Peaceful hotel -for adults mainly. Pleasant but few amenities open - contact the hotel - be aware.
Oh El Volcan. Where do we start? Lovely, if dated decor in rooms. Few facilities open, appalling communication and yet we chose to extend our stay. Here is why.
The short version.
COME here for peace, classy residents, respectful guests and charming sunsets on the balcony. Most balconies are west facing to the marina and the sea with amazing sunsets.
There is also an adults only section called "The Club" with a fantastic heated pool (I'll come to that later), plenty of double beds with canopies, an abundance of comfortable loungers, two jacuzzis and a snack bar which is open from 1pm to 3.30pm. I think you may have to pay extra to access these services.
Plenty of room for social distancing and the hotel generally maintained areas covid safe.
Free non alcoholic drinks between 4 - 7pm.
Plenty of parking outside.
Being undisturbed by guests or staff.
You're ok with having nothing much other than your room and a pool.
Wonderful walkway along the cliffs - right towards the marina and Playa Dorada, onto Playa Blanca. Left to villas, super market.
DO NOT COME here if you have children and you want kids to be entertained, or if you like a bit of an atmosphere by the pool or want background music playing etc. I would suggest the Iberostar near the port for that. It is 5 star but a bit more action and had all facilities open - entertainment, kids club, bar open all day. Right next to beach. The german receptionist is efficient and the client services were great. Modern rooms and modern hotel.
Saying that, there were a few families when we were there and the fact there were no facilities open meant the kids played together quite nicely. Did feel like a smaller, boutique hotel.
Us:
We came here to the Volcan for 5 days initially, on a B and B basis. We are a mid 40s couple. 2 kids 4 and 6 and grandma. We booked very last minute as soon as Boris said the Canaries were off the quarantine list. We have never been to the Canaries. So we literally looked at the hottest island weather wise, the quietest part of it and chose a 5 star hotel with kids club and spa with nice pools. We wanted to avoid noise or anywhere where it was a boozing culture of "Brits abroad"
So to be fair - I would say this hotel did gave us much seclusion and a feeling of being away from it all.
The good:
Spotlessly clean bedrooms and hotel. Hard working and jovial cleaning staff. Thanks to Janetha, Janasec, Consuelo and Luz Edith. The pool boy was up there when it was dark with his head torch on cleaning every morning.
Breakfast service was excellent. Clean, properly laid out tables, waitress service was great. Patricia, Ileana and Miriel were lovely. And the egg chef Orlando (who looks like the Spanish version of GBB Paul Hollywood) was always accommodating to our kids. Food wasn't variety extensive but enough.
The snack bar and restaurant waitress Nina was always cheery and hard working and the lifeguard Martha was so pleasant with our little boy.
Cony was the lady who greeted us upon arrival and was warm, welcoming and considered with her approach to us. A credit to the hotel.
Juan, the night receptionist also had a good demeanour with clients and exceptional English.
Natalia the Manager was approachable and there at breakfast at the restaurant and again at dinner time most nights and showed a level of commitment of being seen and available for guests. My husband did struggle with her approach a little as it was less formal than her deputy and perhaps a bit too informal in her approach of dealing with things.
Juan, the deputy manager oozes charisma and customer service and was a welcome antidote to some bad service we initially received from a younger, female and inexperienced front of house worker.
The Bad: COMMUNICATION and UNWILLINGNESS TO OPEN FACILITIES
Imagine, you've booked a last minute break. The hotel facilities look wonderful. You arrive at the hotel - upon arrival - the receptionist tells you nothing is open. Surely this is false advertising? How can you allow people to arrive from abroad and not be crystal clear about what facilities you are closing down?
We asked why they did not communicate this information to us when we booked the hotel? They have our email address. No answer could be given. We were told however we were free to leave.
So our family turned up to find nothing open for the kids, kids club closed, spa closed, bike facilities closed, no big pools open (ridiculous in these days of social distancing) - pretty much everything closed except the small pool (10 metre by 4 metre perhaps) in the adults only section and that was all they were willing to let us use. This was called the Club.
After a day's travelling - we decided to give it a shot. This club section is lovely and we did have a great couple of days there. Heated pool fab for kids. But the pool is so small - my elderly mother with a poor immune system wouldn't go it in for fear of lack of social distancing. It made no sense why they would pile all of us into a small pool. We accepted their decision as they insisted is was due to Covid reasons - but having subsequently visited a couple of other hotels - Iberostar, H10 Rubicon Palace - they had all their facilities open. Iberostar was only at 40% capacity too.
