Before going to Gran Canaria i read the reviews of this hotel on this website and and another and got mixed feelings. We flew with Thomas Cook (which is the tiniest aircraft in the world, no good if you are a size 12 or more...seats are ridiculously small), although bags did came off very quick at LPA.

When we arived at the Hotel, the night staff on reception were good, but that ended there.......the rooms were very clean (yeah a little dated, but clean and tidy), the food was pretty good....we were in a party of 6 and i was the only one who didnt like it as i am a fussy eater and a vegetarian. The entertainment was not the best, good for children (songs get very annoying) but not much for adults apart from our last night when we had a Drifters Tribute.

MY ONLY COMPLAINT......the staff were extremely rude, not helpful and clearly favoured the Spainish....being English and all inclusive we were treated like complete dirt. Our all inclusive finished at midday on saturday and our pick up was not until 0100 on sunday. They refused to extend our AI unless we paid 12€ pp. The fact we missed half a day when we got there was a disgrace. Having a young baby they did not accommodate us at all well, and i had to beg for a late check out for our room. One man inparticular "Ciprano" was very rude, very disrespectful and clearly hated all british.

I would go back to a Barcelo but not there as the staff ruined it for me. This is just my opinion but i think manners and customer service go a long way.

ive just read some of the reviews, which i dont totaly agree with.

i returned from my holiday here last week with my children.
i found the hotel very clean, plenty of space to sit and relax in the hotel. Although the rooms were a little outdated, i found they had plenty of space and was clean throughout.
i was given clean towels everyday, and when my toddler flooded our room the houskeeping staff were fantastic.

I found both the pools clean, and would see all the beds being cleaned every morning while i was sitting on my balcony.

the entertainment was not fantastic every night but once you start talking to people there it just becomes a background noise. The night we left was the best entertainment and was a great way to end our holiday.

The food was great, plenty to choose from, although i did find that a few times the lables on the food was wrong. Every night there was plenty of pasta which was the same every night, but the rest of the food was different.
The desserts were fantastic and deffintley worth a try.
the only complatint we had regarding the resturant was the service, it would take a while for the table to be laid and no-one seemed to smile much. overall i enjoyed my meal every night.

overall i enjoy my stay here, but i did find it was too far from the beach when you have children, and very easy to get lost if you decided to walk back.
there are plenty of shops around and if you look around you can get some bargins.

Oh where to start about this hotel?

Okay... so I work for First Choice, it's one of our flagship hotels in Gran Canaria (to which I go every year), so I figured it would only be right for me to stay here! Barceló have hotels all around the World and are a very well respected company with a reputation for excellence... so why does this go oh so wrong?

Having read numerous bad reviews on here before going, I played hell with First Choice about not being willing to change me free of charge, and my words were "well if that's the attitude you're going to take this side of the water, warn the reps I'm coming!".

**Flight/Airport**
Absoutely outstanding! We flew with Thomsonfly (our new sister company), undoubtedly the best flight I've EVER had! Las Palmas Airport is quite big, we waited a while for our bags (despite being the second arrival of the day), but other that that it's all cushty!

**First Impressions**
First impressions mean everything, especially with a hotel you're going to spend the rest of the week at! From the reviews I'd previously read, I jumped straight off the coach, left my mate to get our bags, and ensured I was the first to check-in! Even though I was the first, it still took 20 minutes! The receptionist got really confused because he was trying to check three of us in at a time, and being that the hotel offers 4 board basises (Self Catering, B&B, Half Board, and All Incl.), he got really confused when handing out room keys and cards.
The reception area itself is nice enough, most of it was looking 4 star already!

**The Room**
Despite having requested a room on a high floor, we were given the 3rd floor (out of 8), you walk in, and it's like going back to the 70's, FAR from 4 star standard.
The beds were hard, with very little bedding on them, extremely far from comfortable! Gladly, the sockets for plugs were still stuck to the wall, even though we only had about 4 for the whole room (not enough as far as I'm concerned).
The rooms are big enough if your not spending much time on them, the balcony was a fair size too so no complaints there!
The best thing about the room was the wardrobe - huge! So we had plenty of storage space! (even fit our cases in there!)
The bathroom was clean, had a shower/bath (all-in-one kinda thing), WC, 1 sink, and a b-day.
TV had BBC World News, and a load of Spanish & German channels, and I think a few French as well (so don't go hoping to stay up-to-date with Eastenders!)
As far as the room is concerned, dropped right down a 3* (and a low 3*)

