- Tenerife Holidays
- Costa Adeje
- Melia Jardines del Teide
Surrounded by 12, 000 m2 of beautifully lands this adults only hotel (+16) boasts breathtaking views over the Atlantic Ocean and the exclusive holiday resort of Costa Adeje. The luxurious nearby shopping centre is just 200 m away, while the exclusive Playa del Duque beach is at 1 km. The buffet restaurant serves international and Mediterranean food; there is a snack bar next to the pool and two a la carte restaurants specialized in Italian and Nikkei cuisine while the lobby bar enjoys stunning, panoramic views. For added convenience, there is a shuttle service to Playa del Duque beach.
Dip into one of the 2 outdoor swimming pools or enjoy other recreational amenities, which include a 24-hour fitness centre. Additional amenities at this hotel include complimentary wireless Internet access, gift shops/newsstands and lifeguards on-site. The complimentary beach shuttle makes getting to the surf and sand a breeze.
The hotel was beautiful and location amazing, wonderful views and 10/15 min walk to the beach and town. We could not fault the staff in any way, they couldn’t do enough to help you and were always smiling and friendly. Breakfast buffet was outstanding. We weren’t all inclusive but did use the buffet, for breakfast every day, plus once for lunch and once for dinner, and every time we were impressed by the options. We ate once at Pico Negro and found it to be highly expensive for very average food, though still a nice experience. The rooms were large and everything was spotless, until we reached the pool area. The pool flooring was covered in what looks like huge patches of black mould, which was also floating around in the water. This was really off putting. To add insult to injury, the VIP “Level” pool was spotless. It doesn’t feel fair to have to upgrade to access a clean hygienic pool when you have already paid for a five star hotel.
This was our first trip to this hotel and we were really looking forward to it. There were lots of positives, but unfortunately some negatives mean that it is unlikely we will return. We stayed for 2 weeks and were All Inclusive.
The Locality The Hotel is approx 15 mins walk to the local beach, It is not so much in the centre of Adeje, so there wasn't that much to visit other than a couple of shopping centres. The hotel is on a cliffside and Melia have used this position really well and it has many stair cases and lifts to different areas of the site. Fortunately there is a gate to the bottom of the site so that if you do want to walk out, you can get out there, rather than starting on the level of reception.
The Hotel Modern and stylish from entering reception, lovely foyer and there is a couple of shops on site selling clothing and jewellery which was lovely to look at. Very well presented with lovely landscaping including streams, waterfalls and cute little bridges.
The Room Our room was on floor 7, and was classed as a Level Suite and this was lovely, spacious and very comfortable. It had a view of the Level Pool and slight sea view, I couldn't ask for more. Having a 'Level' room however didn't mean that were were entitled to any of the other 'perks' of being a Level Customer (this is all at additional cost). We had a personal welcome letter inviting us to speak to someone from the team for The Circle, We didn't take part with this after finding it was some form of Subscription service. There was a mini bar in the room, but all items were at a cost. We used this for our own items to try and keep some gluten free chocolate from melting as this could be the only food my partner could get on the journey home. We were supplied with a glass bottle of water - approx a litre. But once this had gone it was not replenished. We had to get this from the pool bar under All Inclusive. Seems a shame to have to go and look for it. The Toiletries provided were Rituals and this was really nice, however, as the shower gel started to get low in the middle of the second week we noticed that the consistencey was becoming more watery, so the only explanation was that this was being watered down rather than replaced. There was a hairdryer provided and the towels were large, clean and soft. The bed was 2 large singles and were very comfortable, and the duvet and sheets were of a great quality and the pillows were really lovely, 3 provided per bed and made this easy for us to personalise.
The Pool / Sunbathing Many people have discussed the pool here, it did look tatty, of which has been a comment that we have received from friends when viewing our photographs, therefore, I believe that it was definitely ready for an overhaul, the blue non slip paint appeared to have peeled/chipped off and this meant that the black areas were extremely slippy. Not great for those taking part in exercise I'm sure. We saw some maintenance people with some sort of pool hoover twice, but the second time it seemed ineffective. Maintenance people didn't tidy up after them selves well and left brooms discarded where someone could hurt themselves. Mid stay there were some tree works to be done for about half a day, which caused some restrictions of where people could take a sunbed, it was messy, and I did think that maybe this would have been better completed earlier in the morning, some people couldn't get a sunbed because of this. This also meant that there was dust and debris flying about, landing on sunbeds, sunbathers and in the pool. As the pool was not conventionally rectangular, there was an issue with some edges not being easy to see when swimming, possibly should be painted a dark colour as the white did blend in. The Pool however was a welcome place to spend some cooling off time. Getting a sunbed in the morning was easy enough, although for our second week we were going down earlier since the hotel was busier and there were some early risers. We take our own towels and the provided pool towels were good quality, but we were there much earlier than when the towel station opened at 10am so we were changing our towels in the evening for the day after as this seemed the best work around that we had. There were some four poster beds that looked lovely, but regardless of board basis they were at a cost starting at approx 60euro to double this to have for the day with a snack/drink package - this was not value for money as the cost was the same regardless of board package. The Grab and Go snack bar at the pool was tended by the same group of people who were professional, polite and very hard working. The drinks that could be made available were listed by using a QR Code (more on this later). There were sandwiches and wraps available and bowls of melon in the fridges for all inclusive. Then there was also a menu for other items such as nachos, burgers and chips/fries. These were at an extra cost, even on All Inclusive. My partner is Coeliac so nothing was suitable for him to eat, we asked if there was anything they could get and was told only the fries could be made gluten free. We were supplied fries FOC for the first time, but when ordering for another day were initially asked to pay 6 euros although this was waived when remembered it was all he could have. However, not wanting fries for lunch every day meant we ended up using the main restaurant for lunch.
