Barcelo Margaritas Royal Level

"We recently stayed here for our holiday in Gran Canaria and overall we had a really good stay. There were definitely a few things that could be improved, particularly when it came to the housekeeping and some of the service, but there were also lots of things we really enjoyed. The rooms were really spacious and there was plenty of room, which was great. The cleaning was mainly making the bed and changing the towels, but we did find that things weren’t always replenished. For example, robes weren’t always replaced, rubbish was often left in the room and it wasn’t always given a proper tidy. One thing we did really appreciate though was that, because we had a late flight which was then further delayed, the hotel made us a little snack bag with sandwiches, fruit, yoghurt and biscuits, which was such a nice touch after a long journey. Unfortunately, this wasn’t taken out of our room for around four days, which was a bit strange! The mini fridge was also free and fully stocked, although you do have to pay if you want it restocked during your stay. The pool areas were really nice. The Royal Level has one pool and the main hotel has two. There are six Bali beds around the pool which you can reserve the day before for €6. Just be aware that the app doesn’t seem to work for booking these, so you have to go to reception to reserve one. We also managed to get one on the day by going down at around 8am, although you can only reserve it yourself with your towels for an hour. There are also plenty of Bali beds further away from the pool which are much easier to get. There were always plenty of normal sunbeds available too, so you definitely don’t need to be getting up ridiculously early to get one. You can order drinks to your sunbed through the app, which is a really nice idea, although the service wasn’t always the quickest. We sometimes waited up to 30 minutes for drinks and on some occasions they didn’t arrive at all. We found it much quicker to just go up to the bar and get them ourselves. There also isn’t any music around the Royal Level pool as it isn’t allowed there, whereas there is music around the main hotel pools, so the Royal Level is definitely the quieter option. Breakfast was really good and there was a decent amount of choice. There were full English options, waffles, pancakes, croissants, muffins, cereal, yoghurts and plenty of different juices. Staff also come over to your table and take your coffee order, or any other drink you want that isn’t available for you to get yourself. There isn’t self-service for soft drinks or draught drinks though, so you have to either wait for someone to come to your table or go to the bar. Lunch was generally quite good. There was pasta, pizza, fruit etc. and everything we had was tasty, although there wasn’t a massive amount of choice. From around 3:30pm, there is also an à la carte lunch option next to the buffet. Staff bring you a menu and take your order, and we actually thought this food was really good. You can get full pizzas, club sandwiches, toasties, burgers, hot dogs, chicken strips, salads, chicken wings, garlic shrimp and more. The food also came out pretty quickly, so this was definitely one of our favourite food options during the day. In the evening, the buffet has different themed nights, including Spanish, Italian and Mexican nights. Personally, we didn’t enjoy the Spanish or Mexican nights very much, although that could just be down to our own preferences. We did enjoy the Italian night, although a lot of the food was quite similar to what you’d already get at lunch, with pasta, pizzas etc. We also went to Al Fuego for the BBQ night and this was probably one of our favourite meals. The BBQ night is on Saturdays and Mondays, with other nights being hamburger night on Wednesdays and rodizio night on Tuesdays. We only tried the BBQ, but it was delicious. They brought out warm bread to start, followed by a selection of cheeses, peppers, dips and mozzarella sticks, and then a big platter of chicken, pork, steak and baked potatoes. Everything was cooked really nicely. There were two dessert options, brownie or cheesecake. We went for the brownie, which was more like a chocolate sponge than a traditional brownie, but it was still really nice. Drinks in the evening could sometimes be a little hit and miss in the main bar area. Staff would normally come over fairly quickly after you sat down to take your first drink order, but they didn’t always come back regularly to see if you wanted another. We sometimes had to try and flag someone down, and they didn’t always seem to notice. Some members of staff were definitely more attentive than others. You can always go up to the bar yourself though, so it wasn’t a massive issue. The all-inclusive drinks selection was really good. There were Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Fanta Orange and Lemon, lemonade and juices. There was also a good cocktail selection, including Hugo Spritz, Aperol Spritz, Tequila Sunrise, flavoured daiquiris, Bellinis, Kir Royales and martinis. There was Cruzcampo on draught and bottles of Sol too. The ice cream was also available all day from the bar, with options including white chocolate and caramel Magnums, Twisters, Soleros and more, which was definitely a bonus! The entertainment is based around the main hotel rather than the Royal Level, so again the Royal Level is much quieter. There was often a young member of staff around the Royal Level offering activities, including free wine and chocolate tasting. We also regularly saw him doing a yoga class in the morning, which was a nice extra. The gym was actually pretty decent for a hotel gym too. There were dumbbells up to 20kg, a leg extension/curl machine, Smith machine, cable machine with several attachments, benches, mats, a pull-up bar, two treadmills and some bikes. So although it isn’t a huge gym, there was definitely enough equipment to get a good workout in while on holiday. The hotel also has a shuttle service to Playa del Inglés and Maspalomas Beach, which was really useful. It runs to and from the hotel roughly every 25–65 minutes between 9:20am and 11:50am, and then again in the afternoon at 3:40pm and 4:15pm. Overall, we really enjoyed our stay and would definitely consider coming back. The hotel has lovely pool areas, really spacious rooms, a good all-inclusive drinks selection and plenty of food options. The à la carte lunch and Al Fuego BBQ were particular highlights for us. The main things we would say could be improved are the consistency of the housekeeping and the speed and attentiveness of some of the drink service. These things didn’t ruin our holiday at all, but they were noticeable. Overall though, we had a great holiday and felt that the positives definitely outweighed the negatives."

