Top quality hotel and excellent service

I spent 10 days at this fabulous hotel, upon arrival I was greeted by Antonio who took my bags and I was given a fruit juice to help me relax into my holiday. Antonio showed me to my room and how everything worked in there. He was very helpful throughout my stay. Every member of staff was helpful and friendly. My room had a spectacular view of the Atlantic Ocean and some of Mount Teide. At breakfast the girls greeted me by name and gave me an A4 sheet with snippets of daily news from around the world and on the back was a timetable of the events at the hotel. It was obvious the gardens were immaculately kept and near towards the end of my stay the fish pool was being cleaned out with around 10 people at work. The hotel was very close to the main town (around 10 minutes) and the hotel provided a red courtesy bus. Timetables are provided by the reception staff. The main town of Puerto de la Cruz provided a variety of shops including a massive supermarket. The only thing I would point out about the main town was there were small groups of young girls mithering people to death esp me about them doing hair braids which became quite annoying after a while as one particular girl did not seem to understand the word 'No'. There is also a supermarket about 5 minutes walk from the hotel although my impression was the staff didn't speak much English so trying to exchange a packet of dog food for some San Miguel turned into a bit of problem!! There were 4 outstanding A-La Carte restaurants in the hotel which all provided a very high standard of service. The Oriental served Asian style dining, La Parrilla exquisite Spanish and regional delights and Il Pappagallo for classic Italian/Mediterranean specialities.(Unfortunately this hotel was closed during the month of May 15). The service in there is marvellous and the staff are so polite. They call you by your name every day! The pool area was very beautiful and well kept and it was nice to see a bar/restaurant area in which you could have a glass of wine and lunch whilst at the side of the pool which was truly marvellous. Light lunches are served at the bar. The prices range from around 8 euros to 20 euros. A glass of wine is around 5.35 euros. The only disappointing thing about the pool area was the allowance of smoking as one couple not too far away from me (and unfortunately the wind was blowing in the wrong direction) seemed to be lighting up a chimney with one cigarette after another. As a non smoker myself I object to breathing this kind of unhealthy smoke and did ask if smoking was acceptable and there did seem to be some difference in opinion between the staff at the bar and the staff on the reception.....I'm not sure I would expect this from a 5 star hotel really but I have expressed my thoughts to the relevant people. Perhaps a designated area could be provided for smokers? The hotel itself was absolutely immaculately kept not a sign of dust or dirt anywhere. The maid comes twice a day and every morning they leave 2 bottles of water which is to be used for cleaning your teeth (don't drink the water there reception advise).I did have small salad at the restaurant near the bar and felt fine. They also leave you 2 small chocolates much to my delight! They do have English TV in the rooms (also other languages) ITV, BBC, BBC2 and Sky News. The Temple of wellness and beauty area of the hotel is an absolute dream. The Jacuzzi is just the right temperature to spend as long as you like in there not too hot like you would expect. It is considered one of the best in Europe and combines ancient Oriental traditions with a selection of modern programmes and a wide and exotic variety of treatments that can be focussed on weight-loss, beauty or anti-stress. A nice little touch was the reception staff give you handwritten messages to say they hope you are having a wonderful stay and even a present at the end of the week! You really do feel taken care of. I stayed in a Junior Ambassador suite where the Wifi reception was little temperamental at times but it seemed as you get closer to the pool area and reception it got stronger. The Wifi is free and unlimited. All in all a fabulous place, so peaceful (although some noise from the roads and a dog that barks constantly if you have a room which overlooks the sea), clean and wonderful. I will return at some point.