I've stayed at this hotel twice now and am basing this review on my latest stay with my partner.
BOOKING...
I booked the flights back in September for a song with Easyjet. Upon checking Thomas Cook for a hotel guide price i subsequently emailed the hotel direct to ask if i could book direct with them for the same price (which benefitted me due to me holding a loyalty card). The hotel booking department accepted and i subsequently received an email confirmation on the stay along with the price in euros. We went self catering but there's a little twist to that later !
GETTING THERE... !
The Canary Islands' main hire company is CICAR.. however they have a number of other 'companies' that charge differing amounts for the same vehicles. I used Cebrera Medina, and hired a Vauxhall Astra H which worked out at £140 for the entire stay (8 days) which i thought was excellent value.
Driving there was only 15 mins or so, and i parked next to the hotel (btw the hotel have a car park underground but charge by the day to use it)
CHECKING IN...
Dont get confused, it isn't that difficult!.... The hotel is acually 3 identical looking buildings, San Jorge, Antigua, and another (which i forget the name of). There is only one reception open, the others look deserted (because the are). Payment is by cash in euros when you book direct...I've stayed at this hotel twice now and am basing this review on my latest stay with my partner.
BOOKING...
I booked the flights back in September for a song with Easyjet. Upon checking Thomas Cook for a hotel guide price i subsequently emailed the hotel direct to ask if i could book direct with them for the same price (which benefitted me due to me holding a loyalty card). The hotel booking department accepted and i subsequently received an email confirmation on the stay along with the price in euros. We went self catering but there's a little twist to that later !
GETTING THERE... !
The Canary Islands' main hire company is CICAR.. however they have a number of other 'companies' that charge differing amounts for the same vehicles. I used Cebrera Medina, and hired a Vauxhall Astra H which worked out at £140 for the entire stay (8 days) which i thought was excellent value.
Driving there was only 15 mins or so, and i parked next to the hotel (btw the hotel have a car park underground but charge by the day to use it)
CHECKING IN...
Dont get confused, it isn't that difficult!.... The hotel is acually 3 identical looking buildings, San Jorge, Antigua, and another (which i forget the name of). There is only one reception open, the others look deserted (because the are). Payment is by cash in euros when you book direct or via the website, and i simply paid cash at the desk. Because of the time we arrived (12.30pm) the room wasn't yet ready so we went for a beer.. can't complain a that lol
When we got our keys we dumped the hand luggage, got changed and got on with it..
THE HOTEL...
We had a 1 Bedroomed Apartment with a Sea View. It was nice, clean and relatively quiet. The drinks here a expensive if you have to pay for them so go to the Trafalgar or even better, the Hyperdino when it's all cheap. The back of the hotel is facing the sea and that's where the mainly used outdoor pool lives.. and it gets busy because it shields a lot of the breeze so that you can cook yourself in the sun! People do reserve sunbeds by the pool but i dont blame them.. so expect this and join them i suppose..
If you need to surf the web, you can go to reception where there's free wifi.
A new thing we discovered from our last stay was that there was a relocation of entertainment.. to underneath our room, however it was barely audible. There were two hotel 'Animation' reps, Frank and Oswald, who were great but i'm not sure if they'd be staying as their contract was due for renewal April 2011.. The entertainment itself we only saw on our last night, and it was ok, the kids would have liked it. There were performing parrots.. it was ok but i'm not sure if the parrots were enjoying it.
PROBLEMS...
We had no table on our balcony but never got round to asking reception for one, although i know they'd have quickly sorted this if i actually asked. Additionally the maids one day left the clean towels in the bidet.. which luckily hadn't been used and was spotlessly clean, but it was a bit strange.
UPGRADE !!!
As we were without the kids on this trip we decided to try upgrading to All-Inclusive near the end of the stay. I asked the lady at reception for the price where she told me around 72euros for both of us. We only had one night to go and decided to give it a try. When we returned to pay for it a different lady told us 50euros so i didn't argue.
OH DEAR... ! we went for lunch where there were chicken kebabs being cooked by someone in front of you and i had one.. it was raw apart from outside.. very iffy. I found someone and told them and she took it back to the lady, had a word with her and threw it back on the grill !! Problem was when i went back for omelette the next morning the woman spotted me and seemed to be muttering to the woman about me.. i felt a bit uncomfortable to say the least..
REBOOKING ... A NIGHTMARE...
Now i know that in Spain anythings rarely done quickly and this has been hard work.. I sure hope The Manager's reading this..
I like this hotel.. we know it, it's part of our holiday despite any problems and better than taking the risk at Barcelo... but..
I asked for the BEST price for us to stay as a family of 4 All Inclusive in August 2011.. 9 nights.. as i didn't want to be trawling around peeing about comparing deals, plus i had my fidelity card to show my loyalty... FORGET IT.. they quoted me a silly price which was.. wait for it.. £500 MORE EXPENSIVE than Thomas Cook! I queried this and was told that it was the price that they could do.. Disgraceful.. So much for loyalty..
I've since booked the hotel with Thomas Cook through Quidco (which offers 8% cashback, a lot of money on something like this).. so from €1600 down to £900 for the same thing.. go figure..
OVERALL....
I've had a bit of a rant, but I still like the hotel (hence the rebooking).. It's in a great location, the staff ARE really friendly, maids come in when they are supposed to, and the rooms are quite clean. The pricing is hit and miss, I've spent ages communicating back and forth to get almost nowhere which upsets me a little..
The food was generally ok. None of us liked the sausages, dont expect danish bacon youre not at home, but there was plenty of choice. We're looking forward to going back at the end of August and i've reserved a car again.
It's a shame almost that we've gone AI.. I've always argued that it's cheaper to go S/C but food on the island is getting more expensive, and if you take the difference in the price of the room to the price A/I it works out at just £16.43 per person per day.. and i'll drink more than that in free Elba Cocktails alone.. hiccup...More
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