“Week in the sun (and rain.. ha)”

We had a lovely holiday at Sol Lanzarote. A few things to note, the pools are not heated other than one small children's pool in the middle: This means pretty much the whole resort tried to cram in the one pool while the others lay empty pretty much. All pool activities also go on in this pool me... more

We had a lovely holiday at Sol Lanzarote. A few things to note, the pools are not heated other than one small children's pool in the middle: This means pretty much the whole resort tried to cram in the one pool while the others lay empty pretty much. All pool activities also go on in this pool meaning on cooler days there is not much chance of pool time u less crammed in a corner trying to avoid a scheduled activity. The resort is far more aged than it appears in the pictures. Around the pools particularly are quite battered and in desperate need of a refurb. The food was pretty good. Lots of repetition but only to be expected from one restaurant. But lots of choice each night, and throughout the day the pool bar was great for snacks etc. The room was a great size. The sofa bed was fine for our small children but I think older children may struggle with it. Sustainable elements to the holiday were great and appreciated. Very close to the airport so minimal transfer time. On the beach front. The hotel entertainment staff were great. We weren't given a lot of information on check in, about anything really but a family staying in the hotel helped us out. Not sure how kids club works but when we did see them they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Lots of scheduled activities for children and adults in and poolside though. Be prepared to pay for safe, mini bar and also towels. (Towels refundable on return)

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“March 2024 Sol Lanzarote true review”

First off I would say this hotel is a 3star not 4 but the hotel was very clean and staff very friendly, rooms cleaned daily. The hotel is just out side of Puerto del carmen in Matagorda. Which is basically the end of the run way to the airport. ( if you love plane spotting it's fantastic) The r... more

First off I would say this hotel is a 3star not 4 but the hotel was very clean and staff very friendly, rooms cleaned daily. The hotel is just out side of Puerto del carmen in Matagorda. Which is basically the end of the run way to the airport. ( if you love plane spotting it's fantastic) The restaurant - gets very busy and it's hard to find a table during busy times. Food was repetitive and some items luke warm. Not great. It felt like feeding time at the zoo. There's also a lot of cheap plastic seats. But waiting staff are fantastic and quick at clearing and wiping down tables. The hotel pool is freezing, so only went in once. Pool area cleaned daily and during the day they have daily activities such as spinning and water activities for kids - even live music which was fantastic. Entertainment on a night time - 8:30pm for the kids entertainment is abit late, you have children having to make their own entertainment. As it's on that late. Some kids climbing all over staging. When the hotel kids club did start it was fantastic for kids and got everyone excited. 9:30pm for the adults entertainment. It was sometimes good.. some boring nights. It does get very busy and it's abit like musical chairs as no one can find a seat. So be quick to secure yours. Drinks by bar staff are amazing. Nicely done. Overall I would say the hotel itself could be a 4 star hotel if it was to renew some of the ikea furniture in bedrooms and revarnished some of the decking boards - repainted! It. Room sizes are huge and the Bathroom was huge - overall we did enjoy our stay here.

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“Good the bad and the ugly”

So we like to be honest with our reviews and this one is a real mixed bag. The very good was the quality of the food. There was plenty freshly cooked food each day and a very good selection. Room was huge for a superior double with a sea view. That said it is not a double bed, it is two twins... more

