Lopesan Baobab Resort

In a bid to escape the Covid restrictions at home, we decided to head off. It???s usually Tenerife for New Year, but most of the hotels we usually visit were either fully booked or way over priced. This was the first time we???ve been away for Christmas AND New Year. We did TRY last year, but it was cancelled the week before! We???ve been to Gran Canaria 6 times over the last few years now, and have always stayed in a Lopsan Hotel in Maspalomas. This is the first time at the Baobab - having previously stayed at the Costa Melonaros, IFA Faro and Grande Conde in the past. The Baobab is slightly set back from the beach (5-10 min walk) and has an African theme to it. The hotel is MASSIVE and is spread over a pretty wide distance. Check in was painless (other than being advised we need to pay ???2.50 per day for a safe - 3 rooms x 14 nights x 2.50 = ???105 for something that SHOULD be included in a 5* hotel) and we were directed to our room after a welcome drink. We walked and walked and walked until we eventually got there. One day I counted the steps from our room to the breakfast restaurant - 689 (and I???m 6ft 2??? tall with VERY long legs!!). We didn???t have THE furthest away room, but must???ve been not far off it. You???d think they???d put a ???family??? with a 2 year old a bit closer??? but hey ho. The room was a good size and well laid out. A decent balcony, plenty of storage, lots of hangers. The bath and shower were both in a little wet room, and the toilet was in a separate room too. No lock on the door unfortunately! We had a sofa bed for the kids. Although the room was well equipped and a good size, the thing missing was lights. Even with the sun coming in the sliding balcony doors, the room was perpetually dark. Coming in and trying to find the slot for the key to go in involved using the torch on a phone - as it was so dark, we couldn???t see it. In fact, the whole hotel was dark. Paths to the restaurants, corridors etc could have all done with more lighting. I understand we???re trying to keep a theme here, but there should be an option in the room to turn on a couple extra lights to actually see what you???re doing. The light switches that were in the room made little sense and it was like a puzzle turning them off at night! I think we finally figured out which was which after a week! It seemed to have an odd dampness to it. Any turn back service had been put on hold due to Covid. This meant using the same towels in the evening and morning - so we would hang them up at night after getting ready for dinner. In the morning, the towels would still be soaking. Whilst away, it was my birthday - and I had a handful of cards with me. After being up for 2 days, the cardboard was almost soggy and really easily bent. There were also damp looking spots on the ceiling. The TV was behind sliding doors on the wall - which was nicely integrated. It didn???t get used much as the only English channels were Sky News and CNN. Wifi was free and a decent speed. Outside our balcony was what seemed to be a sewage plant across the road. Depending on which way the wind was blowing, there could be wafts of sewage smell in the room, or around the hotel grounds. Some days it was pretty strong and prevented us from opening the balcony doors. We were half board, so got breakfast and evening meal. Breakfast was served in 2 different restaurants, which were kind of joined together. A new addition for us compared to previous holidays this year was wearing a glove to use the buffet. You had to wear a disposable plastic glove on the hand you were ???scooping??? with. Better that than an ???assisted??? buffet, however a lot of single use plastic going in the bucket every night. Breakfast was ok - the usual selection of food and drinks. Cereals were generic rather than branded. The layout of juice was confusing and people were continually getting mixed up with pineapple, grapefruit, mango and tropical as they all looked the same. All jams were ???low sugar??? (or no taste) and the toasters were dialled down to 1 - so that bread had to go through 3 or 4 times to actually make it toast! Further on in the holiday, the hotel got busier - and it was noticeable with the buffet. Things got used up and were never replaced. One day there was no milk for cereal. I asked a member of staff for more - they said ???2 minutes???. I ended up asking 3 other members over the course of 15 mins until I eventually got milk. Rather poor. This continued to get worse into January as the hotel got really busy. The guest capacity seemed too much for the staff with things like bread, cereal and croissants frequently missing from the buffet. Dinner was also ok too. A fish and meat grill every night with a different selection daily. Some themed food (Mexican / Chinese / Italian etc) and some regular things too. Some deserts were labelled, and others weren???t - which made it a bit like roulette when picking them up! The other complaint was that they only offered soft drinks, wine or beer with the evening meals. I only drink Gin, so wasn???t able to have a ???drink??? with my meal. It was water for me! Same story with the evening buffet - once things got used up they were in no hurry to be replaced. I often stood waiting 5-10mins for new chips to come out as the tray was empty despite being told ???2 minutes???. Most Spanish hotels have a trouser policy in the dining rooms for evening meals. No shorts or sandals. The Baobab does not have this. People were coming for meals in shorts, swimwear and sportswear. It was odd to see such a mixture of outfits - from people in shirts/ties and evening dresses, to people in football kits! As the hotel is so big, it had plenty of space for pools and loungers. There were several pools and a lazy river. I say lazy river in