GF VICTORIA — Hotel in Adeje

I highly recommend this hotel and had a fantastic stay! It has many different swimming pools (Aquapark, naturist, see-through, for adults, for kids) and many free activities (tennis, ping-pong, paddle tennis, squash, mini golf, fitness etc.). The rooms are big and beautiful, ours had 2 bathrooms, 2 TVs, a big balcony etc. The bed is big and confortable and there's a pillow menu to choose from. The (public) beach is about 5-10min away on foot. The beach is quite nice and has huge waves. At the beach, 2 sunbeds+1umbrella cost approximately 20 euros. At the hotel, there are plenty of sunbeds and umbrellas around the various pools. The hotel provides swimming pool towels (we can change them as often as we want), a bag and slippers. The hotel is very clean and safe (I felt safe leaving my bag in public areas, knowing nothing would get stolen).

We had the half-board option and loved it. The breakfast buffet is amazing. It had a customized omelette station, customized fruit juice station, different types of milk (soja, almond, rice etc.), a donut wall, crepes, fruits, delicious pastries etc etc etc. The dinner was Incredible as well. It has a plancha station where they make fish or meat on request. There's also a salad bar, de cheese bar, salami bar, an italian corner (which was absolutely delicious ! You guys are very talented cooks, this was definitely our favourite station). The menus are different every day and there is a looooot of choice.

People staying with kids will love the aquapark and many many activities designed for kids and teenagers. Adults will love the fact that there are several "adult-only" sections in the hotel (3 swimming pools as well as special seating areas in the restaurant). I also loved that there were some adult areas with music and others without, so it was quieter to read.

What makes this amazing hotel go from "5" to "5 Grand Luxe" is its amazing staff. Everybody is so kind and helpful. Special mention for the housekeeping staff and the buffet staff who were incredible ! Despite it being a huge hotel, the service is personalized, the staff remembers you and is really going the extra mile to make your stay even nicer ! Special thanks to Angel (at the entrance of the breakfast buffet) for being so kind and flexible (I'm the lady with the brother who never got up on time for breakfast), you really made a big positive difference in our stay !! Many thanks too to Rafaele, the waiter at the buffet, who is incredibly kind and has the sweetest smile ! Norma, our main housekeeper (room 408) was also incredibly sweet and is simply one of the kindest people I've ever met ! Also, last but not least, special thanks to the cook Mateo (I'm the lady who loved shrimps) for being an incredibly talented cook (these were the best shrimps I've ever had !!) and such a kind and generous person. Seriously, whatever this guy is making, he should be getting a HUGE raise because he's the best of the best!! That's just to name a few of the staff members, but seriously, everybody's fantastic !

There is however one aspect that I find insufficiant: the animation/entertainment program. The evening shows are really not good at all. I tried to go several evenings but it was really lame. Also, the volume on the Disney show was much too loud, many people were covering their ears. The daily activity program was problematic. A lot of the afternoon activities simply did not happen, on several different days, despite having signed up for them. Also, when the activities did happen, they would often last only for 20min instead of the 35 written in the program. And honestly, the teachers need better training because they really weren't good quality lessons (I don't want to name names but I tried several different activities with several different trainers and it's a generalized issue).

There are also a few small things that could be put in place to make the hotel even better : Please, please, please change your tes brand. Lipton is the most tasteless brand there is, and definitely not...

Wonderful brand new hotel in amazing place

Pros: • We were very pleased how Danisa Alvarez (Guest relations agent) arranged room decoration for our 10 year anniversary: congratulation banner, helium balloons, petals, a bottle of Cava sparkling wine, chocolate strawberries and gorgeous bouquet of roses, which staid fresh all 4 days of our vacation • Danisa also arranged a room for us on the 5th floor with beautiful sea view, so we were happy to enjoy beautifully sunsets right from the balcony • Layout design of the room, its interior and equipment are nice and functional • Very practical LED-illumination in wardrobes • Huge balcony with cozy furniture • Mini kitchen in the room with sink and microwave • Two independent air conditioners in the room • Bathrobes not only for adults but also for kids • Mail from hotel administration (with reminders and tips) is delivered to a room • Towels are freely available at swimming pools and it’s allowed to take them to a beach • Spacious well-equipped miniclub • Good aquatic park • Proximity of the beach • Nice hotel add on YouTube

