Oro Blanco

I stayed here with my sister in March 07 and would recommend it to anyone. The rooms are clean, bright, and airy with huge balconies. There is a maid service every day except Sunday and they change the bedding and towels every other day.
The staff are extremely helpful and they speak perfect English. On our third night, our safety deposit box, which is located in the wardrobe, was jammed and we couldn’t get it open. I went to reception and someone was at our room within 2 minutes to help us. Unfortunately he couldn't open it either so he let us borrow 30 Euros each to go out for the night and 9am the next morning, the maintenance man was at our room and fixed the safety deposit box.
Food and drink in the hotel were very reasonably priced and they have a happy hour where drinks are buy one get one free. However, I never actually ate or drank in the hotel so cannot comment on the quality.
The pool is a real sun trap and no matter what time of day you go, there are always sunbeds available. The beach is about a 10 minute walk and the water park which has a fantastic dolphin show is about a 10 minute taxi ride which costs about 8 Euros, although I believe there is a free bus but I don't know where it goes from.
The location is great too, just far enough away from all the action of starco and veronica's strip to be able to sleep at night but close enough to stumble home after a hard night partying. There's a fantastic little restaurant next door called The Tavern which is run by English people who are so nice, the foods great and you can't go wrong with the prices either.
Overall, Oro Blanco is a good place to stay and I would certainly stay there again.

Me and my family have stayed at the Oro Blanco for the last 4 years and found it very clean and tidy, cleaners came in everyday I was there. I've just got back from a week in there and are booking for next year. We always get a warm welcoming from reception and the pool is always good, but the back lane is a bit dodgy at night but the hotel keep gate locked so you cant go that way. The only emergency vehicles that I heard is ambulances as the hospital is round the corner.

DON'T PANIC! We have just returned from the Oro Blanco and it is OK. I spoke to a number of people there who had all read these reviews, we all expected a "ghetto in the Bronx" however we were all relieved to find it did not live up to its bad press.
When we arrived the reception staff were all really friendly and were either English or if Spanish, they all spoke good English and were helpful. There had been a cock-up with our booking (Thomas Cook's fault, not the hotel's) so there was no room ready. We were told to go to the bar for a free drink and return in 10 minutes. We returned and went to our room expecting the worst. The room was basic but clean (and did not stink of bleach). All the dishes were clean, floors inside and on patio were clean, bathroom clean etc. We didn't have any cockroach issues whilst there either.
There is an alley next to the hotel which we did not walk down, although I wouldn't walk down dodgy-looking alleys in the UK so why would I do it abroad?!?!? Go down the road another 100 metres to turn left to get to the main strip and beach and the street is well lit (no big deal). We saw one prostitute whilst there on one night who didn't bother us for "business", they would only ask single men anyway. As for the "looky looky" men and hair braiding ladies, just say "no thanks" and walk past, they will not bother you any further. Admittedly, on Saturday night there were about 5 or 6 ambulances (not police cars) went passed the hotel but this quietened by midnight (ask for a pool view room which will be quieter). Be aware that the TV in the room is coin operated, 1 euro = 1 hour's viewing although CNN news is free. We were too busy enjoying our holiday to worry about TV.
Timeshare - you will probably be stopped at some point and asked to scratch a scratch card. Either tell them no thanks and they will leave you alone or if you scratch, one person will win Duty Free (200 cigs and a bottle of spirits) and the other will win the star prize. If you go, it will take between 90 minutes ~ 2 hours of your time to be shown a timeshare property and presentation. At the end of the presentation, you WILL be given your duty free and the star prize will be the holiday. The holiday is one week to a certain number of destinations for a certain price (which can vary from company to company) but the date is not fixed (you chose 4 different weeks and will be allocated one). We have actually been on two of these holidays before and if you can be flexible about travel dates, you will get 5 star accomodation, the only commitment is to give up 90 minutes of your time for another presentation. We are booking the next "freebie" (only £30 each) at the moment with a choice of Tenerife / Spain / Malta / Turkey.
All in all we had a good time at the Oro Blanco, obviously it has not satisfied everyone judging by previous comments but we found it to be a friendly and relaxing place.

