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!
No comments:
Post a Comment