Not a leading hotel; truly awful food!
(I'm giving this 3 stars but it is really more 2.5) Our first visit to Tenerife - and definitely our last! Puerto de la Cruz has few redeeming features and the Hotel Botanico was a huge disappointment. Let me start with the positives: the staff are all lovely, the rooms and suites spacious if a little tired, the spa is good, therapists great.... but the food... all of it - in each one of its restaurants and including room service - is truly awful. So much so that we lost weight and could not wait to return home! How this hotel has garnered so many good reviews is reflective of (low) expectations and of the (very low) standards on Tenerife itself. It may be the best hotel on the island but how the Hotel Botanico is part of Leading Hotels of The World group is a mystery. It is most definitely not luxury as I know it, and the first thing it needs to address is the over priced and very below average food.
Hotel Botánico
Dear Guest, We always appreciate and value our guests feedback, even if on certain occasions the expressed opinions are not totally accurate or do not reflect reality. Tenerife is known worldwide, not only for its’ fascinating landscapes, for its festivities and for having one of the best climates in the world, but also for its excellent wines, for its’ awarded cheese and honey and for its’ gastronomy. Besides offering a rich and typical cuisine that uses high quality local products, it has over the years enriched itself from the worldwide famous Spanish cuisine and from the many cultures which, either for cultural reasons or due to its strategic location, have visited and still visit the island. In our three à la carte themed restaurants, we offer a wide variety of proposals from different corners of the world, adapted to the preferences and wishes of our guests, which usually, as you say and as other guests have expressed on the many reviews in different sites, fully correspond to the very high standards of our hotel and to the very demanding expectations of our visitors. The first quality products used in all our outlets, guarantee the freshness of our offer and our prices equal the excellent service that we provide and the category of our hotel. Our chefs have been trained in the best schools and hotels of Europe and Asia and constantly work on new proposals. We therefore differ from the opinion expressed by you and understand that you may not have the necessary overall vision of our procedures to judge the standards of our hotel. We have been a member of The Leading Hotels of the World since 1996 and have maintained this status for the past 22 years. All hotel members are submitted to inspections by a mystery guest on an annual basis, and both the facilities and the service standards are deeply and thoroughly checked and reviewed. We have always overpassed these inspections successfully and are, thanks to the constant feedback and support of our guests, aware that our hotel is selected by guests from all nationalities and cultures and that, compared to many others they have visited, qualified as outstanding and second to none. Hence us having the privilege of welcoming customers yearly that have through the years brought their family along and become part of ours. Sincerely yours, Gustavo Escobar Hotel Director