More Traveller Reviews of Hotel Orquidea
Busy, dirty pool and disappointing
from ElleMayWales
Family holiday with 2 children aged 13 and 7 We stayed here in the Easter Break of 2007. We had previously visited this hotel 2 years ago and were so disappointed on this return trip. The hotel has opened up its pool and restaurant to the apartments which are adjacent to the hotel. This means that the pool, pool area and restaurant are too busy. If you want a sunbed you had better get up at 6 am and then you have to sit with the bed until 9 am or your towel will be removed. The hotel is full of scandinavians who allow their children to be naked all day - using the pool and surrounding areas as a toilet whenever they please. We complained about faeces been in the pool on two separate occasions. Restaurant is too busy. There are only 2 inches between you and the next table. If you dont want to queue for up to an hour get there for about 15 minutes before opening time so you are at the front of the queue. Thomson rep was unhelpful and uninerested about problems. Reception staff are friendly and so are the room maids. Bathroom smelt during holiday and water would not drain from the shower so you stood in 3 inches of dirty water everytime you have a shower. Would not go back. Have told thomson that this hotel should be a 2 star. Also, airport is adjacent to hotel with light aircraft noise every five minutes.
Management response from Nordotel_Rep
20 Jun 2007
We would like to thank you for your review of the Hotel Orquidea. We were dissappointed to hear that you were unhappy with several aspects of your stay with us.
We take all feedback very seriously and all of your comments have been passed directly to the hotel management team. They are always taking guest feedback onboard to ensure that the hotel offers the very best service to all its guests.
The Orquidea recieves excellent feedback and last year won the Thomson Gold Medal based on Thomson guests responses to the questionaires on the flight home. I hope that you will return to the hotel in the near future.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to pass on your feedback.
Nordotel Management Team
Kids clubs..what places?
from Outgoing
My Partner and I have just come back form a week here with my 3 children who are 13,11 and 9. Most of our stay covered the half term break. My younger two fell into the kids club ages called TRIBE, but with only 16 places available each day it became a military operation to get them a place. This was our first time in a super family hotel so we were very niave to how these clubs worked, as a result more aware parents got places whilst we only managed 1 day out of the 7. As these are the sort of things you pay extra for in the cost of your holiday it was a bit of a con. Evening entertainment was very poor unless you have under 7's as it centres around younger children, as a result it superfamily tag would seem to exclude slightly older children in the evening activities. There should have been a wide variety of evening entertainment but it was exactly the same thing every night, which drove us all demented with nowhere really to escape to. Adult evening entertainment was also very bad, again not what we had been led to expect. There is nothing outside of the hotel except a few bars and restaurants so you are basically stuck with what the hotel has to offer in the evenings. The pools were dirty and in the whole week I never saw them being cleaned. On the plus side the rooms are very spacious and the free fridge is a godsend for buying bottled drinks and snacks. The food is plentifull with lots of choice in the restaurant at breakfast and dinner. Daytime avtivities were good for both children and adults and the entertainment team of jane, kerry and Leo work very hard. All in all a rather disappointing holiday and not worth paying extra for the super family tag. Be warned this resort is very windy and chilly in the evenings.
Really busy in March!!!!!
from ZoeHeydon
We stayed at the Hotel Orquidea in march after a change to our original holiday, we decided on the hotel orquidea as the reports were really encouraging. It was alot bigger than it looked in the brochure. It was a well kept very clean hotel, but it was busy and the majority of the guests are scandanavian at a guess i'd say 85% of them, which is not a problem, just surprising. The food was of a high standard although you have a bit of a scuffle to get to the buffet food which was a bit wearing as the week went on. Babies and children are really well catered for (luckily as i've never seen more in one place EVER!!) Totally for families and if asked i wouldn't recommend it to couples, I would go mad with all the hustle, bustle and crying babies at every meal and poolside spot! Saying that my boys who are 7 & 9 had the holiday of their life, Clean, good food, friendly staff and good size rooms, resort very small but nice, car hire is a must and puerto mogan is a dream only 25 mins away,lots of nice beahes all over, this is the windiest spot of Gran Canaria (Be prepared!!)
