Hotel Jardines de Nivaria

We spent the week over Christmas in this hotel and had booked a suite with sea view. The first room we were shown (House Guajani) did not meet our expectations in any way, shape or form. The room was smaller than many doubles that we have stayed-in before with just a opening dividing the tiny little "living area" from the "bedroom". The balcony faced the street, behind that there was the beach promenade and then came the sea. We expressed our disappointment at the reception and were offered 3 alternatives: one room next to the tennis court, one facing the kitchen with subsequent smells and the last one which we really liked. Unfortunately after trapping all the way back to the reception, we were informed that this room had been booked by a regular and was actually not available for us.

The room we were finally allotted (next to the tennis court) did have a huge terrace overlooking the garden which was equipped with lounge chairs and wicker chairs and the sea view we had booked (House Taganana). The suite was showing its age and the overall impression was intensified by carelessness. Especially the bathroom where the toilet seat was damaged and a plinth on the bathroom furniture was missing.

The breakfast and dinner buffets were rich and of good quality. Of particular notability might be that the hotel was successful in avoiding that canteen-like atmosphere that so many other such holiday hotels seem to have in the dining areas. The tables were decorated nicely, service was attentive and dinner was accompanied by pleasant piano music from the bar area. We didn’t see any flip flops and shorts in the dining area and all-in-all there was quite a civilized feeling without being snobby or pretentious.

There is a sprawling and well-cared pool area with several heated pools enabling you to swim even with less nice weather conditions. The food at the pool bar/restaurant does not have a 5 five star quality, but rather fast food level. There are plenty of lounge chairs dotted around the pool and the garden area which means that there is always something available. The loungers are serviced by the pool restaurant. Towels are generously available from the pool staff with at least 2 towels per guest which can be changed at any time.

It should go without saying that the service in a five star hotel should be attentive and polite. At this hotel there is potential for improvement in particular the attitude of some employees at reception and the attention of housekeeping. e.g. we had to wait 2 days and enquire four times before a short circuit in our room was repaired; we found hairs after check-in in the bath-tub, towels were taken away with no replacement).

The hotel has started a renovation program and offers some really beautiful new rooms which certainly deserve to be called suites (Masca House). Unfortunately these rooms seem to be reserved "for regulars only" again since it was only by accident that we found out that such “new” rooms really exist even though we did ask about them when first checking-in. The Hotel obviously has enough “regulars”, since the service and the quality shown during our stay is not sufficient to make us want to return. With this attitude it is difficult to understand how one becomes a "regular"?#

We have just returned having spent our honeymoon at the Hotel Jardines de Nivaria.

This is a fantastic hotel, beautiful gardens, great pools, the biggest double bed we have ever seen and mind boggling breakfasts.

The staff were all very friendly, there was a bottle of champagne and basket of fruit awaiting us on our arrival which were replenished once we had consumed the first bottle. We also received complimentary vouchers for the use of the health club. It made our honeymoon a very enjoyable and memorable occasion.

Would highly recommend