Arrival at the reception:passports,wrist bands,security card to open your room door which you have to sign for,then told to go your block we were given a map,but no help with the luggage, the swipe card for the door was faulty so after six attempts it let us in(it was hit & miss all the time we were there) the hotel was informed but nothing was done ,the bathroom door was locked/seized poor maintenance, the bath was corroded with red rusty spots all over it, the shower gel &soap were old not labeled the curtain was old and of no use to keep water within the bath area.
the headboard to the beds was hanging off the wall.
the bed linen was threadbare ,had to ask for blankets.
the outside furniture had not been cleaned the so called flower boxes without flowers in were full of cigarette ends we counted 200..this room had not been prepared for use.
hotel food all tasted the same wether it be fish,meat,pasta ,soup or even breakfast cereals, the coffee machines were dirty and the coffee tasted appalling, the fruit juice machines were watered down to the extent that you mostly got water, the plates /cutlery had unwashed food on it, we could not go to other retaurants on the complex as they were closed.
We have been going to Fuerteventura for 20yrs so we know the location well but the hotel was a first and last for us.the hotel staff were fed up to say the least appathy was apparent probably because they were short staff plus they went off duty to have their own xmas parties twice so it closed for the punters..
Entertainment virtually none existant for adults that is plus the 2 acts we saw were very poor, the fun club team who organised it all were only there for the children, the adult entertainment was disco in the bar or keyboard in the lobby and that was hit and miss, i would not visit this hotel again.

Do not take notice of old bad reviews! The Hotel is back up to standard,allbeit with reduced facilities ,ie no themed restaurants ,no Textile sauna/steam,No Late night disco in the disco bar.

Only First Choice there now and they finish at end of april 09 Grrr !

The grounds impeccable ,the public areas clean and tidy,they are actually beginning to repaint the exterior of the buildings too.Cracked Tiles being replaced too,a few loose cobbles but not like in the past.

Maid service immaculate,room defects ie Handrail loose or bulbs repaired within 1 to 2 hrs.

Bar service fine (it was however quiet) great to have self service at pool Bar for ALL drinks,the pool Bar serves once again a choice of 2 meats ...chicken + other,rice ,fries,good salad,and for the Brits.... Burgers ! Also you can cook your own meat or cheese toastie, all good and new tables inside as well,could do to upgrade rest of chairs though.

Pools immaculate,Staff smiley and happy.Out of 14 days we had no lights at all in naturist sauna and for 4 days no lights in Naturist steam Room but this did not deter people ,in fact the touchy feeley brigade loved it.

Plaza Bar no longer 6 nights entertainment ,3 nights with German type Spanish type guy followed by Disco till after 12.30am,one night with spanish guy disco type followed by disco till late,another night Disco from 10.30 ish till late ,Drinks till about 12.15am so just about 3 flat nights ,entertainment in Theatre seemed popular but a bit old hat to us ..no tribute bands.

Buffet restaurant 1st class ,only problem sometimes ran out of spoons,food hot and best selection ever,great sweets and something for everyone,much more supervision and constant checking and dishes being replaced......staff pleasant too.

Most difficult thing is to get a late check out ,you have to go day before and then return 6pm to see if granted,we were ok and got our 5pm check out for 30 euros yes a bit steep,but they do try your patience on this matter .

We just hope either Thomsons or Thomas Cook return as it will be expensive Peng only from May...

many more East Europeans than before,plenty of Germans and a few Scananavian,a few Spanish 1st week too ,few British which is usual if Hotel is of good Standard .

7th visit ,we have seen it start good ,decline to a pitiful level and rise again,apparently new management and new chef.....but whatever its great once more ,good atmosphere...will it last i hope so ...just hope another UK agent returns !!!

Arrived at approx 9.45pm and was checked in quickly and efficiently. Alex was very friendly and suggested that should we drop our luggage off in our rooms quickly, there would still be time to get in the buffet restuarant.

It turned out that we had interconnecting rooms and this made every difference to us. Please note that this was not advertised in the FC brochure and we spent a few worrying months wondering whether our rooms were near to each other. The rooms was spacious and very clean. One room was a twin, the other a twin with a separate camp bed - acceptable only to sleep a younger child. My biggest concern with the camp bed was that the clip, which would be used to hold the bed together when closed, was left sticking out and on one occasion my 11 year old ended up with a 4 inch scrape along his leg. On a positive note there was plenty of wardrobe and cupboard space and the beds although very firm offered a good nights sleep.