Right! I stayed at Oro Blanco for 2 weeks. The first room we had was right at the back of the hotel, (and it stunk of bleach so badly I had an allergic reaction) even though one of our party was a disabled pensioner, he cant walk 10 yards, AND THERE WERE ABOUT 4 SETS OF STAIRS, so he couldn't take his electric wheelchair.
In the end we had our room changed. Oh No. It was room 016 (near reception) if you get offered this room SAY NO!!! Granted it was a big 2 bedroom apartment, but the balcony floors were filthy and not cleaned, my feet were revolting to look at. Oh and one other thing. COCKROACHES. This is the main reason you should say NO. Under the bath/shower in the bathroom, there is a live cockroaches nest, I AM NOT LYING!
As for the area . . . its absolutely disgusting. There is rubbish everywhere, and at night its dangerous. The path near the hotel is called ''muggers lane''. I was standing outside one night (with 3 other people) just looking. There were prostitutes walking down the road and people lurking in the shadows.
I wouldn't recommend this place as a family holiday.
I'm just glad I'm back home.

What a disappointment!!!
We booked two weeks in sunny Tenerife only to be greeted by reception staff with bad manors and a tour rep who was most unhelpful with limited local knowledge.
After the disappointment of the hotel we decided to take a stroll and found that the area was dirty and had not been kept that well. The further you walk away from this hotel, in any direction, the nicer it gets.
After dark you should be especially careful. The lane running next to the hotel is known by some of the locals as 'muggers lane' and we were often woken after dark by police sirens shooting up the road behind.
We could see from our balcony men sitting in the dark waiting for anyone to walk past. Possibly worst of all was the prostitutes that use this area as their base, both in the lane and the road up from the roundabout on your left.
Apart from this initial setback we found Tenerife as a destination to be lovely, with nice beaches such as Playa Fanabe, shops galore and stunning scenery if you decide to take a trip up the Volcano, Mount Teidi.

1 reader found this review helpful

Much like other reviewers I did not quite know what to expect from the Oro Blanco given some of the comments that I had seen, but I had no complaints whatsoever. I now have the impression that some reviewers obviously expect far too much from these apartments, they are by no means 5 star standard but indeed, you are not paying 5 star prices to stay there.
The apartments are clean and well maintained. Not all have a balcony, some of the smaller ones for single occupancy for instance but they are more than adequate. The pool area is not huge but again this was not a problem. The poolside bar offers a variety of food and snacks to a good standard and is very reasonably priced. The staff working in the bar are brilliant, very efficient and polite. If you want to venture out to eat there are many good alternatives nearby. The 'Tavern' just to the left of the main entrance offers a very good menu and there is also a Chinese buffet where you can get all that you can eat for 5.50 Euros, unbeatable value although there are better ones if you venture further. There are also supermarkets nearby but to be frank it is cheaper to eat out!
The staff at the Oro Blanco are great, particular thanks go to Louise who could'nt do enough to help when I had a health problem, absolutely fantastic as was the My Travel representative Kelly. Always there when she should be and a great help when called upon. What I did find refreshing was the apartments zero tolerance policy towards noise, they don't put up with it at all and the security guard is a star!
The Oro Blanco is on a main road so you are going to get inevitable noise from that, also at the back is a passageway leading towards the 'Las Piramides' apartments and directly opposite are the 'Altamar' apartments. It would be an untruth to say that you don't get noise from these but of course the Oro Blanco has no control over this and it is not that bad. I was at the back of the block and overall I had a very restful holiday.
I did have a cockroach in the room on one occasion but I found a container to put it in and took it elsewhere. Make no mistake that this does not reflect on the standard or cleanliness of the accommodation, people who make such comments are living in cloud cuckoo land. Cockroaches are a way of life in Tenerife and always will be, they can be found in 5 star hotels as a friend of mine can testify having stayed in the Jardin Tropical. He had pure luxury but was also visited by them. A bit of advice for those visiting the island for the first time or are not used to cockroaches, DO NOT stand on them as you can then carry their eggs on the soul of your footwear. They do not harm you but if you must kill them they cannot cope with hairspray. If you kick them and they end up upside down they will die as they cannot get themselves back again.
The Oro Blanco is very well situated indeed close to many bars offering a variety of live bands, karaoke and dance music. If you are into the club scene and want to go through your spending money at a rate of knots then Veronicas is about 10 minutes walk away (you had better believe that the bars there are expensive). Other high profile bars nearby are Linekers, Wigan Pier, Yates and Murphys.
Having been coming to Tenerife for 20+ years and having stayed in a variety of apartments and hotels in that time the question is how does the Oro Blanco compare? Well to me the answer is very favourably. Would I go back there? Unquestionably yes and I am more than happy to recommend the apartments to anyone.
Thank you Oro Blanco for giving me a very pleasant and restful holiday!

