Grupotel Orquidea

Where to begin with this “4 * hotel” Very short transfer from the airport, which was amazing considering having such a long day! Upon arrival late in the evening the hotel seemed very pleasant from the outside. Checked in quickly and with no hassle, provided our room key, quick change and a wash and we headed down for a quick bite to eat. Imagine the horror when the first experience of food was cutting into some grilled chicken, and finding it raw in the middle. Not a brilliant start…. Food choice throughout the two weeks wasn’t brilliant, I wasn’t expecting much, but something far more better. If any one of our guests had any form of poultry we would have to cut into it and check if it was cooked. Few occasions where there was raw poultry, and from seeing other mentions on the Tui blue app pin board from the hotel, this seemed to be quite a normal thing to happen.?! Never in my life have I had to check if meat is cooked in a 4* hotel. But alas, we didn’t go hungry whilst staying here, but that might have been down to the fact we ate out a lot in the amazing restaurants across the road in the square. The la plaza grill was amazing by the way!!! Not really much to say else on the food. Unfortunately we had seen more than a few cockroaches at this hotel.. more than we would like to have seen. After speaking to family and friends who have visited Gran Canaria - they hadn’t seen any cockroaches in their hotels.. which now has me second guessing that this is normal.. I think cleanliness might be a problem here. Sun bed wars are abhorrent in this hotel, seeing as people from the sister hotels seem to all want to use the same facilities. Seeing people making a mad dash for their sun beds from our balcony at 8am was the highlight of our holiday . Cleanliness around the pool was dire, a lolly pop that was stuck to the floor for days on end. Broken pool tiles. The pool was closed on more than one occasion because of bodily fluids being found in the pools (not the hotels fault I get that). The evening entertainment bar was awful, sweat box, reminded me of something along the lines of facilities used by military forces whilst on detachment in desert like areas. (Although I believe their facilities are much better). There were two toilets for women near the entertainment bar, which for the amount of guests that use the orquidea is atrocious. The hallways leading the to bedrooms seemed as if the cleaners just swept all the dirt out, and left for over a week and a half whilst we were there, mentioned to Tui reps, and hotel reception staff but nothing seemed to have been done about it. The cielings are paper thin. We had noisy upstairs neighbours, I think scaffolders make less noise than they did (again not the hotels fault), we did speak to reception after night three of it, and it did seem to work of sorts.. the area is absolutely beautiful and I feel blessed to have visited Gran Canaria, and will eventually return. But just not to this hotel. Standing joke b

We had the best time at this hotel. It is a TUI Blue hotel. The only negative was that the air con in the rooms did not seem very effective. Going in October the weather was a bit more overcast which suited our family with young children. Plenty of sun still and often the best part of the day was around 4pm. There were loads of activities in each day for adults and children. Our daughter went to baby club twice and loved it, she has come away with lots of crafts. The childcare staff were lovely. Entertainment at night was good, the staff shows were excellent! Food was good and varied. Children’s buffet was good too. The whole hotel did not feel too busy, although I can imagine in peak season this would be a lot different. Couple of shops outside the hotel so you didn’t have to go far for anything you needed. It is on the beach but this is stones so if a sandy beach is a must then this would not suit. Only been home a few days and already missing it!

Firstly we come home last night and we couldn’t have been happier to be home sadly. My son is autistic and has quite a lot of struggles, he was in the swimming pool with a very small rubber ring as that’s what makes him comfortable when I’m swimming pools and 2/3 days in there was no problem with that, life guard was happy said he was fine etc to them be approached by who I believe was another guy in grey uniform no idea his role in hotel (I believe possibly towel guy) but please some quote me on that and my son was told no and to get out to which I told him he was told by the lifeguard he’s fine and has been for the past few days howver he stood his ground upset my son due to the situation was rude and not remorseful at all. My son being autistic got extremely upset and panicked and ended up wanting to spend the last of his holiday in his room, we spoke to what we was told was the hotel manager however recently found out she was just the assistant about the situation and after trying to push us to another hotel sister pool and other places around the hotel however after standing our ground she said the ring would be fine for my son in this pool. My son however was completely heartbroken at this point and felt horrible due to the treatment he recieved and myself also very angry and upset due to the discrimination against sons special needs. After returning to our room for a few hours we went for Lunch and I managed to change his mind in regards to the pool so we went back and as a family of 3 myself my son and his grandmother we continued to play and my son continued to try get comfortable practimg swimming and just in general being okay in the water as for him that’s a big step To them once again have the hotel manager assistant approach us at the pool while playing as a family to ask us to remove our review on the hotel which is wrong on many levels and to approach us in front of my son again I had to leave his grandmother to deal with it due to upset on my son. Thankfully we have witness who also had a child with special needs and spoke to me personally after and expressed how what she saw made her furious. Personally avoid this hotel it’s not 4 stars, some of the restaurant staff were rude, the food was extremely mediocre, the reception desk there was maybe 1 person who was nice however on the day of leaving they couldn’t find our passports and put them in the wrong place. I spoke to a tui rep in regards to the pool situation (I have names of all these people) to which she was also rude and showed zero care and interest to my son’s needs. There’s no signs around the hotel pools aswell as on the website which states inflatables etc are fine. The pool my son was in with his tiny inflatable also had giant inflatables which was shrugged off and fine (I have photos) many people playing ball games diving in etc however my autistic sons tiny inflatable to stop him panicking was NOT okay but the giant pink flamingo and rings was. (

