Iberostar Selection Lanzarote Park

We have stayed at this hotel many, many times and have always enjoyed our time there, be it with our children, or more lately as a couple in the Prestige area, our last visit being in June.

POSITIVES: The location is great, although access is gained in between a row of shops, don’t let that put you off as things improve once you pass through. The hotel is just stone’s throw from Playa Flamingo Beach and a parade of shops and restaurants. In the opposite direction, Playa Blanca is just a casual 20 minute walk along the promenade.

The staff are really polite, friendly and forever helpful… The Prestige pool bar team led by Jan and Raul, are simply excellent, as is Alex and his team at the Sports bar. Of the Entertainment team, Esther is a stand out and actually enjoys her role, much to the amusement of guests.

The Prestige restaurant is spacious and provides plenty of comfortable seating, offering a range of buffet fresh food, and open cooking which suits most tastes. If that fails, there is always the option of using the other restaurant which has an even greater variety of choice. For convenience we have always used the All Inclusive (AI) board option, it suits us, although we rarely made maximum use of it, either with food or alcohol. Additionally, the Club lounge, offers drinks and a very limited buffet throughout the day to AI guests.

The Rooms are comfortable, relatively spacious and functional. With everything such as coffee maker, kettle, hair dryers, soaps towels and pool towels all provided. We tended to choose the double balcony rooms as they offer frontal sea views, and have more spacious areas for enjoying sea views and the sun as an alternative to the pool or beach.

NEGATIVES: The rooms are looking a little tired now, and in need of updating. The problem is that whilst it seems to be general knowledge that refurbishment is imminent, no one seems to know when this will take place, which leads to booking uncertainty for 2027 and beyond. A problem frequently encountered by guests is with the inadequacy of the air-conditioning, which struggles to maintain an evenly low temperature, complaints regarding this are frequent and generally unresolved.

The pool sunbeds are all too often ‘towelled’ in the early morning starting before 0700 and whilst there is a policy discouraging this, it rarely seems to be applied, leaving guests to complain as to a lack of beds. The temperature of the pool itself varies, from just about right to far too cold, particularly when guests are in the pool participating in one of Esthers workouts.

As with the rooms, some of the sunbed mattresses and towels are looking scruffy and need replacing, as do the side tables. The umbrellas are quite frankly dangerous, all too frequently blowing over and in some cases being carried away when caught by high wind. They really need to be either fixed into the ground or given more stable platforms, as they are in other hotels.

Evenings at the Prestige pool bar are chilly, although the bar staff offer blankets to keep warm which can be challenging even in June, particularly if none of the Calor flame devices are accessible. This is so simple to resolve, but the hotel is seemingly disinterested in doing so.

The quality of the Prestige evening entertainment is mixed, but in any case ceases at 2200 and whilst there is the entertainment in the main area, it is largely and overly focused on children and in any case finishes at 2230. Occasional live music at the pool is far better, but again finishes far too early

The Prestige Lounge is located in the lobby, and is simply a very small room with a decent range of drinks and very little seating area and seemingly provides access to all and sundry, even though it is reserved exclusively for AI guests. In any case, the alcohol is taken away at 1900 prompt, so if guests want a drink then have to go to the Sports bar, or back to the Prestige pool bar..

Prestige is advertised as Adult only, an adult in the UK being 18+, but in Spain its 16+, but quite why adults would bring 16 year olds to this hotel is a mystery, as there is absolutely nothing for them. The problem is that the hotel has chosen to lower the age randomly, offering guests upgrades to Prestige for an additional fee, in some cases even when they are accompanied by children as young as 13. The result, less sunbeds at the pool and inevitably inflatable, balls and noise. I make no apology for this, as having raised our three children and having chosen and paid for an adult only holiday, that is exactly what we expect…

Which brings me to the cost… Like many hotels on the island, Iberostar room costs have recently shot up without justification or improvement, and the hotel is competing with an increasing number of quality 4 and 5* hotels chasing the same market, albeit at a similar price, but with far better rooms and facilities.

You might glean from this that the Hotel is awful, it’s not, it is still a fine hotel, it is ever popular and always busy, but I would rate it as perhaps a 4* rather than a 5* in need of an early sympathetic and considerate make-over. As we have done, guests return year on year, so clearly there is much to appreciate and find each visit amazing, it’s just that it could be so much better, which is why regretfully, we will not be returning for the foreseeable future.

