THB Royal Hotel

Having just returned from our holiday, I thought I'd leave a detailed review for anyone considering staying here.

Overall, we had a fantastic holiday and would happily return, but there are a few areas where the hotel could easily improve.

Check-in

We arrived at the hotel around midday knowing full well check-in wasn't until 3pm. The reception staff were absolutely brilliant. They checked us in immediately, gave us our All Inclusive wristbands, securely stored our luggage in the locked baggage room and encouraged us to make use of the facilities until our room was ready.

We travelled as two separate groups and had requested rooms together. Unfortunately this wasn't possible, but they genuinely tried their best, so absolutely no complaints there.

Rooms

When we entered the room, the air conditioning had already been switched on to keep it cool, which was a lovely touch after travelling. There was also complimentary bottled water waiting in the fridge.

The room itself was exactly what we expected abroad, with two single beds pushed together, a sofa that converted into an additional bed if required, and a nice patio area overlooking towards the lower pool.

The only downside was that our room was only around five metres from the evening entertainment area. Thankfully, although it was quite loud, everything finished around 10:30pm every night, so it never caused any issues when trying to sleep.

Food

The restaurant offers an excellent selection of food and there really is something for everyone.

From children's favourites such as nuggets and chips through to freshly cooked pork chops, ribs, chicken, turkey, prawns, curries, salads and plenty more, we never struggled to find something we enjoyed.

The only frustration was the fresh cooking station. There only appeared to be one member of staff cooking all the fresh meat and fish, and because you're not asked what you want until you reach the grill, queues build very quickly. Waiting 10–15 minutes wasn't unusual.

Breakfast was similar. While there was an incredible choice of breads (probably the biggest selection I've ever seen), there was only one toaster for the whole restaurant.

The bacon also requires you to join the same queue as guests waiting for eggs, omelettes and toasties, whereas the sausages are already available under the hot lamps.

These are only small things, but they would make breakfast much smoother.

Entertainment

Unfortunately, this is where the hotel lets itself down.

The first evening we went for a walk along the seafront instead of staying for entertainment. Returning around 9:30pm after being awake since 1:30am, we were greeted by a very loud PA speaker hosting a quiz. It was loud enough that I could genuinely join in from the comfort of my bed!

Thankfully everything stopped promptly at around 10:30pm each night.

After attending a few evenings ourselves, it became obvious that entertainment is extremely basic.

One member of the animation team appears to do almost everything around the hotel before simply bringing a speaker onto the outdoor stage and connecting a phone or laptop via Bluetooth to play music.

Unfortunately the Wi-Fi wasn't always reliable, which resulted in one evening taking almost fifteen minutes to get through Gangnam Style because the music kept cutting out every few seconds.

On another evening the same song somehow repeated six or seven times before several guests eventually connected their own phones and started playing their own playlists.

Thank goodness they did!

The animation team member also seemed to spend more time helping behind the bar, cleaning or running errands than actually entertaining guests.

Daytime Activities

There isn't a great deal happening during the day either.

Some days background music was played around the pool, other days there wasn't any at all.

We saw an inflatable water slide appear briefly on our first day, but never saw it again for the remainder of the holiday.

There may well be a kids' club, but we never really saw anybody actively organising games or activities for either children or adults.

Having stayed across the road at THB Tropical more than ten times previously, it definitely feels like most of the entertainment is concentrated there instead.

Pools

The hotel has two main swimming pools and two splash pools.

The lower pool is where you'll find the pool bar and snack area serving hot dogs, crepes, ice cream and other snacks throughout the day.

A lifeguard was normally present, occasionally moving between both pool areas.

Sunbeds

The infamous sunbed battle is alive and well!

If you want a good spot, you'll need to be up early. If your towel isn't down by around 7:00–7:30am, you're probably going to struggle.

We even noticed a few guests trying to reserve beds the evening before...

Please don't be those people, It doesn't end well!

Housekeeping

Our room was cleaned every day apart from one, with towels and bedding changed two or three times during our stay.

However, our friends weren't quite so fortunate and didn't seem to receive the same level of housekeeping, so there does appear to be some inconsistency.

Location

For anyone unfamiliar with Playa Blanca, the location is very good.

Hiperdino supermarket is around a ten-minute walk away, with the beach roughly another five minutes beyond that.

