Alexandre Grand Teguise Playa in Costa Teguise

Been at the hotel all inclusive for 10 days, here’s my honest opinion.

This is the one reason we will never come back to this hotel. SMOKING.

Whilst it’s not permitted to smoke on the balconies of the rooms, people do.

Around the pool there’s a nice decked area with chairs and tables, and near the outdoor bar a covered area with lots of table and chairs, these seem to be the areas preferred by the smokers, and there’s a lot of them.

I sat this morning with no one around me, then the smokers arrived and having asthma I had to move. I questioned with the hotel reception why all the nice outdoors areas at the hotel allow smoking and there’s literally no where that’s out of bounds for smoking across the whole pool area, except a small area next to the door to the hotel which is covered and gets no sun, to be told it’s within the law. Seems the hotel are on the side of the smokers, I’m guessing if they banned smoking they’d lose most of their customer base, who are all of a certain age. If the hotel could see sense and make just one of the seated pool areas no smoking surely that would be a fairer way to do things for all the guests at the hotel.

This afternoon I sat at the only area outside the hotel that is a designated non smoking area, just next to the doors, rubbish chairs , no sun, signs everywhere but still people smoking. Wear nice sandals for dinner they send you back to your room to change, choose to subject people with asthma to your smoke in a designated non smoking area nothings done (see photo)

Hotel is dated and needs some tlc especially the outdoor pool area which is old, tiles missing from the pool, uncomfortable sun loungers. One of the pools is heated which is nice at a constant 29c.

The rooms are nice, bright, comfortable, nice view of the sea from the balcony. Glasses and cups are not changed, leaving you with yesterday’s tea residue to clean yourself. The water bottle is also not replenished and is too big to fit under the bathroom taps or the water station taps inside the hotel. You have to go to the outside water station to fill them, and given you can’t take glass poolside where the outdoor stations are, this doesn’t work either so we’ve never had our water bottle filled up since day 1.

Staff -

the cleaning ladies are really pleasant and have a tough job. The bar lady outdoors is a bit abrupt especially if you go for a drink with 3 minutes until closing, as she tends to close the bar early and then question your ability to read a sign (closed)

The entertainment team are really energetic and do a great job. There’s always lots of activities to do.

Food-

The food isn’t bad, lots of choice, tasty. We had frozen sweetcorn in a salad, but other than that no complaints with the food. 5 mornings we had to wait as there were no bowls, and when they came they were straight out of the dishwasher, red hot, not good for your morning cereals.

No gluten free bread option.

Drinks choice -

The only beer you can have is Amstel, and you only ever get a small glass, which leads to long queues because people take no time at all to drink their small beer and then head back to the bar for a refill. Lots of spirits, wine and sangria to choose from.

Location -

Great location, right opposite the beach, easy walk to bars and restaurants.

We won’t ever be coming back until they balance out the rights of non smokers with the rights of smokers. We’re not in the 1970’s anymore, thought the hotel, the clients and the staff make you feel like you are.

We visited the Alexandra Grand Teguise in July, a family of 4. On arrival the Hotel looked clean and a nice welcoming foyer however our opinion changed as the holiday progressed. The Hotel in general is clean and the rooms comfortable. Some of the hotel staff are helpful and friendly however some are not so and can be rude. The buffet restaurant is at best average, the salad station is good however the hot stations are very poor. Breakfast was disappointing but the fruit station was good. Lunch was disappointing with random hot food and some pretty questionable concoctions. Evening meal was also disappointing with again strange relations to themed nights e.g. the Italian night was nothing I could relate to Italy and the Canarian night was awful. The “Show” cooking or should be called “Slow” cooking was terrible! The main bar was OK but again the bar staff really didn’t seem happy and the cocktails were very poor and heavily iced based. The outside and pool area was good but if you weren’t up and down by 07:30 you struggled to get a sunbed. Location is great and there are many good bars and restaurants close by which we visited. Would not stay here again but would stay in Costa Teguise as the area is great.