Gran Hotel Bahía del Duque

The location is amazing, mainly because the best part of the beach is literally outside the property. There’s also a beautiful black-sand beach next door. The hotel is marketed as almost semi-inclusive, with 5 pools, botanical gardens, entertainment and several restaurants. The “botanical garden” is really more of scattered paths throughout the property, with a guided tour only once a week. The observatory is only offered two nights a week. There is a piano bar/live music on several nights, but much of the entertainment is in the main building, which is not air-conditioned and has little airflow. On the two nights I checked it out, only 3–4 guests were there, which wasn't surprising given how hot and humid it felt. Check-in was fairly curt and generic: restaurant hours and dress codes, then a QR code to figure out the rest. Not particularly helpful when many activities only happen once or twice a week. We also had a problem with bell service. I offered to carry my suitcase because I was concerned about how it was being handled, but the bell staff used a luggage caddy rather than a trolley and everything fell out. One suitcase was cracked in the corner. We had sensitive equipment, including a speaker, which thankfully wasn't visibly damaged. We tried to move on, but had a few other interactions with front desk staff that felt busy or annoyed. To be fair, management did respond and credited about 50% of the damaged suitcase toward our stay, and encouraged us to provide feedback. I appreciated the gesture, although it felt more like a discount to close the matter than a genuine apology, and not every issue was resolved. A slow bathroom drain was never fixed. The TV was also only in Spanish and took some effort, including technical support, to get working. The property is enormous. We tried 3 of the 5 pools but noticed floating material on a couple of occasions, so preferred the beach. We spent 3 of our 4 days either at the beach or exploring Tenerife, including Teide. There are also several large family hotels with waterparks nearby, so families looking specifically for that may have better options. For me, the biggest selling point is location and convenience. The beach is fantastic and the restaurants are good — Kensei in particular was fabulous. But the beach is public, so I suspect you could stay at one of the many nearby hotels and simply walk to the same beach. Our room and view were nice, and housekeeping and pool staff were thoughtful and pleasant. Those were definite positives. One other quirk: Uber pickups require you to walk via a series of steps to the main road. Staff were again somewhat curt when we dealt with this. Overall, this is just my personal experience. The location is excellent, the beach is a major advantage and there are some genuinely good restaurants and staff. But given the huge number of alternatives nearby, I wouldn't stay here again. I'd choose another hotel along the same stretch and still enjoy the same beach and area.

Room 538 — booking under Mrs Badouri. Close to €500 per night. I do not recommend this hotel. STARTING WITH THE MOST SERIOUS ISSUE: during breakfast, pieces of roof tile came loose and fell onto the terrace, just centimetres from my daughter. Debris scattered across the floor, in the middle of a dining area surrounded by occupied tables and children. I have photographs. My daughter could have been seriously injured. No area was cordoned off, no warning was in place, and the staff response fell well short of what the incident required. In a hotel of this category, a roof maintenance failure above a breakfast terrace is inexcusable. VALUE FOR MONEY: at this price you expect a room to match. Room 538 is small, bearing no relation to the rate paid or to the marketing photos. Seriously overrated hotel. FOOD: bland cooking, ingredients below the standard of the establishment, repetitive offering, and almost no reference to Spanish or Canarian cuisine. ATMOSPHERE: the clientele and the entire orientation of the hotel are now overwhelmingly Russian-speaking. Entertainment, atmosphere, service focus — nothing evokes Spain. If you come to Tenerife for a Spanish and Canarian experience, you will not find it here. SERVICE: slow to respond, requests loosely followed up, limited availability. Far from what a five-star property should deliver. The grounds and gardens are beautiful — that is the only positive. Otherwise: an unjustified price, disappointing dining, and above all a safety problem management needs to address before a guest is actually hurt. Mr Badouri — room 538