Meals Most of our meals were at Mosaic which is the general buffet style restaurant, different themes on every day, but I and my partner had a real issue with the food labelling. Now to be clear, this is just personal experience with my partner being Coeliac - most folks won't have these concerns and won't have any issues. There seemed to be no consistency and this was frustrating, for example one day fries or chocolate ice cream were without gluten, the following day they had gluten. So you couldn't take anything for granted, you had to be on the ball each time. The cold meats at lunchtime were all individually labelled and gluten free, but in the evening none out those labels were out, instead there was just one label saying contains gluten. However, the meats were all the same as at lunch and so we came to the conclusion that it was probably the breadsticks 3 shelves below that the label was referring too. If the individual meat labels were also out there would be no confusion. Part of the issue is that the labels were not directly attached to the food containers, so sometimes it was a guessing game working out which label related to which dish. Also sometimes there were more dishes then labels, one time the labels were not out at all in one area, and another night they were all blank (we were told they ran on wifi and there was an issue in the restaurant at that time). Asking for assistance was advised, which we did a few times. Generally the waiters weren't sure and would fetch a chef (or two!) from the kitchen to come out to advise. Whilst this was appreciated, it was time consuming and frustrating and shouldn't be necessary if the signage and labelling was adequate in the first place. Breakfast had a useful Gluten Free corner, however this was without any barrier to where the pastries were, so my partner had made the mistake thinking these were gluten free too, and regretted this as soon as he realised his mistake. We did report this, but nothing changed. Having gluten filled pastries literally inches from the gluten free food also shows a lack of understanding of the possibility of cross contamination. We were entitled to 2 ala carte meals in the Italian, which as we could guarantee my partner getting Gluten free for this meal, we were told that it books up quickly so went to reception as soon as we could to book in two sittings. However, there was a mix up with the second booking and this was not there when we arrived. Very disappointing for us, we had to go to reception to book again, initially told there were no spaces until a day after we had left, so the reception team did manage to get us squeezed in, thankfully. There is also a steak house, but we looked at the menu and the gluten free options were confusing, and it seemed to be very expensive, so we didn't bother.
The Main Bar Served lots of lovely cocktails, but only some were available on All Inclusive, the available cocktails were listed on a QR code, no physical menus so this could be frustrating if you didn't want to carry your phone around with you all the time. There was plenty of premium spirits on show, but this was only available to the Level Guests which although we had a room in the Level, we had not spent even more to take advantage of them. Gluten Free "Mahou" beer was available in bottles and this kept my partner very, very happy indeed! The seating in this area could be quite uncomfortable, so not able to lounge for more than an hour or so. There were no smoking signs up, but no enforcement of people smoking and vaping which as a non smoker was a little unpleasant. The entertainment provided nightly, was as you would expect, middle of the road, and enjoyable.
QR Codes In every area of this hotel information was given to you as a QR Code. And it differed. Someone behind me at the pool bar ordered a Bloody Mary but was told it wasn't included, but he stated it was in the other bar. In my opinion this is poor.
Overall, this hotel had some potential, the 'brochure' promises luxury and for some elements it was short of that. Don't get me wrong, we were hardly slumming it, but it does mean we are unlikely to return. The business model of having B&B, HB and two different levels of All Inclusive causes confusion. Those like us, who paid a premium to be All Inclusive but then having to pay for things that the B&B and HB guests were paying for seemed to be quite unfair. When is "all inclusive" not "all inclusive" ?
We would have rated this as a 4, but one point was removed for the issues we had that is down to my partner being Coeliac, therefore a 3.
A shout out to all the staff who were lovely and work extremely hard and are a credit to the hotel, but they are let down by the overall experience we feel having to deal with all the "is this included" queries.
The hotel gave a very nice welcome, greeting us with hand towels, a glass of fizz and an offer to store out luggage whilst waiting for the room to be ready. We ate lunch in the bar and had a couple of drinks whilst waiting, then went to the room, which was clean and had plenty of towels, soap, shampoo etc.
Pros - The hotel is clean and well presented with beautiful views of Costa Adeje; the staff work hard to keep the areas tidy. The hotel has lots of entertainment, such as singers on an evening and aqua fitness, and nobody pesters you to join in, which we appreciated. As an adults only hotel, we found that it was a peaceful and relaxed environment and we felt that all staff members were kind and friendly. You can order a taxi at reception, and we never waited more than a few minutes, which was an excellent service and easy to get around. Breakfast was really good - there was so much variety; we never had the same breakfast twice in the 10 night stay. Whilst we preferred to stick to coffee and juice, you could even make yourself a Mimosa or Bloody Mary at the alcohol section. We ate out nightly so cannot comment on the evening meals, but the restaurant looked well cared for. We charged a couple of coffees to our room around the poolside and had light lunches there a couple of times, which were nice, although a bit pricey at 17 euros for a club sandwich with fries.
