Tenerife on a budget! (Hi Tamaino Tropical Puerto de Santiago (Tenerife, Spain))

Member Name: Trix1212

Product:	Hi Tamaino Tropical Puerto de Santiago (Tenerife, Spain)
Date:	04/05/09 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice location, fairly quiet, everything you need

Disadvantages: Not quite 'as described', a bit tacky

Booked through Thomas Cook as part of a last minute package deal Tamaino Tropical seemed like pretty good value for money and looked ok in the brochure. I am not usually a fan of 'touristy' resorts but time/money constraints left us little choice this time and the resort area of Los Gigantes (just a 10 minute walk from Puerto de Santiego) had the reputation of being fairly quiet and an exeptionally beautiful part of Tenerife.

The lobby area of the hotel was spacious and not too tacky looking and looked pretty promising. The first surprise came with the room - despite the brochure giving the impression that all the rooms came with a balcony we were shown to one of about 5 or 6 at the top of the building that had no balcony (though I must admit that there were views of the enormous cliffs that the area is famous for). On returning to reception to query this we were told that the rooms were all full and that the soonest we could move would be Friday (this was Tuesday). Throughout our 2 week stay we realised that this was common practive - a few of each new set of arrivals would be given these top rooms and, when they complained, moved a few days later to make room for the next lot! Not a huge problem for us as we had two weeks but someone with a shorter stay might find this a bigger issue...

The actual rooms were fairly nice, just what I expected really. Two twin beds were pushed together to make a 'double' (the first room had a significant gap between them but the second ones fitted together snugly. The first room only had a shower but the second we moved to had a small bath too. They were cleaned/serviced daily, except Sundays, and there was a request for us to re-use towels - just putting the ones you needed changed in the bathtub to save energy/water - I thought this was a nice touch as changes everyday really annoy me - so wasteful! The second room had a balcony overlooking the pool area (after I specially requested it - others we were shown had balconies facing out over the road and shops which was not so good on the lower levels though higher up would have given a nice sea view.) Being in a room near reception meant that there was some nighttime/early morning noise, especially suitcases being dragged along the hall at all kinds of strange times! There was also a slight 'drain' problem in the bathroom - nothing nasty but it did have a tendancy to get a little smally by the end of the day. But these are just 'room specific' details and not really a huge problem.

There were 3 pools - one large and one smaller heated one with a bar area and another one in a seperate, quieter area (felt colder too!). Sun beds were plentiful as was the practice of reserving them with towels (supposedly forbidden). It made me giggle to see a group putting beds out and reserving them just after the pool area had been cleaned at night. Silly but, apprently common practice. We never had a problem finding some empty ones anyway.

There were also tennis courts, table tennis tables, mini golf (not a great course - very wobbly) and various pool activities including the chance to try scuba gear and some slightly embarrassed staff dancing by the pool in the afternoon, accompanied by cheesy music (I loved this!).

I can't comment on the restaurant or bar I felt that they were over-priced and we were self-catering and therefore used the very convenient and reasonably priced supermarket just over the road. There was some evening entertainment and very little going on outside the resort, but most of it felt more family orientated. Still, for us, this was just a place to stay and provided a perfect and fairly convenient base for explorong the beautiful island.

A couple of other things maybe worth mentioning. There are safes in the rooms but they cost (I can't remember exactly but I think it would have worked out almost £50 for the 2 weeks we stayed). They also charge (3.5%) to cash traveller's cheques at reception (I've no idea how usual this is but it seemed a bit steep to me!) There is a bank and cashpoint within easy walking distance for anyone who has more sensible money arrangements!

To be honest, I wouldn't stay here again - for various reasons I'd prefer to travel independantly in future and find the atmosphere a little tacky - though watching the 'all-in.' crowd get steadily drunker and redder from around 10am was quite entertaining and there really wasn't any problem with noise, etc. The easy access pool area and various entertainments would make this a perfect place for a family looking for an easy holiday as there's plenty to keep kids happy without even leaving the hotel! Not a bad place to stay at all! Not great either. Just ok.

Summary: Won't be going again, nice for families maybe?