The location of the hotel is good. Opposite the market and the beach, bang in the middle of the resort facilities.

Pool is excellent, plenty of sunbeds available. Communal areas are quite grand.

Food good, really nice selection.

What lets the hotel down are the rooms which are tired, and a bit dark and dingy for a 4 star.

Make sure you get what you ask for at the bar as well!

All in all though, the hotel has a nice feel, and they have started to update it now.

I think many people pick far to much as to what they want to get out of a hotel - if you want a luxurious, relaxing stay where you are treated like royalty, lets be honest, Tenerife isn't the place. Try a cruise or the Caribbean. However, if you are young, or young at heart, then Tenerife is the place.

The hotel is lovely, people are there to have fun and enjoy their stay. Kids and adults would love this hotel, it has everything you could want, especially in high season.

It is a fun hotel with nice food and close to all the amenities. A bonus feature is that by being out of the centre of Las Americas, you are away from all the rabble, unless you want to find it!

Go here, you'll love it.

We had been in Tenerife last year and liked the look of the Esmeralda and decided to book for this year. The location was perfect for those who don't want to walk very far for entertainment, meals, shopping etc. The market is a couple of minutes from the hotel so is ideal for those who like a bargain.

The hotel reception areas were always spotlessly clean including the toilet areas both inside and at the poolside. We never had any problems getting a sunlounger no matter what time of day.

This was our first half board holiday as we usually do self catering but we were impressed with the choice and standard of the food and didn't eat out apart from a sandwich for lunch. I had read the reviews of this hotel after I booked and was not expecting the food to be very good and was prepared to eat out if necessary.

The hotel room was smaller than we expected but we usually have an apartment so expect this is normal. The room was cleaned and we had fresh towels every day. The room was spotless but we felt it was probably not quite 4 star and could do with a facelift.

I cannot really comment on the entertainment as we went out every night. There was something to take part in every day by the poolside for both adults and kids (we were too lazy) and every night we heard the kids entertainment and they seemed to be having a ball. Some nights when we came in we had a look to see what was on and it always seemed to be packed and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. We found a few bars with live music near the market so spent most nights down there.

We would definitely return to this hotel.

We had no complaints about the food - plenty of choice everyday. Wonderful lunches outside on the shaded patio. Excellent waiter service day and night.

The hotel was spotless in both public areas and in bedrooms. Clean towels every day. Never a fight for a sun bed and the three pools were cleaned daily.

Hotel is only 5 minute stroll to beach and twice weekly market. Never queued for a drink day or night, and the Bar staff were polite, friendly and a good laugh and thought nothing of joining in the dancing etc. entertainments team worked hard.

My daughter (aged 12) was entertained all day and all evening - darts - pool - boules - tennis - volleyball - water polo - various fiesta games, and won countless tee shirts and certificates. Evening entertainment not great but with free drinks and a lovely area to sit in who really cares?

We had parrot show, snake show, profesional dance acts etc plus a couple of in house shows to which we got dragged up to make fools of ourselves.

Worth every penny (book through holidaymed - loads cheaper.

After reading all the bad reviews about this hotel I was a little aprehensive. I think some people have used this web site to complain rather give a review. So heres my review in the defence of the hotel.

My husband and I (37, 34) stayed at the Esmeralda in April 2005 and found the hotel to be spotlessly clean. Upon arriving at the hotel its entrance is very swanky with a long marble entrance and marbled floored reception. Many aspects of the hotel are of 4 star quality. The rooms are clean, fairly spacious and are very similar to a room what you would expect from a Travel Inn or Travel Lodge except you have added bonus of tiled floors and a balcony. They have twin beds, dressing table, mirror, bedside cabinets, hair dryer, chairs, large sliding door wardrobe with drawers and safe (2 euros a day) etc etc. plus a fridge what you are expected to pay for at a cost of 2 euros a day. The bathroom is tiled floor to ceiling, good sized bath and shower - with constant hot water.

The rooms were cleaned daily and bedding and towels changed daily.

The pool area was always clean as was the pool. Plenty of sunbeds and mattresses.

Entertainment was provided everyday and evening, geared at the older end through the day but from what I saw the evening entertainment was geared at both ends, but this was april and kids should be at school. Inside the hotel (badly signposted as the toilets!) was a gym/fitness room, squash court, pool tables, arcade games etc and a childrens room geared out with toys such as little tykes slides etc.

Outside was a tennis court, volley ball court and possibly a 5 a side court.

The balconies to one side of the hotel (tennis court side)gave a clear view of the sea and probably the best side to be on as the evening sun would be on your balcony.

My first impression of the food was a little poor but got better each day (but each to their own). It was a little cold some days but I dont think you can expect anything else from a buffett.

