Great accommodation in a well-situated hotel with friendly staff but which had serious flaws in the food that passes for dinner (with half-board) and unwelcoming spa where few things actually worked. Buffet breakfasts were very good. We ate out three nights during a seven-night trip. We kept thinking we would give them another chance at dinner, otherwise it would have been more nights eating elsewhere – despite having paid a week’s half-board. Some starter salads comprise a few leaves, although others were good. Main courses were a hit or a miss or a combined curate’s egg: they ranged from a tough, brown turkey mess to nicely done lamb but with no great supporting cast on the plate. Sweets are best avoided – supermarket quality in taste, colour, texture and presentation – and that includes the bog-standard ice-cream scoops. Feel sorry for the chefs who are obviously on an overly tight budget. When you complain to the hotel management you feel like you’re the only one who has ever done so, despite having now found lots of similar complaints about the food and spa online. The rebuttals will be accompanied by emollient responses making you feel the odd-one-out. The hotel offers no readily accessible method of writing down what you think at the time, for example on customer questionnaires. And, of course, everyone is too polite to say what he or she really thinks when asked in person, in public, by managers. So you have to write a formal letter of complaint if you’re not happy with anything. Who wants to do that nowadays – you’re supposed to be on a five star holiday. Bottom line? This hotel is good for B&B and a haven of quiet in the centre of Playa de las Americas. Five star dining, entertainment, bar service and spa it ain’t.