Was thinking of upgrading once arrived to A/I,but we have to upgrade to hotel room. We have 3yr old daughter,don't fancy being cramped in hotel room for 2 weeks.
Has anyone heard/seen the hotel "suites"?
Were they bigger than normal hotel room?
Also how much was it if you wanted to pay for lunch/dinner rather than going A/I?
Thanks in advance

Merged with existing topic.

luci

Lunch is a boring affair if you have it from the pool bar..pizza, hotdogs, burgers and chips..and ham and cheese toasties...thats about it... I went half board so cannot comment on AI lunches in the hotel.. there is a wide veriety of food at breakfast and evening meal.

Was thinking of upgrading once arrived to A/I,but we have to upgrade to hotel room. We have 3yr old daughter,don't fancy being cramped in hotel room for 2 weeks.
Has anyone heard/seen the hotel "suites"?
Were they bigger than normal hotel room?

When we were there last year there were quite a few people who were staying in the apartments and had upgraded to all-inc. They didn't have to move over to the hotel.
We stayed in the hotel (myself and two teenagers) and had a lovely spacious room with a small fridge. The bathroom had two sinks and a separate toilet. Not sure about the "suites", I think they're only allocated to larger families, but we didn't feel at all cramped and would be happy to go there again apart from the fact the hotel was a little too "European" for our liking and right at the back of the resort.

Has anyone upgraded to 1/2 board when they have arrived? If so - any idea what the cost per day is? If we book 1/2 board before we go we will be in a hotel room - would rather be in apartment. Also - anyone notice - I assume there are groound floor apartments?

Thanks

Apparently for €20 deposit, it is possible to hire a towel at reception and just exchange it when required. (Deposit refundable) Could anyone who has been confirm this for me? Going Aug and Cannnnnn't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jacci wrote:

Apparently for €20 deposit, it is possible to hire a towel at reception and just exchange it when required. (Deposit refundable) Could anyone who has been confirm this for me?

We went back in 2006 and it was only 12€ then, but yes, you can use their pool towels for the whole holiday, getting a fresh one every few days or whenever required as long as you keep your receipt for the original deposit.

Thanks for your reply. I was there in June last year but had own towels - saw people with the blue hired ones, but had read on a site somewhere that they now charged €2 every time you changed it................

My sis has just returned from this hotel on saturday she tells me 'she enjoyed her holiday overall apart from a couple of niggly things but last day was a disaster'!

They arrived in hotel rearly hours sunday morn.... when they got to their room the patio door lock was completely broken off and when she alerted reception they told her not to leave the room until someone comes to fix it, it took most of her 1st morning .
Also during their stay one of the waiters was walking by my nephew who is only 11 and pulled his shorts down to reveal his bare skin, my nephew was a bit upset at this & told his mum .She approached the waiter who done this and he nearly s**t himself couldnt apologise enough! Was there really any need for a waiter to do this??? totally inapropriate!!
Also the hotel was full of locals who were very ignorant towards my family..my sis tried to get past a crowd standing at reception area she kept saying excuse me..and got continually ignored so she had to push her way past to which she got some dirty looks

The all inc drinks situation , they were told they could have named brands which the locals had no trouble getting , my sis who rarely drinks anyway went to get a smirnoff & coke and one of the waiters asked Why? why u want smirnoff?..she was shocked by this and said because i CAN in her lovely glaswegan tone , none of the spanish had any trouble getting their smirnoff. on her last day one of the hotel staff came over to my sister & cut her All Inclusive band off her wrist half an hour after she left the room.She complained to reception about this & was told her all inc ended at 12noon on sat.they werent due to leave hotel again until 2am sunday but were chucked out the room at 12noon on the saturday!

she also complained to the reps who werent much help either.Basically she paid for a 7 night stay and only got 6. She would not recommend this hotel to anyone ..i dont blame her!! Oh as for the last post regarding Beach towels you only pay a refundable deposit on you also have to pay 2euro to get a clean one everyday...blimin joke!.. she told me loads of good things about her holiday but was outside the hotel itself.

