Hotel Barcelo Santiago

3 readers found this review helpful

what a fantastic place, from the champagne as we checked in, all staff were great could not do enough for you, we asked for more pillows, there in 10 min, had trouble with the safe , he beat us back to the room, from reception to bar staff to the animation team, a big thank you. A great place to stay and would not hesitate going back.If you want disco's then maybe not for you, if you want to meet people , relasx and have great holiday then this is ideal, oh and try the massage!!

2 readers found this review helpful

We have holidayed at the Barcelo from 1996 until 2007, and found it to be one of the best hotels that we have visited. we would have been there for the last 3 years but my wife was waiting for a hip replacement. We have seen the Barcelo go through a complete overhaul over the years,and we hope to visit again this year. The staff are really friendly and when we go in December, we meet up with many friends whom we have met over the years We have always found the food to be top class and really hot. The variety is fantastic especially with the fish courses. We both love Spanish food. As soon as we show our faces in the dining room we are greeted effusively by the staff who remember us from previous years. I cannot fault anything about the place

Very average hotel. Staff can be excellent but not always - I think some get fed up with complaints! Food cold. No Maitre D' in the restaurant so people wander about looking for tables. Rooms are poorly furnished, our first room was smelly, damp and next to staff accommodation. Cheap plastic chairs only on lovely large balcony. Only seemed to be one small heated pool. Entertainment area not impressive at all and mostly outside. Smoking allowed everywhere outside and hard to escape from, even in areas where there are children - not nice. They are not consistent - we were on honeymoon and didn't get the glass of cava on arrival! No peanuts with drinks except on certain days - they seem to run out. I think they didnt expct the numbers due to Egypt crisis etc and were woefully understaffed.
Good points- lovely area, great views (if you get one from your room), reasonable value for money if you don't get any bugs from the food. Lovely weather and restaurants nearby could be good. Pto Santiago v nice, very Spanish town. Hotel would be good 3 star at best.

5 readers found this review helpful

Clean, tidy, pleasant hotel. I wonder if it is always so windy there. There were plenty of sunbeds around the very pleasant pool area, but if a notice is displayed telling people not to "reserve" beds by leaving towels on them then the hotel staff should remove such towels! All inclusive is not all inclusive, many items have additional cost. The pavements all around the local area were being resurfaced whilst we were there so I may be a bit biased but generally the local area is a bit sad. The bedrooms are pleasant and large, maid service is excellent. Friendly staff but Reception staff get a bit stretched at times, there were only 2 whilst we were there and I once waited 10 minutes to be attended to. Whilst the food was generally good I did point out to the Manager one evening that the buffet hot food was not hot! That night my wife was violently ill! Thomson rep said that all food was constantly tested and that strict laws were in force - I never saw the temperature of the food being tested and I now know why there were so many people sitting in the restaurant on their own.

4 readers found this review helpful

We came back yesterday and we feel it is very important that other potential travelers know how awful this hotel is.Within 36hrs my husband was violently ill with gastericenteritis although it could be food poisoning we will know after the results of a blood test. Many other holiday makers were also ill, you should have seen the queue for the Doctor. The hotel staff made light of the problem and said it was holiday makers bringing germs in to the hotel.We took our own hand gel and wipes and were very careful,but it only took a futher 3days until I was taken very ill too.The food the little we ate was warm never hot and the soup cold or tepid . Old trays of food were not remove new food was put straight ontop and we saw unaccompanied children putting their hands into food.I hope this review is helpful.

15 readers found this review helpful

We had a very pleasant week in Tenerife, the overall review for our holiday is good, however, with all holidays, there are good points and bad points.
Good points:
The rooms were very clean, excellent maid service, great views.
Hotel, very clean, well maintained, good facilities
Spa, very good, and relaxing well worth the 10 euros each, two of our party treated themselves to a massage at 64 euros, which they both thoroughly enjoyed.
Food, very good, loads of choice everyday at the buffet style restaurant and made to a high standard.
Pool area very good, plenty of room for everyone, with a heated pool, it's only the small pool that's heated, but that's big enough at the time of year we went.
Bad points:
Due to the time of year, it did feel like we were on a saga holiday, the beds in the rooms were too hard, resulting with all people in our party complaining of back pain by the end of the holiday.
At one point or another all of our party came down with a sickness and diahorrea bug, after going to reception and explaining, the staff were to quick to fob us off and showed no sympathy, and were quite rude, especially as my wife wanted some room service as she was ill and they refused.
Just a final note, for anyone going here, don't forget all inclusive ends at 11pm, so don't forget to order a few extra drinks at 10.50pm.
All in all, a very good holiday, with just a couple of niggly complaints. We would consider going back here again (if the beds were softer!)

6 readers found this review helpful

This was the holiday I had been waiting for through all the years when I could only afford caravan parks in the UK.
I wanted to swim and sunbathe in the early morning and late afternoon, I had no wish to fry myself all day long.
I was prevented from doing this by the people who prowled the sun terraces from 6am waiting for the sunbeds to be unlocked at 8am. Their towels went down, and all were taken.
I spent my holiday sitting in a hard plastic chair on my balcony reading a book.
I might as well have stayed at home.
Very disappointing.

5 readers found this review helpful

The location is great with views to Los Gigantes & Sunsets over La Gomera. It is right on the sea front with a promenade running along around the front. the pools are elevated, seemingly on the roof (but not quite).
The food was very good,the hotel in general was very acceptable but we did not enjoy the entertainments.
Their biggest fault for us was 2 things, which we were not advised of when booking.-
1- One of the two swimming pools out of action & under repair.
2- The spa was closed for refurbishment.
Street parking was not easy.
There are a few bars/restaurants around the hotel, none looked busy.
Nice sea front walking available in each direction to Los Gigantes or Puerto Santiago & Playa Arena, which are all pleasant places, with black beaches. The later being the best & most popular.
All these places were very quite especially on an evening.
.

5 readers found this review helpful

We had been before and enjoyed it very much. Great location, good food, etc.
But this year our suite was invaded with cockroaches on 5 seperate nights. It made getting up in the night a hunting expedition which was not much fun.
I suppose you can expect these beasts to turn up when it gets warmer .... but the "we could not care less" attitude of the reception staff amazed me.
They just said we should expect it ...(although I think the leaky shower tray and general dampness in the bathroom did not help) ...and the best they could do was give us a can of fly spray.
It may be true that bugs are something you have to accept here ...but we expected more concern and action from a 4 star hotel..... we will not be returning.

4 readers found this review helpful

We spent the whole of February at this hotel having selected it based on the many positive reviews. The location is spectacular, the staff could not have been more friendly and the service was excellent. On arrival we were allocated a ground floor room which was at the side of the building out of the sun. We asked to change to a sunnier room and even though the hotel was full they managed to find us a suitable room the following day. Food was typical for an international buffet but reasonably varied. There is the option of eating on the terrace rather than in-doors. All inclusive was extremely good value for money and we did not have any difficulty getting served even though we opted for cards rather than wristbands. The area around the pools is very large with lots of sunbeds and space for everyone. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we intend to return next year.