First impression absolutely perfect.

We discover a 25sqm bedroom with a huge bed , perfect bathroom and balcony looking on Fuerteventura very far away!

The food is for all tastes and if you like fish it's fabulous. We stayed here for two weeks and found something new every meal time. You can have smoked salmon for breakfast if you like.

This was our fourth visit to this hotel with two friends food as usual was excellent. Though word of caution it was the start of school holidays this could be annoying to those who like a quiet holiday I recommend that you hire a car either at the airport or the resort.

The Hotel is approx. 3 miles from playa Blanca though there is a bus outside the hotel to the resort centre and the taxi was £3.50.

I was a bit on edge would our friends like the complex and food well the good news is they have booked for 2weeks May 2012 and we have also booked for next May.

Everyone knows that first impressions are extremely important. It is a pity therefore that our first impression of the Rubicon Palace in Lanzarote was rather negative.

With a little effort this could be a fairly good hotel even if there is no way it could compete with hotels of a similar class outside of the Canary Islands.

To start with we were allocated a room that overlooked a car park, with views of cement mixer building materials and three rubbish skips. We were extremely disappointed as this was a special anniversary trip so we asked for a different room. We were told that the hotel was full and the manager was busy; but when we persisted, a room was finally found. Quite a nice room really if a little old fashioned, but acceptable had this been provided without a dispute. There was no offer of help with our cases and we found out later that there was transport around the hotel which no-one bothered to mention at check in.

The room:
Well, there was no bathroom fan: the safe needed new batteries which took two visits by maintenance (Reception said they were very busy and it would take 2 hours) and I wondered why I bothered anyway as the hotel refused liability. There were no tea/coffee making facilities and everyone does not want to walk to the main hotel for a cup of coffee. The fridge cost 3 euros a day if we wanted to keep our bottled water cool. We wondered who was walking around in boots upstairs at all hours and felt that it may have been the same for people beneath us.

Insulation seemed to be at a minimum and noise a maximum.
The maid was excellent apart from knocking on the door at 8.45 one day: a time I do not normally recognise when on holiday.

The dining room:
A large room with tables packed like sardines so that it was not always easy to walk between them. It looked good and the food was varied and not too bad if you chose well. It was a shame that warm food managed to cool and congeal on the warming plates after a few moments and bacon was either incredibly greasy or consisted of small piles of tough solid layers. Hot food at the carvery was quite reasonable.

Coffee and tea were a nightmare. There was only one machine and there were always long queues at breakfast. There were thermos flasks on the table but the coffee was usually lukewarm. And what a clever idea to warm the butter under hot lights so that it dripped from the wrapper!

But the biggest problem was the noise. There were no soft furnishings to deaden the noise of a few hundred diners and the waiters seemed to delight in vying with each other to see who could make the most noise. Crockery was thrown into plastic bins, noisily dumped on a trolley with square wheels and rumbled and rattled to the kitchen, to reappear washed and ready to be dumped at the service stations. Cutlery was thrown into bins with a resounding crash from sacks a foot or so above the plastic container. Knives, forks and spoons were sorted by the simple expedient of throwing them as hard as possible into the relevant container. It was hell if you sat close to these stations and with three of them it was impossible not to be affected wherever you sat.

Bread is normally cut with a bread knife but sometimes a serrated cleaver was supplied. This was useless.

The staff were friendly and seemed busy but were loath to actually do anything constructive, sometimes removing plates and cutlery after the first course but never thinking of providing cutlery for the next. And often they did not even do that and dirty plates littered the table until we removed them ourselves.

There were no towels or hand dryer in the men’s toilet outside the restaurant whilst we were there, In spite of reporting it to staff who promised to take care of it nothing happened.

Location:
The hotel was situated quite a way from the main town so unless you took a taxi, a night in the town was not too easy. The grounds were well kept and quite the best feature of the hotel although they turned off the picturesque waterfalls during our second week. We never found out why.

The hotel complex was surrounded by ugly wire fences that served no purpose other than to irritate.

Our room was at the far end of the hotel and it would have been nice to park close to it. Only two entrances were ever open: the hotel foyer and a gate at the rear leading to the promenade. All other gates were locked. The one at the end of the grounds near our room was only opened for hotel cars so we had to walk the full length of the hotel every time. We were told the gates and the fence was for our security although as the rear gate was never locked and there was a hole in the front fencing this seemed rather doubtful. In any case we did not notice any security personnel.

Entertainment:
In general pretty poor, although the Mongolian troupes were quite good but the magician depended too much on low lights and the scattering of confetti. However I did enjoy his one man levitation effect. The children’s entertainment was frantic and geared towards seven year olds. The entertainment team put their backs into it but it did not finish till about 10 pm thus rendering the room uninhabitable for those without children. This may have been the reason it was almost impossible to find a seat in the piano bar.

Conclusion:
This all sounds rather petty in the cold light of day but the excessive noise and the many relatively minor irritations ruined the holiday. There is nothing really wrong with the basic hotel that a little attention to detail would not solve. For example all gates could be opened during the day. Dirty crockery could be removed directly to the kitchen and management could be available to talk to customers to find out first hand what they wanted. A computerised form with tick boxes only serves to give lip service to the idea of customer feedback.

So to answer the question would I return to this hotel? A resounding NO! And I would be very dubious about the H10 chain. Once bitten, twice shy!

But of course we can dine out for a long time on the tale of the Rubicon Palace. Especially with photos and recordings!

Okay then - where shall I start... Booked independently - First Choice & Thomson travel here - I booked Monarch for flights & direct with the hotel (Paula) - Saved £500.00 against the holiday companies and that was including upgrading to Privilege package.