A good hotel but not a 4 Star
from Bearded_1
The Orquidea was a very nice hotel and we had a great week at the end of February 2007 with temperatures well in the 70F's. Plus points were the excellent guest rooms with satellite TV and free fridge, nice heated pool, very reasonable bar prices I.e. £2.20 per pint of local beer and house wine under £6 per bottle. Minus points were the small patch of rocky gravel called the beach, the food in the main restaurant wasn't bad but not really up to 4 star standards and the East coast of Grand Canaria can get very windy. We hired a car for the week and were able to drive over to the South West coast which was warmer and with far better beaches. Bahia Feliz is a tiny resort with a few bars and restaurants. What there is, is very nice but you could walk around it all in under 10 minutes. Beware that there is no parking at the Orquidea and very little around the resort. A drive through the spectacular mountains in the centre of the island makes a great day out and the beach at Amadores near Puerto Rico is one of the best.
Pay pay pay for everything extra
from A TripAdvisor Member
First the room: Really large and clean also compared to other 4 star hotels around the world, and I really liked the split-level. The balcony was also really nice, with a fantastic view of the Atlantics. All rooms’ face the sea. Ask for a high floor and you are sure to get a fantastic view. The furniture was new. Not to luxurious though, more in the style of a Novotel. Toiletries: almost non-existent – shower caps and tissues? Nothing more. What is that about? – I believe that in order to meet the standard of 4 stars they have to provide Toiletries so this is the cheapest solution they can get away with? Mini bar, they actually call it that – What a joke you pay 19 euro a week to get the key to a small old dirty empty refrigerator. The rest of the hotel doesn’t live up to 4 stars at any rate. The feeling is like a herd of cattle being driven to the slaughterhouse. If you are planning to eat breakfast later than 8, you will have to wait in line for a long time. The buffet seems large but the quality is not very good, and the selection will not show you in what country you are it is mostly English items. One day we ate at one of the hotels snack bars – and it actually succeeded them to give me the worst meal in my entire travelling career. The pools were large and looks nice, but even though they say the pools are heated, they were much to cold to swim in for the children for more than 5-10 minutes. They provide a weight in the lobby were you can weigh your suitcase, but they charge 1 euro for one piece.
Management response from Nordotel_Rep
27 Dec 2006
Thank you very much for your review of your recent stay at the Orquidea.
All of your feedback has been passed on to the management team at the Orquidea, who are always pleased to receive customer comments.
The Orquidea is an excellent family hotel and the high number of positive reviews on Trip Advisor reflect the fantastic time that the majority of guests have at the hotel.
Once again, thank you for your feedback.
Management at the Orquidea.
Extremley busy but good
from Bonnie-maria
(My partner and i with 2girls of 7&8) This hotel is good if you like it busy, this is by far the busiest hotel i've ever stayed at, it has 11 floors and every room filled with families. Lovely and clean, staff friendly ,room very comftable, Food- some days nice others we couldnt face. There were 3 good sized pools to choose from you could not get in to swim as they were packed constantly. So we opted for hiring a car for 3days to get away from noise(well worth the 61 euros) and driving down to Ocean Water Park Playa de Ingles this place i highly recommend,(15euro's adults and 9euro's kids- if you go back kids get in free which we took advantage of) much cheaper than Aqualand and alot less busy , we had a brilliant couple of days here, there is even a new sealion show just started. If your brave enough you get to go up on stage with them and even get a kiss. After the show you can have your photo taken with them which cost 10 euro's. Look out for Martin who works there he's a right character but will look after you. I will definatley return to this island but not the hotel.
