Bonanza, Tenerife > Reviews > A fairly cheap hotel; but is it worth it?

Author's product rating:   

Quality of Rooms	Poor
Standard of Service	Average
Quality of Food & Drink	Terrible
Cleanliness	Good

Advantages:	Cheapish and good location
Disadvantages:	Expensive food, very dated, rubbish entertainment, crime?

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I booked a last minute deal to Playa de las Americas staying in the Bonanza hotel, on the advice of the agent who said it was a much better hotel than the slightly cheaper one we were going to go for. We managed to get a double room with flights for around £520, arriving on the 1st September.

If you are going to Playa de las Americas I'd advise you to not pay extra for transfers. From Tenerife South airport it takes only around 20 minutes by taxi and only costs around 20 euros, which is the same price as it would've cost us if we had paid for transfers. Getting a taxi means you can be in your hotel room before everyone else from your flight has even left the airport, what with people taking ages to get their luggage etc.

After being told by the agent that the hotel was quite nice, and having seen some good reviews online, we were especially looking forward to staying here. This was the first time we'd actually spent slightly more to stay in a better place.

Whatta mistaka to maka.

We pulled up in our taxi and immediately the alarm bells started to ring. I have nothing against the Bonanza TV series, but I'm not really sure that it is an appropriate look for a hotel. They literally based part of their decor around the TV series complete with the western bar doors. These 'accents' are subtly blended with early eighties chic. Am I making myself clear? The place looks awful.

I don't normally care about such things - I have really enjoyed staying in the most horrid of dumps - but when you are led to believe something is going to be better than it is...

Anyway, we were greeted by a very friendly night guard (we arrived at 12 midnight) who booked us in whilst jovially saying something about making sure to use the safe. I'll get back to this in a bit.

The room had a very small kitchenette. Although it had all the cutlery, plates and utensils you would need unfortunately there are only two gas rings to cook things on. So be prepared to do a lot of boiling or frying. The fridge, which had a freezer shelf, was adequate for two people, although the racks were of the wrong size and would keep falling off if you put too much weight on them. And the kitchen smelled VERY badly of drains. Luckily there was a door between it and the rest of the room.

Also on arrival one of the gas rings didn't work properly - by turning on the gas it would escape into the cupboard underneath the hob Rather than coming out of the ring. Admittedly, when I informed the receptionist the next day it was sorted out within the hour.

The rest of the room was alright - clean and tidy - but still with the dated decor. And it wasn't a proper double bed, just two singles pushed together. There's a TV but it only has Spanish channels, but hey, you are not on holiday to watch TV. And Spanish TV is quite entertaining anyway - we watched the first show of Gran Hermano (Big Brother), and to get into the house the contestants had to get past a bull. And half of them got head butted. Really.

The balcony was quite nice with a table and two chairs, and the bathroom was nice and clean with a bath and a shower. The room is cleaned and tidied by the lovely cleaning ladies pretty much every morning.

As for the rest of the hotel it has an ok pool with sun lounges that didn't get all taken up, a poolside diner and bar and a bar that opens in the evening. It has two computers with internet in the reception which costs (I think) around a Euro a minute. It also has washing machines you can use for a charge.

We didn't really eat in the hotel because when we had lunch there on the second day the food was expensive, very basic and not particularly nice. I ordered lasagne, which turned up drowning in single cream, with nothing else with it and it was cold in the middle.

On the third night we were there, I woke to see a man coming in through our balcony doors, which were open due to the heat. We were on the fourth floor, so we thought it'd be ok. I shouted at him and he ran back outside and disappeared - I assume he jumped down onto someone else's balcony. I told the security guard who made lots of noise and walked around the place, but he didn't call the police or anything.

The next day I went down to reception to see what had happened and if they'd caught the guy. I started chatting about it to a junior receptionist who started going on that they never know whether it is other guests or people from outside trying to steal from people's rooms when the manager interrupted saying that this has never happened before! I remembered back to the first night when the guard told us about the safe. I can only assume that this does happen fairly often and that the manager just didn't want me to know.

Another bad thing that happened while I was here is that one of the TINY 1970s lifts broke down between floors with me and a friend in. We were stuck in the thing for 20 minutes before they got us out. And then they accused us of breaking it, and evicted my friend (who was staying in another hotel) from the hotel. He's a 32 year old advertising rep and I'm a 27 year old scientist. We hardly look like hell-raisers, and I was very angry about being accused in this way and to have my friend kicked out.

The last bad point about the hotel was that the entertainment was truly dire, apart from one night when they had a Dionne Warwick wannabe who turned out to be really good.

So now for Bonanza's good points. It is in a good location. It is only five minutes walk to the beach, which is where we spent practically every daylight hour. It is also set back from the main road so you don't have lots of noise. It is also 10-15 minutes walk from Veronicas, the main drag, so you don't have all the vomit and fighting on your doorstep. It does have some really nice bars nearby and a couple of small clubs with some quite good house music on offer. I normally keep away from 'English Pubs' on holiday, but the one nearest to Bonanza on the seafront is great with excellent food, cheep beer and brilliant Brummy service. There's also a Spar round the corner on the way to the beach which is good for food supplies (and booze).

Another good point is that, apart from the lying manager and the bloke who accused me of breaking the lift, the staff are very friendly and helpful. We lost our key on the second day and they sorted it all out free of charge in about half an hour. And they booked us a taxi for our return transfer with no grumbling.

All in all I don't think I'll be going back to Bonanza. The location is the only really good point about the place. Having said that though if I got a REALLY cheap deal I wouldn't discount the place entirely, but I definitely would rent the safe and keep the balcony doors locked.