Las Marinas Club Resort

Family of 4 including two children (37, 36, 8 & 4) - July '06. The hotel is a short taxi ride from the airport (approx. 17 euros), set just outside the centre of CT and approx. 3 euros in a taxi to the main centre (shops/beach etc). Think that is what is behind most of the bad reviews - it's not in the heart of the Blackpool type bars and restaurants, but if you're looking for an excellent family holiday (probably more ideal for younger children than teenagers) set away from the rowdy bars then you'll love it. This ensured a good nights sleep as it was very quiet at night. The accommodation is as it states - very spacious and comes complete with kitchen and dining area, large balcony etc and can't be faulted. Very modern, tastefully decorated and exceptionally clean. We had a fantastic sea view from all angles. The staff are wonderful, so helpful and go out of their way to come and speak to you and the restaurant manager seems to run quite a tight ship. AI includes wide variety of drinks and snacks for both adults and children and mealtimes were excellent - wide choice for both the children and a vegetarian (don't usually cater for veggies) and we didn't find many dishes repeated. On the whole we didn't spend much money as we had no need to unusually - excellent value for money. Our children really enjoyed the swings and the mini disco each evening (there are other activities on most days for the adults too) and the three pools which were never too busy. The Sunday market in the quaint village of Teguise is well worth a visit as are the many beaches just a short walk/taxi ride away. There is a daily courtesy bus from the hotel to the centre which is a very good service. Lanzarote itself is a very beautiful country well worth a visit and seems to always be very windy! The airport is also very good - modern with a good range of shops.

I will give you a list of all the things essential to survive in this hotel. LEARN SPANISH. we often felt like Basil Fawlty speaking to Manuel when trying to get problems sorted in the hotel! The receptionists were amateur compared to the friendly professional staff in the Hotel Barcelo about 10 minutes away in a taxi (there is a lovely jewellrey shop there). FOOD SUPPLIES. Go to the supermarket as most of the food was terrible. Some was ok if you can live off the freshly fried meats, chips and bread. There is a dependency on tinned vegetables and fruit. I adventurously tried lasagne one night and to my disgust it was cold the cheese sauce was like jelly and the pasta wasnt cooked!!! TOWELS this was only a little laugh as 3 people checked in and er well there were 2 sets of towels and 2 beds made up, as you often find the third person is shoved in the corner this is definitely the case in this hotel. We would try and gues the combination of bath and hand towels whenever they were changed as grasping the number of occupants was not a strong point of housekeeping. We gave up on getting the sheets changed. A MOP HEAD we got the pole but nothing to soak up the water!! A BATH MAT the baths are very dangerous and extremely slippy so be careful after a painful fall we resorted to putting a towel in the bath to stand on which worked surprisingly well!! EAR PLUGS these apartments are dreadfully designed their nice and spacious and clean on arrival (but the cleaning goes down hill form there on (the maids just do what they can be bothered to do!!) but the walk way for the upstairs appartments is just above the bedroom so it makes it extremely hard to get to sleep A GOOD BOOK you have to get a taxi to any places if you are unable to walk a mile roughly and having a disabled member of our party we spent a lot on taxis!! aniway the entertainment is dreadful the "disco bar" is soo noisy and it takes you ages to get served and the mini disco well the kids enjoyed it but it was the same music every single night! SUNCREAM in your hand luggage as if you arrive around mid-day as the maids have a break so you have to wait for 1-2 hours for your room. DRINKS the cost of drinks in this hotel is extortionate €4.60 for two small plastic cups from the poolside bar, even the bar man said that it was expensive!! It felt like guests not on all inclusive were being ripped off. A GERMAN DICTIONARY many othe the guests were German so socialising was a non-starter. We only got to know one family because the lady was asking if my mum was OK beacuse she was being taken away in an ambulance! HOLIDAY INSURANCE will be explained next REHYDRATION SALTS Imodium is not recommended unless you know it is not a bacterial infection. Unfortunately my mother became very ill with severe gastroenteritis and was in hospital for 2 days on a drip and allsorts of concoctions. However the medical care (if you have insurance) is very good (far better than the NHS). The doctors worked quickly and within 2 hours of contacting the doctor and she was on a drip in Puerto del Carmen. There was a man at the hotel who also became very sick with Salmonella food poisoning in the same clinic as Mum. The reception had leaflets for german doctors amongst all the excursion leaflets?! I am sure there is more i could advise you on but luckily we went out every day and stayed in our room at night but i wish you good luck i really advise you to take this on board because i feel silly for not taking the reviews seriously before we came. There is nothing usually to do but ride the wave and go out and we found an amazing resturant called las Olas by the beach. They are very friendly and you can see the food cooked infront of you and its not expensive! Good luck just keep the hotel at a distance and you should have a great holiday because Lanzarote is beautiful

