Luabay Costa Adeje

My husband and I spent Christmas and New Year at the Esmeralda Hotel. We read all the reviews before we went, some were excellent, the majority bad but thought we would give it a go. The first impression of the hotel is fantastic. The frontage of the hotel was fabulous as was the beautiful marbled floor reception area. The trees on the approach had Christmas Lights on them and the reception area was decorated absolutely beautifully. That unfortunately was where it ended. Our room was very average. The bathroom needed re-grouting and a couple of tiles replacing. Some of the tiles on the floor in the bedroom were loose and there were 4/5 cracked and broken tiles on the balcony. The room was cleaned everyday and the linen and towels changed regularly but the floor itself never seemed to have been cleaned with soap and water, it was just mopped with a swiffer type mop. You got dirty feet walking round after a shower which is a sure sign of a dirty floor. The restaurant looked at face value really nice. The waiters were very friendly, showed us to our table, offered us smoking or non-smoking, and told us we could have beer, wine or soft drinks. We were half board so had to pay for drinks. The food was extremely poor. The choice was totally limited to a fish, meat or pasta dish. Dried up chips were the order of every day. What vegetables they served were horrible. One night it was just tinned carrots. Another just Sprouts. The salad bar was the saving grace. Even the soup was greasy and watery. Bread rolls were placed on your side plate every night. On two occasions they were dried up and stale. Even the replacements were the same. We only dined there 4 nights, we could not eat there again. The food was disgusting, cold and unimaginitive. The breakfasts were better but not fantastic. At least there was a choice for everyone at breakfast. We could not get more than SKY News or SKY sport on the supposed satellite TV. Then three days before we were coming home we found out you could HIRE a romote. When we asked for one, we were told they had run out so we couldn't have one in any case. The pool is in dire need of some tender loving care. No potted plants or ornaments to make it look cosmetically nice. Unruly teenagers and children left to their own devices and the lifeguard just sat on his chair on his mobile phone not caring what they were getting up to. The poolside was not cleaned properly. Again as with the bedroom, it was swept but not cleaned and you could not walk round barefoot for walking on dirty floor and sometimes it was covered in rubbish and cigarette dimps. All these factors I reported to our representative. We asked to be moved from this supposed 4 star hotel but he said there was no room at any of the other hotels because of the Christmas rush. We had to put up with it. We spent a fortune eating out when we shouldn't have had to. Plus I don't mind the beach but it would have been nice to stay round the pool a couple of times but it was just too noisy and too dirty. All in all this hotel needs to be downgraded or have a re-furbishment to take it back to a 4 star level. I read one report that the entertainment was great. It might be if you like parrot shows and snake shows and Canarian dancers. It was aimed more for children and parents who couldn't get out at night. Again, we expected more of a 4 star hotel. We spent a fortune on this holiday and only for the fact that the weather was fantastic and we could go on the beach it would have been totally spoilt. We could have gone to the Caribean all inclusive for the same amount we spent plus the spending money laid out on food that we didn't budget for. 4 Star this hotel is not. It needs something doing about it. We have written to Direct Holidays who we booked it with, they have responded saying they will investigate and we are hoping to hear back from them soon.

Don't understand the complaints I see about this hotel. Perhaps the complainers had never been to Spain and don't understand what to expect for a four-star rating in Spain. The hotel was clean, ( a small problem at check-in was promptly fixed and followed up on ), the staff were very nice, the hotel was quiet ( alot of seniors ) and we really had a nice time. Only choices we had for a last-minute deal were half-board and all-inclusive - so we opted for the half-board - expecting to have a look at the food and then go find a restaurant. We were quite pleasantly surprised with the food - and the attention we received at the hotel's buffet restaurant. We ended up eating every night at the hotel - first time ever. The food was NOT German-oriented. Maybe this is different in the summer but we were amazed at the low concentration of Germans in the whole South of the island ( my work is in Germany so I love to escape that culture ). Would definitely choose this hotel again.

I decided to take my husband to the esmeralda for a surprise for his 40th birthday. I had read some reviews and was a bit worried but my mum and dad had been to the Hawaii in Las Americas and called in to check it out for me. Their opinion was that it looked nice and not to worry. We arrived and were pleased with the appearance of the reception but as has been said by others, the reception staff were arrogant and rude. I wanted to get a safety deposit box but was told I couldn't until 3.30pm which I still cannot understand the logic to. The room was clean and tidy and had a nice view. We realised what a mistake the hotel had been when it came to dinner. The food was absolutely disgusting and cold. In fact there was nothing edible and we ended up poking the food about our plates and then leaving. The desserts (which I love) were really disappointing and again I was not able to chose anything. We tried again at breakfast and the coffee machines were both placed at the end of the buffet area, causing queues, especially as they didn't seem to have enough cups or saucers and kept running out. The bacon was always cold, the sausages were difficult to describe - I still don't know how to explain them! The only edible thing at breakfast and warm things were the freshly baked croissants. Overall it was really disappointing. We ended up eating every meal out, which was lovely but expensive! I would not recommend this hotel to anyone and will never go back. It is definately over-rated as a 4* and is more like a 2*.

got back from hotel esmeralda in july this year. It was the first time i went to tenerife and to be honest i thought it was great. Got to the hotel at about three in the morning and the porter gladly took me and my boyfriends bags to our room on the 6th floor. Balcony was huge in our room, though the Air Con didn't work. We found that the staff at the hotel were really nice, the bar staff seemed standoffish at first but after a couple of days became really friendly and extremely funny. We went All Inclusive, though after about 6 days we found the food to be a bit tedious. It was nice, but there was no variety to the menu. We found a great restraunt on the front called El Ferry which served full english breakfasts for a euro fifty. But the hotel itself was great, very clean, great entertainment and the drinks on all inclusive wereplentiful. Me and my boyfriend will definatly be going back

Having read good and bad reports of the hotel decided to take pot luck two years ago. found the hotel better than I expected for the money, service was good staff were polite but not over friendly, <what do you want, 'Redcoats'> food was good altho' personally I prefere set meals as opposed to buffet food, everywhere was within walking distance , even los christianos which is very nice. In my experience <twice> the rooms were clean, domestic sevice was good, I am going again in march 2006, without any qualms whatsoever. B.G.

