After a gap of ten years we returned to the Esmeralda with trepidation but had nothing at all to worry about.

We requested a lower floor with a view of pool or sea and were allocated room 222 with a sea, pool and mountain view. Rooms were dated but of decent size with good balcony and effective air con. Poor choice of channels on room TV with only BBC world, Sky News and Movies for Men in English. A refundable 10 Euros has to be paid at reception for the remote control.

Food was hot, varied and well cooked with a good choice of salads and fresh fruit.

Entertainment included Snake and Bird Shows plus the usual music and quizzes.

Pool area is vast on several levels with adequate sun beds and shades but is in need of updating.

Hotel is well located close to many bars, shops and restaurants and although close to the beach is in a
relatively quiet area.

We would gladly return to the Esmeralda in the future.

On arrival, pleasantly surprised, clean and spacious public areas and quick and efficient check in. Our room was looking onto a wall on 3rd floor so we asked for a swap and were told to come back the following morning. We did, and got a room on the 5th floor, overlooking the pool and with sea views. Much nicer. Food was good although i personally always get a bit fed up of hotel food when away and there were some nice restuarants nearby (Bentleys on the front,for 2 for price of 1 breakfasts and lovely home-cooked food and The Wigan Arms around the corner,for good quality and value for money food, served by very friendly staff). At both lunch and dinner you had to wait to be seated by the waiter who would then get you drinks, much more civilised than scrambling for a table or clearing tables yourself! Restuarant staff very efficient..they certainly earned their wages. The drinks were good and in the evening we normally started by having drinks outside where there was waiter service...we always tipped a few euros each round and were well looked after. Entertainment staff (Azzu and Andrea) were good and very friendly and got everyone taking part in the activities through the day. We went out at night so can't really comment on evening's entertainment. Harley's pub/diner up the road had a great live band on (KOL etc), and the frozen Pina Colada's were excellent along with the barman's Tom Cruise-esque floor show!
All in all, we would definately go back....nice hotel, fab location, friendly staff, good food and drink. I believe a holiday is what you make it and with this hotel you are onto a good start!

At the Esmeralda in late June / July of this year. Hotel was great. Rooms attended most days by the maids , the bar and restaurant staff always cheery and attentive.Our main gripe was the AI package. There are no snacks during the day other than some "left over" cake from lunch and the ice cream is in small tubs and really for young kids. The drinks are as expected and advertised the local hooch and the rum and vodka were ok but the bar service at night can be slow especially at the end of the 12 hour AI period and the hotel tended to keep a couple of barmen on and let the others gather glasses thus you could be waiting up to 15 mins for any last minute drinks. The food was very repetitive , albeit well cooked and generally pretty good. I think some others complained about both the lack of variety and it's lukewarm condition. I must admit I nevre had any food which wasn't hot and as for the "lack" of variety I don't have an issue with fish , chicken or pork most nights. The veg as per normal in hotels does tend to be a bit mushy if you don't get in there first. All in all I would go back but I would reconsider the AI part , unless they change the package.

Our party was Me (18) my boyfriend (20) my sister (28) my sister's boyfriend (28) my mum (48) My mum's 2 friends (41) & (60) my autie (58)

On arrival at the hotel if you are all inclusive you get your photo taken and it printed to a card which you will have to hand in everytime you get a drink or go for food. We were happy with the rooms as there was plenty of room in the wardrobes, however, the rooms and doubles, so you have a door between 2 rooms, a door on each side, it was ok as there were lots of us so me and my sister got rooms next to each other and had our doors open, very handy if you forget your room key! Obviously the door cant be opened from the other side, only someone in your room can open it. The rooms were cleaned everyday except sunday and the maids always said ohla. The balconies were tiny, not big enough for sunbathing but there's a small plastic table and chairs out there so you can watch the sunset. The shower and bath working well and nicely clean and modern.

One thing that we didn't like was every now and again all the electric would turn off, or the water would go off, when we ring reception they say they are dealing with it. i heard people saying it was nothing to do with the hotel though, it was problems out of thier control, and it was never off for more than 30 minutes, very annoying if your in the middle of a shower though and the water goes off.

The food was rubbish, but i am a very picky eater and have stayed at Calendonia park twice before and can say Esmeralda's food was better, but i think all 3/4* hotels in tenerife have the same types of food. they always have chips, some night's i just had a plate of chips and looked forward to having meals out! We normally went for breakfast on the promenade near the beach. Lunch times were the best, it's an outdoor area where you eat and the food tended to be better so i filled up at lunch as the food at dinner time wasn't so good.