we are a family of four , children age 16 +14 . when arriving , we were left to wait 1 hour 45 min for our room to be cleaned which was ok until we enterd the room and found that it had not been cleaned very well , ie( make up on pillow cases ciggarette burnes in sheets and genral lack of care ). not one door would close in our rooms and locks did not work on the windows we had to pay for the safe for security reasons. the pools were ok and general grounds were ok . the health center was exellent but you had to pay for the large indoor pool, the food was average but not much choice for kids of any age .the only place to get snacks was by the pool and this was shocking, you had to queue for a good 10 min ,for a limp cheese and ham sandwich . when asking the girl for a burger there was a shrug of the shoulders and a vacant look was the answer. when pressing futher with the request the girl gave a disgussting look stormed off then returned 10 min later threw a plate with a burger and fries along the bar ( which was cold ) and procceded to serve the next person. who made me laugh when asking for a burger. the daytime and evening entertainment was a joke. but the worst thing of all was the drink situation . unless your willing to wait for 20 min at the bar or tip the waiters on a regular basis then there is no chance of a drink. for an allinclusive hotel this was honestly a maximum of a 3 star . please do yourself a big favour and find another hotel in lanzarote. p.s the location was terrible middle of nowere

This was the worst possible holiday we could of imagined no place for children as it was so dangerous around and in the pools. The kids club was non existant and there were no activities for children at all. The entertainment at night if you could call it that was awful the same 4 songs every night for the whole terrible week that we were there. In the mornings it was like a building site with workmen drilling tiles off steps and the main pool had cockroaches in it. The middle pool was closed for 3 days with no cover over it and the baby pool was full of slime. No air con in the resturant or bar. My children were left wet sheets for their beds. If you have booked this hotel for your holiday get onto your travel agent and change it I wish we had.

Recently returned from a week's all inclusive stay, first the good bits...If you are prepared to go toe to toe with reception for 3 days then you may get a room which is acceptable and doesn't have wires hanging out of the walls and celings. We recommend room 4201 ( 2 huge terraces overlooking the pools) which they seem reluctant to allow anyone to stay in. Also, the rooms are huge with separate kitchens. Now the bad bits, I am afraid... If you are allocated a ground floor room towards the back of the hotel, near the street, then move immediately or the local theiving population will move your belongings for you (and they won't prise open your door, they just break the glass!). The staff are well aware, not only of the problems with break-ins, they also seem aware of who is doing it (local market trader(s). There were 3 break-ins in one day during our week's stay and the hotel even charged a guest 20 euros to provide a transalator for the police, who did nothing, as evidenced by the fatc that it has happended again since our stay in June (see travellers notes).....The fact that the break-ins happened the day before the guests left (as also reported on this site by another traveller), makes you wonder who is behind it all! I will say no more on the matter!! While we were there, staffing levels were a real problem and nothing seemed to get done with a smile. One waiter who we managed to befriend at the poolside bar, even came to our table one evening in the restaurant and said he could not talk to us as he had been told to get on with other things! There is definitely a feeling that you are told what to do and that you must do it (try sitting on a table where they don't want you to sit.. Even if every other table is not cleaned, and you will see what I mean!). We never once saw the pool get cleaned in our week's stay and the sports bar closes at 11.15, leaving only 1 bar open for every guest. You can imagine the wait to be served. I would agree that this is, at best, a 2/3 star hotel but the food is OK. The view from the balcony takes in the local power plant which is an absolute carbuncle (see photo) and I cannot believe that several companies including the owners of Las Marinas, have sighted their hotels next to the place (Occidental's hotel seems to be adjoining the plant, so goodness knows what the guests there reckon, when they arrive!). See if you can find any mention of the plant in any brochures, it is worse to look out on than any building project you can imagine, and the rubbish which it pumps out is there to be seen by all. The Wellness Centre is good but should not have to be paid for. The brown pool tiles are very dangerous and our friend is still recovering from a bad back after slipping by the pool side (whilst stood still, so be warned!). The internet is expensive to use and the reception seemed to be a constant stream of complaining guests..Not what you want to see or hear when you are on holiday, but as we were among these, I do not want to sound hypocritical so 'nuff said. The staff seem resigned to working in a poor enviroment and it showed in every way. Their morale was clearly very low and again this is not what you want to experience when you are on holiday. The 4 star hotel across the road is worth a visit, if not just to see what a proper 4 star hotel should look like, whoever awarded Las Marinas its rating needs complete retraining. In summary I would not recommend the hotel or resort to anybody, as there is very little to do or see and everything of interest is a bus or car journey away.

