Bahia Principe Sunlight Tenerife

Wow. What an ‘experience’

The first 3/4 days were great as you could get sun beds all day and there were more than enough staff, rather incompetent staff, but enough to serve basic human needs such as water- you can’t get your own, there are NO refill stations anywhere so enjoy being dehydrated or waiting in long queues for water (what a joke). The food is below average and mainly the same dire food, we ended up eating mainly carbs as that was all there was on offer. Desert was also lacklustre with most of it tasting the same. Be careful they don’t like to put the correct signs on dishes and there is a lack of vegan/ veggie options if that’s your thing. The hotel looks quite nice and was our main reason for booking, however when you get there you are treated to some ‘amazing luxury views’. Nothing screams luxury and peaceful than overlooking a Spanish favela shanty town - yum!

The bar staff maybe the worst off all to be honest. Miserable Mary and the bald guy are down right rude and horrid people and make you feel silly or an inconvenience if you ask for a drink - especially water! They also favour Spanish guests. Remember there is no refill stations for water or soft drinks so you are forced to wait in a long queue of people ordering alcoholic cocktails which is time consuming! The bar staff downstairs are much better and so much more polite.

SUNBED WARS isn’t luxury! The first couple of days were fine and there were plenty of beds, however the hotel have clearly not ordered enough beds for around the pools and you no joke have to wake up before 8am to get any sunbed with the ‘best’ beds taken before 7am not luxury at all! Also on our visit one of the 2 pools were closed for 2-3 days with no explanation - again not luxury.

This hotel genuinely could be fixed in some ways so easily such as water stations and soft drink stations. Hiring competent staff, especially the bar staff, and waiters. For more than half of our meals we weren’t given a single sip of liquid until much after we had finished the meal completely.

Genuinely one of the worst resorts I’ve been to with some of the rudest staff and worst food being given to us. This was the same opinion many other guests experienced and told us first hand. This isn’t an individual issue it’s clear it’s a common opinion shared with other guests. DO BETTER.

Bahia Principe Escape is far from luxury.

When booking this hotel, we had high hopes. The aesthetically pleasing photos led us to believe it would be this ‘luxury’ experience - we were wrong and downright naive to assume this.

The first 3 days were enjoyable. The room was lovely, clean and modern, living up to the expectations of the photos! The hotel was quiet, staff seemed happy and service was good. This all however swiftly went downhill. We stayed here for 10 nights wanting to relax and switch off from busy lives at home. Upon reflection, we were lucky to have even got 3 days of peace. The amenities were good, but nothing special. The gym was very modern, a great tennis court which we played on a few times and a useful shuttle bus into Los Christianos if you want to expose yourself to the Brits you would want to escape at home.

This was both myself and my partners first time in Tenerife, and our experience both on this island and hotel means we won’t be rushing back any time soon. After the third day, service became dire. The busier the hotel became, the worse it got. It seemed the hotel were not prepared for the influx of guests/ neither wanted to put in any effort to compensate for it. Out of 14 meals we had in the ‘Bandana’ buffet restaurant, 9 of those we had no drink. There is no self service for any soft drinks and you have to wait for a server to come round. The food was mediocre - again nothing special - with the same dishes on rotation. I now hate carbs. There was a fresh meat counter, but again, you would have to wait an obscene amount of time for this. The pool bar was generally the worst. You would need to queue in a non-official line for your drink, the worst wait time being 20 minutes. We also found that if you were Spanish you were served first… after visiting Los Christianos I understand the Spanish’s hate for Brits, but this felt like it had translated into the quality of service. To further add to the ‘Brits abroad’ culture, we would have to wake up at 6am just to get a sunbed. There is nothing ‘luxury’ about this.

Another ‘luxury’ is the view from the hotel. This can only be described as a ‘shanty town’. After googling what we were looking at every night, it turned out it was exactly this. People living in makeshift housing because there aren’t enough houses on the island for the residents. It makes you feel guilty for even being in the resort and makes you feel your stay is unethical. There is also construction going on all around the resort as other resorts are being built. As you can imagine, constant beeping of machinery is also a luxurious experience. Along with this, I warn you of the music at the resort. Look forward to the same 4 songs on repeat all day whilst you attempt to relax by the pool.

After reading other visitors reviews, I have seen Bahia have put their issues down to ‘personal preference’, but after speaking to other people staying here, it seems a general consensus, rather than preference. I also understand holidays are a privilege, and I am not misunderstanding this by any means, I am simply sharing an honest review in light of a bad experience. Unfortunately I would not visit again. We believed we were getting a good ‘luxury’ deal, but now question the definition of ‘luxury’ in itself.

I am here just now can I just say the staff are lovely but just not enough u have to wait at the bar to get water and beer que for the pool bar u can wait easy half hour due to lack of staff butt if u pay £100 a day more u won't need to same in the restaurant staff are lovely just not enough apart from one in the restaurant looks like shes busy but cat make eye contact incase she has to work such a shame the rest of the staff work there ass off sorry did I say tonight was ment to be an ala carte night steak night as part of ur deal we went misses fell out with me because i complained u had to pay for steak but u could get chicken or salmon steak was extra I didn't mind paying but I was in town and could have just stayed there and payed I was so looking forward to steak and pepper corn sauce got a taxi to local area and have a beautiful steak