I had a brilliant time at this hotel with my boyfriend (19,21),had room 10D which ok was on the 10th floor but it was huge, extra large balcony, lovely views, very clean, huge room. The reception staff in general were a bit arrogant and rude but maybe thats just because they get some attitude of others? They could have smiled though. The food was nice although I must admit a little repetative, steak was nice, could have been a bit hotter though. The gym was crap, so was the 'beauty' salon. The location was excellent!! right in the centre of everything. The pool was a bit small, even though they have 3 none of them were really big enough. I would recomend this hotel, I agree its only about a 3 star but i noticed all but 1 of the hotels I saw in Tenerife were 4 star, so maybe they give them out like toffee? who knows. I Will try and pot some pictures at some point of our room and views. Any questions about the hotel get back to me. I was worried about going after all the rubbish reviews but it was great!

The hotel is in an ideal location over looking the main road into Torviscus and also overlooking another hotel. We were very disappointed as soon as we arrived. The food was awful defiantly quantity had been sacrificed for quality and was practically the same every day despite the menu outside of the restaurant reading different exotic dishes every day. I saw one day it said Lobster would be on the menu however, the closest thing to lobster were some prawns. The restaurants despite advertising in some places that it has 3 restaurants in fact actually has one main restaurant 'canteen style' and an outside restaurant where you can eat when I doesn’t rain which is really just the same food served outside. We were all inclusive which we though would entitle us to many drinks and snacks thought the day however we were only allowed drinks that were local to the area which were mainly just coke, fanta, sprite and a few but very limited alcoholic beverages. The snacks were ice creams and theses were only available between 4 - 6. All inclusive was only from 11am - 11pm which meant any drinks consumed before or after these times were not included. We were disappointed All inclusive seems to suggest that every thing is included rather than just a few cheap drinks and ice creams. The hotel its self was clean however the cleaner didn’t smile and wasn’t at all friendly towards us for the whole two weeks we were there. The reception staff in general were arrogant and rude and allot of people complained about their attitude towards people. The bar staff were ok but to begin with could be rude. The facilities such as the Gym, Sauna and tennis/squash courts had to be paid for as an extra which was annoying. These facilities weren’t by far the best either. The hotel evening entertainment was good every night there was a different show or quiz which was quite fun to watch or take part in. This hotel boasts a 4* rating however in actual fact it is about a 2* it needs to under go serious improvements to actually reach 4* expected standard.

My wife and I go to this hotel each year in May. Very few children running around and screaming / crying because it's not a peak period at this time of year. As with most Canarian hotels it has a cockroach or three (this can't be avoided) but this hotel has very few of these beasts, especially on the higher floors as cockroaches haven't mastered the workings of the lifts / elevators. The bar staff can be a little abrupt but wouldn't anybody be if forced to work for a pittance in these temperatures ? Our room was kept clean, beds were made daily and new towels for the bathroom were replaced each day too. We don't eat at the hotel itself, (not because the food is bad, we haven't eaten the hotel food so we can't comment). We just like to dine out as the resteraunts with a sea veiw. You do get the timeshare people constantly stopping you - trying to get you to visit a timeshare convention, but I have mastered a very effective method for getting rid of them ;-) ........ What else can I say.........HAH ... Of the three lifts at the hotel you will probably find only one or two actually work, but this is a small price to pay for getting away from it all. The pools are clean and there is no lack of sun loungers (with matching matresses) , if you want a sunny break - away from the hustle and bustle I could only recommend this hotel. If you want the very best that Tenerife has to offer you will have to find a damn sight more money than this hotel costs .........

We stayed at this.........whatever it was, in Oct 04. I have never met such rude people. The bar staff seemed to be annoyed at whatever request was made. They even had a go at a man because he wanted some ice in his red wine. We went all inclusive and we only ate there on the first day. I couldn't work out what the food was, chicken, steak, it all looked the same and I didn't fancy a week sitting on the toilet, so we ate out everyday. My advice is not to go there. It is over rated and should be a 2 star at the most!! We became friendly with a couple and they felt the same. The staff would make comments to eachother about customers in spanish when they were obviously annoyed for whatever reason, in fact I felt very uncomfortable asking the staff for a drink as they seemed to get agitated. The hotel was clean, but that's it. No excuse for rudeness

We didn't have a problem with hotel,it was clean and had daily room cleaning.Although the cleaner who did our rooms was so ignorant and never once smiled in the 2 weeks we were there.. The "food" well that had a lot to be desired for..Every night for the english was either steak (boot leather) or chiken.,cold chips and very little choice of veg..The food was not even labled to advise what it was...The hotel deffinatley needs to upgrade the standard of food and have a wider choice for the english..We actually ate out the night before we came home and I must say that was the best meal I had eaten in the time we were there.....