Hotel Riu Palace Tenerife

First and foremost it’s the staff that make this place incredible, there are a lot of them (which is rare these days) and everyone we encountered was fantastic. The cleaners are extremely thorough and very warm/friendly. The location is amazing and of everywhere we walked in the surrounding areas, our location was by far the best. If you walk out of the hotel at the back facing the sea (and turn left) you can stroll down to el duque south beach which is man made and not volcanic sand. There’s a beach bar called BDB that is delicious and a short walk further left up the hill is the designer shopping mall. I averaged 22k steps a day exploring all around, you can walk on to Fanabe, Torviscas, San Eugenio and Porto Colon which all have different things to see (in my opinion not as nice as this hotel location) We got taxis to Siam Mall which has great shopping as we needed something in particular. TOP TIP search whale express in Porto Colon for an hour tour in a rib boat. So reasonable, got to see pilot whales and made our visit! Only improvement for hotel would be kids club or just an activity or 2 throughout day like pétanque or something that kids could meet the other child guests. Also to be able to pay for drinks as you go so that you aren’t shocked by final bill/can budget. Overall fantastic hotel with great staff, pool scene is great (especially adult infinity overlooking the beach), large rooms and if I was someone who visited the same place, I’d love to stay again.

We stayed for a week over the New Year period, as a family of 7 and enjoyed every minute, despite the unusually bad weather at that time of year. The location of the hotel is perfect. One direction takes you to La Caleta, and the other towards the Bahia del duque (lovely walks/runs along the coast). We were so impressed with how polite and friendly the staff were at the Riu Palace. They made us feel so welcomed and their attitude really stood out from other hotels we have visited over the years. The food at both breakfast and dinner was exceptional, with plenty of choice. The New Year Gala was a real highlight for us. The atmosphere was great, we were able to sit outside under heaters for the evening meal and the live music was fantastic entertainment. The pools are cold at that time of year but it is to be expected. The music/bands on every night on the terrace were top quality and we enjoyed having a few drinks, next to the lovely heaters outside. One evening we had a Queen tribute act that was very memorable!! Overall, we loved our stay and i'm sure we will be back in the future!! Thank you.

Majority of clientele over 80. The bed linen and towels are very old and threadbare. The food was ok if you prefer quantity to quality. Generally everything was very tired. The staff are lovely . Not worth visiting the Spanish or Krystal restaurants on site.

We booked a double room with sea view directly with hotel and requested the 5th floor - we were allocated the 3rd floor thus not such a good view. The room was spacious and clean, with a large comfortable bed. We prefer a separate bathroom but the bathroom 'wall' is actually a very large piece of frosted glass and provides a clear view of the person using the shower. At night if you need to use the bathroom the light illuminates the whole bedroom which is not conducive for someone trying to sleep!!!! Most of the staff are very friendly and helpful - apart from those on reception. We had a late return flight and requested a late checkout. We were told we could only have 2 hours at 20 euros an hour which we accepted and had to confirm the night before departure. When we returned to reception to 'confirm' our 2 hour checkout we told by an aggressive female receptionist that we could only have 1 hour. The hotel was not at full capacity and we wasted an afternoon. Certainly not 5* The breakfasts were plentiful as were the evening buffets with freshly prepared dishes on offer. The a la carte meal at the Spanish restaurant was good. However the meal at Krystal was abysmal. The Partridge pate tapas had a sugary grilled topping which was unpleasant. The crispy duck confit with goats cheese, samphire and pear were two large 'spring rolls' that were akin to cardboard, the 'crispy' duck filling was soggy as it was in a cheese sauce. No samphire could be seen, the spring rolls were placed on a pile of mixed salad leaves without any dressing. We did not eat much of this dish. The roast suckling pig was a piece of luke warm pork with a strange topping that certainly was not crackling. It was placed on a bed of cold dried apricots with a side of cold mash. The grilled beef tenderloin was anything but tender and indeed was very tough. The smoked cheesecake smelt and tasted like smoky bacon crisps - most unpleasant. Thus we left most of our meal as did several adjoining tables. The location is good and opposite a beach. However the early morning brigade of people saving loungers was in full force - the staff never moved any towels despite some of the loungers never seeing a human till midday!!! Thus our high hopes for a luxury break were dashed and we will not return as there were too many elements that were not 5* worthy.