"We had a really pleasant and relaxing stay at Secrets Lanzarote. We did the Preferred Club all-inclusive experience. A few notes from our stay:
Staff: the staff, on the whole, are fantastic, friendly and go above-and-beyond to make you feel welcome. As an LGBT+ couple, staff interaction and welcomeness is always something we’re acutely aware of as it *can* vary a lot hotel to hotel. The staff at Secrets were wonderful, and not only were they more than welcoming, but they also enhanced our experience. We do want to give a special shout out to Carmen, Anibal, Valeska, Daniel and Lina Marcela who went above and beyond to create a lovely atmosphere and are absolutely incredible at their jobs. They have excellent communication skills and the expected customer-facing attitude and service level for a 5 star hotel. Other than recharging our batteries and spending quality time together, they really were a highlight of our trip, so thank you. We did, however, have an unpleasant interaction with a different member of staff related to standard of service, politeness and proessionality at breakfast, which Laura in Guest Experience dealt with professionally when we raised it with her at check-out.
Hotel facilities: we enjoyed the Preferred Club pool and the lawn sunbathing area. The gardens were also quite impressive, especially considering the arid nature of the island. That said, there were some instances of non Preferred Club guests sneaking into the Preferred areas as they weren’t that well-policed, or the offenders would slip away to the bathrooms any time a member of staff came to those areas. Although we didn’t use the main pools in the other part of the hotel, we did note that the areas lacked shade and felt a bit like a sunbed on concrete experience and we were glad to be in the Preferred area instead.
Room: the room was pleasant enough in terms of style, but it was quite dated and worn out. A clear example of this was the bathroom: the shower door didn’t close properly and the door to the room itself was a bit damaged. Soundproofing was also quite a noticeable concern from all directions. To reach that 5 star guest experience that we’d expect, it would need a bit of a facelift and sound dampening, especially from the corridor.
Food: the hotel boasts quite a few different restaurants, which were largely impressive. Oceana gives the most elevated experience and the food is to a high standard there, both at lunch and dinner. The Grill is a fun experience, especially being able to “cook” your meat to your desired level of rareness at your table. The Italian restaurant, Portofino, is a pleasant atmosphere, but the food quality there needs elevating (we were quite underwhelmed by the bruschetta, in particular). The buffet at the World Café has some standout items, such as the excellent ham, salami and chorizo, but it could do with a bit more variety of vegetables that can be used as side dishes, and the evening in which I had sardines, they were undercooked.
Sportsbar: one of the big draws for us choosing this hotel was that there is a sportsbar. We assumed, given the high proportion of British tourists in Lanzarote, that it would be open to show games from England. When we found out it only opens at 8pm (pretty much obsolete for Premier League games), we asked 2 days in advance, and followed up twice, whether there would be any recourse to watch the Community Shield game (3pm kickoff) at the hotel, or whether we should go to one of the bars in town. We were assured we would be able to watch it at Café Coco. Unfortunately, there was some sort of subscription issue with the sports channels and after missing the first 20 minutes of the game (including a goal), we were told they couldn’t get the game and that we should get a cab to town to see the rest of the match. Fortunately, another guest was able to get the game on their personal device and we were able to watch the remainder through screen sharing. Another guest informed me the same happened for the Euro Super Cup game 2 days prior. So, for any British sports fans, if the hotel don’t change the sports bar timings and/or subscription access, it is probably best to walk to one of the pubs in the marina to catch a game. It’s worth noting that I counted around 30 guests in Café Coco at one point watching the aforementioned Community Shield game, so there was definitely appetite to watch English football at the hotel.
Miscellaneous: we loved the cats that roam the hotel; the pillow menu was good and helpful; upon arrival we were a bit surprised for a 5 star hotel that nobody helped bring our bags from the car park into the hotel (although once at reception, we were greeted with a towel and cava which was pleasant); on the walk to our room after check-in, we saw quite a few dead cockroaches in the corridor that seemed like they had been swept there when cleaning a room and just left there, which was not a great first impression (although, it would be unfair to mention that we didn’t see any other cockroaches throughout the rest of our stay); quite a lot of the terracotta tiles were broken around the site and some were a bit of a potential trip hazard; we were very pleased to see quite a few other LGBT+ couples, which underlined the positive inclusive atmosphere the hotel has curated; the Piano Bar is fun of an evening, but it’s worth noting that it can get busy leading to some prolonged times waiting for drinks.
On the whole, we had a really nice experience, and the staff really helped make it a holiday to remember (especially the named ones). That said, to reach what we’d expect from a 5 star, the rooms/buildings need a bit of a facelift. Thank you for a lovely and relaxing experience."