So we like to be honest with our reviews and this one is a real mixed bag. The very good was the quality of the food. There was plenty freshly cooked food each day and a very good selection. Room was huge for a superior double with a sea view. That said it is not a double bed, it is two twins it together that we had to ask a couple times for a topper and double sheet and quilt. Air con was very poor, rooms were clean but we did have an ongoing issue with tiny ants. Our bedding only got change once and I had to ask again for the shampoo dispenser to be topped up and in the end had to take one off the trolley. Very good sea view so no complaints there. This is a very family oriented hotel and to be fair to the hotel they do seem to give an excellent kid’s entertainment program, but we are a couple only and it was not our cup of tea. But they is out choice and not the hotels fault. Drinks were ok and they run a plastic cup system for drinks in the day. It seemed to be working as no one left loads of cups laying around but drinking out of plastic was not the best. The daytime food by the pool was excellent and very fresh and always topped up. We asked on the first day for a late check out and explained I have a condition where I really need to have my own loo but was told to come back on the last day. Surprise surprise there was no room available and although it was not a major issue, the sold called complimentary shows were disgusting. If I am honest the photos are not a fair representation of the hotel, for example the stairs in the whole hotel and including the dining area are all plastic and not the best to sit at. Site was overall very clean and we would highly recommend this hotel for young kids from 1 to 9. Did not seem much for 9 years of age and above. Note Safe is 3 euros a day Sun beds on seafront are not free and are not with hotel 10 euros a towel to rent but get that back 1 euro to replace a plastic cup if lost Got a great tan though

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“Let down by the plastic cup/token system”

First of all, I’ll get the negatives out of the way… PLASTIC CUP / TOKEN SYSTEM The main (huge) negative is the drink token system. On arrival you receive one token per person and, if you want a drink outside, you need to exchange the token for a plastic cup to drink from a self serve machine. W... more