Certainly could not fault the buffet restaurant. There was so much choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Two types of bacon, english and continental sausages, beans, tomatoes, boiled eggs, fried eggs, scrambled. Complimented with HP sauce - what more could you ask? Pancakes with chocolate sauce, croissants and other danish pastries, cereals, biscuits, cold meats and cheeses. For lunch you could either eat in the restaurant or on the pool bar, where several types of baguettes were on offer, most days complimented with a barbecue of fish or ribs. Icecream and yoghurts were also available for most of the afternoon. The kids also enjoyed the slush machine. For dinner again you could use either the buffet or book into one of the three themed restaurants. You could visit them each one a week. All definitely to be recommended, although on one occassion in the mexican, they attempted to serve our main meal before we had even eaten our starters.

You could'nt fault the hotel staff, especially Kamal who was constantly trying to play tricks on the children putting a smile on their faces. The life guard constantly patrolled the resort and always managed an "Ola" when passing. Be careful at the poolside!! The edges of the pool were coated in some anti slip material which was more like gravel. On the first day my son managed to slip on the steps, grazing the whole of his shin. It was very very painful, hence being intoduced to the lifeguard at an ealy stage. My son was not the only child to suffer this accident. As the holiday went on, sadly we witnessed more and more children also hurting themselves quite badly.

Although the hotel was situated on the beach, access to it was down quite a few steps. Not for the faint hearted. Getting down wasnt too bad, getting back was the issue but that didn't deter most. It was a beatiful clean beach but not being a sand lover, we didnt spend much time their. Walk along the beach if you want to see the chipmunks. You could walk into Jandia along the beach but this would take you about an hour. Ther4 was a half hourly bus service into Jandia, the fare being a euro each. I wouldnt recommend walking by road as pavements do not exist along the highway. The hotel is extremely isolated and there are no shops nearby.

The entertainment left a lot to be desired and sadly finished by 10.30. Because of this most nights we were back in our rooms by 11pm. My youngest loved the mini disco at 8 which was followed by various artists or acrobats. The hotel had a hotel run kids club, mainly aimed at the younger children. It ran from 10.30am to 1pm and also from 3pm to 5pm. My 6 year old went on a couple of occassions but found the other children to be mainly spanish or german. They advertise a teen activity but this seemed to be included with the adult daily events like pistol shooting or archery. Sadly my 11 and 13 year old were not really catered for.

All in all we did have a lovely time, there was always a sun bed available and you did not have to dash out at the crack of dawn. We spent most of our time near the heated pool simply because this was the most comfortable or maybe we are just soft. The hotel and its grounds were beautiful. The organised trips seemed a little expensive and just didnt seem attractive enough.

The Occidental is more like a small village than a hotel. The rooms are set out in blocks which are interspersed with well tended gardens and swimming pools (6 in all although as we travelled in February only 1 was heated).

The rooms were large and airy, we had two of our children in our room with us and there was still plenty of space for a couple of wicker chairs and a coffee table as well as the twin beds and the two single pull out beds.

The bathroom was large and clean, plenty of towels etc and cleaned thouroughly every day. My only real gripe about the room itself was the view - once out on the balcony we had a sea view which was lovely, but from the room all we could really see was black lava rock and a fence through which there was obviously going to be a new build at some point.

The main buffet restaurant was great, the choice was amazing and there was always something to please everyone. We ate breakfast and dinner here most days, and had lunch at the pool bar, usually salads or baguettes and fruit, cakes or yoghurt, oh and there was plenty of ice cream available for the kids.

The themed restaurants are Oriental, Mexican and Italian. We tried to book all of them but could only get into the Mexican, so book ASAP after your arrival. The Mexican food was good, but we cancelled our second visit as we found the buffet provided us all with more choice. We only stayed a week so maybe it may start to get repetitive after that, for a week though it was really good.

Lots of drinks are self service, such as soft drinks and hot drinks and also beer and wine in the buffet hall. Other alcoholic drinks are served by bar staff and there is a much better choice than other All Inclusives we've stayed in.

The hotel is located about ten minutes drive outside of Jandia, we took taxis, about 6 euro's but apparently the bus is nearby for 1 euro. The reception staff will call a taxi for you and they arrive in seconds.

My youngest daughter who is 8 cut her foot in the pool, apparently some of the mosaic tiles were missing and she got a nasty cut, we had to go to the hospital in Jandia to check if she needed stitches.

I have to say though the pool attendant and the senior first aider were fabulous, they took care of her, advised us about the hospital and even wrote down in Spanish for us to give the information to the taxi driver and the doctor.

They also dressed her foot for a couple of days and rang the room to see how she was, lovely couple of guys.
The entertainment was what let the hotel down for us.

