- Lanzarote Holidays
- Playa Blanca
- Dreams Lanzarote Playa Dorada
Dreams Lanzarote Playa Dorada is located few steps away from the golden sand of Playa Blanca. This fantastic hotel in Lanzarote is an idyllic destination for relaxation and renewal. At the Dreams Lanzarote Playa Dorada hotel, all of our 465 guest rooms feature plenty of natural light, comfortable furnishings and an enchanting private terrace. The hotel offers numerous facilities and services to keep you active and entertained during your stay, including 7 heated swimming pools and a 24h fitness center (paid service). Gastronomes will delight in our two restaurants at the Hesperia Playa Dorada which boast eclectic menus and endless culinary possibilities. Enjoy in one of our 5 restaurants, indoor/outdoor conference area provides a stunning locale for private events and makes the Dreams Lanzarote Playa Dorada ideally suited for business and pleasure alike. *The Wellness Zone is exclusive for over 16 years old. *Environmental certifications ISO 14001 and ISO 50001.
Pamper yourself with a visit to the spa, which offers massages. You're sure to appreciate the recreational amenities, which include 8 outdoor swimming pools, a complimentary water park and a health club. Additional features at this hotel include complimentary wireless Internet access, concierge services and an arcade/games room.
Having stayed at Dreams in September last year and having had a great holiday, we decided to book again for this September. Sadly, as many reviews mention and also fellow guests we spoke to during our stay, found the quality has slipped since the re- brand to Hyatt and things aren’t the same.
Upon arrival we were given a room directly above the centre of the entertainment. There was nothing wrong with the room, or the lovely main pool view, the issue was the horrendous noise from the evening entertainment. For several hours each night you couldn’t hear the TV (even on full volume) and the door to the room shook and vibrated to the music. To give the hotel it’s due, they did offer to move us to a room in the same location we had last year. So, after three sleepless nights they moved us. The move was annoying as we had to pack up, check out by 12pm and the room was ready a couple of hours later. Our new neighbours also moved that day and after chatting around the pool, others had been moved around too during their stay.
Our new room wasn’t the cleanest. The bedsheets had stains (photos attached) and the towels had holes in them (photos attached). I am sure if we’d have gone to the reception they would have sorted this, but by now we wanted to try and make the most of what was left of our week.
The general cleanliness of the hotel is a common theme. The pool area is dirty, tissues, used plasters and hair in walkways and corridors. The other main issue is the hotel chose out of their hotel rules which rules they apply and when. For example you cannot leave your sun bed for more than fifty minutes, if you do they will remove all your belongings and take them to reception. Now this is fine, but the pool lifeguards police this rule differently, especially if you are not a local or Spanish. The Spanish seem to be able to reserve beds for others. The other rule they turn a blind eye to is dogs. The sign upon entry clearly states no dogs in the Horizon club pool, yet the Spanish bring in a dog and the pool attendant even strokes it! For two days around the pool it was YAP, YAP, YAP, YAP, all day long (photos attached). Many of the umbrellas are broken and are in dire need of replacement. The sun beds could do with a change too.
We stayed Bed and Breakfast and the breakfast was the same as last year, edible but nothing exciting, if you want amazing breakfasts you need to stay at the H10 Atlantic Sunset in Tenerife, now that’s a five star hotel and food.
Oh dear Hyatt what have you done to Dreams?
Overall was great experience. Pool, Spa. Entertainment was excellent , cleaning and club service was excellent , the downside was the food buffet and the request sent before arrival without any response from the reservation team.
What an awesome hotel. Clean bright smelt beautiful. Breathtaking. From walking in the door, the lovely greeting, the porter taking our cases to our room, the caterers in the breakfast rooms and restaurants, the cleaning ladies doing our room everyday, the lad filling the fridge in our room with drinks and nibbles everyday, everyone was so happy in there work made you feel so welcome. My twin sister paid for the hotel and paid for the Grand stay. Our room was beautiful overlooking the sea. The view was beautiful day and night. The breakfast was lovely. They had everything you could wish for. There were 5 pools. We used the infinity pol everyday with the lovely drinks bar right beside the pool. You had to have a pass to get into certain areas, we had that. There was a lovely room we visited every afternoon for refreshments serving like an afternoon t buffet. Then we choose to eat out every night. Great entertainment every evening. Absolutely brilliant. Thank you for a wonderful holiday location.
This hotel is great if you can look past that it is not 5* but charges 5* prices!!
The vast majority of the positive reviews are from guests that have paid to have club access!
If you are after chilled vibes and good drinks in an AI and are not a food lover then this is your hotel. If you are after a luxury 5* resort then give this a miss as it is a 30 year old hotel and it definitely shows!
