Alua Village Fuerteventura

"We booked this hotel for a November Winter break and I struggled to find the information I wanted for this hotel, and although generally I look for the best in a hotel and I am not one to moan at all, I have provided this review to answer the questions I wanted answering and to be honest, it doesn't make for great reading! Firstly, we booked the Adult Only 'My Favourite Club' upgrade as it claimed to give the best rooms in the hotel, as well as a designated adult only pool area, lounge area and dining area. Although we love children, ours are grown up and so we now love the peace and calm of adult only. When we walked into our upgraded room, we opened the blinds to be faced with the side of a staircase (photos included) with people walking up and down the stairs, looking into our room. Not being impressed with this, we went straight back to reception, where we showed reception staff the picture of our room view and explained we had paid for the upgrade as they were supposedly the hotel's best rooms. The staff member actually chuckled at our view and explained we only had the 'standard upgrade' and we would need to pay an additional 120 Euros to have a view, which we did as we clearly had no choice or face a staircase for a week. The new room then gave us a better view but was now furthest from reception down a long steep winding outdoor path. Anyway, the bedroom was actually nice, but the bathroom was very tired. It had previously been tiled and they had freshened it up by simply painting over the tiles which of course had then started peeling off and looked shabby. The bath was also old looking. We spoke with several others who had booked standard rooms and they all had rooms with great views, which was confusing as they had not paid for any upgrades. The pool area had two adult pools and 1 children's pool but there was certainly no 'My Favourite Club' adult pool area anywhere. One pool was nice and the other was again very tired with lots of pool tiles missing which we found dotted around the gravel garden areas. The 'My Favourite Club' lounge area was small but nice and you could help yourself to the bar and snacks and there was also a sunbathing area in raised balcony location which was very noisy as above the animation team speakers and child's pool. Unbelievably, they played inappropriate rap music with loud bad swearing next to the kids pool. Anyway, again, this lounge/bathing was not exclusive to adults as we saw several couples bring babies and toddlers into this area and they were wearing the 'My Favourite Club' wrist bands and had the access cards. As for the restaurant, there was a small sectioned off area for 'My Favourite Club' guests but nothing more than that, and it was furthest from where the food was, which was actually quite a distance. Some evenings we could not get one of these tables as staff were not clearing tables. The food choice was limited compared to other 4 star hotels we have stayed at and when the large Paella got cold, well, it wasn't replaced, so get in early or have something else. In saying that, there was always something nice we could eat. Regarding the entertainment, this was clearly a French run hotel and all the entertainment team were French. All I can say is that the French must have a very different idea of what entertainment is, as after the 2nd night, we could not take it any more as it was simply terrible, and we had no idea what was actually happening, so we found a spot in the lounge and played UNO every night. There are no bars, shops or restaurants within walking distance of the hotel to wander out to at night and trust me, we searched during the day, and so you are actually stuck in the hotel unless you want to book a taxi to the nearest town, being Jandia, which is really nice and only 10 Euros in a taxi each way. During the day, a bus can be used to get to the nearby town, where there are shops and restaurants etc. There is a very steep long gravel track down to the beach but people with mobility issues or buggies would certainly struggle to use this, albeit the beach was lovely but unfortunately filled with nudists wandering freely around!! Anyway, in saying all this, we still had a lovely Winter week in the sun as we made the best of it. The reason I have written this, is because it is all the information I couldn't get prior to booking. I would not recommend this hotel, unless you were looking for a last minute cheap and cheerful deal in the Winter sun, then if you get a good price, go for it and enjoy the sun. If you are looking for quality and a little attention to detail. look elsewhere. I hope this helps you."

"Overall great stay. Hotel is clean and staff is attentive, but in the background which we liked. Food overall 7/10, always sth tasty to pick, breakfast the best of all meals. Slightly disappointment for me was lack of kettle/tea or coffee or slippers in standard rooms. I suspect all above would be available st upgrade price of 20e/pppn which is a mediocre attempt to make extra money, for typical 4star inclusions. Hotel has got designated facility for feeding cats, however food and water bowls are empty most of the time. Fellow cat lovers please contribute as there will be close to 15 cats greeting and thanking you if you decide to feed in designated area. I would love to see more effort from hotel in that area or a donation box in the reception for guests. Walk to the beach is abt 900m slightly downhill, we loved it but reduced mobility will be an issue. There is no hotel beach, which is quite clear from offer and loungers are available at 15e/per day. Beach is stunning! Great stay I recommend for low key couples or family holiday. Best to hire a car to get round the island and to Morro Jable, which is livelier."

"When we arrived our room was not ready, ok no problem we would go and have lunch leaving our luggage in reception. When we returned we were given our key and directions. No help was available to get our luggage to our room which for a 81 year old and a 78 year old was a bit of n ordeal. The hotel overall is very good food and drink was good. The beds are very comfortable and the rooms dated but ok. What we didn’t like was that our patio looked into the back of the row in front of us as close as a couple of metres and was accessed down a dark tunnel. We found the reception staff very unhelpful and the rest of the staff remote because their English was not good. For the first 3 days we were there we felt very isolated as we didn’t hear anyone speaking English at all. The animation staff try hard and have a little more conversation. It was impossible to contact the Jet2 rep and reception denied having a contact number. I tried the help line number but was held on hold for ages and all I was doing was running up costs. We decided to not let the room outlook spoil our holiday. Which was difficult because my husband suffers from anxiety and doesn’t like enclosed spaces and this felt enclosed. We decided to walk down to the beach which involved walking through the rest of the accommodation and we were surprised to note that most of the rest of the apartments didn’t have good outlooks either. The road down to the beach is very steep and unappealing, I think the beach was good if you could get to it. Needless to say we turned round at the perimeter of the hotel went back. It seemed to us that all the hotel wanted was to upgrade us for 10€ pp per day or join the Favouite Club 20€ pp per day which is something dreamed up by Jet 2 in order to get more money out of the holiday makers. It didn’t seem to us that they were getting a lot for,the extra money. Probably a better room but in the dining room there is a separate section but they are eating the same food and still had to fetch it for themselves. We never bother to exchange money before we go because all hotels have n exchange, yes. Not this one!! We were told we would have to get a taxi to the bank in the town. The day we left we saw a ATM 20 yards from the hotel!! The overall impression we were left with is that this hotel has cut the staff to the very bone and it shows in the attitude and service given."