Spring Hotel Bitacora, Tenerife

Yup, here it is, another cut and paste job from Trip Advisor. This is the review of our most recent hotel, the Bitacora in Playa de las Americas, Tenerife. It's particularly worth a read for anyone with children, as I really would recommend this hotel for families. The kids' clubs and the animation team are brilliant, meaning the kids are happy and you get a few hours' peace. It's also a great place to go in October half-term, as the temperatures are still hot enough (30 degrees while we were there) to go in the pool and the sea - plus everything is still open (unlike the ghost towns we're used to in October)!

When I first read the reviews of the Bitacora, I was amused at the number of repeat visitors - images of 'Benidorm' (the sitcom) sprung to mind, with the same people coming at the same time, year in, year out. While I'm very happy to stay in hotels more than once if I like them and there's more still to see in the area, I wouldn't usually choose to come back the next year, and certainly not regularly. However, by the end of this holiday, I had to eat my words, as I understand the appeal of returning to this hotel, and we're now planning to come back again next October.

I'll start with the 'negatives' to get them out of the way - and this is only me being picky. The first is the sun bed situation - you see it at all hotels, but this is definitely the worst I've seen! People are literally up in the dark to put towels on sunbeds they have no intention of using until the afternoon. We generally found sunbeds without too many problems, but we did have to search sometimes, and we wouldn't have found four together. The rules of the hotel state that sunbeds shouldn't be reserved and that towels would be removed, but I didn't see this enforced at any point. There were so many sunbeds that were barely used and it would have been nice to see towels removed from sunbeds that are unoccupied for more than an hour - however, I do appreciate this is difficult and time-consuming to enforce. The light on our balcony didn't work for the duration of our holiday. We did speak to someone at reception at the beginning of the holiday, but nothing was done about this. However, we weren't too worried, as we took the desk light from inside and put it on the balcony - had we complained again, I'm sure it would have been fixed, so that is partly our fault! The only other thing I would say is that the air-con wasn't particularly effective. I'm not sure if that was just our room or across all rooms. Many areas of the hotel felt like they could do with better air-con - it may be that it is turned down for October, though, as it was unusually hot while we were staying.

The location of this hotel is great. It is at the Los Cristianos end of the resort and is a 5-10 minute walk to the beach. There are lots of shops, restaurants, bars and shopping centres in the area, and it is easy to walk into both Los Cristianos and the rest of Playa de las Americas. A lot of money has clearly been spent on the area (the nearby Gaudi-esque shopping centre and mini golf, for example), and everything is very clean. 

The rooms are larger than most, with plenty of space to accommodate our family of four. The main bed is large, as it's two single beds together, and our boys used a sofa bed and a camp bed (both made up for us). We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a pool-view room, which meant that we got some of the benefits that go with this, such as a mini-fridge and bath robes. Included in all rooms are hairdryer, toiletries, wide-screen TV and safe (for a charge in standard rooms). The bathroom is large with a shower in the bath, and a bidet. There's plenty of storage for your clothes and other things (with a handy light in the wardrobe), and extra blankets if you get cold. The balcony is quite large, with a table and two chairs and a washing rack for drying your wet swim stuff. Our view from the sixth floor was lovely - as well as the pools, you could also see the sea in two directions, as well as La Gomera in the distance. The rooms have recently been renovated, and ours was cleaned every day to a good standard.

 

We really couldn't fault the food at all. It was definitely some of the better hotel food we've had, and there was always plenty of choice. Cold salads, soup, pasta, carvery, lots of regional and international dishes and a wide array of desserts. There was a huge choice for breakfast too, including pancakes and omelettes cooked to order. I can't comment on lunch or the snack bar, as we only stayed half-board - although we usually ate enough at breakfast not to need lunch!

Outside were two pools, one with a water slide and a children's area. This one was surprisingly warm, but the larger pool was a bit of a shock! Despite my earlier moan, there were still plenty of sunbeds and you could find one eventually. Around the side of the hotel is the amazing Springly World - a new kids' playground area that made me wish I was young enough to use it. This is also home to the mini-club, where there is also an indoor area. Inside, there are two bars - a large one upstairs for the main evening entertainment, and a smaller one downstairs, where the mini-disco and children's entertainment took place. Next to this, there is also a games room, with pool tables, air hockey and arcade games. The reception area is very large with plenty of seating and free wi-fi.

Other than the mini-disco (which the children loved), the only entertainment we saw was the Queen tribute and the Halloween show. Judging by the claps and cheers we could hear from our balcony in the evenings, the rest of the entertainment was also of a good standard. The kids loved the mini and maxi clubs, and there was also plenty going on during the day for adults, although we didn't join in with any of it.

This brings me to the staff. On the whole, everybody was very friendly and polite, from the reception staff and cleaners to the restaurant staff and the majority of the bar staff - and we had no problems at all with being served when we were in the main bar. But a huge shout of appreciation has to go to the animation team, who play a large part, I'm sure, in the number of repeat visitors. They worked tirelessly throughout the day and evening and their enthusiasm never waned. They were brilliant with the children in the kids' clubs and always referred to them by name when they saw them around the hotel. The effort they put into the brilliant Halloween show was amazing - what a talented bunch of people! The children are desperate to go back and see them again next year.

Overall, you got the feeling that everybody works very hard and makes a real effort to make the hotel the best it can be, and this didn't go unnoticed by us. We will be back!

