Hotel Botanico and Oriental Spa Graden

Just back from a week at the beautiful Hotel Botanico and Oriental Spa Garden. All staff were professional and friendly. They could not do enough to make sure your stay is as pleasant as possible. Stunning gardens with lakes of koi carp and black swans. Rooms and all areas were extremely clean and well kept. The Spa was the best I have ever been to, with a spa circuit ( steams rooms, saunas, ice rooms, turkish bath, indoor pool and jacuzzi) which is free to use for all guests. There is an outside adults area by the spa with a pool with waterfall and a large jacuzzi . We stayed on a bed and breakfast basis so cannot comment on half board but the breakfast was great with a large variety of cold and hot food. We ate at all three of the restaurants, The Oriental (Thai) , II Pappagallo (Italian) and LaParrilla (Spanish) . All served tasty food and could not complain although rather pricey around £50 pp without drinks. There is also a bar/restaurant next to the large family pool where mainly families used as there is a small paddling pool for babies as well. What negatives could I say : 1. Long wait of 45 minutes on arrival as room was not ready at 14.30. Although gentleman at reception said he would come and find us when the room was ready he didnt and we ended up having to chase him up. It seems a common problem that rooms are not ready when guests arrive as we noticed other new guests in the same position throughout our stay, After a long journey this is not really a great start. 2. Rooms on Floor 2 are all non smoking and Floor 3 are smoking. We found this out as we were given a room on Floor 2 but we smoke. It would be nice to be asked at check in whether we would like a smoking or non smoking room, especially as we has to wait 45 minutes for the room to be ready in the first place. 3.There is no separate shower as this is over the bath and the shower screen is fixed making entering and getting out quite slippery and dangerous. We asked at reception for a non slip mat for the bath and this was straight away sent to our room. I do think that non slip bath mats should be as standard and a guest should not have to ask for one. 4. Please, please can we have an 'english' sausage with the cooked breakfast and not the tiny herb ones on offer. The herbs in the sausages are so strong that is all you can taste all day long. 5. More 'english' TV Channels. The Germans have about 12 and the english have BBC1,BBC2, ITV1 and the usual news channels. Could there be Channel 4 and 5 please. 6. The Palmera Real Pool Bar/Restaurant could there be more variety of 'snacks' as most of the meals on offer other than 3 types of sandwiches and a hamburger are quite big. I also understand why people should be 'covered up' and not sitting in a bikini/swimsuit when eating at a restaurant but we heard a couple being told to cover up at Palmera Real Pool Bar/Restaurant which I found quite strange considering that there were people in swimwear just 6 inches away. Although I have mentioned a few negative points it will not stop me from returning to this hotel. I have been coming to Puerto de la Cruz for 20 years and this is the best hotel I have stayed in at this resort and I have stayed in quite a few.