The animation team were brilliant. whilst entertaining the children they made the adults feel welcome and got them to join in. The hotel is non smoking (although they still put ash trays on the table with no smoking signs in them!) so if your smokers be prepared to sit outside by the pool, you can't really hear the entertainment as it's not near the outside. There are pool tables outside so we just played pool and watched the entertainment on occasions. The bar staff very friendly and gave you the time of day. We tip well so we got a really good service. You'd be surprised how far a couple of Euros gets you. They were always at the table with fresh drinks and often remembered what you were drinking so you didn't even have to go to the bar. The were very chatty and even learned me a bit of spanish when i asked!

On a whole the hotel is fantastic. My autie had a bad accident scuba diving whilst on a trip. me and my sister and our boyfriends hadn't gone on the trip with them So when we found out about the accident we asked the girl a reception to help, They were very helpful in helping us contact the hospital and one of the team who spoke english even offered to translate whenever we needed it.

I would highly reccomend any one going to tenerife to visit Siam Park, Loro Park, and go on the Jet Blaster. You will get to see all the attractions when you get there as a lot of people offer you them on the street. I would advise not to book with the tourist operater as they over charge, go with the touts, but find one that has a shop, get prices, go away and think about it. We got offered to go on the Jet blaster for 50 Euros by tourist operators, with the touts it was just 12 euros. We went on a lot of trips and booked all with the same shop, so we got a discount. We dont think Aqua land is worth visiting as it's all salt water, where as siam park is clhorinated water so it's much better. There is a wave pool in siam park that is a must! it's an artificial beach and like a sea. every hour the waves come out and a 30 foot + wave comes for you. its Brilliant, we all loved it and were amazed as we didn't expect it.

BE WARNED: There are touts who give away scratch cards and you win, they then say they will take you to get your prize and you go in a taxi, or thier car to a centre where they don't let you leave until you sign up. They are everywhere, and once i told one of them to Leave me alone and stop trying to scam me, so he told the other one to "smack me" and then followed us up the beach and threatened to put blocks on our feet and throw us in the sea! We told the police, as they're illegal in what they do anyway, but it really scared me and my sister. The police were very helpful and moved them on. we didn't see them again. One good tip to remember though is you have to be British for them to be able to scam you, so the first thing they ask is "are you british?" so just answer with French or Dutch or something, they just apologise for bothering you and move on.

If your up for a good night of partying go up to the patch, it costs about 10 euros in taxi and is 5 minutes walk from the famous veronicas. The bar we always revisit is the full monty bar. they have an amazing jamaican "lucky man" DJ who is really talented and can really entertain. there is also another comendian/DJ, its a really good night. we always make sure we go up there at least one night on our stay.

There's loads of places to shop. There's a Mango outlet in san euginio shopping centre, they have some gorgeous clothes! Torviscas market is on on Thursday, it's good you can pick up all your souvineers and bargains. It's only about 15 minute walk from the hotel.

I'd recomend the Idian just down the road from the hotel, i forgot what it's called, there's an all you can eat chinese on the corner and you walk down the side of it and there's an idian restaurant, you won't miss it as there's a little old man near to the chinese giving out menus. the food is amazing and it's really cheap! If one day your sick of Tenerife food and just want a taste of home there's a macdonalds 5 minutes walk away and a burger king 10 minutes walk away. i went a couple of times when I really could cope with another night of hotel food.

I would highly reccomend Tenerife and Hotel Esmeralda. The only reason we're not returning to that hotel this year is because it's changed it's board to self catering only now. we always go all inclusive so we've chosen Hotel Isla Bonita this year. i hope it's as good as Esmeralda. Happy holidays!! :-)xx

The entrance, reception and lounge areas to this hotel are very impressive with all of its marble work. The room was clean, comfortable, air conditioned and well presented. A couple of cracked tiles in the bathroom, but nothing to spoil our holiday. Although our room was to the rear of the hotel, we still had a good view of the sea, pool area and the mountains. The restaurant had a choice of hot or cold food, with show cooking and choice of desserts. The staff were very friendly helpful and efficient, with no evidence of favouring paying customers over the all inclusive as stated in other reviews. There was plenty of sun loungers and parasols by the 3 pools. A good entertainment program was provided during the day, but the evening entertainment was probably not to everyone's taste. The hotel is in a good location, just a few minutes walk to the Toriviscas beach, with many restaurants, bars and shops close by. A very good hotel which contributed to a very enjoyable holiday.

