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“Awful hotel, lovely resort!”

written by on 21/08/2014

Ok, here goes! I never normally write negatives unless I can come up with positive elements as well, but I have to say I'm really struggling with this one. I have saved all year and this is our one family holiday. I booked a one week fully inclusive holiday staying at the Isla Bonita hotel in Costa Adeje, Tenerife via the website of lowcost holidays.com The hotel was advertised as 4 star. On returning from this hotel, I would beg to differ and also add that I have been mis-sold a holiday which, had I checked on trip advisor first, would never have looked twice at. We flew with Thomson airline. Here are my findings:


Our flight operator Thomson was great, although we were unable to access our boarding passes via the website. I attempted to do this several times and was asked to bring proof to the airport that I had attempted to check in!

I had booked and paid in advance for private car hire to collect and return us to the airport. On arrival we had to wait half an hour for a driver and vehicle to be found. When the transport arrived, we were ushered to a mini bus. On return our transport was yet again a mini bus, but this time there were no seat belts! I asked for a car, if I'd wanted a bus, I would have requested one.

We arrived at the Isla Bonita 4 star hotel at mid day only to be informed that check in was 4pm. The reception staff are very efficient and after I explained to them that we'd been traveling since 4am that day, we accessed our room at 1.30pm We were informed that we would need to make an extra payment if we wanted to use the safe in our room. Our rooms consisted of a bedroom, a bathroom and a living room with a cooker, cupboards and fridge. The rooms were clean but very tired and certainly lacked any 4 star feel to it. The linen was clean although one of the pillow cases was badly stained and there was someone elses hair on one of the pillows!. My sons 12 & 9 were given a sofa bed and a camp bed - neither were acceptable. Every time my youngest son turned over on the camp bed it turned over with him! We ended up pushing the two single beds together in the bedroom and sleeping 3 in it and I slept on the sofa bed. There were no coffee & tea making facilities and no bottled water in the fridge. There was no extractor fan in the bathroom - not great when your sharing with 3 males! The storage space for clothes was inadequate. The Aircon was pretty much non-existent. There was a air conditioning unit above the bathroom door, but judging by the state of it ( very old & rusty) thus making it ineffectual. It soon became apparent, that by turning it off would make the room cooler.

We made our way to the dining room where upon we encountered cockroaches on the plastic vegetables next to the food counters. I pointed this out to a member of staff and she thanked me warmly for pointing this out! The dinner plates were old and chipped. The food was average and lacked vegetables at most meal times, although there was an abundance of fruit. The staff in the dining room were helpful and when busy would clear a table for you to sit at.

I would also like to point out that on booking this holiday I understood there to be free Wifi. Just to clarify what this actually means is that there is a limited space near reception where you can access wifi, certainly not enough space for 1300 guests. We were unable to get this in our room.

In the afternoon we made our way to the Swimming pool. There are 4 at this hotel. There were no sunbeds to be had on that afternoon or indeed most of the time. There is a 3 foot wall with a gate to the swimming pool which is padlocked overnight with a message telling us that we are not able to access the pool until 9.30 am. Bit of a joke really when you look out of your balcony in the morning and a majority of the beds have already been taken by 8am. People are actually scaling a 3ft wall to secure a lounger, placing their towels on it returning at 10am when the sun comes round. There were many guests smoking around the pool and just flicking their 'fag ash' and stubbing out their cigarettes on the floor - not nice when there are children around. We gave up in the end and found the beach instead... Bingo! The beach is a 12 minute walk. The resort is fairly small, has a lovely marina and sailing club offering lots of excursions. You can get a sunbed down at the beach but you will have to pay for it! The sand is black and the sea is lovely and warm - ideal swimming conditions for all the family. There is an abundance of affordable family friendly eateries in this area which I would recommend.

The evening entertainment was adequate, and the animation team try very hard. The music ends at 11pm so if you are in block A don't stay there with children who require plenty of sleep - because they won't get it!

I have been to Tenerife many times and love the island. I really liked the resort but can confidently say that I will not be recommending this hotel to anyone. I am disappointed that low cost holidays are promoting this hotel as 4 star. I would promote it as cheap and cheerful budget accommodation.