“A* experience”

Fantastic hotel, the food was brilliant, the staff where very helpful and understanding, full of information and answered any concerns we had

“My Favourite Club excellent”

Stayed 1 week at end of April. Room was very good, well maintained. The gardens around the hotel are very impressive, and kept to a high standard. As part of the my Favourite Club area of the hotel, Adults only, the restaurant choice is very good. Buffet also has a special area, bit quieter th... more

Stayed 1 week at end of April. Room was very good, well maintained. The gardens around the hotel are very impressive, and kept to a high standard. As part of the my Favourite Club area of the hotel, Adults only, the restaurant choice is very good. Buffet also has a special area, bit quieter than the main area. My favourite Club pool was great for breakfast and lunch. Pool and sensations pool needed some TLC and cleaning. Other areas were very clean. Food choices are beverages generally good. Would return.

less

“Disappointed”

Very noisy. Not the relaxing holiday we expected. Clean rooms. Not much variety of food choices. Some of the entertainment good

“Possibly not the four-star it claims to be.”

A strange silence hangs over the adult-only pool area of My Favourite Club. Think the film Cocoon. Books, Kindles, and Sudoku puzzle books are the favoured companions of the mostly middle-aged masses that bake in the blazing sun. There’s an eerie stillness here, jarred only by an occasional plung... more

A strange silence hangs over the adult-only pool area of My Favourite Club. Think the film Cocoon. Books, Kindles, and Sudoku puzzle books are the favoured companions of the mostly middle-aged masses that bake in the blazing sun. There’s an eerie stillness here, jarred only by an occasional plunge into an empty pool. Of course, any adult only resort will sell itself on total peace and quiet. For those wanting to savour solitude away from the inflatables and chaos of young families, this silent space offers quiet time in abundance. But when is quiet, too quiet? We’ll come back to that question later. The My Favourite Club experience at Alua Suites Fuerteventura is good. At times, great even. The rooms are spacious, clean, and filled with coffee pods, replenished water, and eco-friendly free toiletries. There’s even sumptuous bath robes and slippers in every room, perfect for private terrace post-shower relaxation before evening dinner. Our poolside upper terrace (thank you Cesar in reception) was perfect for watching the sunset with a glass of Prosecco left over from the generous welcome pack we received upon arrival. The food is varied and offers something for most palates. If you tire of using the adult-only eateries (a lounge and a la carte restaurant is available for those with the all-access wristbands), you can also use the general dining areas across the resort, and, rest-assured for those paying extra to not mingle with the masses (trust me, they exist-some My Favourite Club guests meanly referred to the family section as a ‘ghetto’ during rare conversations), there are separate spaces in the family areas for My Favourite Club guests too. It’s a pleasant stay, particularly given the consistent friendly and welcoming interactions with the cleaning and maintenance staff here (our cleaner Eli was adorable). These support staff are national treasures and take time to welcome you warmly whenever passing (unlike the younger staff serving poolside drinks whose surliness can uncomfortably border on guest disdain at times). The resort also offers a range of well-being treatments, sporting activities, and evening entertainment. They’ve got most things right, so what, if anything, may be significantly wrong? Well, as noted in many of the more critical reviews on here, the hot buffet tends to be tepid at best. Yes, there’s a microwave to reheat food in the main Terra dining area if you’re after a *hot* buffet, but with the huge potential income generation across this busy site, buying effective food heat lamps could be a simple solution to address this shortcoming (even when dining early, the food is rarely hot). Also, the food offering is largely the same across the resort. My Favourite Club guests paying a premium and expecting a slightly enhanced breakfast (say smashed avocado on toast, or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon) may find themselves a tad disappointed. The poolside drinks system is a nuisance too. Tokens are issued at check in, and are exchanged for a child-sized (the irony) plastic beaker at the start of the day, and then reissued when you leave the pool at the end of your day in the sun. Okay, so it’s great for keeping empty beakers from littering the space, but the small size of beakers mean you are frequently queuing up to replenish your drink (often, as mentioned earlier, to the annoyance of poolside bar staff). However, the biggest bug bear here is the unofficial sunbed ‘reservations’. Despite signs on every single piece of pool furniture that threaten removal of belongings if unattended for more than 20 minutes, guests still insist on laying claim to sunbeds in the best aspects, often from as early as 7am (with some not returning until early afternoon). Staff really do need to take a more interventionist approach to managing this. A few days of removing towels to reception, if left for prolonged periods, would send a clear message that fair is fair. Granted some folk only want a pool holiday and are quite happy to sit from dawn until dusk in the same spot each day (we did chuckle at a few couples who practically ran to their favoured beds each day). However, those sightseeing before a late afternoon plunge will inevitably find themselves relegated to whatever isolated bed is free, often without a parasol or table either as these are limited. All that said, it really is a resort that, on balance, does exactly what it says on the tin. However, that tin is probably not quite the four-star experience that the Hyatt website promises itself to be. Now, back to that quietness… Mindful to avoid appearing ageist here, the majority demographic at My Favourite Club seem to be British middle-advanced aged retired guests, living a time in their lives when they now know what they want, but crucially, in terms of atmosphere, what they *don’t* want. The resulting poolside etiquette is an atmosphere of unspoken, yet subtlety enforced, silence that a times, can hang too heavily in the Canarian air. A disapproving look at the mere hint of audible conversation (or worse, laughter), epitomises a prevailing sense of entitlement here. It’s a shame, as there’s very little audible interaction of any kind outside of those returners that have already established friendship circles. Pity the handful of young couples looking for that perfect Instagram post from their Balinese beds and background of leafy palms. They quickly learn to use their quiet voices when discussing shots for their socials. Things did change a little when a talented member of staff spontaneously played his accordion poolside on our final day. His rendition of Yann Tiersen brought a much-improved ambience and moment of pure magic to the poolside, albeit fleetingly. More of this would really improve the overall atmosphere without disrupting the equilibrium of quietness that is so clearly favoured here. All that said, on balance, the resort does deliver a high three-star experience. Not withstanding the aforementioned shuffling Kindlers, carving out their literature-light poolside territories with unapologetic disregard for fairness, My Favourite Club, at Alua Suites Furteventura, does bring a welcome departure from the hustle and bustle that’s inescapable in most package trips to this much-loved Canary Isle. Would we come back? Possibly. But with stiff competition from assured four-staff adult-only Barcelo Correlejo Bay nearby, Alua Suites needs a few tweaks to really be a four-star contender; the food and drink, some regular decking maintenance (plenty of tripping hazards here as the plastic boards are in various states of disrepair) and an ability to enforce the 20-minute sunbed reservation policy. Final takeaway for us is that of course Alua Suites is worth the modest spend, but the overall atmosphere here is lacking. Surely the price of peace and relaxation at an adult-only resort doesn’t need to come at the cost of those also wanting a little fun with their sun.

less