THB Royal Hotel

I have to say I was a little worried the week or so before arrived due to some of the reviews but I can honestly say we couldn't find a single fault!

We had two rooms which were next to each other, we couldn't hear each other and they were lovely, clean and comfortable. We stayed half board and had a mini fridge perfect for our water and any fruit we bought.

Food was great, changed every evening but always pizza and fries if you're fussy, breakfast had a great selection for everyone.

All the staff were very friendly, reception always answered any questions, restaurant staff efficient and welcoming, cleaners worked tirelessly and were lovely, pancake girl was a pro and the life guards were constantly on watch. As for the sun bed situation, we always got a bed, we didn't reserve (usual people did like everywhere you go) and if there weren't any available the life guards would get some out of storage for us, which I think was only twice, we had one full day by the pool and all other days we came back in an afternoon and always managed to get 3-5 beds together.

Pools were lovely, all deep though, so our youngest couldn't stand up but it didn't phase her even though she's not a confident swimmer. Perfect temperature for cooling down.

Some of our family played volleyball and used the gym and they thought it was good, we played table tennis (€5 cash deposit, returned when you take bats and ball back). We didn't watch the entertainment as it's not our thing anyway, we preferred to go for a wander down to the marina or sit/play on the beach and go back to our balcony and play Uno or chase the ace.

Aldi is a few minutes walk away which was so handy to grab something for lunch when needed, the beach was about 15 minutes walk, which we enjoyed albeit hot in the day time, the beach is gorgeous, the sea was so clear and we loved it, the beach bar to the right was lovely to sit at for lunch and the staff were very friendly. We often walked to the marina which is very pretty and has lovely shops.

We hired a car from cicar, very handy, we mainly rented a car because by the time we'd have paid for a taxi from the airport and back we'd have nearly spent the same on renting. We used the car every other day, the roads were great and we easily got around using Google maps, plus most parking was free!! We only paid for two car parks the whole time.

Ignore the negative reviews, I am someone that can be hard to please sometimes but I'd honestly happily stay at this hotel again.

I had read so many negative reviews that I was worried about my stay here, but my family of four including children 8 and 11 rate it one of our best all-inclusive experiences.

Reading reviews did prepare me for these facts, which helped:

One of the bars is closed. This didn't impact us at all - there were never queues of more than a few people and there were many occasions where no-one else was waiting. So why in these economic times try to run two?

This hotel is not a place with a team of people who will try to entertain you or your children. There is some entertainment, mainly live music in the evening and a very enthusiastic man who plays games with the kids by the pool for some of the day. He seemed to be beloved! Once per week a fun inflatable slide into the pool comes out, which was a great highlight and provided variety during the week. For us, two large pools and two splash pools for tiny children is all that we would hope for. Ice cream, hot dogs and crepes are served during the day as well as all-inclusive drinks. The life guard was vigilant and able to keep everyone in check. It has always been our family's style to use the holiday for family time, and did not find this hotel lacked entertainment. Often, when teams are entertaining, we don't take part, so we really enjoyed the options here.

Our room was huge with a lovely sized balcony overlooking the pool. I was worried that our boys would be sharing a double sofa bed, but it can be made into two singles and this was perfect in the large room. It is true that the AC is in the main room, intended to cool the whole mini-suite via one unit. Ours worked well and we were cooler in the bedroom in THB Royal than we have been at home this summer. Our boys were not too cold and slept well. We found no maintenance issues whatsoever in the room, which was cleaned every day but Sunday. There was a pleasant smell of cleanliness, including in the sheets and pillows, and no drain issues. The shower was large, powerful and always hot. I think if you had any room issues, request a change as ours was perfect for us.

Food was exactly what we've come to expect from an all-inclusive, except in some ways better. The live cooking did create some very short queues, but meant you could have freshly cooked options. These included a lovely range such as cod, shark, makeral, tuna steaks, burgers, pork, lamb, two types of Spanish sausages and all kinds of chicken, and this is just me remembering off the top of my head. This was one of the quieter, less full all-inclusive restaurants/dining rooms I've experienced. Furthermore, I have a milk intolerance and they provide a QR code for you to scan which takes you to a website where you can type in the name of any dish to see its allergen content. I have not yet experienced this on any four-star all-inclusive holiday and it was a God-send! Now, occasionally dishes would not appear on the app, which was frustrating for a moment, but when I put this into perspective that I've never experienced this in any other buffet situation, I saw the positive and moved on.

You can indeed walk to the coast and turn left for the marina or right for the beach. It is about 10-15 mins and can be hot, but there is a free shuttle twice per day. We booked a taxi twice, which in both cases arrived in 5 minutes and cost less than €4. The beach is beautiful and my son and I saw a huge variety of fish when snorkeling.

We would very happily come again and recommend it to others. This stay cost in-line with what we've always paid on a week abroad all-inclusive and as I say it was one of our favourites.

The good points…

Cleaners are great, in every day bar Sunday and do a fantastic job and work hard. Breakfast is quiet, plenty of choice and the woman making omelettes is fantastic! The rooms are spacious as well, with a decent size bathroom.

The bad points….

Totally understaffed, clearly no training given to some individuals. One day it took seven attempts to get a half cooked crepe. In fact me and another guest had to help the poor lad. The pool after a few days stains your whites with a green dirty colour. 90% of staff do not understand English so was very difficult at times especially at reception. If you want to play table tennis or have an iron you have to pay a deposit for the experience which is cash only. We had a room the overlooked the busier pool with music, that was ok until the loud evening entertainment kicked off. If you have young kids that need sleep game over. I asked to change rooms at reception but they only had ones closer. I wouldn’t have minded but the singers are really bad and keep repeating the songs. We also had the flooding shower issue that a lot of people have mentioned. I reported it twice but it never got fixed. So had to keep turning the shower off mid shower. The walk into either marina or strip is a good 20 mins which was fine for us but certainly not 10 mins as described. We enjoyed Lanzarote and would return but not to this hotel sadly. I have stayed at plenty of 4 star hotels, I have no idea how this is one unfortunately.