Here's a video of our room in the Bitacora. You can visit my YouTube channel (Holiday obsessive) for more holiday-related videos (with more to be uploaded soon...).

 

Too close for comfort

I have a few pet hates - in fact, the older I get, the more I realise how intolerant I am. Near the top of my list are rudeness and unfairness (injustice would probably be a more intelligent word, but that implies something deep, and my gripes are often quite petty), and these are often inextricably linked. One example of this is queue jumping, which is clearly both rude and unfair - why should anyone think they have the right to push in ahead of other people who have been waiting longer? We've already established I suffer from Queue Rage (see my earlier blog post about queuing in Hong Kong) - well, sadly, I also suffer from Plane Rage. Specifically, I have a problem with reclining.

I appreciate that planes will always cause personal space issues - sitting in close proximity to others in an enclosed environment is never going to end well. Unless you're lucky enough to have a row to yourselves, you'll always have those issues that are unavoidable when you're sitting next to someone else - should I leave the armrest up? Is it okay to put my reading light on? How do I take my cardigan off without smacking my neighbour in the face? What happens if I fall asleep and start leaning towards them or, worse, dribbling on them? And my personal favourite is the toilet issue - just when is it a good time to ask them to move so that you can go to the toilet? What happens if you really need to go when they're asleep or are still eating their dinner? On a recent long-haul flight, I found myself sitting next to a rather odd passenger. She refused all food from the cabin crew and she didn't leave her seat once. On the plus side, as I was in the aisle seat, I didn't have to get up for her. On the downside, she had no awareness of personal space whatsoever - she spread her blanket, cushions and goodness knows what else out across her lap - and some of my lap too. She also didn't think about me when removing her jacket, resulting in a sleeve in my mouth. And don't get me started about the incessant leg-tapping for the entire hour before landing. Still, I'll let her off - she was obviously nervous (is that what sitting next to me does to people?). And, on the whole, despite the general inconvenience, most awkward situations can be avoided with a little consideration for the people around you.

So why is it that some people seem incapable of consideration when it comes to reclining their seats? Maybe it's because it affects the people behind you and you can pretend you don't know about it. But it does affect them and, if you have a particularly inconsiderate person in front, it can ruin the whole journey. Anyone who's ever been on a plane knows just how little room there is between your knees and the seat in front - especially on a short-haul flight. The minute that seat in front reclines, you have even less. Your knees are pressed up against the back of the chair, it's hard to watch the television (assuming you have a seat-back TV), there's no room on your tray and don't get me started about attempting to eat. Now, I appreciate that on a night flight or a long-haul flight, people like to sleep. I'm a bit unusual in this respect, as I can't sleep on planes, but I wouldn't deny anyone else. When the cabin crew dim the lights and everyone around you is snoring - yes, this is the time to recline your seat. Yes, it's annoying for me, while I sit there wide awake - but, to use a phrase I learnt in Australia, I just have to suck it up. Plus, if the person behind me is also reclined, I'll recline myself and get comfy. But if all the lights are on and it's daytime - especially if it's a short-haul flight - no way!!! How can people not understand that reclining their seat affects the person behind them? Surely it's selfish to recline your seat just so you can have more room to get comfy and watch TV, while the person behind you suddenly has even less room than they had before, and has to put their head on its side to be able to watch the TV properly. Of course, they could always recline themselves to redress the balance - but then the person behind them would have to recline and so on. I don't help myself in this situation, because I refuse to recline my chair unless the person behind me is asleep or reclined (preferably both) - so I end up squashed, uncomfortable and seething with resentment.

On a recent daytime flight to Tenerife, we were sat behind a foreign family who didn't speak much English. No sooner had they sat down than the grandad had reclined his chair to the maximum level. Now, nothing about the family's demeanour suggested they hadn't flown before - but surely anyone who's been on a plane knows that 'seats should be in the upright position for take-off'? For once, I wasn't too worried, as I knew the cabin crew would soon tell him to put it back up. Then, just as I was putting something in the seat pocket, the grandma in the chair in front also reclined. I couldn't help it - it took me by surprise and squashed my hand - I cried out. The grandad immediately turned round. 'Is okay?' he asked. What I really wanted to say was 'No, it's bloody not okay. It's selfish and inconsiderate and you've left me with no room. Please put your seats back up.' However, being British, I just couldn't do that. I resorted to smiling politely and pointing out that the cabin crew would ask them to put the seats back up for take-off anyway. 'Ah,' he said and they put the chairs back up. I breathed a sigh of relief. But no sooner had the plane left the ground (and while the cabin crew were still seated) than both seats reclined again. So did the mum's. And the dad's across the aisle. They stayed that way for the whole journey. What made it worse was that the plane wasn't full, and the two seats next to the dad were empty, so the family did a lot of seat-swapping. Which meant that, for large amounts of the journey, there were empty reclined seats in front of us while we struggled to eat from what little of the tray was accessible.

Pure selfishness is what it is. Rude, thoughtless and clearly not fair on the people behind. Why can't they introduce a reclining rule so that it's only allowed at certain times on certain flights - and outright banned during mealtimes? Or, better still, get rid of the reclining feature altogether so everyone can sit there wide awake like me?! Grrrrrrrrrr! Anyway. Rant over. Time to go and watch TV from my reclining sofa - knowing there's no one behind to get squashed.