Barceló Playa Blanca — Hotel in Yaiza

Like a few of my reviews this is going to be a difficult one really because in many respects this is an absolutely fantastic hotel but there are definitely issues and things visitors should be aware of. This is going to be a long one so here goes.|I'll start at the beginning and our check-in at the hotel. Walked into the lobby area and wow, what a fantastic first impression, it's stunning. We arrived at around 22:30 and made our way straight to the RL check in desk. The check in desk is right opposite the B-Lounge where there was an act on and let me tell you, it was loud, to the point where it was extremely difficult to hear what the lady checking us in was saying. I'm not going to lie, that was not a great first impression , it just seemed a very inappropriate place to have the check in desk when it's so near the acts performing in the B-Lounge however that's only an issue at night for people arriving late like us so wouldn't be a problem for most people. |We were taken to our room on what I can only describe as a souped up golf buggy, now that did make a good impression and it soon became apparent just how big the hotel is, it's huge so we were very thankful for the lift to our room.|Our room:-|I had upgraded the room to a suite with frontal sea view , it had a terrace with sun loungers on and the room was big and stunning with a huge extremely comfortable bed. I'd read reports of a sewage smell in some rooms before we arrived and there was definitely an odour in there that varied from day to day but once you'd been in the room for a few mins you didn't notice it, definitely did if you went out e.g onto the terrace and back into the room again though. Overall it wasn't really an issue but it was there. The air conditioning was useless. It wasn't air conditioning, it was a blowing sound that you couldn't really feel and it didn't cool the room at all as far as I could tell. I mentioned that to the Royal Level desk and they said they would send someone to look at it the next day but I never received any feedback and it wasn't any better so I think that's just how it is, pretty much a waste of time really. Despite that I didn't ever feel the room was uncomfortably hot and opening the terrace door to let some cool air in at night helped but if it's advertised as having air con it should have aircon and what we had wasn't aircon. Not a deal breaker but disappointing nonetheless...|The terrace had 2 loungers and a parasol on which was nice and we took advantage of the sun loungers on our private terrace to try and reduce our tan lines if you get my drift 😉||Food and drink:-|Now here is where things go downhill unfortunately. We only ate in the RL Magical restaurant (apart from lunch just before we went home) so I can't comment on the main restaurant really. Breakfast was fine, more than fine actually , there were some nice a la carte dishes to choose from and the selection of other items and drinks was good. Lunch was very different to any other AI hotel I've stayed at in that it was an a la carte menu rather than a buffet , the main dishes were actually very nice and varied from poke bowls to hotdogs and burgers to salads and fish dishes. All of the dishes I had were very nice and you had a few desserts to choose from as well e.g choc brownie with ice-cream or just ice-cream or fruit bowls etc. I can understand why they don't do a buffet at lunch, there would probably be a lot of wastage if they did as it's always difficult to anticipate demand at lunchtime and it was always pretty quiet when we had lunch but that's probably due to the extended lunchtime service from I think it was about 12:30pm until 5pm. |Dinner, oh dear what can I say. Overall I found dinner extremely disappointing both in terms of the quality of the food and choice and also the service (service issues affected all sittings to be fair). For starters you could have salad or soup or cold meats, mains were a selection of meat and fish dishes mainly with veg / chips. The dessert selection in particular was the worst selection I have seen at any AI restaurant, very few options and what there was wasn't great. The ice-cream was invariably a sloppy mess as were many of the mousses etc. Hardly any pastry items to mention either. It was so bad we ate out 3 or our 8 nights (we were there 9 nights but we were too late for dinner on our first night). Having eaten out (see separate reviews of the Namaste Indian and Roma Italia restaurants) it was clear just what you miss by going AI and eating at the hotel and if I was to return it would definitely be on a HB basis as we didn't get value for money going AI , not when we had to eat out anyway. |We did eat at the Koi a la carte Japanese restaurant one night and that meal was absolutely brilliant