Apartamentos Gran Amadores

We booked these apartments at the last minute, and I hadn’t read the reviews. A quick look just before arriving made me pretty nervous, but we ended up being very pleased with the stay. I’ve just got back from the holiday and would definitely return.

For a 2-star hotel, this place has a lot going for it. The location is perfect, with the beach and local amenities nearby, and the apartments are clean and laid out well. The pools are great, and I never struggled to find a sunbed. Bar food is freshly cooked, nicely presented, good quality and competitively priced. I really have nothing bad to say about the hotel or its amenities at that star level.

Pepi and the cleaning team deserve a big shout out. They did a wonderful job, cleaning the apartments every other day and leaving plenty of fresh towels and toilet rolls. The rooms were comfortable and had what we needed, and the pools were clean with lots of sunbeds. Thanks as well to raquel and the manager for rearranging things so we could keep our room until 6pm on our last day for a small charge. Our disabled son couldn’t have spent over six hours in the sun waiting for the bus otherwise. The pool bar and restaurant were nice, the staff welcoming, and the food we bought was good. The daily 2for1 drinks deal was great, and the cocktails were lovely and good value. We stayed over Christmas and had a lovely holiday overall. We’d return and recommend gran Amadores apartments. The WiFi was disappointing: €18 for a week and only one device, with just an OK connection on the balcony. The smoking rules were also frustrating. Smoking was only allowed in a 2-meter by 2-meter square area, and we were told it was because of covid19. That excuse can’t last forever. Given the cost of the apartments, I think guests should be allowed to smoke on their own balconies.

We were charged 36€ per week for WiFi for each device, and it didn’t work. They wouldn’t refund or compensate us, just said sorry. Card payments weren’t accepted in 2024, and reception wasn’t welcoming. The gentlemen there were quite rude. We’d asked for a double bed, but the room had single beds that hadn’t even been pushed together. We paid extra for a superior room, but the only difference seemed to be a new shower cubicle and glass screen, which was badly cracked in two places. The balcony wasn’t really private either, anyone could walk past and stare in. The place was nothing like we expected, and half an hour after arriving I wanted to go home. We had an awful night. The beds had padded plastic sheets, and the room, like the whole apartment, stank of drains and urine. The pillows were stained, dirty and smelly. I’ve attached pictures so people can see the holes in the sheets and the light hanging off the wall. We contacted customer services back home and waited until the next day to speak to the rep, Dawn. She arrived at 12:30, but mostly told us she’d lived in Gran Canaria for 10 years and where to spend our money. Obviously she gets some commissions. Her advice was, “if u don’t like it I can’t change the resort for you, but maybe you should’ve paid more and stayed at our sister hotel Punta Rey!” When I asked about changing our flight to go home early, she said we’d have to pay for the flights ourselves. She spoke with reception about moving us to a supposedly quiet room on the 3rd floor, but it would have been a downgrade, noisier than the room we’d paid for through the agency. There was no offer of money back or compensation for the cheaper room. We could have asked reception ourselves. In the end we had to stay in a shabby room, with a party hotel right behind us, for the rest of the holiday. The housekeeper, if you can call her that, only emptied the bin and counted the towels. She didn’t change the bed linen and even asked me to move a table so she could sweep and mop. I saw disgusting hygiene and disturbing behaviour from other guests, and police were called three times in one night. We couldn’t really use the pool either. Sunbeds were ‘reserved’ with towels and clips almost every day from as early as 5am. In the second week, a kid crapped in the pool. The water wasn’t changed, just skimmed with a net, and the inflatables around the pool weren’t sanitized or removed. Unacceptable. I’ve stayed in better youth hostels. Think twice before spending your hard-earned money here.