Me and my boyfriend went to tenerife late August and stayed for two weeks.
We arrived and were checked in quickly, and room was a good size and seemed quite clean on arrival.
We had booked our holiday approx 9 months in advance so were shocked to find we had been placed in a room with no balcony. Having explained our situation to a staff member, she kindly rang the tour operator back in England on our behalf so we could try and sort something out. So i'd give the staff A++ for all their help in trying to fix our situation.
Although me and my boyfriend are a young couple we noticed it was extremley busy with lads / girls holidays. It was ok for us but may perhaps not reccommend this hotel at that particular time of the year for a family holiday, as people were kept awake throughout the night.
The pool area seemed clean and staff were happy to help at the bar even in busy periods. The hotel wasn't the ritz but the staff and friendly people made up for that!
We plan to visit playa de las america's in the near future!!

Where do I start? Airport dateline 14.08.07, check in ok, security good once in departures 2 hour delay but was not told anything until at least 10 people including myself asked.
Flight very poor £5.00 for a blanket not good when you have a tired 3 year old but she slept anyway, head on my jumper.
Arrival can’t say how impressed I was with our transfer mini bus just for us but only because our buggy landed in a different part of the airport to us and we had to collect it making us miss our transport its now midnight.
I must say the accommodation was good nice sized apartment and the first time a separate kitchen, well fitted furniture lots of it but we were right over the bar area, a little price to pay for a good ground floor room.
Oh dear next day unable to get round pool area, 18-30 time lots of noise and big boys as my 2 girls would say, jumping into the pool making it unsafe for little kids.
To the beach as many of you know you can’t go wrong by going to the beach, kids loved it, again and again and again.
Two weeks in the Oro Blanco is enough for any family in fact, one week would have been better but on the whole as we went out every day for some of that peace and quiet you want on holiday, we had a good time in Tenerife, that of course does not include our Oro Blanco time that was naff. I can only say MyTravel don’t touch them, Oro Blanco? Better off going to Dartmoor and camping outside the prison.

After only arriving back in the KU last night, I felt that I should put other people’s minds at rest if they are going to stay at the Oro Blanco Apartments.
After reading so many (not so nice) reviews, I was dreading my stay there but we found the Oro Blanco very nice indeed.
The apartments were basic and clean, however the pull out bed in the lounge was a bit of a disappointment as it was uncomfortable and I was basically sleeping on the floor because the mattress was so low to the floor (that wasn’t what me and my partner were expecting)but we certainly didn’t let it spoil our holiday.
The pictures of the Oro Blanco in the holiday brochure didn’t do it any justice at all, the pool and sun lounging areas were kept exceptionally clean and the pool snack bar was always well stocked.
The Oro Blanco even provided the guests with pool inflatable and beach balls for the kids to play with.
All in all I’d recommend these apartments to anyone who was going, we had a great time whilst staying there.

Just returned this week from 7 days in Las Americas staying in the Oro Blanco Apartments. I can safely say that the question lies with those who write these negative reviews, and not the hotel itself. Silly comments such as "There was a scratch on the cupboard door!" "Someone ran through the corridor at night!" and "the security guard could hardly speak English!!!" makes me wonder if these people would love a moan regardless of where they stay.
We had a fantastic time and loved the hotel; It is suitable for all types of people especially families. It is definitely not an 18-30 style hotel, but a nice, well situated 3 star establishment. There wasn’t actually that much groups of young people when we were there.
It is a 5 minute walk from Tramps, Rags, Linekers etc but yet far enough not to be bothered with noise. The security guard is maybe a bit grumpy but he was very helpful when my friend burnt her leg with boiling soup (from the Chinese next door). As were the reception staff.
Our holiday was problem free, and while this isn’t 5 star ultimate luxury the apartments are more than comfortable and I couldn’t complain. But if I had to, I'd say maybe more option at the pool snack wise but to be honest it was the last thing on my mind being in such a great place.
We stayed by the poolside most days as they played good music and as mentioned below there were always plenty sun loungers. I was up at 8.00am on the first day to put my towel down (as I’ve been forced to do previously) but it wasn’t necessary and usually we headed down at 11 and didn’t have a problem. There was also a guy on duty round the pool to offer advice on getting a good tan and avoiding getting burnt.
There are some prostitutes but they wear jeans and tops, look normal and mind their own business. What you do have to watch for are the hair braiding lady's near veronicas. Just keep walking as if you show a bit of interest they literally shove you on their patio chairs and grab your hair. My friend was being polite and let them speak but I wasn’t so receptive and they started getting nasty. She ended up braiding half her head and then demanded 65 euros! Avoid!
The Chinese next doors really nice, just like at home. But for the ultimate try Teppenyaki in the Safari shopping centre - it’s absolutely beautiful.
Don’t hesitate about booking the Oro Blanco - it’s a great place and I really felt at home there. Had the time of my life. I was gutted on my last day and I can’t wait to back.