Gloria Palace San Agustin Thalasso Hotel

We spent 11 nights here in February after booking with Jet2. It's a very nice hotel in a quieter part of Gran Canaria, with friendly staff and plenty of good food, though the labels were often wrong. Getting a drink at lunch or dinner could be difficult because the waiting staff were so busy. There were plenty of sunbeds around the large pool, plus daily activities like yoga, boules, aqua aerobics and bingo. Nightly entertainment usually started at 9 and ran for 45 mins, with singers, magicians and dancers, followed by a singer. The hotel provided two free buses a day to nearby Playa del Ingles and Maspalomas. Public buses to Puerto de Mogan and Las Palmas came fairly often, but were usually full and difficult to board. Reaching the public buses and the seafront meant walking up and down a steep hill.

We’ve been regular guests at Gloria Palace San Agustín for many years, and one of the main reasons we kept choosing it for holidays in Gran Canaria was the heated pools. We were very disappointed to find they aren’t heated this year. The rooftop area is also under construction, and we think that should be made clearer before booking, since it’s one of the hotel’s highlighted features. The staff are still as friendly and professional as ever, the cleanliness is excellent, and the food remains very good. We have no complaints about those things. Still, for the current price, there are many other options on the island with similar or better value, especially without the heated pools that used to be a key selling point. We truly hope the hotel reconsiders. We’ve always enjoyed staying here and would like to keep coming back.

The staff were warm and helpful, breakfast was good, and the dinners we tried a couple of times had plenty of choice and were very good. The free shuttle was useful too, though people pushed in and it filled up fast. Once it was full, walking was the only option, so a taxi may be easier, and they’re cheap enough. A few things bothered me. The leaflet at check-in said staff would remove towels placed on sunbeds before 10am, but people were putting them down around 8am before breakfast. All the pools are salt water, including the children’s pool, which was about 6ft 8 deep and didn’t feel very child-friendly. Drinks at the bar were a bit overpriced. We got four bottles of water in the room each day, but tea, coffee and milk weren’t replenished. Reception said someone would bring some after I asked, but nobody came. The air conditioning wasn’t great either, since the lowest setting we could use was 18.5.

There isn’t much around the hotel, though it’s near the beach and a shopping centre with a few restaurants and bars. The hotel also runs a free daytime bus to maspalomas and playa de ingles, and our taxi one night cost 7 euros. The pool was lovely, and our room was a good size. The maids came daily and left two glass bottles of water. We stayed on bed and breakfast, and breakfast was good. There’s also a snack bar where you can order food and charge it to your room, then settle the bill when you leave. A nice choice if you’re after a relaxing break in the sun.