and the service there was spot on unlike the service in the Magical restaurant (more on that later), would recommend eating there definitely. ||Drinks were good, we aren't big drinkers and I mainly had water and the odd mocktail during the day and we had a few shorts and cocktails at night, no complaints about any of the drinks really, good measures and premium branded drinks most of the time (saw the use cheaper alternatives in cocktails sometimes at the pool bar but not very often). Special mention to Alejandro and Lola at the RL pool bar who were friendly and helpful, Alejandro doing his ice cube catching trick never got old. |Now what for me was a huge disappointment, the service in the restaurant. This is a 4* hotel, we paid a lot of money to stay in the Royal Level area and to upgrade our room and I definitely expect a certain level of service at hotels like this but honestly it was awful here. |Some examples , when they take your plate after finishing your main they never once asked us at the same time if we wanted dessert so they would take the plates away and then you would basically be ignored until you got fed up waiting any longer and asked someone to take your dessert order. We sat and waited to see how long we would be ignored for on one occasion and it was 50 mins , this was at lunch I think, it wasn't busy, staff walked past us umpteen times with empty glasses and not once did they offer to refill water or ask if we wanted more drinks or ask if we wanted desserts. And this happened time and time again. It's so easy to fix and just basic stuff, when you take the plates away after mains just ask there and then if we would like the dessert menu or to order desserts, simple. And if you walk past a table where the glasses are empty ask if people want refills, it's not rocket science. Then there were occasions where because my wife wanted gluten free she had put an order in for the same gluten free breakfast dishes every day and often those dishes would be delivered to the table within a couple of mins of us sitting down before I'd even been given a menu or had my main dish order taken and before she'd had chance to get any 'starters'. Then there were occasions where we'd be greeted at the restaurant entrance , taken to our table and then completely ignored, no menus given, no drink orders taken , nothing. Again we did an experiment once and we were sat for 20 mins being ignored before we got someone's attention and asked if we could have the menu and to order some food. Honestly I could go on but you get the drift, absolutely shocking service overall in the restaurant. ||The pool area:-|Now this is where the hotel scores a lot of points. The pool is absolutely amazing, a big infinity pool that's heated with plenty of sunbeds (and parasols) and shaded areas for those who liked to sit in the shade all day...|We could get a sunbed no matter what time we turned up. Yes people put towels down fairly early but I had no problem with that simply because there was always plenty of beds to go round. For me the pool area was one of the main plus points of the hotel and it will for sure be difficult to beat really in terms of comfort due to it being heated and the easy access to sunbeds. ||Location:-|Absolutely brilliant. 5 mins walk to Marina Rubicon with shops and restaurants and the twice weekly market. 10 mins walk to Playa Dorada beach. A supermarket and some fantastic restaurants just outside the hotel including the Namaste Indian that I have to say was bloody brilliant , I had one of the best Indian meals I've had for a long time there one night and the wife had a lovely Italian meal (you can order both if one of you wants Indian and one wants Italian). Perfect location really, another big plus point for the hotel. ||Random points of note:-|So just some other observations really. As I mentioned earlier, I'd seen reports of sewage smells in the vicinity of the hotel before we went and was a bit worried about that but it honestly wasn't an issue at all. There was a very strong smell at the playa dorada beach side of the hotel walking along the prom for maybe 100ft or so but we didn't smell anything at the market side or in the restaurants outside the hotel or around the RL pool or anywhere else in the hotel grounds really. So overall a non issue , don't let it put you off booking basically. ||Overall we had a fantastic holiday, the weather was superb, the hotel was stunning and spotlessly clean. The only bugbears were the air conditioning and the food / service in the restaurant especially at dinner which is why if we went again we'd probably go HB and use the money saved to upgrsde the room and eat out at night at one of the amazing restaurants in the vicinity, honestly you're missing out if you don't sample some of the...

