Barcelo Playa Blanca

I am afraid this is going to be another rather mixed review alongside many others. As the responses from the management team appear to be AI generated I am not sure if anyone at Barcelo is actually looking to address any of the issues that are coming up in numerous comments. I will say at the outset that we do not usually favour very large hotels, preferring smaller boutique hotels and adults only pools at least but we know Playa Blanca very well and last time we were there the footings were going in and when it came up on the hotel search with Jet 2 we were curious to see how the area which was just a wasteland for years had been developed. Firstly the good stuff. The first impressions of the hotel are stunning ,the design is ambitious, the scale is huge and there is a real wow factor on arrival in the cathedral like reception with the views to the pool and beyond. The reception staff were warm and welcoming ,nice glass of cava while checking in. Lovely friendly porter who helped us with our bags and took us to the room. We were given a bottle of cava as it was my husbands birthday during our visit. The location is great , a few minutes walk from the marina and about 15 mins in the other direction into Playa Blanca itself. The room was lovely ,very well appointed , massive and very comfy bed, nice pillows, good shower, plenty of storage, good lighting ,a sofa. Very comfy padded balcony chairs . View a bit grim but I paid for a superior room but not a sea view. Got a view of the bottle banks and delivery area!! Also the marina and sea to one side. We weren't really to bothered about this. The pool is lovely, very large but only the section nearest the hotel is heated. Loungers plentiful and comfy. Breakfast products very good ,lovely smoothies, fresh and plentiful ,every choice imaginable. Good coffee. I am afraid the food element is where the negatives start to creep in. We had booked half board, expecting to be able to swap lunch and dinner on a few days which we usually like to do. We were told on check in this was not possible due to the size of the hotel. We were asked to choose between 2 sittings. We chose the later one but this was not enforced. No one checks your room number when you enter the Atlantic restaurant. Firstly, it is hard to imagine the scale and noise and chaos of the restaurant. It is a huge error ,I think, to have only one restaurant serving potentially over 1,000 people. I have stayed in hotels half the size that have had 2 operable restaurants for people to chose from .This is assuming those in the royal level choose to eat in their designated restaurant. There are over 700 rooms in all and the hotel was at 80 per cent occupancy for our visit. God knows what it is like in school holidays. We managed to get a table on the pleasant outside terrace for most meals. Comfy seating and a view over the pool. It took a while to get anyone to serve us a glass of wine. Prices for wine and beer reasonable and wine measures generous. Water is self serve from machines. The food is not terrible ,just normal mass catering. It is more the experience that is lacking as just too many people in one space and not enough staff to cope. The freshly cooked items are fine, there is always fresh fruit and salad and the pasta station OK if you really can't find anything to suit. Desserts good and nice ice cream. The staffing issue is also apparent in the bars in the evening .It did not bother us that much as we went out but on the few occasions we used them there was always a queue. Felt sorry for the bar staff and the staff generally. They don't get paid a lot and no financial help with their accommodation which is key to the lack of staff. Rents are expensive on the island due to foreign investors giving their properties over to Air B & B which pushes up rents. Going back to the pool, we had lovely weather ,up to 30 degrees most days but there are not sufficient umbrellas and they are fixed so can't be moved about as the sun moves position. There is the usual issue of folks reserving sunbeds as well. Consequently ,for half of the day the umbrellas don't cast any shade on the areas where the sunbeds are. This could be helped by creating an area with an awning for those who want some shade or maybe just bring in some free standing umbrellas to supplement the others. The other issue around the pool is the "Activities" these are much too loud and intrusive and did not cater for the demographic while we were there which was mainly couples of all ages. Not many children (a few pre school).Most of the activities ,apart from aqua aerobics ,were child orientated and we could not understand why they could not be centred round the very nice ,separate childrens pool rather than invading the peaceful ,heated section of the main pool?? Maybe that part should be adults only and put activities in the big unheated part as no one was using it. Our room was away from the pool and very quiet but if you were facing the pool, the level of noise would be hard to tolerate. We had a couple of issues which we contacted reception about during our stay .One was the sound of a fan which ran all night in our room making it hard to sleep for the 1st 3 nights. We thought it was the air con that we couldn't turn off but after 2 days and nothing being resolved we were eventually told it was an air filtration system and was throughout the rooms and could not be turned off. Not sure if this was really the case as another couple we spoke to said they did not have the same noise in their room. The other issue was a day when our room did not get cleaned. Wouldn't normally mind but it was my husbands birthday and we wanted to get ready to go out . No clean towels ,no loo paper, not great. We spoke to reception twice but it was clear that they have no authority over the cleaning team. Again ,the hotel is just too big to manage. Entertainment, this is not usually an issue for us as we tend to go out in the evening. But we did have a drink in the bar a couple of evenings. The singers were the usual ,cheesy lounge singers but again much too loud, especially in Champs bar which is at ground floor level but below the lovely outside terrace of the lobby bar. It would have been nice to have a quiet nightcap up there but the overamplified music drove us away. I think the management need to re-think some aspects of the set up at this hotel. It could be lovely and hopefully the complaints will be listened to and the teething problems ironed out. We understand of course that a hotel this size is never going to be able to offer a personal level of service but there is room for some practical changes that could elevate the customer experience. As for us, the stay at the Barcelo has confirmed that we prefer something on a more human scale. We are off to Fuerteventura in December to a small hotel ,adults only, excellent service. Probably more our thing.

Return visit as like the look of the hotel. Food has got worse and staff rude. Food is cold inedible paid all incluse had to go out to eat . Shame the hotel has potential but need to radically sort the food out and make it edible and hot. Wouldn’t recommend.

This new resort is first class. Everything and more is provided for. The attention to detail is amazing. Could not recommend more highly. If you want a resort that provides absolutely everything ,book Barceló Playa Blanca We were delighted with everything.