"As one of the previous reviews says the royal level restaurant experience is the deciding factor why I probably won’t return unless it was for room only. It’s the first ever all inclusive restaurant I have been to where you have to ask for coffee or wait for a waiter to notice you have sat down and come over and ask for your drinks order, no machine to help yourself, when it eventually comes, 3 sips and the small cup is empty. The drinks situation is chaotic at lunch and in the evening. On several occasions I had ordered and had actually finished my meal before the drink arrived, even in the evening the water machine which you have guess is a water machine is covered up! At no point in my 9 night stay did I eat from the salad bar being as there were flies on the food, how you can stop this when it’s an outside setting I don’t know so in one respect I do sympathise. The hot food is mostly covered so no problem there, maybe that’s the solution. I will say however the royal suite room was spacious and the beds comfortable and it was cleaned daily, ample towels including pool ones. Never used the pool as I’m a beach person. If I ever do return to this hotel it will be for the accommodation and location (two blocks away from Yumbo centre) and would eat out instead. The staff in reception are always welcoming and helpful, the free shuttle bus to Playa del Inglés and also Maspalomas is a great touch which I used daily and runs through the day and picks up directly outside the hotel. Transfer time by jet2 coach to and from the airport is only about 30mins including other pick ups and drops. Overall I had a good holiday, I wouldn’t even say the food was bad, just the systems they use for the drinks is a major headache along with the hidden information about being able to order things like omelettes etc at breakfast when you have paid premium prices for the royal level. I’m sure these are all easy fixes."

"Just back from 9 nights at Barcelo Margaritas Royal Level & I have to say it's been a mixed affair with pro's & con's. Starting with the positives, our room was very good: spacious, swivel TV, a large balcony with both chairs & loungers & as we were on the top floor, a great view over the pool & down to Maspalomas with fantastic sunsets. The reception staff were always pleasant & helpful. Not so positive were food & drink: like other reviewers have said, the food became repetitive but more importantly, we found it to be of poor quality & couldn't summon up any enthusiasm towards the end of our stay so we ended up eating out. Much of the food was not labelled & parts of the breakfast menu were kept secret. Apparently you can order poached eggs, fresh omelettes, & eggs benedict from the waiters but we were unaware of this. The waiters asked you if you wanted a drink, (coffee) but at no point mentioned the availability of anything that was to be cooked fresh. We only found out this on our final day, which leans into our perception of a general lack of information about the hotel. Also, the waiters never asked if you would like a second cup of coffee with your breakfast & you had to flag them down, which proved difficult as they appeared busy & possibly understaffed. It was a similar scenario at both lunch & dinner when getting a drink could prove almost impossible. There is no seating area other than where people eat & a small smoking area, so you are reliant on a waiter to bring you a drink. If you sat down to eat, a waiter would at some point bring your drink but they assumed this drink would last you all night, and if you approached the one bar, your order was acknowledged but was placed in a queue whilst you were told in no uncertain terms to go back to your table & wait for your drinks to be brought over. In my opinion this system was not fit for purpose. Just have self-service for beer, wine & soft drinks like other all-inclusive hotels, but then I guess you couldn't call it "Royal Level" and charge accordingly. On a similar vain, there was a bucket of chilled Cava on ice in reception but this was completely hidden from view behind a pillar next to the reception desks! This hotel didn't spoil our holiday to Gran Canaria bit we won't be going back."