When you arrive at the hotel it looks fabulous from the outside and when you walk in to reception it looks just as good. We were greeted at 2130 by staff that could not do enough for us. We thought that the stay was going to be unbelievable........it was but for all the wrong reasons!
Pros Location in Playa Blanca Drinks menu Al a carte restaurants Spa (incurs an extra cost but worth it) Beds Mini bar TV in room (80")
Cons Sun loungers (old and broken) Sun loungers reserved early in the morning with no guests for hours!!! Parasols bolted to ground (annoying when people are playing tetris with sunbeds to get in the shade!) Pool areas (old and dirty) Cleanliness of rooms Consistency of room cleaning General decor past the reception looks old and dated Lifts are 30 years old and dated! Air con.....this is a big one. It is non-existent! It is hotter inside than it is outside!
Rooms
There were a number of issues throughout our stay that, in my opinion, are simply not acceptable for a hotel that brands itself on quality.
The air conditioning in the rooms and the general area of the hotels is non-existent! That feeling when you have been at the pool all day in the sun and then go up to the room to be hit by a wall of cold refreshing air is just life......well......that is not here! You are hit with a warm breeze! It is very unpleasant. It is a true skill that this hotel has accomplished being hotter inside than it is outside!! After asking staff about this issue a maintenance worker came to our room only to move the vents which made no difference at all. Then the staff memeber at guest services tried to explain to me how air-conditioning works, this was not helpful and very condescending!! Our balcony was also dirty, adding to the general feeling that the hotel was not being maintained to the standard you would expect from a 5* property! Guest services blamed this on the calima, which we had for 2 days of a 9 night stay. We had been in the hotel for 4 days before the clima arrived yet everytime we mentioned issues this was blamed on the calima weather front! The rooms have been given a lick of paint which looks terrible as they have just painted over rough and tired surfaces. The picture above the bed which is beautiful, was dirty and has mould growing out of it, it looks as though it has not been cleaned in years. Room 3215. The shower was very spontaneous in its hot/cold offering and would change temp all the time. The minibar is a good addition and this was stocked everyday altho it is stockrd with warm drinks so it takes a day for them to cool to temperature, Which is a bit frustrating. In other 5* resorts we have been to the porters go around with a mobile fridge to restock items so they are already cold when going into the fridge, this was not the case here, maybe an improvement that could be made.
Food and dining
The buffet was another major disappointment. We found the choice to be quite limited, particularly considering the size and claimed standard of the resort. The childrens section is tiny and was really poor. On several occasions, food was cold when it should have been hot, which really shouldn't happen at a hotel charging 5* prices. The cereals are all congealed and soft as they have been left out for so long. Sitting watching people try and separate the pastries was amusing as they were all stuck together as they are so bad! We gave these a miss! Some of the food was nice but for such a big area and space the choices were very limited. There was no themed nights or change in the buffet, especially breakfast. It was the same every morning!
The hotel promotes a wide range of dining options, but our experience didn't match the impression created by the marketing as the buffet was the same most nights and lacked any real wow factor like previous 5* resorts we have been to in the past. The al a carte restaurants are nice but these are not open every night. The italian is open Fri-Mon, Asain Tue-Thur, Mexican Fri-Mon and the Mediterranean is Mon-Thur. You need to reserve 2 of these but the Italian and Asian are walk-in. Which is frustrating as we tried the Italian twice but the Q was 20 deep and due to us having the baby with us it would have been too late to eat by the time we got seated so we resorted to the buffet. They should just make all the restaurants reservation only!!
The al a carte restaurants are really nice however and the Ember Grill was particularly good. This is the only plus point when it comes to food, but this shows as the restaurants are really busy due to the poor quality of the buffet. There are currently no signs for the 2 new restaurants located at reception, this would be advantageous.
A very noticeable two-tier system
One of the things that stood out most was the apparent two-tier system between standard guests and Grand Club guests. Club guests appeared to receive priority access to à la carte lunches and meals, as well as access to better-quality sun loungers, cleaner and more exclusive pool areas and better rooms. Grand Club also have different colour towels so it points out to everyone in the hotel who the priority customers are! The hotel itself openly promotes exclusive Grand Club facilities, including dedicated pools and a private lounge which in the pictures looks amazing but you do not get these from a basic room stay. Seeing the difference between the two experiences honestly made me question where the hotel's 5* rating comes from. If the better-maintained areas, better loungers, superior rooms and more exclusive facilities are largely reserved for guests paying for Club access, it gives the impression that the standard experience is considerably less luxurious! It felt very much like you need to pay extra to experience the 5* hotel that is advertised.