I stayed with 4 granddaughters (aged between 10 and 17) at Tres Vidas apartments which are part of the Tui Blue resort with the Orquidea hotel being the main area for the pools, entertainment and food. I am writing this review from that aspect. We stayed for 14 nights. We arrived late evening and the rep said to leave our bags in the luggage room and go to get food before checking in. That was a bonus as we’d had a long day. We found over the 2 weeks the food getting the same but two of us being vegetarian there were limited options anyway. We were however able to make up decent plates of food. Eventually one of the teens decided she didn’t like anything. However our main gripe was staff taking your plates very quickly. Sometimes it felt they didn’t leave you alone to enjoy your food and we started eating in the conservatory which was a bit more relaxed (until our last night when a guy was hovering the entire time until it got busier). It sort of gets your back up a bit because if one went to get something else you had to keep saying they hadn’t finished. The pool area was good although we did find and claim sun loungers about 8am or there wouldn’t be any together later. It was a bit like waiting for a sale to open (think Next) as people were literally running once the guys removed the rope barriers. The younger girls loved the pool where they could take floaties and made friends throughout our stay. Also pool activities managed by Tui staff were fun. It was good that people were stopped taking food from the snack bar to the pool or it would no doubt get messy through the day. The area around the pools tended to be very slippery and I found it better in water shoes. One day both large pools were shut at the same time, one we heard was from poo but reopened after a while, the large one had tiny pieces of coloured glass which someone was collecting up. I’m not sure how that would have got in the pool but did see some pieces that were gathered. The girls enjoyed the few kids clubs they went into and the booking/dropping off and collecting was easy and felt safe through the app. Some book up quick though and I think the clubs for two days away become live at 11pm. I usually ended up putting them on the waiting list. The Tui Blue staff (the ones in blue tops) are a credit to the company and seem to really enjoy their work. We enjoyed the beach too but it is large stones and needs to be timed for tide out. It’s a shame that the resort doesn’t make more of the beach but possibly out of their jurisdiction. There are no life guards and can be strong waves. Near the apartments there is a watersports hire shop for the more braver. Mine collected a few lava stones and we did swim before breakfast one day. It’s black sand once over the stones and also quite warm. On the last day we had to leave the apartment at 11 as it was booked from 12 so a quick turnaround. I was able the day before to reserve a hotel room for a shower and change as we were not bein

Hotel good although food repetitive and mostly cold. Room ok. Staff good. BUT!! The beach to the water is absolutely rubbish and as this hotel was not my choice but was changed by TUI I was left very disappointed. The hotel I originally booked had a totally child friendly beach next door which is why I choose it. Very angry with TUI !!

After a delay, we arrived at 12am. Breads and cheeses were available once we got at the hotel. Quick check in. Can't fault the location, size or layout of our room (109). The facilities and the daily programme is great for kids. If you fancy a venture away from Bahia Feliz, to a sandy beach, the taxi you've booked is practically waiting on you by the time you walk out the building or there's a bus stop a walk over the other side of the road. I downloaded Pidetaxi app, which was really helpful and easy to use. The staff are friendly and approachable. The entertainment staff are a class act, the energy levels each shift never drop. Food - something for everyone, to your taste. Drinks - Tropical on tap, wines on tap, slush machines, branded fizzy pop on draught, fruit juices, milkshakes, choice of cocktails and coffee machines. Hotel and surrounding areas are always clean and tidy. There's a dash for the loungers closer to the kids pools but I personally didn't find it an issue. Always found a couple in a suitable area. There was a small queue awaiting for the pool areas to open (8am). However, the hotel wasn't overly busy when we were there. The kids, aged 6 and 8, enjoyed the kids club but we only used them every now and then as they were happy enough playing in the pool. The youngest, aged 2, wasn't too keen on the babyclub. They all enjoyed the entertainment at night. Now for the slight criticism, asked prior departure for a quiet room, weren't told otherwise if we got it or not, room 109 (family suite) certainly wasn't a quiet room. Located right next to entertainment so trying to get kids to sleep before 10/10:30pm is a real struggle. Also asked for a cot to be in the room, there wasn't, had to take one that was in the hall. Air conditioning unit, was leaking water, massive puddle on the floor the next morning after having it on the majority of the night. Didn't use it again. The main door of all rooms should have a chain lock, as kids can easily unlock it from the inside and be locked out the room. As we discovered. After collecting my unsettled 2 year-old from baby club after 30mins, we were still charged the full price of €15. Which we were a bit shocked by. But all in all we all had a fantastic holiday, we would definitely recommend for families who have kids that are under 12.