At breakfast there was an english breakfast with a chef within the restaurant frying eggs. Plus there was an oven in the restaurant which baked croissants and pastires contstanly. Plus ther was a choice of the usual continental food. Plus all the usual cereals, fruit and yogurts. constant tea and coffee and fruit juices.

Please note - If you are half board you have the choice, and can alternate this to have either lunch or dinner.

On the whole I liked the hotel and would probably come again. The location is spot on. I was under the impression that with the hotel being 2km out of the town centre that we would be out on a limb. The hotel is situated within 200m of a very long stretch of bars, restaurants, shops etc etc. the choice is imense.

The market (thursday and poss saturday) and beach is just over the road. There are several bus stops outside the hotel with timetables as is a taxi rank.

A taxi to the hotel from the airport should cost no more than 25 euros. A taxi to Los Christianos (far end near to the market) will cost 5 euros.

Hope you enjoy

Visited half term week with grandaughter aged 6yrs. No entertainment for children. Although price was hiked up for this week. Hotel should be honest and not take children bookings.

All Inclusive was a joke, treated like second class citizens. No ice cream after 6pm!!!!!. Lower grade drinks including wine.

Hotel staff very rude especially if you were all inclusive. Restaurant staff very power crazy.
Entertainment did not start until 9.30pm for older clientele.

My advice do not take children, do not go all inclusive,
do not go if you are unable to climb stairs as only 1 lift works at a time.

The hotel was kept pretty clean and the reception area was very nice. However, the rooms could do with some maintenance work!

The food was horrendous!! We arrived on New Years eve for the gala meal and were not given two of the courses. We did not get to the hotel until the evening because of late flights and were told that they were serving until 22.30, but we went down at 21.30 and were spoken to very rudely by the restaurant staff who said we should have been there earlier and would not listen to us when we tried to explain that we were still on a plane when they started serving!

The food that we did get was cold and this was the case every other time we ate at the hotel. The breakfasts were the worst, definately not worthy of the hotels 4* rating and they literally took everything away dead on 10am!

We have stayed in a few 4* hotels in tenerife and the staff here are the rudest we have come across by far. I cannot speak Spanish, but rolling your eyes at someone when they ask a question is universally rude!

The location of this hotel is very good and i will be returning to this part of Tenerife again, but definately not staying at this hotel!

The location of this hotel was fantastic, just a few minutes walk to the beach. Guests who stay at this hotel were generally older couples, who often frowned upon families who make a little noise!! This was reflected by the entertainment that was put on in the evenings (never was any good at doing the waltz!!).

Bingo was an absolute nightmare (5 different languages) took an age to get through it. There is no care club or entertainment for the kids, we usually went out in an evening to other hotels that catered for families (cost a fortune in taxis though!!). The majority of the hotel guests were either German or Dutch (few english). The pools were kept very clean but absolutely freezing cold, too cold to swim. One of the pools was meant to be heated, not sure which one this was as they were all too cold!

Food was OK, sometimes a little cold, I'm a fussy eater anyway but there was always something that suited my taste.

The hotel rooms were OK, we had a sea view which was fantastic, the room we had also had a seperate bedroom, according to the floor map our room was much bigger than the other rooms (end room). Rooms overall needed updating, air conditioning never worked throughout the whole holiday!

Overall, the hotel was very clean, and maintained to a reasonable standard. I would not stay here again, purely & simply because they DO NOT cater for families, this hotel would be fine for older couples looking for a nice relaxing holiday (with no noise!).

I had to write this for anyone going to this hotel who is worried by reading the other reports.

This hotel first of all is very clean, the staff can't do enough to help you and the food has a large choice and is not cold. I over looked the air-conditioning pipes although no noise came from there and it didn

We were at the hotel for a week over New Year and had an excellent holiday - were really pleased with the location of the hotel, the cleanliness, rooms & linen were spotless. The worst thing was the slowness of the lifts, as one was being upgraded. (Although it was good exercise for us to walk up the stairs after all that food!)

Reading the previous comment about the New Year's Eve Dinner, the service was a bit slow, but the staff were feeding about 500 people in one go. No mean feat!! In general, we thought the food could have been hotter, but there was an excellent choice at all meals.

The staff took a bit of getting used to - at first we thought some of the bar staff were a bit off-hand, but when we took the trouble to speak to them (& smile!!) they were great. They worked so hard & many guests seemed to treat them in a discourteous manner, so no wonder they were not always sweetness & light!

The pool area was good - tho many guests seemed to sneak down at dawn & reserve the beds in the sunniest spots. (There was a sign asking you not to do this.)

The entertainment staff worked very hard, but we weren't really into that sort of thing.

All in all, a good value hotel in an excellent location - would definitely go back.