Santa Catalina, a Royal Hideaway Hotel

We made a big mistake booking this hotel (6 months ago), taken in by pictures of beautiful architecture, gardens and promises of swimming pools, choices of restaurants and spa’s! Maybe in the foreseeable future but not right now! This is not a destination/holiday hotel for the older less mobile person. Nothing of any interest within walking distance of the hotel. Overlooking the noisy working port, not the sea! (Not that you can hear it at the moment because of noise from all the refurbishment going on!) This is a business/stopover hotel with conference facilities! Apparently just opened after months of refurbishment but clearly not finished! Only one small rooftop pool open (no sun umbrellas), one so called fitness centre comprising of half a dozen fitness bikes in an empty room! Currently only one restaurant providing good tasty food for lunch & dinner, but sadly no change of menu throughout the week, which could mean if you have boked for one week, full board, your choice will be limited! However breakfast is excellent…well worth having! The first room we were given was far too dark and lacking in space and storage, lighting not adequate. We were then moved to a mini suite which was better but still lacking in clothes storage and useful furniture to use as desk for computer and or dressing table with mirror for ladies…more evidence of this being just a business hotel! Shower excellent although bathroom layout somewhat odd and cramped. It’s November and all the rooms in the front of the hotel are facing north, so getting the cold sea breezes and no sun on the balconies (Would be good in the Summer). Having finally mastered the lighting switches, we found, much to our dismay that we had inadvertently pressed a switch (on entry to our room) which activated a light outside which tells the cleaners ‘not to disturb’…(Once again not enough information). Having had words with the management (early evening), the room was cleaned around us! We had to ask for a second dressing gown & slippers, only 1 supplied. After a few days we realised that replacement of shower gels etc was a bit hit and miss and extremely sparse! We had just one small peddle bin in the toilet for all rubbish. Hairdryer supplied but no iron. Also the coffee machine was broken & leaking water, more apologies and a replacement soon appeared. We have been told that you have to pay an ‘over the top price’ for the bottled water supplied in the rooms! Not what you expect from a five star hotel! There are no information sheets regarding any services in the hotel (probably because there currently aren’t any!) or tourist maps. Just one book about Gran Canaria paid for probably by the advertising and a room service menu! Even the nearest Tourist Office could not give us a street map of the old town! We had a black out twice in one day without any notice. The latter being at 6pm and it was going dark! No lights, no water, no phone, no lifts and nobody to inform us what was going on. Emergency lights in corridors BUT NOT ON THE STAIRS….thankfully I had for some reason packed a small torch! It would be disastrous if there was to be a fire! For that mishap we were bought a meal from the management. Not the point…it shouldn’t happen! BEWARE of noisy live music in Disco across the road on a Saturday night…stops around 2.30am. Big TV screen in rooms but BBC1 & 2 not always available! Having said all this the hotel itself is being tastefully restored, the staff are extremely friendly, polite and willing to help! The ongoing training of staff is apparent…some inexperienced and over enthusiastic! The hotel receptionists are willing to arrange tours for groups if interested (personally couldn’t think of anything worse!). Mostly business people coming and going, just a few others staying here for longer than a day or two!…Soulless and sadly lacking in atmosphere!. At the moment we feel we are rattling around in a near empty hotel! More activity at weekends when locals come in for lunch/dinner & drinks. Certainly at the moment the staff & builders/painters outnumber the guests. Rather disappointed that we are paying for a 5 star hotel without the 5 star facilities and I have to say that informing us the day before departure that most of the facilities are not available and work is ongoing and quite noisy, is quite frankly too late! Disappointed and bored!

This hotel should be good. It's a beautiful old colonial building that has just had an 18 month refurb. It's very expensive. We had booked a room and were shown to room 306. It was small, cramped and too dark to read the symbols on the unnecessarily complicated lighting switches. no mirror over the dressing table, a TV controller that didn't work, totally inadequate storage or drawer space, in other words a highly expensive room that had been designed by someone who had absolutely no conception of what it would be like to stay in it. At nearly €300 a night this was just not good enough. We complained and got moved to what I think was called a junior suite, room 324. It was better. More space and more light, but still no working TV controller, still not enough storage, especially drawers, air conditioning that blasts down on one side of the bed, a cramped bathroom (but brilliant shower) and shower and WC doors that stuck on the floor. The toilet door had such a small unfriendly knob on the inside which combined with the sticking on the floor meant I got stuck inside and had to get my wife to shove the door from the outside. Two small points, the toilet roll was about 2 or 3 cms too small (width) and the toiletries inside the shower were unnecessarily mean. Not good for a hotel this expensive.

excellent newly renovated hotel superb service, very friendly staff. excellent location very good decor- rather charming colonial era feel to the hotel, whilst still being very modern. thoroughly recommended