First of all, I’ll get the negatives out of the way… PLASTIC CUP / TOKEN SYSTEM The main (huge) negative is the drink token system. On arrival you receive one token per person and, if you want a drink outside, you need to exchange the token for a plastic cup to drink from a self serve machine. Whether you’re drinking coffee, wine, beer, cocktails, etc - it’s from a plastic cup. The place to get the plastic cups from (pool bar) doesn’t open till 10.30am and shuts at 6pm - and that is the only place to exchange for a new plastic cup (so you need to queue back up to swap for a clean plastic cup and is the only place to swap your plastic cup back for your token). If you lose your cup or token - you need to pay €1 for a new token. There are self serve machines at the pool bar and another self service bar closer to the pool (that opened even later). In the main restaurant (7.30am-10.30am, then 1.30pm-3.30pm, then 7pm-10pm) there are glasses to use at the restaurant self serve machines. And at the hotel bar (6.30pm-11.30pm) there are glasses. But outside of this - you must go to the pool bar for your plastic cup. This may not sound too inconvenient- but it really was and dampened the holiday. If you’ve had breakfast early and then want to go and lie on a longer, or even sit in the hotel lobby, you can’t have a drink till 10.30am when you can get your plastic cup. And if you think you’ll just save your cup and use the self serve machines in between those times - you can’t - they switch the machines off!!! If want to start with a coffe and then a coke and then a water. You need to walk to the pool bar, queue up, swap your token for a plastic cup, pour yourself a self serve coffee, back to your lounger, then walk back to the pool bar, queue up to swap for a fresh cup, pour yourself a self serve coke, back to your lounger, then walk back to the pool bar, queue up to swap for a fresh cup, pour yourself a water, then back to your lounger… etc. we went long periods of not drinking as we simply couldn’t be bothered with the inconvenience of this system. I also went back to my room to get the proper porcelain cups to pour myself a self serve coffee as it doesn’t taste the same in a plastic cup (but then needed to bring my cups back to my hotel room). There were supposed to be coffee cups next to the machines (tiny espresso sized cups only) but there were hardly ever any on our stay, plus I don’t drink espresso so the cup wouldn’t be big enough anyway! If you get ready for the evening early and want a nice beer in a glass, you can’t get a drink at the hotel bar till 6.30pm (and the pool bar with plastic cups shut at at 6pm). Anyway, I’ve waffled on enough about this - but it really was a huge negative to all members of our family and we heard several others voicing their frustrations with the system too… A few other smaller negatives… TEMP OF FOOD The food at the restaurant was actually pretty good, but certain random items served at room temperature instead of piping hot like the rest of the dishes (e.g. one morning just the sausages on the full English section were cold)? There is one microwave in the restaurant to use, but you need to check the temp of each item to see if it needs warming up… LACK OF ICECREAMS The only ice cream available for the kids round the pool was some tiny crappy yougurt pots of plain chocolate or vanilla ice cream from the pool bar. There were proper ice cream / lollies available- but you had to pay for them, poor service from a “4 star” hotel. FOOD SERVED LATE AT POOL BAR The pool bar served food, and was supposed to open 10.30am. It didn’t seem to open for food till 11.30/12pm (with only some cold sandwich bits) and they didn’t put most food out till 12.30pm. This was terrible and went against what was advertised (the 10.30am opening time). if you’ve just missed breakfast - you had 2 hours to wait for something to eat. Saw lots of frustrated hotel guests keep returning to check whether the food was out yet. One day we were waiting to eat before we set off out for the day and it was 12:30pm when they put the hot food out so this delayed our day out by 2 hours. STAFF CUT BACKS Staff - the staff themselves were fantastic- from the restaurant waiters, to the maids, to the kids club, they were all super smiley, polite, friendly. But there were obvious cut backs on staff. The restaurant waiters were literally running round trying to cope with demand. It was like feeding time at the zoo but employing a few more staff would have eased the pressure on the few staff there were. I think this is reflected in the fact that 90% of the drinks were self serve - again to save money on staff, but meant you had to keep queuing up at the pool bar, (that only had 2 staff) to get a fresh cup so that you could use the self serve machines. The kids club staff were wonderful, but were clearly given an almost zero budget. One regular activity was play-doh, but that consisted of a huge tub of brown play doh (obviously all the colours had been mixed and not replaced). Another activity was making palm trees, they used cut up boxes for the base, brown masking tape but at least the budget did allow for some green paper for the leaves! Another activity was sand art - which sounds amazing till you realise it’s paper, glue and sand from the beach. But the kids club staff tried their best and worked tirelessly in lots of physical activities for the kids (water volleyball, water basketball, etc) and were always smiling, particularly Loic I think he was called, lovely bloke. Another staff cut back was no helper when you first arrive to get your bags to your room. We were a family with 3 young children, six large cases, plus hand luggage and we had to find our own way to our room - there wasn’t even the use of a trolley to wheel the cases, we just had to do a few trips to our room. The pools, these only opened at 10am and were closed at 7pm I think? And by closed, I mean chained shut. So you literally couldn’t swim before 10am and I can only assume this is another staff cut back as they must not want to pay staff to man the pools before then - which is poor service. There were 3 pools, only the middle (smallest) one was heated (and shallow enough to be safe for kids) and they squeezed about 18 loungers round this middle pool (literally side by side with no space) so it was a task to secure these beds). Plenty of beds round the other 2 cold pools. Now to the positives… BEAUTIFUL SETTING The hotel is situated in a perfect position. Literally minutes from the airport (which is fab having such a short transfer after the flight). Close enough to enjoy watching the planes coming/going without the noise being overbearing. It’s on the beachfront (can hire sunbeds with shade for €10 per pair for the day or just take a towel and lie down wherever you like), very close to shops / bars / restaurants- the area itself it’s so clean and safe. The hotel itself is picturesque on the outside with its palm trees, so pretty when you’re chilling on a sun lounger round the pool. There is no road between the hotel and beach, just a walkway and cycle path, you can hire bikes or family sized bicycle bus type things by the hour (I’ll put a photo of the prices with this review). We loved cycling up and down the cycle paths for a couple of hours. A taxi to Puerto Del Carmen is only around €5/€6 and has loads more shops/ bars / restaurants. You can walk it in an hour or two (depending on pace) but there’s no shade though so don’t recommend in high heat. LIVE MUSIC BY THE POOL On two of the days that we stayed in the hotel, there was live entertainment at the pool side and this was absolutely fantastic! We loved it and it really did make the day so much better. WONDERFUL ATTITUDE OF STAFF I’ve already mentioned the staff, but they deserve another mention, they were fantastic and definitely positively impacted the holiday. All in all, I’d say this is more like a 3 star than a 4 star and the staff cut backs / token plastic cup system really let the place down. Otherwise, it’s a beautiful hotel with so much potential, especially situated in the perfect spot. I would recommend to families with children.

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