The hotel Esmeralda Playa was very nice. The Hotel was lovely and clean. The food was excellent loads of choice and hot. Location was excellent you could see the sea from our room and from the outdoor eating area, and from the reception it was amazing. Staff all very polite especially restaurant staff and bar staff. Entertainment rather poor I would say, but the Hotel had a lot of older people staying there so i think it catered for them to a certain extent. I would not take a family there especially teenagers as they would be bored, it was ok for very young children but I think if you were looking to keep the kids entertained you would need to go elsewhere. The Hotel was very relaxed we were all inclusive and had no problem in getting drinks also no problem in racing down the pool to get sunbeds either. Each pair of sunbeds had their own parasol which in that heat was brilliant. Maid came in everyday to clean. All in all i would say this is a good hotel, yes it does need refurbishment in some places but that can be overlooked as it made up for that in other ways.

Upon arrival we waited for 20 mins in reception while the staff talked amongst themselves, we were eventually allocated 2 rooms.
The rooms had been cleaned but still looked dirty the bathroom was very old and tired looking with a mouldy ceiling. One of the bedroom spolights was hanging off the wall with bare wires showing.

Unfortunately we had arrived in time for evening meal which was a disappointment to say the least. The food was luke warm and the selection was terrible. Take a warning if you are not first down to dinner the bread roll on your table may have been there from the previous guests.

The staff were unfriendly and made you feel like everything was a problem or too much to do.

The best part of the stay at the Esmerelda was on the third day when we had ourselves transfered to another hotel.

Very lovely hotel in an excellent place. This was my 4th visit to tenerife and have stayed in the same area every time. The first night we got to the hotel we were allocated our rooms very quick and were very impressed with the service, However when my partner and I walked into our room there was already somebody sleeping in our bed. I was a bit taken back as I have never experienced this before. We went to reception to see why this had happened but they did not really help much and said that we had to stay in another room just for that night until they got it sorted. After a VERY long journey this was the last thing we needed.

That was fine though as at least we had somewhere to stay, but the room was tiny and we knew we couldnt settle as we had to be moved again. We went back to reception in the morning and they allocated us a room again. Finally we could rest and get unpacked.

As we wasnt leaving until late on the last Friday of our holiday we asked our rep if we could keep the room on an extra day as a gesture of good will for the trouble but she told us that the hotel were not prepared to sort anything like that out for us and to just fill in a complaint form when we got home.

All in all this was a really nice hotel and I understand mistakes happen, it was just the fact that nobody seemed bothered that it happened. That said I would return to this hotel hoping that this was just a one off mistake. As on speaking to the couple we walked in on they told us that it was the 2nd time they had been walked in on that week.

Upon arrival thought this hotel looked fab.

At reception we found out that our room had been allocated on the top floor right at the back of the hotel which wasnt served by the lift, but this wasnt a big deal. Went up to the room every thing seemed okay. It was a little old fashioned and could have done with a lick of paint but other than that everything seemed fine.

We went to reception to ask about the TV which was supposed to be in our room and was told to come back tomorrow. When we got back to the room we found out why we didnt have a tv, the socket in the wall was hanging off with all the wires hanging out and also there was water dripping from a hole in the ceiling which I thought was very dangerous especially as there were wires hanging out of the wall! The lighting in the room was very dim and 1 of the bedside lamps didnt work. Another thing wrong with the room was that there was a nail sticking out of the floor to stop the door from banging into the wardrobe and also our room was part of an interconnecting room which I didnt like as all that was seperating our room from our neighbours was a door!

To use the fridge in the room you need to obtain a key from reception, I went to ask at reception and again I was told to come back tomorrow. Went back the next day and was given 2 keys as they were unsure which one worked. After opening the fridge we found that it didnt work and the inside was all mouldy. Went back down to reception and they said they would send someone up to fix it later on (which they did, probably got sick of seeing my face!)

On to some of the better things, the food in the hotel was quite nice, breakfasts were lovely although the bacon and sausage werent too good but there was a great selection, fried, cereals, pastries, fruit etc. Evening meals were nice, catered for everbody, and also the restaurant staff were very friendly.

The hotel was located in a lovely area and close to the beach. The hotel has its own entertainment team but during the day all they ever seemed to do was ping-pong! There was also entertainment at night but we never saw any of it.

The hotel catered mostly for its German guests (but was funny when the entertainment staff played I am the music man!)

We wouldnt recommend this hotel to anyone British as it is not catered towards us.

The hotel is really nice and food very good.

The staff very friendly in restaurant great selection for breakfast, ok not the best bacon or sausage, but there are cereals toast fresh fruit, juices etc we were all inclusive lunch was great. Plenty to choose from salads, hot meals usually 4 choices hot and various soups every day and were very nice, sweets again plenty to choose from. Evening meal again good with a chef cooking on a hot plate every night steak fish chops etc.. The only down side to the food was no snacks during the day so if you missed breakfast you had to wait till 1pm for something to eat which for me was ok but the kids !!!!

The bar staff are not the friendly type and make you feel like your are putting them to a lot of trouble asking for a drink which I don