Although the hotel was nice, food was great and the pools were excellent there were several things that let the hotel down, especially seeing as it is advertised as a luxury resort and is expensive. Firstly, despite saying it is not allowed, people would reserve sunbeds early. People then did not actually use these until very late. We were always at the pools early and found it very frustrating these loungers were reserved but unused for the whole time we were there. If people just used loungers when they needed them there would be more than enough for everyone. It's just selfishness. Secondly, this is the noisiest hotel room I have ever stayed in. The tiled floors mean you can hear every movement. Running around and furniture scraping all night. Barely slept! Overall the holiday was ok, but definitely overpriced. I wouldn't recommend if you have children that need to go to bed before 11pm.

Really nice all inclusive stay here in August on the "normal" side of the hotel - not Star Prestige I cannot comment on that. Weather was perfect, and whilst the overall proposition here is strong, it does have some weaknesses - which I'll call out:

1. in case any of them matter particularly to you and
2. so hopefully they read this and take on the feedback.

The positives

Hugely positive and engaging staff. Consistently throughout the whole hotel. They all care and take pride in what they do. It shines through.

Arrival process - Reception handle this really nicely, have a seat and a drink whilst they walk you through things. They call you quite a lot through your stay, to check in that you are happy.

The food and drink. Exceeded expectations in terms of quality and variety. No issues and we looked forward to every meal with anticipation.

Cleanliness. Spotlessly clean consistently.

Maintenance. Things break and thats life but there were multiple signs that when they realised this, they reacted quickly and efficiently.

Minibar in room. Great selection in room, replenished daily. (You also have a kettle, and a nespresso which is awesome - catering for everyone.)

Refillable water machines throughout the complex. Good idea, well executed.

The negatives

The actual rooms themselves do not feel anywhere near the hotels stated 5 star rating. Whilst clean and completely functional, all the furniture in our room was very tired and battle worn. It felt like a Spanish interpretation of a Travelodge built 20 years prior. It did not feel luxurious at all. We had a ground floor Family Room, facing the Childrens Pool in the 20xx series.

Bar Salon Jameos, or Bar Vomit, as we called it. For some reason it CONSTANTLY smelled of room temperature infant sick. Luckily this doesn't affect anywhere else in the complex but we couldn't bare to stay in it for long due to this which is a shame as its where most the evening enterainment is.

Management of Poolside Furniture. Really mixed priorities with this. On a number of occasions the manager would slink around as the towel police, they appear to have an unannounced "non reserving of sunbeds policy" which equates to "if you aren't on a sunlounger at the given moment we check we'll immediately steal your towels back if they are ours" Some might approve of this, but I felt it created arguments and scenes, when actually just having enough capacity in the first place would be better. People should be allowed to leave the lounger alone for more than 30 seconds without fear of losing it and if you need to police it, it has to be over a sensible period of time, not just in a moment like that.

More worryingly, whilst willing to go all Stasi on the towels, they had absolutely no interest in managing the parasols, some of which were quite knackered. One day one fell on a poor guest that was rushed to the Doctor and then was seen walking around later with a bandage on their head. Obviously not ideal, and its Lanzarote, its windy at times - but the hotels reaction? Remove the parasols? Inspect them and remove the clearly damaged ones? Keep an eye on wind conditions? Attend to ones left up unaccompanied? A message to guests? Nope, they just let them fall over all week, which felt like an unacceptable approach to me.

Limitations of Air Con. If the main buffet restuarant has a/c its not very effective, it was uncomfortable at times. The gym was an absolute furnace and absolutely unusable which was disappointing as I wanted to use it daily but couldn't bare it. As its in the same building as the Spa, I wouldn't have much hope of relaxing inside an oven so I didn't try it. Its worth noting that the A/C in the rooms wasn't very powerful but if left on a constant setting (we went with 20) and door openings were kept to a minimum it was sufficient, but not fridge-tastic.

Conclusion

Despite quite a few detailed moans there I would stress they are relatively minor niggles that might not rate as issues for most people. My overall experience was net positive, and we all came away with full stomachs, healthy tans and big smiles. We appreciate all the work that goes into running the hotel and I'd hope if that sense that they truely do care is correct, that it can continue to improve.