Radisson Blu Resort, Gran Canaria — Hotel in Mogán

For this hotel review, I would benchmark, cost wise, against a 2-bedroom family room the Riu Palace Oasis Melonares, a standard room The Ritz Carlton Doha, the Rasa Ria Kota Kinabalu and the mighty Adrian Jardines De Nivaria in Adeje. We stayed as a family with a baby.

We stayed here for 10 nights in all, I was undecided what room to go for but in the end we ended up in a Superior 1 Bed Room suite for most of the trip which was so large you could play 5-a-side football in it and all the facilities you could really ask for, honestly, for what you pay for, the rooms here are some of the best I have ever seen, anywhere, in any hotel. We did 3 nights in a 2-bedroom suite for comparison which was even more luxuriously appointed.

I have seen some grumbles about wear and tear inside some of the rooms but I did not see any of that here, both of the suites on the 5th and 6th floors were like show-home apartments from a TV show.

The Good

The staff, the team here are a happy bunch but they take service seriously (with some gaps which I will point out below), we did not have a single issue all trip with any of the teams work, they were lovely to us without exception, they love children here The rooms, my god the rooms, shower, bath, kitchen, hot-tub on the balcony, sun loungers on the balcony, dining room table, balcony table the list goes on Hearing the sound of the waves from the beach as you fall asleep in your room We were provided with a welcome bottle of bubbly, a snack of meats, cheese and a letter from the manager If you are going to arrive after 10pm, if you are able to contact the hotel before approx. 9pm on the day you arrive, the hotel will pick up 3-4 plates of food for you and place it in your room, ready for your arrival The Buffet, again, saw some grumbles about this but even though the RIU Palace Oasis buffet is enormous and has at least 8 station chefs for breakfast and evening meal versus 1 here, the Radisson team go for quality and the quality here, especially for the cakes, pastries and desserts is higher than the RIU Palace Oasis The Anfi Del Mar beach, a short walk from the hotel, uses imported white sand and is one of the most beautiful small beaches on all of the Canaries. There are better places to swim in Spain but that list is short (Cala D'or Ibiza, Salinas Ibiza etc.) The bars and restaurants in Anfi Del Mar are all good, friendly and safe. They have a kiddies disco at dusk and the pub opposite shows live sports and has nightly entertainment The live music performers at the evening meal are a welcome addition and calm the children The kids pool, whilst small, is one of the best i have seen for small children in any hotel, you have to go a long way to find many better in a 5 star and the pool is entirely central to the hotel, meaning that the children are at the centre of every day and are not at the back of the hotel. the kids pool is near the pool bar, good for mum, good for dad, good for the kids (ice cream is never far away) they allow inflatables at the kids pool (contrary to some previous reviews) the way they serve the tea and coffee in the morning is class leading the WIFI is very strong in almost all parts of the hotel the Gym is very good indeed the hotel has listened to feedback and the maintenance team were very busy each day we were there, fixing cracked tiles, painting things. The Spa is also being refurbished The baby crib provided to our room was a lovely wooden crib, on wheels so you could move it about between the rooms easily They have listened to feedback and are now writing out what each of the dishes are at the buffet on the glass above The draught beer quality is good (Tropical 5.50 EUR a pint)

The Bad Dishes that contain meat are not highlighted at the buffet The pool menu for food is weaker than most hotels in this price bracket There is no 'around the pool' service for drinks but they do deliver to you once ordered from the bar You cannot connect an Apple TV box to...

On the whole, was a lovely week spent with my family towards the end of August. A lovely, calm, fantastically located hotel - away from the hustle and bustle, but walkable within 5-10 mins into Anfi, with it's selection of restaurants and shops. |We had a huge 2 bedroom apartment which was, in effect, self catering - but with the hotel's conveniences right at the doorstep - so best of both worlds. The view from the balcony, as everyone says, is spectacular and does not disappoint. |Staff all lovely and super friendly, great little Spar supermarket on site which was very handy - with a larger, very impressive version in Anfi, a short walk away. |Great little beach with incredibly calm water which was perfect for swimming on one side and the much "livelier" sea on the beach on the other side. Apparently Patalavaca is known as a great surfing beach and you can see why.|Lovely pools with plenty of sunbeds - no sunbed wars here thank goodness, even in August! Lots available on the grass overlooking the sea too, which was a shadier, more peaceful area than around the pool.|Didn't like the fact you had to pay to use the paddle and tennis courts sadly - this wasn't cheap (€15 for paddle, €17 for tennis - for an hour). In my opinion, when you're paying this much for a hotel, you shouldn't be charged extra for things like that. Pool tables were very hit and miss too - only one of the two was working on the day we played. Then we came back that evening to find that the second table didn't work either (and very helpfully swallowed our money). Reported it but it wasn't fixed for the whole rest of the week we were there which was a shame as there's not really anything else to do in the evening. |Sadly, the food was very hit and miss. Breakfast was a little repetitive and not a particularly vast amount of choice (although the breakfast setting itself was beautiful, with lovely views), so we only ate breakfast three times during our stay - the rest of the time we just ate in our room and made it ourselves. Had dinner the first night only and didn't want to repeat sadly. We ate out at the many local restaurants the rest of the time, which was much more enjoyable.|So good and bad points, but mostly good. |I'm not sure I'd say it was a 5 star hotel, if I'm being honest - more a good 4 star. But that said, I'd definitely return - if only for the massive room and the...

Sadly, I was disappointed with the Radisson Blu in Gran Canaria. This is a supposed five star hotel barely scraping the service standards of a three star. Staff are rushed and fail to provide a suitable level of service, hours can pass between order and supply of food or drinks, breakfast is badly prepared, with a lack of option on boiled eggs - boiled to rock solid the only option - a very good example of the make do attitude. The coffee is undrinkable, with no freshly ground options, though I did enjoy the apple, spinach and lemon drink (even if it was out of a box rather than fresh as well).

Don't get me wrong there are some very nice and helpful staff members but the overall impression I got from most was that things would be so much better without customers.

The rooms themselves are nice too but be careful, many are laid out as a two or three bedroom suite with lockable adjoining rooms to split them apart into standard hotel rooms and one or two bedroom suites for different guests. Sound travels VERY easily through the thin walls and doors and embarrassing / hilarious / upsetting situations can ensue, depending on your viewpoint and sleep deprivation.

Beds are strange, a thin mattress topper on a base. Maybe the most uncomfortable bed I have slept on in some time.

We had the ongoing smell of sewage come from our bathroom and despite complaining a number of times, nothing was ever sorted, luckily we were able to leave our balcony door open over night.

There is one main bar by the pool, plus the restaurant and a Spar supermarket which is decently stocked. On the roof of the hotel is the 222 restaurant and bar. Frustratingly, this roof top bar doesn't open till 1830, a shame as it is such an amazing view, see my attached photo, from up here. The restaurant gets booked up quick and can be a three or four day wait for a booking so get in fast if you are so inclined.

Around the area there are many bars and restaurants and the two black sand beaches are easy to reach as well directly outside the hotel if you tire of the two swimming pools. The inside gym is well stocked too and I used it three times in my week there.

This would be a fantastic hotel, if only there was some real attention to detail. And that's the...