There was a mini club, our two youngest went on one occasion but there was hardly anyone there so they didn't go again, but the mini disco etc was either 7.30 or 8pm which is when we ate so didn't work into our day really. There is a theatre where the entertainment takes place, but the seating is in rows and people wander in and out during the shows.

The kids enjoyed these but we thought they were a bit poor. (The Mowtown night was good and the snake man was a good laugh).

Afterwards at 10.30 they show a film, some in English and others with subtitles which is only fair as there were a good mixture of nationalities in the hotel. After saying this about the entertainment though, our kids have all asked to go again sometime and my 14 year old daughter said it was the best hotel she has ever stayed in!

The beach is lovely golden sand and rocks, but as the hotel stands on a cliff the steps down to the beach are fairly steep so we prefered to stay around the pool. It was about 27 degrees on average and we had two hours of rain one morning which soon passed.

All in all a very nice chilled out place to stay and yes we possibly would go again.

this was a lovely hotel . Rooms were clean etc. Food was fine but lunch a bit repetetive with no cold meat to go with salads . Plenty fish and veal though .the entertainment was nil . We went there for a new year break. After the gala dinner we went to the theatre where the fun was to be . After watching children playing on stage for 3 hours we were a little browned off. there was a singing act for 20 mins and that was it . a room draw then the bells, then bed. So if you want a lively time at new year this is not the hotel for you . we will not be back .

Hotel very clean. All main areas, bars , toilets, poolside, rooms and gardens all kept very well.
Restaurants all good food at times in the main buffet area was at times a little cold but taking into consideration numbers catered for a small gripe.
Hotel in a quiet area but bus service outside to jandia town for 1 euro each.
Hotel will call you a taxi and very prompt they are too at a cost of about 6 euros.
Entertainment ok but wait for abba and platters tribute bands they were superb and the place was packed.
Would definitely go again.

Booked a last minute deal to this hotel and for the first time A/I.Was a little worried from comments made on this and other sites.This hotel is great.It is spotless and the food is excellent.Loads of choice morning noon and night.Recommend booking all the themed restaurants for variety all included with the price.Book them in the first few days on block and then its done and no queueing again!
Top Tip...Staff are on the whole very good and you need to try and stick to the same member of staff,who will get to know your face, when trying to get served at peak times!
Entertainment was OK although alot of the films shown were subtitled.
Beatles tribute band excellent

We were a little worried before we travelled as we had read some really bad reviews of the hotel, but we needn't have worried because everything about the hotel was excellent.

The only complaint about this hotel with any element of truth was with regards to the time taken to be served in the Lobby and Plaza bars at busy times.

The hotel have, however begun to try and improve matters by having waiters visit tables to ask if any drinks are required. The only people who would find this a big problem would be ones who wanted to sit and drink all evening, and so visited the bar on numerous occasions.

We found a simple solution by having a quiet drink at quieter times.

The hotel was spotless in all areas, including our room, the food was very Canarian/Spanish, which gave us chance to try things we hadn't had before, but things more suitable for the English palate were available at all meals.

The staff were friendly and polite and any problems were dealt with promptly. Many drinks were available self-service, including wine, beer and sangria, and snacks were available throughout the afternoon in the pool bar.

The evening entertainment was slightly better than a lot of hotels, and the Theatre venue gave a more "concerty" feel.

We would definitely go again, and would say don't listen to the moaners.

Before we travelled, we had read the variety of good and bad reviews and although I had decided to holiday with an open mind, there was always a worry niggling away there.
There was absolutely no need - this hotel is great.

The rooms are spotless ours was cleaned meticulously every day, furniture was even moved and cleaned behind. Any problems were dealt with by reception immediately and attended to with lightening speed (we had a safe with a mind of its own)

The public areas were spotless, and every day there were numerous staff cleaning windows, sweeping up and doing maintenance, the old bloke who did the gardens was there every day, bless him, working his way around the extensive gardens, and they were immaculately kept.

The food, well, what can I say. I am now on a diet thanks to the array of puddings and cakes on offer

I read the bad reviews about this hotel and tried to change our accommodation. I was reassured by First Choice that there was no need to worry. Oh how wrong they are.

Rooms were not clean; our bedding was changed just once during our 2 week stay.

Food is a joke, cold the same food day in day out. Only 2 bars open in the evening, not enough seating and not enough staff. We were waiting at least 30mins for a drink.

Staffs were rude and not interested. Entertainment was a joke.

I would never visit this hotel again. This is a 4* plus, I wouldn