Cons - We did feel the bar was expensive at 18 euros for a Hendricks, plus the price of the tonic. We only had one, but would have stayed to have more drinks if they were more reasonably priced as the bar is comfortable and has a lovely view. The pool is what let the hotel down as the bottom of it is peeling and exposing black sections; one couple were Googling algae and complained to the travel operator as they were worried it was hazardous to health. The water was clean and fine to swim in, but where the black is exposed you can feel the floor is a little slimy. We preferred to swim in the end where it wasn't as bad, but the pool really does need to be refurbished. This wasn't a cheap holiday, so we would have expected higher standards for the pool.
Tip - As the hotel is on a hill, you do have to take into account how fit you are, or how much you will spend on taxis getting up the hill!
Overall, the hotel was very good, and I would book again, but only when the pool has been restored. It's only fair to travelers to provide a higher standard of swimming area given that they're visiting a hot country and paying a fair bit to stay here.
I’m really torn on whether to give this hotel a 2 or a 3 review rating but I’ve gone higher in the interest of fairness.
We recently stayed at this hotel as a group of 5 friends with 3 of the party there to celebrate 50th birthdays. We had looked long and hard for a bottle that would be suitable for us all and chose here as it was adult only and All Inc.
Overall the hotel is in a good location, is nicely set out and has a unique layout being set into the hillside. It is generally clean and well kept, staff are friendly and the rooms we stayed in were spacious and nice.
Unfortunately, we had a few downsides that mean that the rating we have given is low.
The floors in our rooms were not clean - when you got into the shower after walking across them, you left dirty feet prints. There were no windows in the room and we kept the patio door to the patio area closed due to the aircon so there was no huge amounts of dust and dirt getting into the room. The bathroom is also one large room with the toilet/sink/shower all in one open room. This meant if you were using the toilet, the bathroom was off limits to anyone else. The toilet area looked like it was set up for a door but one hadn’t been installed.
The main pool has been mentioned in many posts. You could see people cleaning and testing the pool each day but the whole area looked like it was full of black algae - along the walls and the floor. It seems more likely that it was the paint and lining that had peeled but it still didn’t look nice at all and was very off putting.
Food - breakfast and lunch was generally very good with a good choice selection. However, evening meals were nowhere near as good either in choice or quality. Food was often bland and the food labelling was terrible - either not labelled or incorrectly labelled. Drinks orders were delivered incorrectly or so late, your meal was nearly over.
We did eat at the Italian one night which was absolutely lovely - however , we found out that one of the group had asked reception if something nice could be done (balloon or small cake) as three of us were celebrating our 50th birthdays. Reception had made a note but nothing was done. We were not aware until the end of the holiday and it’s a shame they couldn’t fulfil the request as it would have been a lovely surprise.
I think that this sums up the hotel - there are inconstancies in service and overall general set up throughout and led us all to the conclusion that this is far far from a 5 star hotel.
On our last day we could only keep one of the two rooms on until before we were due to leave. This was fine but the cost was far in excess of any hotel we have stayed in before. The two of us who had to leave our room and check out were told we would be charged €75 to continue to enjoy our All Inc package. We have travelled the world over and never have we been charged to keep All Inc on until the point of leaving. We have always been able to enjoy it until the transfer picked us up. We were also late arriving at the hotel (after 9pm) as per our booking so we didn’t get any of the All Inc on the day we arrived which made this feel even more like the hotel was trying to get every last penny out of us. It left a sour taste and an overall feeling of just poor customer service. This was heightened by the push to join The Circle and pay more to stay at Melia hotels year on year - I guess like a subscription.
Be careful if you need to use a courtesy room on late checkout if your room cannot be extended. The room we were given was a good 10 minute trip from reception once we got the key and had carried our stuff there. You only get 30 mins per room in the courtesy room so you just have chance to shower, dry, change and repack any bags. Defoe doing hair / makeup as you will just not have the time if there are two or more of you !!
In all, we did enjoy the stay but it was mainly down to the company and did feel that for the money we paid, that all in all it was a very basic All Inc package in at best, a 4* hotel - we would not be returning and it had made us think twice about Melia as a group, this being our third experience at one of their hotels and the others also not being on point.
First and foremost I want to mention the staff who are absolutely fantastic, nothing is to much trouble and will go out of their way to help, a huge thankyou to Angie on reception for being the kindest and genuine person I’ve ever met! The hotel is wonderful, luxurious and friendly, the rooms are comfortable, clean and the beds are like home from home, wide variety of food we were never stuck for options! Even today whilst it’s raining we are sitting in comfy chairs over looking Tenerife with a cocktail! We never normally book a hotel a 2nd time but we can not wait to come back!
All the very best and see you again soon!
Sharon & James room 511
