GF Noelia

We booked GF Noelia in Puerto de la Cruz for a peak August holiday, knowing that it was a 3-star hotel with fairly average reviews. We booked half board and weren’t expecting anything luxurious or fancy. What we did expect, however, was reasonably good, safe food and the basics you would normally expect from a hotel of this type. I want to start by saying that the hotel staff were excellent throughout our stay. Everyone we dealt with was pleasant, friendly and very helpful, including room cleaning lady and the management. In my opinion, the staff were doing their best with what they had to work with. Unfortunately, the food was a major disappointment. We arrived late because of a delayed flight and a very long transfer, with GF Noelia being the second-to-last hotel on the shared coach transfer. As half-board guests, we expected the usual sandwich tray or something similar to be available for late arrivals. There was no food available at all, so at around 10:05pm we had to go out and find dinner with our children. That was particularly disappointing after a long journey. Breakfast was very limited. There was usually one decent pastry, but it would disappear within minutes and often wasn't replenished. The other pastries were frequently stale, hard and unpleasant. On the positive side, the breakfast food we did eat appeared safe and there were enough basic options to get by. Dinner was more problematic. Dinner started at 7pm, but when we arrived at opening time, several dishes were already empty. It could take until around 7:20pm for them to be replenished, and the only pizza option sometimes wasn't ready until around 7:30pm. This was frustrating because we wanted to finish dinner and take the children out to enjoy the evening and the beautiful sunsets, rather than spend a large part of the evening waiting for food. There were two types of meat or fish cooked to order each night, which in principle was a good idea. Unfortunately, on several occasions they were undercooked. I repeatedly had to use Google Translate to ask the cooks in Spanish to cook the food properly. On one occasion the chicken was visibly pink inside, and on another occasion the fish was undercooked. There were queues at the cooking station, and it seemed to me that the cooks were under pressure to serve people quickly. I also didn't see temperature probes being used to check that the meat and fish were properly cooked. For us, one of the biggest disappointments was actually something very simple: ice cream for the children. We never expected a huge dessert selection, but we did expect basic flavours such as vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. Instead, coconut and lemon seemed to be available most of the time, with strawberry or vanilla appearing occasionally and chocolate only rarely. Our children were very disappointed, so we ended up buying ice cream outside the hotel, at around €2.70 per scoop. The yoghurt desserts were also often unpleasant-tasting, and some seemed very close to being off. The cakes were similarly disappointing. The bread rolls were extremely hard and there were only a couple of varieties. To be clear, we were not expecting a luxury buffet. We knew we were staying in a 3-star hotel and were perfectly prepared for simple food and limited choice. What surprised us was the overall quality and, in particular, the lack of some very basic things that even inexpensive family hotels usually manage to provide. My impression is that the hotel is under considerable pressure to keep its costs down. Whether this is because of the way package holidays are priced and structured, or simply the hotel's own budget constraints, I obviously can't say for certain. But it felt as though cost-cutting was taking place in areas such as food quality, replenishment and the number of staff available to prepare and serve food. It was a shame because the staff themselves were genuinely excellent. We still enjoyed our holiday because we made the most of it and had decent lunches outside the hotel. Puerto de la Cruz is a lovely place, and we enjoyed exploring the area. Including going to loro parque the capital Santa Cruz and la Oro tava valley. Local taxis were around €5-6 to go to town center, you could walk one way and take the taxi back. For us, though, the lesson is that we probably wouldn't book this hotel or this type of hotel again. Next time, we may look at cheaper destinations such as the Costa Blanca or Costa Dorada. GF Noelia could be a perfectly adequate 3-star hotel if expectations are kept low, but based on our experience, I wouldn't recommend it when the food is such a weak point. The staff deserve praise; unfortunately, the food and catering operation let the hotel down badly.

Terrible! Do not fall for the positive comments! This place is dated cheap very small pool and rooms are stinking. Don’t ever go for all inclusive as you will be very disappointed. I will start from the rooms which are absolutely stinging fugs(non smoker) even we kept the door shut at all times still stinking. Aircon vent plastic panel set to blow directly in the bed probably to make you switch it off for the night ( I have solved this issue myself removing the cover panel and placing it upside down changing directions for blow into ceiling. We are not the early birds and we asked for are room to be cleaned later on rather then 8-9am in the morning! Cleaning lady returned for first time after 4 days. Food is very limited (do not go all inclusive!) I chosen to wait for choice of fresh meat or fish was often undercooked or overcooked. Also in the middle of the dining the cook would not fry more then 3-4 small pieces at the time ( I mean there’s so many people in the hotel and you feel pressured to take less on your plate because person behind you will have to wait ages for their food) Swimming pool on the roof without bar. Bar understaffed means you have to wait ages for your drink . Not the Ban-tenders fault as his running dining and the bar at the same time. I often don’t get a chance to give him full order for the family and he walks away to serve others! We often had to eat out and couldn’t be arsed with the bar at all! Waist of money. Paid 4K all inclusive for the family of for 10 days. Swimming pool tiny with not enough beds for guests. Only positive thing I can say about this place is Staff and Location. Won’t stay there again!

Location good. 15 min walk from town centre. Atmosphere : staff friendly & helpful but not much of atmosphere. Bar left unstaffed for long periods. Rooms: 1st studio photos included. Bathroom so small we could hardly open the door without it hitting toilet. Bath area tiny and very difficult to get round door, toilet& step into bath for shower. First room tatty and needing upgraded. Second studio better layout, however questionable if would suit families. The kitchen areas are more a concern of being a fire hazard than useful & are very small . Pool area clean & pleasant, however located on roof, 7 th floor and bar on ground floor. Not ideal if you have kids wanting drinks over the course of the day. Food not any better or worse than higher graded hotels in area. Pretty standard across the board . If you want to stay around hotel rather than go into town., area very limited in rating places. However, even in town centre, menus pretty much the same everywhere.

We booked this hotel due to the location to the beech and other shops. The hotel was fantastic, the staff were all great and the rooms were perfectly fine. They were clean, tidy and serviced by the housekeeping regularly. We had a nut allergy person with us and we spoke to them prior to going and was advised to discuss more when we arrived. There was some things that couldn't be eaten and the staff bent over backwards to ensure as he was given good quality food having specially brought and cooked it for her. This made us and her feel safe and welcomed. Sergio, we cant thank you enough for your support and help THANK YOU. ROOM 212&211

We stayed here for 2 weeks July 10th -25th. B&B . Staff were lovely and helpful. Rooms was spotless and cleaned with fresh towels daily. Not lots of choice for breakfast but enough to fill us up for a few hours. Definitely value for money . 5 min walk to the beach . Hyper Dinos close by . Bus station literally across the road. You can get a wee card and go anywhere at all for €10 anywhere around the island. Rooftop pool and large terrace area with sun beds . I actually accidentally tripped all of our electricity by burning the kettle wire and this was sorted straight away bringing us another kettle. No extra charge. Would recommend this hotel to anyone holidaying here. Quiet and friendly . Mostly Spanish holidaymakers but that was absolutely fine . Our flight home was t till later on but I got freshened up in the large spotless toilets at reception.