La Isla Y el mar Hotel Boutique

We stayed here at the begging of September as a couple. Hotel is modern and beautiful throughout, staff are lovely and helpful. The breakfast selection was great with a large buffet style breakfast as well as a menu with options to order. We had lunch in the hotel at the pool bar and the food and presentation was lovely. Cocktail bar to the side of the breakfast area was also lovely with great options. Would definitely recommend

What a lovely hotel - friendly staff- spacious room and great view. Housekeeping excellent and fabulous breakfast too! so why the 4 stars and not 5? Well for us the big negative was the lack of sunshades by the pool and terrace and of course you get the early risers who reserve the beds by the pool and often disappear for hours in the day and keep their towels there despite the notice saying no reservations. We were there just recently when the temperatures were often over 30 degrees and i love the sun but not without a shade - I don't want to get fried so often there is just nowhere to sit or lay at all which is a big no-no. The other irritation was that the one and only pool snack bar was often staffed by just one person which is simply not enough for the number of guests at the hotel. So i would highly recommend this hotel if you like sunbathing without a shade or don't mind trying to find a seat in the cafe in the shade and foregoing a sunbed.

Location The hotel is located around a €20-30 ride from the airport or a cheap trip on the 161 bus from the airport (you want the Balcon del Mar stop). It sits above Puerto del Carman with good views of the sea from the upper pool deck. It is a steep walk down to the habour area and the beach strip, not so bad down but coming up it is a good workout. There is a supermarket, a place to book days out (Jumbo - very recommended) and a couple of bars / resturants within a 5 min walk down the hill. In 10-15mins you are in the port area which has a lot of places to eat / drink and in 20mins on the main beach strip. The area is very touristic especially the strip area.

Welcome We were greeted with a glass of cava and shown to our room with a tour. Our bag hadn't arrived so the hotel organised tooth brushes for us.

Room We booked a Junior Suite pool room which states 'direct access to the pool' on the website. This is true if you walk over the garden and jump down a wall on to someone elses sun lounger. The rooms do give you a private terrace with 2 sunloungers and table and chairs. The room was big. You entered to a bedroom with a bathroom off of it, then a corridor with wardrobes to a lounge area leading to the terrace. The lounge area only had proper curtains, no nets so you had to make sure they were closed if you were changing. The bathroom had a shower and rituals amenities. Bed was comfortable but the pillows really bad. We asked for some different pillows but these never arrived. The terrace had no shade - we asked for a sun shade but were told that due to the winds (it was 37 degrees and still as anything) they don't allow umbrellas on the terraces. We were offered 2 beach umbrellas which we used for shade, but as the walls of the terrace are black stone, it became very quickly like an oven in the afternoon. The hotel looks very cool, but proper balcony roofs would be much better than some reflective metal triangles. There is a free bottle of water provided daily. There was no turn down service which is normal for a 5* hotel.

Facilities. There is a pool and spa pool - both kept at the same temperature. The pool as around 10 sunloungers around it, plus a mid deck with another 8 and then a top deck with more. The top deck has no shade - around 4 umbrellas for all the loungers. we got one on the 2nd day and then the pool boy tried to take it away... The umbrellas also aren't great for shade and being under one for 2 hours wearing factor 30 i did burn - so its not proper shade. Pool towels are provided in the room - i'm not sure how you get them changed. We found a stash in the gym so got an extra 2. I went to the gym the 2nd morning and it is limited. It is also hot as hell as the door was open and no aircon. There seems to be a wellness centre on site but we saw no treatment menu. They seem to offer some yoga and other activities but not very well advertised

Food We only had breakfast. The bar / resturant were much more expensive than town so we just went out. Breakfast was an al a carte eggs / tostada / pancake menu combined with a buffet. the food was varied and selection good. We tended to go early (still felt understaffed when pretty empty with just one member of staff) but on one day we went at 09.15 and it was chaos. The hotel had 148 people staying (according to the list as you went in the resturant) which must happen sometimes and the restruant seats 82 at max capacity and it seemed like everyone arrived at once. They opened the other part of the resturant where we were seated but it was hot as hell. I went to get water while we waited for a table - water was empty. Told the staff, got seated, went to get water, still empty, told staff, waited...and waited....and waited...they refilled the orange juice 3 times with me asking for more water every time, before finally filling the water...by which time no glasses...it was 23 minutes between me asking for water and being able to have some...great having come back from a run. By the time I'd finally got water the buffet was decimated - only fruit bread left, no pastries or cakes left. I expect at a 5* hotel the buffet to look the same at 7am as it does 30mins before closing. It was our final day and we had looked forward to a relaxed breakfast with a couple of glasses of cava and it was anything but.

Overall when busy, which this obviously was, it doesnt feel like a boutique hotel. Understaffed but those working are trying thier best.