The hotel is immaculate, and all communal public areas are spotless. The rooms are cleaned daily and the pool areas and gardens etc are kept beautiful. The location of the hotel is great, it has everything you need on site, but the shops and promenade which has great designer shops and restaurants is just down the road (2 mins walk). The beach is about a 10 minute walk away, and the surrounding areas are all clean and well presented.

The staff within the hotel are all lovely, and most speak good English. The entertainment staff were also great, but we did have serious reservations for the Panchi Club which is for kids up to 8 years old.

I have to agree with Datrafol s review, some people really do like to jump on the bandwagon when a hotel has garnered unfavourable reviews. This is a relatively new hotel and is bound to have had some initial teething problems, hence the initial poor reviews. But everything is up and running smoothly now and we had an excellent family holiday. The hotel is rated 5 stars and maybe this is part of the problem, as some guests clearly expect it to be Claridges. If you prepare for a notch above a 4 star Canaries hotel you certainly won’t be disappointed. Likewise if you’re a couple expecting an intimate boutique style experience, then you’re going to be disappointed, as this is most definitely a large family orientated hotel, though due to the spaciousness it’s thankfully not too boisterous.

We initially had a problem with our room as there is a miss-match in categories between First Choice and Lopesan. According to FC, the minimum acceptable room for 2 adults and 2 children is a Family Room, however at our time of booking last year their website described this as a Twin4Single. On arrival Lopesan interpreted this as one of their Standard rooms which by FC definition only sleep 2 adults and 1 child. We returned to reception and managed to source a Family Room but had to pay an upgrade fee which we are now reclaiming from FC. So worth checking that your room category states Family Room if you are 2 adults and 2 children.

Anyway, once that was sorted we had a great time. The room was a good size with two king size beds and a sofa bed and the wet room with large bath and excellent shower worked really well. Nice 32’’ LCD TV, but the only English speaking channels were news, so worth taking a portable DVD player to plug into it, particularly if you have children. The loo door is right next to the front door and I had visions of me getting up in the dark and walking into the corridor rather than the toilet, but thankfully that never happened.

The pools are fabulous and not too chilly, in fact the Lodge pool is pleasantly warm and the landscaping around the lazy river pool is terrific. Initially the hotel was fairly full, but there was no problem getting sunbeds. As we approached Easter though the hotel was heaving and I think there were a few complaints about the lack of them as a). the maintenance guys squeezed more in and b). the sunbed police were out in force leaving notes or removing towels and belongings. As we got to Easter weekend it all quietened down again and there was no problem and to be fair I’d imagine this is what it’s like most of the year.

Dining, well we’ve been to Canaries hotels 13 times now and we know a good buffet when we see one and this was definitely good. Although buffet dining is never particularly relaxed, it’s great when you have children as you can get them eating straight away plus it’s a chance to try different things. Breakfast was probably the best, we couldn’t t think of anything that was missing and the Cava was a nice touch, though the bacon is the usual fatty Spanish stuff - they just can’t grow a decent pig, can they? Lunch was fine, though busier than I thought it would be. If you like three meals a day it’s worth taking it with your package, as it’s not much more than HB, whereas the hotel will charge you a rather steep 19 Euros per person.

Dinner was also good with themed evenings and we found the waiter service for drinks to be very prompt, especially from the wonderful Annika, who actually reserved us a table and had our drinks ready in an ice bucket the last few nights. Drinks were very reasonable with a bottle of Vina Sol coming in at 13.50 whereas for one Euro more you could enjoy a Cordorniu 1551 Cava. Large Tropical draught beer was 3.50 and a bottle of Fanta/Sprite/Coke 2.50. I liked the way they’d divided the eating areas so it didn’t seem like a large canteen and the area to the rear was much more peaceful. Timing is everything, as the Mini Club finishes at 8.30pm and a lot of Spanish families seemed to pile in about 10 minutes after that and they can be quite noisy.
They close between 8.00pm and 8.30pm to give them a chance to refresh the tables etc, but we found you could get in about 8.25pm and get a good table. We thought the food and selection at dinner was good, but it was as if the chefs were afraid to use any spice and this was particularly true on curry night, where each curry tasted more like a plain stew. And a warning for parents with boys over 7 years, they enforce a long trouser policy which meant our young children couldn’t t wear the several pairs of three quarter length tailored trousers we’d brought and had to wear the same pair of jeans to dinner for nearly 2 weeks, I’d have been fine with this if we’d known in advance, I’d also have been happier if it were universally applied and not some random selection process according to which entrance you used.

We enjoyed the African theme which carried through to the Dr Livingstone outfits the staff all wear. The bars were good and our boys liked collecting lollies and biscuits from them and they particularly liked the Lodge bar with its large plush Zebras on the sofas. Daytime entertainment was low key, if you’re expecting Iberostar levels of activity you’ll be disappointed, but they were a very friendly bunch. The evening shows were all professional acts (i.e. none done by the staff) which was quite unusual. Quite funny to see Agnetha from the Abba act have a dig at some parents who seemed to think they were Abba & Childcare.

Outside you have a large selection of shops, bars and restaurants (bars outside are more expensive than the hotel) and the walk along the prom is very pleasant. We also spent an afternoon at Lopesan s Costa Meloneras hotel across the road, at which we had an enjoyable stay a few years ago. Quite why this is 4 star and the Baobab 5 star is beyond us, as it probably has more wow factor along with additional facilities like the spa and mini golf (sadly lacking from the Baobab).
We’d thought the Baobab was busy on the approach to Easter, but the CM was absolutely heaving with every inch of its expansive grounds occupied with sunbeds. It’s a lovely hotel though and the infinity pool is stunning (though shame large areas of mosaic were missing) and I’d happily go back.

Trip wise, we did the Friday excursion to Puerto Mogan which entailed a coach to Puerto Rico followed by a boat trip to Mogan. I never thought I’d say a seaside resort in the Canaries had charm, but Puerto Mogan has it in spades with a lovely harbour area and nice little beach. The market is on Fridays and has the usual mix of crafts, tat and fake goods and vendors promising you best price, special price, crazy price etc. We had a quick nose round the Cordial Mogan Playa Hotel (very nice) and a drink at La Bruschetta on the prom, which is worth a stop to be entertained by the crazy waitress from Hackney.

So all in all a reasonably priced comfortable family hotel, with friendly staff in a pleasant resort with (certainly whilst we were there) a nice clientele.
We’d certainly return.

Excellent new hotel, lovely and clean. Our main problem was with the suitability for the British. For instance 70 TV channels in the room, only 3 were English speaking. Every morning we asked for tea at breakfast and 5 out of the 7 times it never arrived. There were a lot of German and Spanish at the hotel that to us (and to another British family we spoke to) were treated a lot better by the hotel staff.
Our view is that it is a 5 star hotel giving 2 star service.