Let me start by saying that I really, really wanted to love this hotel and give it Five stars. Whilst still a wonderful place to stay, it unfortunately does have some issues which I shall outline below in the hope that the management take note and address.|I, like many others, had watched this hotel being built and was looking forward to it being a 5star resort we can visit again and again. Its location is perfect for us, being next door to the Marina and not far from Playa Blanca.|The Good|When we first walked in I was impressed by the gorgeous lobby.. it’s stunning, as is the whole hotel. New, clean and modern. Check in was easy and the receptionist was friendly and welcoming with a cool glass of Cava to refresh. |The hotel is HUGE. Lots of walking to get anywhere but what surprised me was the amount of “dead space” that wasn’t used. You could have used a smaller footprint I guess, but being so big it did mean the hotel felt quiet and peaceful. I don’t know if it was full, it didn’t feel like it was.||Our room was a pool view and was amazing. Again it was spotlessly clean, plenty of room and storage, modern tv with English channels and a fully stocked minibar (not free but prices reasonable). Bed was huge and really comfortable with loads of pillows, and plenty of cushions on the sofa. Must mention the amazing shower with complimentary toiletries. Lots of sockets and usb ports in the room which is very handy and a lovely balcony to enjoy the view.|The pool is one of the biggest I’ve ever seen with a heated and unseated section. Yes there are issues with seagulls dropping in for a swim/drink but only when no one was in the pool and they definitely didn’t poop in there so didn’t bother me at all. Loved the sloped entrance meaning no steps to get in and out, and good to see the stone effect pavement tiles by the pool which gave good grip and were non slip. Too many hotels have slippery poolside tiles but these were perfect.||Snack/pool bars were well thought out. Help yourself to waters, coffees/teas and non alcoholic slushies which meant we hardly ever needed to queue for the bar in the daytime. Good choice of cocktail slushes and full bar service available too. The snack bar was great and was all we needed for lunch with salads, pizza, nachos, burgers etc and help yourself to ice cream. Lots of seating and shade there to enjoy a quick lunch. Most welcome was the toilets which were absolutely spotless.|The not so good |Now to the issues.. firstly an issue which affected many of us.. umbrellas. There were simply not enough umbrellas for the pool. Usually you get one per two or three beds, but here it’s more like one in ten. The problem was compounded by the fact the brollies were fixed into the ground. I do understand why as the wind is quite strong, but this meant it was nigh on impossible to get shade for any length of time. I and a few others got quite burnt despite using sun cream, and many families had to improvise towel tents to protect their children. |Next the lack of staff was evident. The staff that were there were mostly lovely and happy, ( a few were not but to be fair it must be a tough job at times). Little things like table clearing in the theatre were non existent. Some of the bar staff were clearly out of their depth. One gent in the theatre bar had no idea what he was doing and the cocktails were horrendous and full of syrup. We had to leave ours and I saw several tables leaving theirs too. Not a worry of you are all inclusive but if you were paying for them you would be pretty upset. The same gent then disappeared from the bar to go get something from upstairs leaving the bar unattended for 15 minutes which was crazy. And no one was clearing glasses from the tables either so loads of syrupy cocktails were just left lying around. We ended up not bothering to wait for the show and went back to our room to watch tv.|Food in the buffet was ok but the layout meant you had to walk between two or three rooms to get a meal, then had to walk back and forth to get drinks as there was no waiters offering drinks when you sat down. So if you wanted juice and tea/coffee you would need to do two or three runs as no trays to put your stuff on. Then the milk was miles away from the tea machines. I’d love a go at designing a hotel from a guests point of view, and this one has so many school boy errors in design.|The choice of food was ok but, again, little thought into how to piece together a meal with the offerings which seemed so random. Again I’m surprised that this still seems to be a feature of AI hotels as it must waste so much money. The specialist restaurants were severely underused which was not surprising as there is so little information around about what is on offer. Normally you would find display boards telling you what is available in terms of food, entertainment, activities and shows but here there is nothing bar one display outside the restaurant. Even the app is very vague and uninformative.|I do wonder if, when they built the hotel and the Le Sal complex, they promised the restaurants to make the hotel food not too good to get them guaranteed trade as they were full every night with wristband wearing guests from the hotel! (we went to the Chinese twice). It did add quite a bit to our holiday cost but we couldn’t really enjoy the meals in the buffet every night. ||So on reflection what did we think? Well the hotel is beautiful, and despite being massive it felt quiet and relaxed there. I don’t know how they will cope in high season with the lack of staff but let’s hope they get some more in. I really wanted to love it here and come back again and again. It’s great in the daytime, love the pool and pool bar/snack bar but need more umbrellas that you can move around.|Night time is not so good. You need to budget to spend in the restaurants outside the hotel even on all inclusive, and the entertainment is dire/non existent. Most of the bar staff were inexperienced (though the young man with curly hair in the lounge bar was brilliant).|Would I go back.. maybe.. if the price was right. I’m hoping these are teething troubles and it matures into a wonderful place as the location is perfect and it’s a great property in my favourite part of Lanzarote. We had a lovely holiday and great rest and maybe I’m just being fussy but I do hope it...