the loosest sense, as it had no current and was essentially a large circuit pool. The water in it was FREEZING! I don???t think I???ve ever been in such a cold pool - my legs were numb when I got out. Probably a different story in summer when the air temperatures are higher, but in December, 22-24degC wasn???t enough to warm it to a satisfactory level. Thankfully one of the other pools was warmer and was heated??? although the temperature of this one fluctuated from day to day. Some days it was nice, and others it was cold. Much like the Costa Melonaris hotel, the hotel grounds are covered in palm trees. This means that despite the vast amount of loungers, very few are in the sun all day long. Everyone had cottoned onto this, and the few ???good??? ones were reserved very early. We sat one day on shaded loungers whilst the ???sunny??? ones near us were reserved all day - with the people only arriving at about 14.30! Annoying that the pool staff don???t do anything about this. The warmer pool was split into 2 areas by a bridge. One pool always had its loungers reserved by about 7am, and the other was a beach - which we usually managed to get a seat at. The tiles all round the edge of this pool had chunks missing and loose tiles all over the base - which was pretty uncomfortable to walk on. It looked to have already been ???patched??? up several times, and was in desperate need of another load of repairs. There were thousands of tiles absent, with lots of loose tiles lying at the bottom of the pool. Another odd thing was pool towels. Each room had pool towels in it on arrival - 1 per person. The towels could be exchanged for fresh ones at the pool huts (2 that I could see) between the hours of 10-12am. This meant that we were always carrying soaking wet dirty towels up to the room at night, and carrying them back to the pool huts in the morning to get exchanged for clean ones. I???ve stayed in many hotels that offer a towel exchange before - however they???re usually either open all day, or at least for a period at the end of the day to allow you to get rid of your soaking wet ones. As per all Spanish resorts, the staff here were great with kids and very attentive. Always willing to go extra distance to ensure we were happy (other than refilling the buffet!). Chatting to the kids whilst walking to the table for dinner, or getting them extra teaspoons or straws etc. As our second week progressed and the hotel got busier, their attitude changed. They became argumentative and confrontational - probably due to the increase in customers. We had been going to the same door of the restaurant (breakfast and evening) for the whole duration of our stay - and had been taken to a table without question. On our 12th evening, we were told we were at the wrong restaurant and needed to go to a different door. We questioned why, and received abuse back. The next night was the same - with 4 members of staff ganging up on us in a confrontational way. Eventually, they seated us at the same table as we???d been at several nights. Perhaps we were at the wrong restaurant - I???m not sure as there are no signs. Both restaurants are linked together, so walking through the first one takes you to the second one. Some days we were seated in one, and some days in the other. There didn???t seem any rhyme nor reason, other than finding a table for 7 people. The first 11 days they took us to a table, so what changed on the 12th evening? Why had no one mentioned this as an issue until then? A shame we ended up leaving the restaurant on the last few days with bad memories - as the first 11 days the staff were really good. I don???t think this point is specific to the Baobab, but I feel it???s worth mentioning. Spain is on a different Covid level from most of their guests (UK, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands etc etc), and most guests are there to enjoy themselves rather than watch the news or look up restrictions. I feel the hotel should be doing more to educate residents on what the current rules are. As far as I could see, Spain Level 3 means if you can???t be within 1.5m of someone else, you should be wearing a mask. Some people had no masks on in the bars, toilets etc, some had them on walking outside, some didn???t. Most probably didn???t really know what they were supposed to be doing. The buffet had gloves, but people weren???t being told what they should be doing with them - or being advised to wear one if they weren???t. It was the same in Tenerife in August / October where most guests didn???t know what they should be doing. A few notices at reception / restaurants would probably have been enough. Our hotel in Malta in July had this, and it worked well. Overall, we all had a great time in Gran Canaria, and enjoyed our stay at The Baobab. It???s a nice hotel, but I personally don???t think it???s worthy of being a 5* hotel. Although it was mainly an enjoyable stay, there were a number of things that it fell short on. Staff being snappy on the last few days wasn???t pleasant, and the shortage of everyday items at the buffet was disappointing. The lack of lighting in the room is bizarre??? and charging ???2.50 per day for a safe is just a cash grab that shouldn???t be happening. Friends have stayed at the Baobab in the past and advised that the pool staff were very vigilant with reserved loungers, however we didn???t see this at all. Lots of good points too - nice room, plenty of pools to choose from, significantly cheaper than Grande Conde (probably due to being further from beach), nice bars, reasonably priced pool drinks / snacks

This is a really nice place to stay. The rooms are clean and the gardens and pool areas are perfect for a restful vacay. The breakfast buffet has everything you would wish for, excellent fruit and vegetables!