Cotillo Beach Hotel

We booked this as a 4* and it definitely isn’t that yet! There is a lot going for this hotel and once it gets over its teething troubles it should be very good. The rooms are fine, modern and reasonably well equipped, although there was only a small bin in the bathroom and no other, which we found unusual. TV, on payment, has several English channels, beds firm but comfortable enough and the fans worked quite well, although we’d prefer air con! However, the maid only came 4 times in the week, no change of linen or towels and she even took away our bathmat and left us without it for a couple of days! Reception were very helpful, although initially gave us duff info on how to set the safe! After that they were friendly and were very good about our checkout @ 6.45 am (2 early calls and early breakfast offered) The pool area is great, lots of sunbeds and a super pool. However there are only 6 parasols (fixed type) so if you want some shade you might struggle a bit when the hotel’s busy (it wasn’t when we went and there was NO sunbed scramble at any time!) The beaches at the lagoon end of the village are absolutely stunning, by far the best we’ve ever seen. There is ONE beach bar actually on the beach (by the second big lagoon) and a Restaurant set back about 400 yards from the same beach which houses the only toilets and doesn’t open till 12.30. If naturists bother you then don’t go any further than the first lagoon. From here on we gripe! The food was ALWAYS cold. There was a bit of choice, but as it’s a small hotel it was limited and some of the deserts were recycled. However, it didn’t matter when you went for food; the supposedly hot courses were cold and largely inedible, even if you went in right at the start of a meal time. Surprisingly we didn’t actually hear anyone else complain, but it did seem that the number of people eating in was very low compared to the number of overall guests, and we did see someone bring in a pizza one night (we did that too and also ate out a few times, try the Puerto Nuevo restaurant near the old harbour, it’s great!) Talking of pizzas, the Medhotels website said that the pool bar would provide burgers, chips, pizzas etc as part of the all inclusive deal – not so. We asked and the staff said they didn’t, and there were only occasional sandwiches (left out on the bar in Clingfilm for the whole day!) if you missed a meal time. Service at the pool bar was also poor. The waiter/resses on duty (usually no more than 2) also covered the restaurant, and they only came and served you if they saw you from the kitchen, so sometimes you had to wait a while. If you wanted water you could have it free in a plastic cup or for 1.5 Euros in a bottle (43-50 cents in the 2 local supermarkets!) Finally the entertainment. Not billed as exciting but didn’t even live up to that! Bingo twice, a quiz (and one cancelled) and the entertainer had a night off (scheduled). Ok there were probably only 50 people in the hotel, but a 4* should do better than that! El Cotillo itself is starting to develop. There is a bit of low key building work going on around the hotel and at the same end of the village, but it didn’t intrude for us. However, the infrastructure also isn’t there yet, no obvious taxi rank, hourly bus to Corralejo, only one shop selling English papers (Daily Mail only) etc. Overall then, a moderate experience, spoiled for us by the food, in a hotel that should get better but needs to quickly!

I was worried about going to this hotel after reading another review, but when i got there i was plesently suprised the hotel was absolutly beautifull. The rooms were very clean and tidy, hte pool was great and the staff were very helpfull. myself and my girlfriend went all inclusive and it was great i enjoyed the food very much we ate out twice the week we were there and that as only to sample the local restaurants which was lovely. If you are looking for a relaxing holiday el cotillo is the place to go and by the look of the the other hotels this was the best, I had a very enjoyable holiday and it was great to stay in such a nice hotel. For those people that want to stay at the pool all day there's loads to do even if you don't want to leave the hotel through the day and up to 11pm at night. When we were there we took part in a few different things including archery and pistol shooting and in the evening there was bingo,quizes and salsa lessons