The stay started out great but too many things added up which leads me to give it 3 Stars. ||We arrived in the evening and went to the Royal Level check in desk, there was entertainment in the bar opposite which made it difficult to hear the staff during the check in. We could help ourselves to water, juice or bubbly while checking in. As it was after 10pm the restaurants were closed but they provided a picnic for us, which had sandwiches, yogurts, fruit, juice and cakes. It was a very nice start. We were told a buggy would take us to our room but the staff were too busy. I hardly ever saw the buggies being used.||When we got to our room, it hadn't been cleaned properly, there was a small bottle of alcohol left in the wardrobe and cigarettes left on the balcony. Speaking of the balcony, we had three rooms all beside each other, it would have been nice if the balcony partitions could have been opened to allow us to hang out on the balconies together. The cleaning staff were great, didn't feel rushed to leave our rooms as they didn't clean in the morning.||At the beginning of our stay wanted a late check out but it wasn't available so we were offered a courtesy room, we talked through the time with the staff and she booked it and we continued on with the rest of our stay. Two days before leaving we went to see if we could change the courtesy room time as we now knew our pick up time but to our shock, found out the courtesy room had not been booked and all except one slot was taken. Laura booked that slot for us and manged to get us a second room, even though we should have had three, but it was at least something. Very disappointed as we booked the courtesy room very early to ensure we had it.||We found the buffet food was average. The main restaurant has more of options compared to Magical but the a la carte menu at Magical was good too. We were given two cards at check in which meant we were only supposed to go Magical at those set times but we didn't hear properly during check in and went at any time, it didn't seem to matter too much as the restaurant wasn't very busy. Also, the main restaurant often has moths flying around which was annoying.||One of the most disappointing things was that there are no drinks with dinner with Half board. Some hotels do allow 1 or 2 soft drinks with meals but not here. Breakfast has unlimited hot and soft drinks. There's a pasta section in the main restaurant and there is gluten free pasta too, you just need to order it the evening before. Jose in the main restaurant was such a pleasant person, who always eager to help and always has a smile on his face. Very friendly and a great asset to this hotel.||The hotel is large and well maintained. There's a spa but not a huge selection of massages. I just chose the relaxing massage and it was very pleasant. There were a la carte restaurants but we didn't dine there, and lots of bars and areas to relax.||We chose Royal Level for the extra facilties and it being child free in those areas but this hotel equates adults only areas with quiet. Just because someone chooses Royal Level doesn't mean they want silence, all of the music and activities took place at the main pool, it did make the Royal Level area more boring.||The location is great, as just outside the hotel there are lots of restaurants and shops, so if you were half board and wanted lunch, there were plenty of places to eat. I found it very hard to get some light snacks at this hotel, as the restaurants are all buffets, would be nice to have a snack bar for when you don't want a big meal. We opted for room service one day, one item we ordered, the chicken wings was red inside, not a great impression when you already don't think much of the food.||Some other minor issues, the bathroom is desgined to look good aesthically but functionally, the lack of privacy was difficult. The automated lights are annoying at times too and there's no shelf in the shower to put your own toiletries, you just have to put them on the floor. There's also no shelf in the toilet, which would be helpful if you need to use period products for example.|The rainfall shower is very weak, would have liked more pressure but the water is always hot.|The infinity pool is not always warm, everytime I went it was cool, but others I was with said other days it was warm. The balcony isn't very long but I would have liked sunloungers there, as they get sun in the afternoon.||Overall, it's in a good location with a nice promenade to walk down but too many things let it down. I don't think I'd...