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“We arrived at the Tenerife Royal Gardens in Playa De...”

written by Samyelle on 20/10/2006

Good Points
Little Italy Restaurant

Bad Points
Service and Security

General Comments
We arrived at the Tenerife Royal Gardens in Playa De Las Americas on Friday 6th in the early afternoon. The queues where huge and just kept growing. This complex is well aware that arrivals are on Tuesday's and Friday's, and they should employ more staff on these days to help with this! We spent the first four hours of our holiday trying to check-in. Deposits for everything: Towels, Fans, Extra Key, Safe and even the TV Remote! It appears that all they are interested in is how to get more money from you, as some of these 'deposits' are part payment, and the reception staff have little understanding of English.



The apartment was small, but we didn't mind this, as to us it was only somewhere 'SAFE' to sleep. There were maybe five plug sockets in the entire apartment, and they were all hidden quite well, behind a bed or sideboard, or in the bathroom. Two were in plain sight, one on the kitchen area worktop and the other completely uselessly in the hall space away from everything! Our apartment was A06, on the first floor above a restaurant called 'Pasta & Vino'; noise was not a real problem until the builders started work on the Tuesday. The main problem all week was the smell of sewage that drifted passed, approximately every half an hour, and it was stomach churning, so enjoying the veranda was difficult and very public, as the balcony was easily viewed from the main access to the beach.



The facilities in the complex were pitiful, most of the sun loungers by the pool were broken, and cockroaches lived happily beside it. My friend told me that there used to be a poolside bar, but this had been closed. The closest place for refreshment was 'McGuiness Bar', or the dark shop beneath both attached to the apartment, but not linked in any way. 'McGuiness Bar' - Sounds Irish doesn't it! Owned by an Italian and a Brit, this is the worse excuse for an Irish Bar I have ever come across! Overpriced drinks and repetitive entertainment, and they advertise 'Potato Bread' on their menu and serve you up hash browns. Hailing from Ireland myself, I was not impressed!



On Sunday morning we woke to find that someone had climbed the balcony and stolen three bags from the apartment while we slept. We informed the reception and asked them to change the lock, as one of the keys had been taken in the burglary, they were happy to do this (for a fee) and maintenance arrived about an hour later. You would think that the company would have been helpful after discovering that guests had been robbed. No such luck or consideration. They told us that we must go to the police station to report it. Upon arriving at the police station we found this to be bad advice!



The procedure in Tenerife is that you must phone a central number and dictate the events, giving personal details to an officer. Then go to the police station to collect the report. This report is in Spanish and you are made to wait hours to retrieve it. So Sunday was completely wasted, what with sitting in a foreign police station for 4 - 5 hours, phone calls trying to cancel credit cards and informing the airline about lost tickets.



The Island is nice though, and if you find different accommodation I'm sure that you will enjoy it! We recommend that you try 'The Greek Corner' restaurant situated in the Veronica's area near the casino. They were very friendly, and the food was fantastic!