**Food**
We rarely ate at the hotel, 3 nights of week we had dinner out there, never made it in time for breakfast!
Dinner was an experience, they charge you for drinks (again... 4*?), and the service is sloooow, we'd normally be halfway through our mains by the time we'd had our drinks, in fairness the prices were cheap enough, but they could have included it in the price you pay to stay there!
There was always a choice of 2 soups (however only one of which would sound mildly appetising, the other being untouchable for fear of what was actually in it). Then you'd get a different pizza everynight, chips, salads, pasta, and something off the grill (normally pork or beef).
I don't think the quality was quite there, and I'm all for trying new foods when on holiday, so I had a bit of everything, it just tasted like the food you'd have at a bad restaurant back in the UK. In all honesty, I had nicer food on the flight!
Food keeps it a low 3*

**Pools & Entertainment**
The hotel is split into two sections, the hotel building, and the apartments building, each have a pool.
The pool at the hotel section was quite shaded, lots of trees, and quite sandwiched-in, it wasn't very big and didn't look the cleanest.
We therefore stayed in the pool for the apartment building (which we wouldnt have actually known about unless we had mates staying there). It's much nicer, a bit bigger, and gets A LOT more sun!
They both had bars which served alcoholic & non alcoholic drinks, and a selection of food (which comes out of tins from the local spar shop!). If you're All Inclusive, these formed part of your all inclusive programme (thankfully we only fell for the half board option!).
Entertainment I never actually went to experience, what I could hear from my balcony was more than enough to put me off! I swear if I heard the agadoo or the hokey-cokey one more time I would have actually jumped!... Poor kids... Poorer parents who had to endure it.
This, again, keeping it to a 3*.

**Staff**
A bit mixed to be honest, some nice, some not-so-nice. The maids would always say hello when you walked past them (shame they didnt pay as much attention to their cleaning), the restaurant staff were a bit mixed, and reception just didn't seem to care either way!

**Health & Safety**
Cleanliness was OK, nothing out of this world. The pool area was well-maintained, the maid service however, was atrocious. If we left our towels in the bath to be replaced, they were just folded and put back on the shelf (you could tell from the dampness from your shower that morning). They didn't seem to clean up at all, they just folded things and made the bed and that was it! Sort it out!
No visible security, we could walk whoever we wanted back in the night, we could even have been anyone walking into the place. I didn't mind so much, but if I was on a family holiday with kids, I would start to care!
This knocked the standard down again!

**Overall**
If I could get a cheapy back here then I would go, it was OK if your not gonna spend too much time there, and too much money on getting there. What we paid I felt was a bit of a rip off (yes, including my discount!). so we'll be opting for somewhere else next year!

I'd rate it a 2*plus, and I hope First Choice don't continue marketting it as a family place! We send a lot of people to this hotel and I fear it may start to damage our reputation as a reliable, family-friendly holiday firm!

I stayed in this hotel from 31/05/08 - 07/06/08 with my boyfriend.
This hotel is definatley not a 4*!! we had an end room (501) which was huge but dated!

The reception staff were very helpful and friendly!! The restaurant staff barely even crack a smile! The food is pretty much the same all week, most of the left overs are served at breakfast! (Battered fish balls and veg??), also seems to be aimed at Germans! Slow at getting drinks too and resetting tables. We ate at the Hard rock Cafe a few times which is a great place. Great food, music and good value for money!

Pools are good, the one nearer the hotel gets busy quite busy and most beds in the sun are taken early. There is a better quieter one by the apartments, with lots of spare beds.

Hotel offers a free bus to the beach which is needed as it can take around 20mins to walk! you must go to the dunes a sight you dont want to miss.

its a short walk to the Kasbar Centre and yumbo centre. The yumbo centre is not as bad as some other peoples comments on here! The area is not designed for kids so i dont know why you would take them to a Gay nightspot after the shops have shut!

if you get a chance head to the casino in maspalomas, you get dinner and a great show for around €50!

Generally a great holiday, let down by the hotels poor food and waiting staff.