The hotel is immaculate - beautiful grounds, although a large hotel you never feel like it is full.

The gardeners are working all day every day and the grounds are spotless. We spent every day by the kid’s pool and never once had to reserve a sunbed, bliss!

The kids club was amazing, our 4 & 8 year old would have gone from 10am to 7pm if we had let them but we did let them go every day for a few hours, it is the first holiday since the children arrived that we have lay on a sun lounger and relaxed! The kids club was amazing, never used one before but I would use this one every year!

The hotel food was beautiful for us, we upgraded before we went ( which is cheaper I believe) to a privilege package, so worth it, choice of bottle of wine, branded beer, spirits & soft drinks. Waiter service in the A La Carte restaurant every breakfast and evening meal which made you feel like you wasn't in an all-inclusive resort, our own table for the week. We used the main buffet restaurants for some lunches and they were fine too.

The hotel location was on the promenade, a very good walk into Playa Blanca but too be honest, we only went once as the hotel had everything we needed. The hotel staff from the cleaners to the management were brilliant, all polite & professional.

The entertainment was good we thought, the kids loved the mini disco and we enjoyed watching them dance & have fun. The show's were sometimes excellent and other times average but a lot is down to the audience and I think we were very lucky as everyone joined in and seemed to enjoy it!
This was our best holiday since having children, go there and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

My family and I stayed for a week at the Rubicon Palace hotel, Playa Blanca from the 20th February 2011, the week of half term. There were 7 of us with ages from 10 to 84!

With such a large age range it was always going to be difficult to find an hotel to suite everyone, but the Rubicon did just that in every possible respect. In the first instance I asked for specific accommodation to fit my disabilities which, despite the hotel being full, was provided.

This very large hotel is exceptionally well run, with quite the best and most experienced and caring staff I have ever come across.

The choice of well prepared food was extensive at each meal and All Inclusive meant exactly that! The area surrounding the pools is extensive. The main pool area is around the bar/restaurant and is lively! As we arrived the pool was being re-filled after some major repairs. Had I been on my own I would have chosen to sit elsewhere but the young enjoyed the buzz.

The only problem we had was check-in on arrival as two coaches arrived at the same time, but reception staff worked with a will and a smile. Every area of the hotel was kept spotlessly clean and empty plates and glasses were constantly cleared away.

I can not speak personally about the entertainments, but my youngsters enjoyed them, especially football in the pool. The pool tables also well used.

Being unable to walk far I considered taking my electric buggie but it would have caused many problems. Online I found Island Mobility, who hire out an extensive range of aids. The hotel has plenty of ramps and lifts that make it possible to reach almost every part of the complex, including getting onto the promenade.

The promenade runs both ways along the coast, to Playa Blanca one way and a lighthouse in the other. The furthest we went was to a small man-made sandy beach about half way to Plays Blanca. The youngsters enjoyed swimming and snorkelling here and with a ramp down to a platform I could drive my buggie close enough to watch them.

We have just returned from our weeks stay at the Rubicon Palace and it was fantastic. The hotel is spotless clean, our room was spacious and all the staff were very friendly and worked really hard.

We didn't upgrade our food and drink package to privilege which cost 20 euros each a day because we didn't think it was worth it. We ate in the main restaurant 6 nights of our stay and the food was very good quality, enjoyable and the choice is huge. Even my husband thought it was good and he is a very fussy eater, I cannot see how anybody can complain about it or not be able to find something enjoyable to eat. There was plenty to choose from off the buffet and there are chefs preparing pizza, pasta in your choice of sauce, steaks and Chinese food. The breakfasts were very good too, freshly prepared omelettes, pancakes and fruit smoothies. The buffet choice was huge, hot and cold food, fruit, yoghurts, cereal and crust bread. All guests can eat in the Italian restaurant one night of their stay but this was not advertised in the hotel and you have to book a table at reception. We didn't think the food was that good and our drinks were not included even though we were all inclusive. The drinks were also very good and most were branded drinks not local copies. Proper cocktails were not include unless you upgraded to privilege but you can buy them for 4 euros each which is what we did and they were worth the money. We liked the fact that we had a choice of places to go for a drink on an evening, there is the Piano bar, the main entertainment area, the Beefeater pub and the pool bar during the day.
We really enjoyed our stay and would stay here again.

I found this hotel appalling, the food was cold, the rooms were in need of decoration, and the lifts were constantly broken which is a pain when we were a group with 4 children under the age of 2.

Stayed here six years ago and enjoyed it but this time was even better. Whole family had a wonderful time. Ignore comments about food not being up to scratch. It is as good as any we've had in Mexico/St Lucia/Jamaica etc. Staff could not have made us more welcome and the entertainment team were excellent, very funny. Don't go this hotel for nightlife etc, it is a great place to chill. Also, highly recommend the hotel diving school, Dawn Divers. Rubicon Palace has something for everyone - try it!

considering this is a part of an international group of hotels it was very poor the reception area was very good but the rest of the holiday was not.the location is very far away from the town centre and no courtesy bus.the food was always cold in fact a microwave is available in the dining room to heat up the food for your self ,the towels provided were old and worn,the rooms very tired and neded decorating.never again in this particular hotel.

Just returned from a lovely holiday at the Rubicon Palace. In a nutshell I'd recommend this hotel for anyone considering it and i'd certainly return again.

Here are a few comments i'd make in general;
Reception was very busy and took us at least 20 mins to get checked in and anytime you went there you were queuing!

The hotel is located about 2 kms from the centre of Playa Blanca in a very quiet region so you're a bit away from the shops, supermarket etc although there are regular buses and taxis. i didn't use the bus but a taxi was about