trollies to start cleaning. Never did we sleep past 7 am, and by 9 am, they’re opening the doors for cleaning!! Even on New Year’s Day at 8.50 am, they opened our doors to clean!
New Year’s Eve, I had such high hopes for this, and it was awful. The choice was to either pay €200 - €450 to have a table by the main pool to watch the entertainment (they said we got a free bottle, so it wasn’t so bad!!!), but that would be two tables for our daughters and us, who don’t drink! Or we could use the buffet and stay upstairs in the level bar - we did this, and the night was crap! No atmosphere, nothing, not even table service for drinks. In the evening, we went up to the buffet for food, and my husband was wearing tailored shorts and a shirt when he was told he wasn’t allowed in. Publicly humiliated, and we all felt so uncomfortable, for a “5-star” restaurant, this way of speaking to customers and embarrassing them like this is not the way to go about it. Especially when it hadn’t been stated to us before NYE, they shouldn’t expect anyone to arrive in trousers; it’s also only a buffet. If we were entering a posh Michelin-star restaurant at a 5-star hotel, he would have automatically worn trousers. Everyone was watching him being told he wasn’t allowed in!! We advised them that we hadn’t been made aware that it was trousers-only, and that he had no long trousers. He was then told he could only sit outside, but we had to get his food, and he wasn’t allowed in!! Disgusting - he wasn’t wearing beach shorts and flip-flops; he had knee-length tailored shorts, brogues, and a shirt on, and he was very smart. After a lot of back-and-forth over this, we said we would eat elsewhere because we didn’t feel welcome anymore. After this comment, a manager eventually said he was “allowed in”.
The buffet was terrible. Awful food and service every day, food was consistently cold, with poor selection, and the same food every day. Stale rock-hard pizza and cold chips, weird, repetitive food, tasteless, mostly fish (which we don’t eat), fried, soggy veg, cold pasta, fatty pork. The food was bland, and I still can’t get my head around the fact that this is in a 5-star restaurant?? I cook better at home than what we ate here. There was barely any fruit or yoghurt for breakfast, and cold baked beans, etc. Had to get your own coffee at breakfast time, not even table service. Staff were moody and unhelpful, except for the front-of-house girl with the dreds. No one explained that the coffee machines for breakfast were self-serve, and even then, we only saw this on the last day, and they weren’t even working. We ordered drinks one day, and the waitress didn’t even give them to us when she brought them out; she left them on an empty table nearby and walked off! We were the only ones seated outside. The last night we were there, we went to the buffet. We spent ages looking around, trying to choose food, which was grim. We just walked out, didn’t eat any, and drove to another place to eat.
The overall highlight for us was the level bar, the staff are brilliant, very hard working, and they were so friendly and made us laugh, they remembered us and what we usually had to drink. The bar was wonderfully decorated, and the lights over the balustrades looked amazing; the view is also incredible. The entertainment was good, especially the rock band on Tuesdays - a fab night with them, they really engaged with the crowd, and everyone was up dancing and having fun. However, the managers most certainly need to check who is half board and who is all-inclusive, as we never saw any checks for all-inclusive members. One night, a lady we were standing with hadn’t been asked for payment and said to us, “Guess they don’t want me to pay then,” and walked off when she was half-board. Not fair when we paid so much extra. Knowing this now, we would have been better off with half board, as they still get served drinks just like the upgraded members do!!! Poor from the staff, the hotel is losing out on a LOT of money due to inadequate checking. This also probably happens in the level lounge, as we were never once stopped there to check our wristbands for any upgrade.
The sun terrace rooms were lovely, with two sun beds, big cushions, and a seating area outside the patio doors. The insides of the rooms are lovely, couldn’t fault them (other than being able to hear EVERYTHING going on next door), the walls are super thin. Big comfy beds, pillows are lovely, sofa, dining table and chairs, huge TV, kettle, coffee machine, mini bar. However, I’d mentioned twice to a lady who came in for housekeeping that we needed more coffee in the room, as it hadn’t been restocked. She said to ring reception, as it wasn't her job, and it was part of the minibar?! A lady comes to bring water each night and a small chocolate to ‘turn the bed down’ this was cute. We had access to the level lounge all day, with bottled soft drinks, water, beer, and spirits to help ourselves to. Snacks and fruit were available too. There was a snack bar by the main pool, but we went all the way down twice, and it was closed, so I'm not sure what this was like.
At the level breakfast, we attended twice and on both occasions had to wait ages for the tables to be cleaned and then once seated weren’t given menu’s or served drinks and had to ask for this ourselves. You’d think this was the opposite of an upgrade.
We have our own place in Tenerife and are residents. We have been coming for over 12 years, every couple of months - this was a new-year treat, really; we would have been better off saving our 8k. My husband actually left the hotel two days early and went back to our own place (in Tenerife). He left due to lack of sleep, poor food, and awful service. I stayed with my daughters, but eventually gave up on the food.
It is generally a lovely hotel, but definitely not 5-star, and I can imagine that without the level upgrade, it really isn’t as enjoyable. If you were staying at the bottom level at the other end of the hotel, you'd have a lot of stairs to walk up, as it’s so far from the main area, which I’m glad we didn’t have to do. We didn't see any benefit from purchasing the level upgrade and didn’t feel any different from the others who were also enjoying it, but for free! The only thing we missed when we left was the terrace outside our rooms and the level bar. If you are going to spend good money like this, then I recommend you pay it elsewhere to get your money's worth!"