We have just returned from a 2 week hol at the Las Marinas and wont be in a hurry to return. When we arrived the middle pool was empty for regrouting but there was no cover over it or any type of barrier to prevent small children from falling in. There are 2 types of tiles around the pool side, one type is fine but the other is a death trap - very slippey. For the 1st week of the holiday there were no childrens entertainers, the childrens hut (shed) was unlocked in a morning and left unsupervised with scissors, boxing gloves etc left out for children to do what they wanted with. The evening entertainment was terrible, which was repeated for the 2nd week. We felt that because most of the guests were on an all inclusive basis, the hotel was doing its best to make you go out so you didn't drink the alcohol. Most of the staff were friendly, but some were very rude. You weren't able to sit out around the pool area at night because it was very poorly lit. No lights in the pool to make it look nice, it would of been nice to have a bar b que night or something - they had the space. All the buildings including bar is non smoking, this didn't affect us but it was a problem for some people who had to keep going outside to smoke. The pool area didn't get cleaned all the time we were there, although the pool was cleaned in a morning. The food was good, and the apartments nice and spacious. I would rate this complex a 2/3 star, it is NOT a 4 star and is to far away from anywhere. We recommend a safety deposit box - our patio doors were not secure and somebody was broken into and had everything stolen on there 2nd day. The complex does not fly the british flag although it flys other countries and has a large german and spanish clientelle. We were a party of 9 and had to hire a car in the 2nd week because we were so bored on this complex, anything you wanted to do you had to pay for such as tennis, indoor pool, internet, etc

This was our first family holiday and after reading some of the other reviews we were a little worried that it would turn out to be a disappointment. However I can happily report a good time was had by all. Our room was extremely spacious and clean, fresh towels every day, fresh bedding every other day. Two of the pools were a little too cold, but the middle one was fine (our girls barely got out of it for the whole week!). The tiles around the pool were not as deathly slippery as people have reported,our girls ran around like maniacs without any accidents! The snack bar was good, unlimited icecream for the children and bottled water was even included in the all inclusive. Meals were excellent, huge variety and good quality, we never eat so well at home. Evening entertainment was enjoyable for the whole family, although the mini disco can get a bit irritating(the same few songs night after night!). The area is quiet, perhaps not suitable for people looking for alot of nightlife, but shops just a 15 min walk away. We didn't use the free bus to the main beach as just a 20 min walk away is the lovely little playa bastian beach,golden sand and clear blue water-beautiful! The only thing we had a little moan about was the tv channels were all in german. Overall the hotel was lovely, the staff all very friendly and a good time was had by all.

We've just returned from the Las Marinas and can honestly say its an average holiday. I certainly wouldn't rate this place 4*, this can plainly be seen when you see the Playa Verde hotel directly opposite the road. If you like your holiday by the pool then this is maybe the place for you as getting to the beach is a pain in the arse. Don't expect late nights as the entertainment certainly leaves allot to be desired, by 10.30 its game over and your left to your own devices. The food in general is rather good and there is a good selection to choose from, if you like ice cream then you can fill your boots. The appartments are clean and well looked after, however security wise we'd recommend you use the safety deposit box as we encountered the local police running round the complex on a few occasions after potential thieves spotted on the premises. Summising this holiday your secluded from the beach and any local night life, the food and drink is ok, entertainment is poor unless you like parrrots on skates and its up to you to make the most by utilising whats on offer. I think you'll find a general opinion of people who wouldn't return again. Happy Holidays Mr & Mrs Brightside

We have just returned from a week's stay in the above hotel. The staff were very helpful and friendly. We stayed half board and would recommend an upgrade to all inclusive, as the food is very good with lots of choice and you will save quite a bit during the day on such things as drinks, ice creams and lunch time snacks The room was clean with the linen change on a daily basics (expect sunday) and towels provided everyday. The TV only has 1 uk channel, which is CNN news which is not very good if you have children, as the rest are in german or spanish. The 3 pools are clean and the middle pool is good for children, but the can be very cold as they are not heated. Be careful around pool the tiles are very slipply at all times. The gym is good as are the rest of the wellbeing centre( bit on the expensive side through). The hotel is quite away from the town centre so i would stay a car would be recommend but a netto super market is 15mins down the road. The only thing i would stay is the kids club in not that great but the staff or friendly enough, but the evening entertaiment is is not that good, one night was a lady with birds, spanish irish dance night (say no more) and a band that most people left. But all in all a good stay and the kids really enjoyed the week which is half the battle.

Hotel Las Marinas is clean,safe for children. The staff are very friendly and helpful. Antonia is very good with the children and adults aswell. The food is very well presented but tends to be fish oriented as you'd expect from an island resort. The room is very spacious for an appartment. There is a free bus service to Cucharas beach, Costa Teguise which departs the hotel at 10am and returns at just after 12 noon. Its only a 15 min walk. Being a small hotel means you make friends easily with other guests. The guests hailed from UK,Holland, Germany & Spain and we all got along very well. The staff are very professional. There are 2 things which we felt let down our visit. First, the lack of any organised kids' programme. We stayed there 10 days and the kids club opened twice! Second, the evening entertainment as the brochures promise were pretty dire. Unless a parrot show or a snake show are up your street, otherwise don't build your hopes up! The Brazilian show however was excellent! When the kids disco ends at 9.30pm, your "entertainment" for the evening is over. Overall 8/10. Entertainment 3/10.