Good • The staff (receptionists, housekeeping, bellhops, concierge) were incredibly warm, friendly and nothing was ever a bother. • Huge range of dining options (though be sure to book) • The hotel is a fun and picturesque collection of Portmeirion-style buildings as well as lots of pools, so it's got a grand higgeldy-piggeldy sort of vibe. • Excellent spa - again, top service, lovely building, great saltwater pool with loads of features, none of which are on blessed timers. Shady or sunny loungers, big sauna and hamam. Much more peaceful than the main hotel. Bad • My worst experience was the beds - painfully hard and bruised my hips after 2 nights. I folded up a mattress protector into quarters (so was sleeping on 4 layers) and it barely helped. • Tacky nightly "entertainment' between 21:30-22:30, cannot escape the karaoke-esque noise. One night ran until gone midnight. • Service at the Japanese restaurant was appalling, dining by myself I was largely ignored and food was unbelievably slow. • Poolside service was confusing. At a 5* hotel I expect to be greeted on arrival at a lounger with towels and also readily-available poolside food/drink service. At the main pool I had to hunt someone down to show me where the towels are kept and to adjust the shade for me. Put me off being by the pool. • Breakfast is a circus - lots of people, noise and chaos, too many tables crammed in on the terrace like a cafeteria - I felt like cattle. The outside terrace is miles away from the buffet. I had an omelette and bacon, both tasteless. Coffee was good but the tea terrible. A bird of prey and its handler to deter pigeons is sorely needed. • The rooms are noisy - bring ear plugs! As everything is tiled the hallways are super echoey, and people moving their chairs and furniture in rooms above and either side is *very* loud (felt pads on the chair feet would go a long way). In the bathrooms I can hear conversation. No hope against TVs and hairdryers. The doors within the rooms also slam, which doesn't help - nor are they solid but slatted. So there's very little sound barrier between you on the loo and the hallway, or your partner/family in the main room... • Having booked, paid for and followed up on email a sea view, I was disappointed on arrival to find I could barely see the sea and most of my balcony view was the corner of a building. Moving room wasn't remotely a problem, though I did have to wait 2 nights. Neutral but worth noting • Staying in January I needed a little heater at night to warm up the room for an hour or so. • There are complaints about the rooms being a bit worn but there are two types of 5* hotels - traditional maintained well and ultra-modern but characterless. This is the former.

absolutely amazing Hotel. The staff were just five star everywhere you went never seen so many staff for breakfast, the grounds are beautiful. The Italian design is amazing. Restaurants are brilliant. It’s even got a heli pad. one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed at. Can’t wait to go back.

This is now the third time I have stayed at this hotel. The hotel itself is still beautiful, but unfortunately, I feel that the service and overall experience no longer meet the standards you would expect from a five-star hotel. What is particularly noticeable is that many of the staff members around the pools and in the bars speak very limited English. As a result, even asking a simple question can sometimes be difficult. In addition, renovation work was taking place in several areas during our stay, without, in my opinion, sufficient consideration for the guests. For example, there was only one ladies’ toilet available downstairs, and that was the very toilet being renovated. As a result, women had to queue to use a dirty men’s toilet. One of the pools was also emptied for renovation, meaning that guests had to deal with construction work and paint fumes. When you then moved to another pool to relax in peace, extensive sawing and drilling started there in the morning. At a hotel in this price range, I expect renovations to be planned more carefully and for guests to experience as little inconvenience as possible. The hotel should also have informed us about the renovation work in advance. Had we known that so many areas would be affected during our stay, we would not have booked the hotel. At reception, we asked several questions that the staff could not answer without first making inquiries. Of course, this can happen occasionally, but when it happens repeatedly, it does not contribute to the level of service you would expect from a five-star hotel. We also found the food in the various restaurants generally disappointing. In addition, some members of staff did not come across as particularly enthusiastic or welcoming. The way guests were sometimes spoken to was, quite frankly, surprising for a hotel of this standard. Precisely because this was our third stay, we are able to compare it with our previous visits. The hotel still has a beautiful appearance and location, but in our opinion, the service, the maintenance during our stay, the communication and the dining experience have all declined. This is very disappointing, because it no longer feels like the five-star experience we had here in the past.