The first bars, including Bikers and The Harp, are only a few minutes further, before the coastal promenade continues all the way towards the marina with countless bars, restaurants and shops.

If you want to explore further around Lanzarote, the bus station is only around fifteen minutes away on foot.

Download the IntercityBus Lanzarote app before you travel. It's incredibly easy to use and very cheap. We visited Puerto del Carmen for the evening and paid roughly €3 each way.

Overall

Despite the negatives, we genuinely had a fantastic holiday.

The reception staff deserve huge credit, the rooms were comfortable, the food was varied, the pools were great and the location is excellent.

The hotel could easily move from being a very good hotel to an outstanding one by investing a little more into daytime activities and evening entertainment, while adding an extra member of staff to the fresh cooking station during busy meal times.

Would we return?

Absolutely.

Just next time I'll be bringing my own Bluetooth speaker... and setting my alarm even earlier for the sunbeds!

Overall we had a good time. We had originally booked a different hotel but reviews/ conditions were so bad changed to this one. Family holiday, three rooms and paid extra for one with a pool view… tip: don’t bother with this, although I would request a room on an upper floor. Cleanliness of room was to good standard although a dustpan & brush would’ve been handy as every time the door was opened dust & leaves followed due to wind. Kids ended up with black feet when walking barefoot / socks in rooms. None of our party used the sofa beds in the lounge areas to sleep on but they were very low/ sagging in middle when being used as a sofa. There is a shelf unit with cups/ glasses and a kettle. Mini fridge below. As we were room only it would have been good to have at least a toaster supplied too. Beds were clean and comfy with extra bedding and pillows in the wardrobe. We all used on site supermarket on site for juice, water etc. but it strangely stocked food which needed at least a hob! For breakfast and snacks we walked to Aldi across the road. Tip: their baguettes & general bakery is better than on site supermarket. There were a few nights where music in bar area was loud but didn’t bother us, entertainment wasn’t up to much & bar area was basic, no atmosphere. We used the restaurant once for dinner during our stay and it was not an experience we sought to repeat. 24€ pp for dinner hall food, glad we decided to go room only. Sun beds at the start of our holiday were easily available, however, as the English schools holidays kicked in so did the Sunbed wars and folk were reserving towels at stupid o’clock. The hotel started putting out more beds when complaints were made. Pool area got really busy and some silly parents were allowing their kids (soaking wet from the pool with no footwear) to use the toilets at side of reception meaning the floor was covered in water and extremely slippy regularly. Snack van supplied hot dogs (not always hot) & crepes (can be a bit under done & soggy). One thing we did note was the area around pool or sun beds didn’t seem to be cleaned as often as other hotels we’d stayed at. 15-20min walk to town centre or marina. Hotel can arrange taxi and they arrived quickly. We had breakfast a few times in the Irish bar (Valinor) 4.95€ for full breakfast. We had lovely meals at Puerto Blanco restaurant on the sea front.(town end) Lovely food at marina rubicon restaurants: Bistro Del Puerto, La Casa Roja, Trattoria ll Commendatore. tip for all: best to book table either in person or online. Market at Marina was worth a visit but best done early in morning as it gets really busy. Both taxi ranks at town/ marina get very busy with queues, be prepared to wait or walk! Not sure if we’d return to this hotel but our stay was enjoyable.

I’m a single mum on holiday with my 12 year old daughters and I’m writing this from our holiday, we are at the hotel now.

Positives:

• good location, Aldi is opposite, the beach is 10 min walk, town about 20 min.
• quiet hotel, never been woken up at night, mainly families around.
• excellent spacious suites, cleaned regularly.

Minor Negatives

• there’s definitely a sunbed problem here. People claim their beds the night before so even if you wake up at 6, you’ll find most are taken. Now I’ve seen a reply to a review which says they will provide extra beds on request, I’ve not seen that happen, I have to say.
• there’s only one air conditioner so it’s cold in the ‘living room’ area but still quite warm in the bedroom, a bit of an issue if you’re using both areas for sleeping.
• there’s no additional facilities that you may expect, eg pool bar is permanently closed, entertainment is very basic.
• would have liked a few basic kitchen things in the room given that we are here on a room only basis, eg a plate and a fork for example. Made do, buy would have been good if a few items were provided.

Overall, we are having a great time, but it’s not an amazing hotel, just a good enough base.