Rooms are usually available from 3pm. As the room was available from the Saturday night for her arrival in the early hours of Sunday morning that was her first night. If it hadn't been available she would not have been able to get her room until 3pm on the Sunday. If Friday night was her last night then she did have 7 nights accommodation.

luci

angiepangie wrote:

The all inc drinks situation , they were told they could have named brands which the locals had no trouble getting , my sis who rarely drinks anyway went to get a smirnoff & coke and one of the waiters asked Why? why u want smirnoff?..she was shocked by this and said because i CAN in her lovely glaswegan tone , none of the spanish had any trouble getting their smirnoff.

When I stayed there I found that being friendly and polite and leaving a few tips here and there (just loose change) went a long way towards getting good attentive service I found all the hotel staff very friendly and helpful.

angiepangie wrote:

on her last day one of the hotel staff came over to my sister & cut her All Inclusive band off her wrist half an hour after she left the room.She complained to reception about this & was told her all inc ended at 12noon on sat.they werent due to leave hotel again until 2am sunday but were chucked out the room at 12noon on the saturday! she also complained to the reps who werent much help either.Basically she paid for a 7 night stay and only got 6.

We had similar flight times - it is standard in most hotels to be expected to check out of your room at noon, or even earlier. We paid a small supplement to keep our room and our all-inc status until we left the hotel in the early hours of the morning. We had arrived at the hotel a week earlier in the early hours of Sunday morning following a Saturday night flight, so our first night in the room was still counted as Saturday night. This is just one of those things and is also the reason why night flights are generally cheaper than daytime flights.
We had a lovely time at the Barcelo and would not hesistate to go there again.

I must say I can only agree - we had a fantastic time there last June. I must say once we got to know the bar staff (and as you say - a little tip to show your appreciation goes a long way) the were lovely. One guy, after I had went to the bar a couple of times on busy nights for my Smirnoff, actually left the bottle over at the right with the self service spirits...... I just helped myself. You must remember, these people are not paid that well and work long hard hours in the heat. With regard to the €2 towel thing - lets face it, most of us bring 1 towel for the pool to do all week or fortnight. For €2 woulden't it be lovely to have a nice fresh towel 1/2 way through your holiday? I just think it's great for €20 deposit NOT to have to pack 5 bulky beach towels when I pack in 8 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! An hey - I'll have €100 to collect when we check out - spending money for the Airport.

Here we go again TIPS TIPS TIPS to get that bit of extra special service.....I tip AFTER i get a good standard of service, i have done this in Turkey for many years its great to see these peoples faces light up when you do this at the END of a lovely holiday.

Its great when you can hire beach towels but its nice to have it changed at least once without having to pay for it..maybe they charge for this service because they need to cover losses due to the staff leaving the Branded vodka for all sorts to help themselves to

Im away now to nurse a big glass of Absolut n lemon and i might even leave myself a tip for pouring it.

I don't have a problem with paying for beach towels. I would rather do that than having to pack my own. I always leave a tip when paying for drinks or after a round of drinks or after a meal. I tend to tip the maid at the end of each week. That's just my way of doing things.

Off you go to Turkey then..........

"All sorts" here will stick with the Barcelo, sipping a Smirnoff whilst lying on a freshly laundered towel AFTER I have tipped the waiter.

Jacci Maybe i will Maybe i wont ..but hope you have a good time in August anyway.

Hi,
I stayed at the Lopesan Catarina with my wife and 2 kids and went to visit the Barcelo as my inlaws were staying there.I went to the reception to ask which room they were in and the staff were very rude and certainly not accommodating.When I eventually found my inlaws and went back to their room I was disappointed asi t was a fairly basic room and the balcony was certainly not private.Also if you are on the first 3 to 4 floors then all you will see from the balcony is trees.I would definatley stay in the Caterina rather than the Barcelo Margaritas.

Interested to hear what people who've been recently have to say, as the hotel is getting some pretty rough reviews elsewhere. They appear to centre around rude staff, a poor AI system and a 48 Euro for 3 days AI offer which is attracting some pretty undesirable locals.

We went a few years ago and had an OK time. The 2 bedroom apartment was excellent and the gardens nice, but I remember the pool areas were desperately in need of a refurb and I disliked the noisy position stuck at the back of the resort. We visited Maspalomas one day and thought "this is more like it".

I'm heading on Saturday AI for 2 weeks with my hubby, 2 teenage kids and my mum. I'll post an honest review on my return. Was really pleased with it last year - hubby and I were there for a week. Could not wait to get home to get it booked for this year. Don't think I'd have spent over £5000 to return if it was as the reviews state!!!!!