When the hotel became a bit busier, 40% one day and then 32% the next, the manager still didn't open up the hotel and its facilities. With no notice - no sign by reception nor conversation from staff, she banned us from using the warm (albeit small) Club pool and its lovely facilities and insisted children now had to use the kid's pool and shaded larger pool next to it. So first they insisted we use the Club section and we couldn't use the large pools. Then 3 days later, they insist we can't use the Club Pool and insist we use the large pools.
The communication of going about this was atrocious ( a piece of paper thrust under the door one afternoon saying we were banned) - however we were fine with the change until we felt the kids' pool water. Freezing doesn't even do it justice. It was unusable by anyone. If they had intended to send us back to the main pool - why not have some forethought and heat it up in advance while they forced us to use the small Club pool? The main pool sat empty for 5 days with other guests complaining too saying it was too cold to use.
It only warmed up by day 6 of having access to it. We did ask the manager to heat the small pool by the gym which is perfect for kids and would heat up quicker as it was smaller - but she flatly refused and said she would not do that as she didn't have a lifeguard for it and preferred to use her lifeguard at the newly pools near the restaurant.
There was a definite sense of penny pinching on staff and resources. As a guest, you have booked a hotel for the facilities it offers. Were we as 32 to 40% capacity guests not worth opening the hotel for? Why should we be denied those services. We have paid for our rooms like all other guests. There was no Covid reason to keep those facilities closed.
Be very careful around the main pool area near the kids pool. Floor is uneven in many parts, pool water gathers and is extremely slippery.
The kids pool (which is only about 45cm deep) doesn't allow sun loungers on one side of it as they say it is near people's hotel rooms and the restaurant and on the other side, there are huge volcanic decorative rocks. You have to pull the loungers from a circular courtyard area next to the pool and bring it to the side of the pool - but then to enter to the pool, walk to the other end and enter via some steps only. Could be an issue if you need to quickly get to your kids.
Poor communication: No maps of hotel anywhere, no menus or prices for things sings anywhere (but bizarrely signs up for times of dining). The lack of consistency was inexplicable to us. This meant we kept having to ask which means getting close to people - which should not be encouraged in this time of Covid. Also - the constant conversational communication meant things were mistold, mis-relayed and took up a lot of our time during our break leading to some terrible customer service by a younger female front of desk staff who was, for want of a better word - was incompetent at best and actually belligerent in truth. She really gave us a negative experience of the hotel - salvaged only by the professionalism of Juan, the deputy manager.
There were signs everywhere telling you to download the Volcan App which apparently told you everything you need to know. Both my husband and I did that. It isn't very useful. eg. Look at the restaurant section of the app - it doesn't tell you menu options, buffet options nor prices. Furthermore, what if the elderly residents aren't that tech -savvy - is a sign outside the restaurant really that much trouble?
Summary:
We came here for 5 days and extended by 5 days because of the peaceful surroundings and calm in the evening. We had a hire car and could get out and about to explore the island so we could just about manage the lack of facilities.
What I would say to future travellers to this hotel is really do your homework with the hotel. Email them, get confirmation of what is open, what are they going to change - they may try to fob you off with the whole Corona means we have to be fluid and thus things are changeable. However as mentioned above, other hotels had the same capacity and covid safe restrictions - but all facilities open.
So why did the Volcan not follow suit? And why not warn guests before they arrive?
Finally, I'm not sure they want families at this hotel, despite them offering a kids' club under normal circumstances as the hotel does not seem to be geared up that way. (See above about the kids' pool). Having said that, all the staff were lovely to our children.
To the hotel I would say:
If you don't want guests to have a bad impression of your hotel - improve your communication. Put up signs for facilities open, prices, menus. Give your customers notice in writing and with some time to prepare for facilities being denied to them. And please be mindful if you do not open your facilities and what impression that gives to a guest when other hotels are offering all their facilities.
Your hotel is charming, sweet, like a small greek fishing village. It is calm and respectful. It has a lot to offer guests. It is why we decided to extend our stay. However, to appear to not open facilities due to costs on staff rather than Covid safety issues would be a sad reflection on your hotel.