Cons: • Smoking on balconies is not prohibited. We suffered from smoking neighbors, while trying to relax on our balcony. • Smoking in family pool area is not prohibited. Middle age couple bravely started smoking just in front of our sunbeds where small kids were playing. • Connection process to WiFi in the room should not be so tricky • Queue near the entrance of main restaurant. We had to wait until waiter escorts other customers to their table and comes back to restaurant entrance to serve us. If this process is dictated by hotel rules, then there should be more waiters at the entrance of the restaurant to escort customers quickly. Or just let customers come in and then ask for room number, when offering beverages. • Unprofessional waiters in the main restaurant. We were not given wine list on a diner. Dirty dishes were not taken away from our table timely. • Waiters couldn't manage with their duties in the main restaurant. Process change or headcount increase needed. • It was not possible to get tea or coffee by yourself on a breakfast. We had to catch a waiter and order it from him/her even if tea and coffee are free of charge on a breakfast. • Water is not free on a diner • Kids buffet was not healthy and had poor quality • Dishes in the main restaurant were not labelled, so it’s hard to identify what was cooked. • Maid did not take away dirty dishes from sink but just rinsed them and left in mini kitchen • Weird shape of pillows in the room • Poor signage in the hotel. We did not take a map and spent some time getting to aquatic park, running from one floor to another. • Lack of sunbeds in aquatic park area • Bidet instead of bidet shower in the toilet • Low quality kids animation in evenings • Hotel rules are not given properly to customers. There is “18+” sign on the swimming pool at Sky bar (5th floor) but not at bar entrance. One afternoon we came to the place with two small kids and barman received an order from us for food and drinks. He did not point out that it’s not allowed to be at Sky bar area with kids. While we were waiting for our order, some GF Hotel representative came to the Sky bar with two customers, showing them facilities. Suddenly she noticed our family, became very astonished and told us in quite impolite way that we are not allowed to be here because of kids. Like we were there with crocodiles! Our relaxed mood was ruined by such unacceptable behavior of GF Hotel representative. We expressed our resentment and she “let us stay” just for this time. It seemed that GF Hotel representative does not base in Victoria Hotel but just came here for some reason. She called a person from Victoria Hotel administration (don’t know why?) who talked to us in more polite way. Anyway our rest that day...

We just finished a two week stay at GF Victoria, staying in one of their Harmony Suites. Our basis was Half Board. Overall we had a fantastic time and would be happy to return again.

Our room on the 4th floor was was fabulous, and we had a fantastic view of the family pool and the sea.

The buffet food at Breakfast and Dinner was of a high quality, with a large amount of choice each evening. After a week it got a little repetitive, and we ate out for dinner a few times in the second week, but I can't fault the hotel because of this, we just fancied a bit more variety and to explore the area in the evening.

Pools are brilliant, super clean and never had an issue getting a lounger even when the hotel got very busy towards the end of our stay. It took us a while to work out that "Sunbed Service" around the pools requires you you to either flag down a passing waiter, or note the number on your lounger table and order from the bar. Over the first couple of days we were confused about how to order drinks, and none of the staff stopped to ask us if we wanted a drink. We found they didn't approach you, and you had to catch their eye or wave them over. That was slightly disappointing. I'm unsure why the ordering of drinks to a table or lounger cannot be done via an App, as in other 5 star hotels. The thing the hotel calls an app is really just a mobile website where you can view the drinks and food menu.

Service from staff is mainly impeccable. They can not do enough for you. Everyone from the reception staff, to the bar staff, to the waiters in the buffet, to the hotel cleaning staff - made us feel welcome and always had a smile, and treated our young daughter really nicely.

The shop inside the hotel is very useful. It's only small but it has pretty much everything you need including kids toys, snacks, drinks and things like nappies/wipes. The prices are slightly high, but if that concerns you there is a small supermarket on the lower floor of the Duque mall, opposite the hotel.

There are only two downsides I can think of.

Firstly, the showers in the room, and the hot water pressure in general, was very poor. At first we thought this might be because it was a busy time of the day (morning/evening) but over the course of the first week we never got much luck with the pressure. To get any sort of pressure from the showers you really had to have a cold one, which, with the weather being so hot, I mostly didn't mind, but I think this could be improved. We did not complain, because speaking to other guests we found this to be a "hotel wide" problem. We had a bath in our room, and trying to fill it with hot water enough to bathe our toddler took a couple of trips with the kettle. The flow from the hot water tap was really non-existent.

Secondly, the entertainment. Though it was varied, I was disappointed that the outdoor Sun Garden was rarely used during our stay for any entertainment. The mini-disco took place in the basement, and the main entertainment took place in the reception/lobby bar. For busy, family entertainment, such as the Disney Princess show, there was simply not enough seats. I don't understand why the Sun Garden was not used for both because people would have stayed for both an used the bar etc. It's also strange having entertainment like that right next to where people are checking in and coming and going. It made the atmosphere for the entertainment feel a bit flat.

For the reasons given above, I would only give the hotel a 4/5, because as a 5 Star resort I would expect there to be no issues in order to give a 5/5. That being said, we had a fantastic time, overall, and we will return to the hotel...