Gran Canaria - Gloria Palace San Agustin Hotel Review
Flight to Somewhere rating:
The view from the room
The area was quiet, which is exactly what we were going for, and the local beach never got crowded unlike the ones near the dunes. There is a lovely promenade along the sea that you can just walk for ages.
The spa was amazing. There was an offer on for massage + free entry to the thermal pool, which we used twice and enjoyed both thoroughly. We then also used the thermal pool separately once. The only disappointment was that we were hoping to be offered an upgrade option for daily spa use, as we have previously experienced with other hotels, but when we asked at reception they said there was no upgrade like that. I was very surprised considering there is an option to book Thalasso Room on the hotel's website, which is basically the normal room plus spa use every day and bathrobes and slippers (we would have booked it, but it wasn't available from Thomas Cook for the week that we wanted for some reason). However, we were told the only option was to buy a pass for 10 visits from the spa (20% discount). Otherwise, it's queue up and pay per visit (albeit with a 10% discount for hotel guests). We did comment on this in their customer satisfaction survey and the spa staff said they would pass it on to the management.
The food was alright. There was a lot to choose from, but I can't say I was overwhelmed by the quality of what was on offer. Lunch was probably the most disappointing meal (it felt like they weren't really making an effort with it considering the hotel also has a large proportion of half board guests, so there are less people coming to lunch). Breakfast and dinner felt like better quality, and we always managed to find something we liked. I do have to say that this hotel managed to provide tasty desserts - the chocolate nut cake and the Swedish chocolate cake were absolutely delicious, so kudos for that!
Gloria Palace San Agustin Thalasso & Hotel is a 4-star hotel located in San Agustin. I stayed in this hotel for a week over Easter on all inclusive and have some mixed feelings.
The room was on the 6th floor. It was spacious and had a great sea view. The room had tea/coffee making facilities, which was a pleasant extra. It was modern, with a nice new flatscreen TV and a good selection of channels.
The room (as well as the whole hotel territory) was kept very clean. The cleaning staff were very attentive as well - when they noticed that my husband folded his pillow to make it thicker, they left a second pillow there for him. There was also a note there that if anything was not to our liking such as perhaps the mattress feels uncomfortable, to let them know and they would get a mattress topper straight away. We liked the beds as they were, but it was a nice touch anyway.
The service at the reception was very friendly. We inquired about going to Las Palmas and were given a timetable for the local buses, explained what bus to take and also given a map of Las Palmas with some further instructions. They also recommended a large shopping centre (Atlantico) about 10 minutes by bus from San Agustin, which was a great recommendation as well.
The pool area
We also got a feeling that all inclusive was more like basics inclusive, as there were a lot of things that were not part of it. The room safe, pool towels, the rooftop terrace and restaurant as well as tennis/padel courts were not included. Our experience so far was that if there is an a la carte restaurant, all inclusive guests would get at least one dinner there, but this wasn't the case here. It was very confusing at the outside bar as well - we were under the impression that soft drinks were included, but then smoothies were not on the all inclusive drinks menu, but on a completely separate one. Also, there were some snacks laid out there with homemade ice cream, but also a separate ice cream cabinet with prices on those, so it kind of felt like - oh, you all inclusive guys eat the cheap ice cream, and we'll save the good one for paying guests.
We were also very confused by the dinner arrangements. You see notices everywhere that you MUST book a table for one of the two seatings, but then when we went to the reception to ask about it, they said you only book it if you want to have the same table for the same seating throughout your stay - otherwise you can just show up and they will find you an available table. This is exactly what we did, and it was never a problem to find a table, so the MUST is not really a must.
Apart from those niggles, we had a very pleasant stay and would return to this hotel.