lovely hotel shame about the guests
from michami
The Orquidea is a fantastic hotel the picture in the Thomson brochure does not do it justice; it has great facilities for all age families. The hotel reception is very impressive with a water feature and all facilities are easily accessed form there. The rooms are cleaned every day but I did step in glass on two occasions in the room from previous occupants breaking the glasses that are provided. The food is excellent there is a great selection of food available both for breakfast and dinner, the children’s selection is a little lacking in greenery and rather repetitive the same chips or some sort of fried potato every night. One word of warning onion rings are actually calamari rings I had to convince my son that he just had a chewy onion ring because I know that he would not have been impressed with the reality of the food. Every day there is something different to eat and the grill chef is kept hard at work in the morning cooking delicious pancakes or fried eggs, to fish or steak in the evenings. The superfamily entertainment that Thomson provides is good if not a little repetitive. The children’s disco has the same songs every night and ends with the brain numbing Thomson the dog theme tune (well at least it keeps the kids happy). There is a good range of daytime activities and the entertainment team keeps all age ranges happy. The only aspect of the holiday that I had a problem with was the rowdy holidaymaker’s. I’m not complaining about the kids it’s their holiday as much as anyone else’s but the drunken loutish parents. My family and me were woken on 3 occasions around 3 to 4 in the morning by louts fighting and throwing furniture in the room above us. The language was appalling, and they would scream and fight for at least an hour not very good if you have to be up early for a day trip, and not the sort of behaviour you would expect form people visiting a family only hotel (it’s the kids I feel sorry for). Apart form the rowdy yobs the holiday overall was very enjoyable and we would consider it again.
Useful tips...
from FelixZ
I have just returned from the Hotel Orquidea with my Fiancé for a last minute holiday. Overall we found the resort to be perfect for our needs, particularly due to travelling outside of the school holidays. I read a lot of the reviews prior to our departure and I can now understand many of the points of view. I am quite confused about how there are various comments about people being glad A/C has been installed in all of the rooms. In our hotel room there was a fan above the bed and an A/C unit could be hired for the week. Perhaps someone can enlighten me? The staff at the hotel cannot be faulted. The service was second to none and we felt welcome from the moment we arrived. Likewise the reps were incredibly helpful and are so enthusiastic. I'd recommend joining in with the activities because there's something for everyone - particularly if there's a Thomson Family T-Shirt involved! The only down side is that we did several of the excursions recommended at the Welcome Meeting. We quickly realised that we should have been more independent of Thomson as we were encouraged to book them on the first day. If we had looked into it ourselves, there are discounts available. For example, if you go to Palmitos Park first, you can get a 20% discount when buying tickets for the park and Aqualand. Also, if you don’t want to go to both, we noticed a lot of vouchers for money off Aqualand in the supermarkets. Another top tip, is if you want to go to Sioux City, go during the day and independently. The City is only a very short taxi ride away and it would have been a lot better if we could have looked around at our own pace. As with all of these things though, it depends what you are looking for. If you want the convenience of buying all of your tickets at once and don’t mind paying top dollar for them then it’s ideal. If like us, you prefer to be independent then go for it. Finally Garbo’s, as most people mention, is an absolute must. It was the best night out we had in Gran Canaria and going ‘premium’ was well worth the extra. The other bonus, is that it’s only a short stroll back to the hotel after you’ve had one too many all inclusive glasses of wine/beer!
The best year yet!
from WellTravelledJet
Just had my 4th holiday at the Orquidea and it was the best yet! They have finally improved the entertainment and it was great to see that the old style "Big Daddy" act was gone!! It was fresh and exciting, instead of the same jokes year after year!! Well done - about time! Great also to see A/C installed in all the rooms. Made a great room even better!! Loved it. Will be back!
Great Hotel
from hollidaysRgreat
I have just returned from a two week stay at this hotel with my boyfriend. We are both 20 and we were a bit worried that the hotel would be too far out of the way from Playa Del Ingles and other more lively parts, however the bus stop was 2min walk away and they were pretty regular and very cheap. It took 5-10 mins to get into the centre of Playa Del Ingles. The rooms are lovely and cleaned everyday. The fridge is 13 euros a week but well worth it (and we found we could have got away without paying as it it did't lock!!!!). We survived without the air conditioning which wasn't that difficult even though it was very hot outside. The hotel looks great for families, there is always entertainment on, but it wasn't really for us. The pool is lovely, but it was always busy yet sunbeds were always available at anytime of day. The food was nice, quite a bit of variety and theres always chips on the kids buffet if you get stuck. There was always something there we liked at breakfast and tea. The actual area Bahia Feliz was very quiet, but there are a couple bars/restaurants and shops if you can't be bothered to leave the resort. We were allocation on arrival and were dissapointed when we heard this is the hotel we'd been given as the other two were in the centre, but when we arrived we were so pleased we got it. Great holiday!
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