HL Club Playa Blanca

Where do i start.

This was the third year we have travelled to HL Club Playa Blanca and honestly the hotel has gone down hill massively. We travelled from 12th - 20th August 2026

The check in was quick and simple, we arrived at 13:00pm at hotel and could not check in till 3pm - cases can be stored in a small room opposite the reception desk. The two ladies Suzanne and Ana smiled and engaged as we checked in.

We was told we could start using the facility whilst waiting for our apartment to be ready. We had a group of 8 - in which we had 4 room total. My room was Room 110.

We noticed that majority of the entertainment team had changed and this was not positive as this was the main reason we returned. Our favorite Raisel was no longer there, and half way through the week, Cesar was also moved to another HL Hotel. The entertainment lacked innovation, engagement and overall this was a big thing previously - If your wanting to improve this, then a change is needed as the shows were boring, and would not be engaging. on previous years the kids disco would have a lot of children on stage, this year there was maybe 6-10 kids daily. The songs have also nearly all changed for the kids disco. The main entertainer boss was also rude and abrupt to his staff members. We saw at least 2 new employee's starting whilst we was there. The 2 female entertainment staff were pleasant and engaging, i did not get their names but was a blonde lady, and a brunette lady. These really tried to make a positive impact but feel there was not room from the new chief of entertainment to allow them to create more positive shows and daily activities.

The accommodation itself was clean, and i had a solo room, which was the same size as the one bedroom apartments. Throughout the week my room was only cleaned twice, in which i had to ask for the first room clean as i had ran out of clean towels - this was day 4 - and not over a Sunday either... on both occasions after the clean had happened i found multiple cockroaches in my apartment which i had to get rid of. a tip is to leave the aircon on the coldest setting whilst out as long as its cold in your apartment, they tend to avoid cold weather but thrive when its hot. Aircon was nice especially during the warm days of 30+ that we had.

The pool and hotel bar.... where to i begin with this - there was not sunbed wars here, but alot of towels were put down by 7am, and we managed to find some beds to move together, but we then did not have the shade for other members we travelled with. There is a massive shelter area at the back of the pool that has shade most of the day. When i came down at 6.30am one day to get leaflets for excursion from reception, these were already taken with towels, but no-one actually sat on them until 10-11am most days. The pool area just outside the pool was also breaking and falling to pieces - especially by the kids pool (0.3metre pool) where a lot of sharp edges from the broken bricks were visible, and on two occasions children had cut their foot due to this. 2 day before we left, these finally were repaired, but with sand and not replaced. The main pool is split with a wall divider, but the pools are the same temperature. The pool itself was very murky and dirty, and when in the pool it doesn't seem like the bottom of the pool is cleaned at all - so there is a lot of debris / sand / dirt at the bottom of the pool, especially around the ladder area's in which underneathe the ladders was thick black dirty sections. even using goggles, you could not see clearly in the pool, the only positive is that it is fresh water and not salt water. Our group did enjoy the water polo and the aqua dance, but this was not daily. On sunday the entertainment staff do not work, and there is no music by the pool on this day either so was very boring. Luckily a young lad guest brought a decent speaker and was playing the music for us! The pool bar itself was littered with paper cups and plates from guests not tidying up after themselves, and one day a chicken wing was dropped into the pool, and took 2 days for some-one to clean it up. a seagull was constantly trying to get this from the bottom without success...

And finally the food, this was the worst in the 3 years we have travelled that it had been. On a all inclusive holiday, we actually ate out 3 times due to how poor the food was. There is themed nights, but there is alot of fish cooked, but even the fish was disgusting. one of our family members bit into one, and it still had all the bones in. Breakfast was the same daily, if you like a full english then this is for you, they do also have cereal for the little ones, and some ham / cheese / bread if you wanted something lighter. They also served boiled vegetables at breakfast. The bacon was not nice and tasted like uncooked smoked ham, was not crispy, and was very soggy. For lunchtime they do have a snack bar by the pool bar which serves fresh pizza, chips, burgers/hotdogs as well as onion rings, and ketchup - and i think without this we would have had to eaten out even more. The restaurant that starts at 1pm was not good, and really the only thing i could find i would like was the pasta bolognaise - everything else looked / tasted disgusting - this seemed to be repeated bland foods throughout the week. The only good thing about lunchtime was the assortments of cakes and unlimited scooped ice creams. This is mostly what i had to eat to fill up. and dinner/tea at 6pm-9pm was by far the worst meal of the day. We struggled to find foods, and alot of the time we had to revert back to pizza and chips, as the other food looked inedible or uncooked. The chicken dishes were pink on the inside so we avoided that. Again they had themed nights but didnt always change a lot of the food - and would only be 1-2 items changed for the themed night.

The one bonus we found this year with the evening meal was they was giving out glasses of wine / sangria as you entered via the main doors, and the vice manager lady was always welcoming and pleasant.

overall this is the third year returning and honestly we would not return with the state of the hotel, the lack of engagement by the entertainment team, and the terrible state of the food throughout our trip.

I want to give a special shout out to starling and Ieva in the bars serving drinks, who remembered us from previous years and would always talk to us positively and welcoming! Without these staff members, and the few positives we found, i would have given a 1 star review as one of the worst hotels i have visited in a long time.

We would love to come back, but without major changes for improvements, the price they charge is the same price as a 4/5 star hotel in Lanzarote - and we would be looking elsewhere for future trips to this island.

We loved Playa Blanca and had a great time. The hotel grounds were lovely and well maintained. It made it feel less impersonal than some two/ three story hotels. The bungalows were perfect for our family, I thought they fitted the island setting well and were spacious and cleaned daily. We left the air conditioning on and left the interior doors open in the daytime whilst out which meant the whole bungalow stayed cool. We always managed to find food we liked, there was an good selection, and we found the restaurant staff to be excellent. The pool area was also good, some people were putting towels on beds very early (we got up at 7 to watch the sunrise one morning and a number already had towels on) but that is true wherever you go and we didn’t find it difficult to get enough sun loungers for us to use (party of 6). I would recommend booking with the use of the waterpark, as you can also use the facilities of the hotel there up to 6pm and there is a free shuttle bus service between the two. It is well worth the short walk to the harbour and marina, which we did most evenings. There are some nice beaches- we used them in the evenings when they were quieter. I can’t really comment on the evening entertainment as we didn’t use it, but we tend not to- the way the complex is set out means you can chill out on your patio area. If you like excursions, I would recommend the Timanfaya National Park and visiting the underground lava tubes. We had a lovely time both on the resort and on the island.