Pools
The pool areas are tired looking with missing, worn and damaged tiles. Repairs have been carried out to the pool tiles which are substndard and rough on the feet when walkig over them. There was sand in the smaller pools with straws and socks also in the pool for 2 days yet this was blamed on the weather again by guest services! There was algae in the bottom of the pools also but guest services advised that these pools are cleaned regularly. This is not the case! The sun loungers at the main pool area were particularly disappointing. These loungers are old, dirty and visibly damaged. We informed guest services of this and they said that the maintenance team cleaned these on a regular basis and that if we found a defective lounger we should inform the life guard, this should not be the guests job to do this!!
Access for families
We were put on the 2nd floor in block 3. Having travelled with our 6 month old baby we had a pushchair with us and getting to/from the restaurants was quite the journey. On our first 3 nights the lift was out of service to our block so we had to take the service lift for access which was not pleasant. The service lift was located in what appeared to be a dirty cleaning/service area, and having to take a buggy and our infant through this area was hardly the 5* star experience we expected. What made the situation worse was the lack of concern shown by staff. We didn't feel that the problem was treated with any urgency or that there was much empathy for the difficulties it caused us as a family with an infant. we asked reception how long the lift would be out of service as this was not enjoyable to only be met with a look that really did not care and an answer of "we dont know". Once we take the lift down we then had to get another lift down to the restaurant area. The lifts are nearing 30 years old and it shows. If you have a family of 4 plus a buggy you are not all getting in the lift! They are tiny! A warning if you are going to the mexican or Mediterranean be aware that there is no lift from recptions where the main accss stairs are, you have to be escorted through the service tunnels to the restaurant.
Overall
There are clearly some attractive aspects to the resort, and on paper it offers everything you would expect from a luxury all-inclusive property. The drinks menu is great and one of the best cocktails on an all inclusive we have had. The market cafe is nice and the coffee is excellent. However, our actual experience did not live up to the 5* Grand Hyatt standard we were expecting. We have been lucky enough to have visited many 5* resorts and this is definitely not one, overall it is 3* plus.
Poor air conditioning, tired and dirty pool areas, damaged sun loungers, a dirty balcony and tired rooms, cold buffet food, limited buffet choices, poor accss for families with old lifts and the three-day lift problem all added up to a disappointing stay.
The biggest issue for me is that the hotel seems to offer a very different experience depending on whether you have paid for Club access. The contrast between the standard areas and the exclusive Club facilities makes it difficult not to feel that there is a two-tier system, where the premium experience is reserved for those willing to pay considerably more.
For a property carrying the Grand Hyatt name and a 5* rating, I expected much better standards of cleanliness, maintenance, service and attention to guests.
Unfortunately, based on our experience, I would not rate this as a 5* hotel and would not choose to stay here again. Which is ashame as the property and location are excellent! This hotel needs to be closed and a major refurbishmentent carried out to meet the quality that is advertised!
A special mention to Dinora, she was fantastic. Even though being rushed off her feet she was always with a smile and made th effort to greet and talk to our 5.5month old. It really was sweet. Thank you. And to the reception team on leaving the hotel, a little teddy bear for our little princess, that really did make the end of our holiday special
This is simply not a 5 star hotel. The very basic level of cleanliness is not met. Our bed sheets were not clean, the floors inside and outside the room unswept. Don’t get me wrong they have fancy mirrors and art work, but loo roll that is cheaper than in the local shop. There was a piece of cutlery (I can’t explain this either!) and false finger nails on the floor outside our room for the entire week. The pool area is dirty. The sharpe edges of the pools where tiles have come away are dangerous. Cups and discarded glasses remain all through the day and evening to the next morning along with serviette’s, straws tissues etc. The sun beds are so disgusting you need to find one where you don’t look like you will fall through it. The ones on the beach are far better. The pool towels which are guarded like the Crown Jewels are nothing more than a discoloured bath towel. All of the parasols (many are missing) are broken dangerous spikes sticking out of them and again filthy. Then we have the same music all day everyday. So loud at times you cannot hear your self think. The food in the buffet was dreadful, cold and at times unidentifiable. I witnessed someone spitting out a hot dog at the dinner table (hot dogs are not 5 star hotel food) When you go to the dining area if you make the mistake of walking in because the greeter isn’t there you are frog marched back to the entrance only to have the same over zealous employee then show you to the table you have just been taken from??!! Obviously my own opinion there were plenty of people lapping it up. However if you have travelled to anywhere where you have experienced a true 5 or 4 star hotel then you would be very disappointed with this place.
