Hotel Jardin Tecina

Pillows ok, room dated, hotel staff rude and only treat people right if are from the canaries. Im still at the hotel and wont let you pay for someone outside the hotel have a meal and drink with you. Its far too expensive you need to rent a kettle for your room and pay for the use of the safe in it? I would recommend going to La Palma than La Gomera as the price is better and the staff are exceptionally better

We paid £2000 to share a double room at the Jardine Tecina Hotel. My friend is a regular customer having been there 6 holidays. She booked a sea view room but got a regular double and no refund was offered. The bathrooms here do not have windows or air extractors. The holiday was booked with TUI and included all fares, which is not bad value considering flights from the UK, a transfer bus to the port, a boat, and another transfer bus from the port to the hotel. Traveling all day, both ways we had to get up at 4 am, around 7 pm at the destination. We expected a TUI rep to be there for us but no. We got half a board buffet which is the only safe choice now. In the past, there was a reliable restaurant in this hotel but something went wrong and it is not a choice anymore. If you don’t book half board you will have to eat in 3 or 4 local restaurants which are risky (but not as risky as in Egypt for example. You are in a straggling tiny town but still Spain). In contrast, Jardine Tecina’s buffet for breakfast and dinner offers a variety of fresh tropical food to vegetarians, vegans, meat or fish eaters, and any gastronomical or eating habits, but be careful with allergies here; plenty of locally grown fruit (the hotel has its own farms), good Spanish wines and table service is adequate despite of the number of customers. Supplies are meager at the town for local consumption, so bring everything with you. The hotel shop is poor too, I did not have enough clothes for the hot weather and bought a dress at the hotel for £35, which stated 100% Silk all over but clearly is not. Bought goggles too, very cheap quality. All these sacrifices were made for a winter escape to the tropical sun. We got that as the weather at Playa de Santiago is spectacular in November and December – dry sunny 23 – 30 degrees with a pleasant breeze. I learned that this is all year around apart from March when for 5 days it is a rainy season. Gardens are maintained beautifully so you feel in a tropical paradise. All rooms face the ocean but not all have windows, some only French doors. We had to come out to the porch with chairs to enjoy the view. The location is very remote so you will not be inundated by locals, you can hardly see them. You know, you are on a cliff there and all around you see volcanic stones and rock mountains with visible volcanic layers you can spend hours examining with your eyes. Not sure what is the staff and employment policy is but it was obvious to me that there is a struggle to find and train staff. Their work was hindered by having to use an electronic online system excluding the use of a physical menu. Bar staff changed often; bar supplies were limited. I had a freshly squeezed orange juice which was 4.50 Euros but was very poor. I did not see the juicer machine used at all. Once I asked for a smoothie and had to explain what soursop fruit is when the hotel owns plantations of it. At breakfast though we had an unlimited supply of soursop smoothie. Eventually ordered a papaya smoothie and they wanted to put a little papaya and a lot of ice plus sugar. Do be careful ordering at the pool bars, they are useless unless you want to drink expensive alcohol in hot weather. I ordered an evening cocktail at the reception hall too and that was poor. SPA is small but OK, you need to pay extra and make an appointment. I did not like massages. It depends on what you are used to and I am used to Thai deep-impact massages. In my opinion, the Ahemon massage choice is designed to take your money with little to offer. There were supposed to be daily activities at the hotel but you have to book in advance using another electronic system and no physical program. So, you need to chase the groups. We had a great Banana, Avocado, and Soursop Plantation excursion with a lovely guide Jurgens, he spoke German and English almost simultaneously. 4 different sports groups with Jose were very good too. We also booked our whale-watching ocean trip at the hotel and enjoyed the experience having seen whales and dolphins close by, we were allowed jumping, diving, and swimming in the ocean. The hotel is a bit boring with most of the guests being senior citizens, but these people were made to walk long distances with lots of stairs. No bonding entertainment in the evening apart from some feeble attempts at giving an immature show to some drunks after dinner. These were all well-to-do people having to drink there expensively for the lack of something better to do. For us, it was straight to bed at 8 or 9. During the day it was also very quiet at the pools with no music and no noise apart from loud German pensioners. All pools closed at 6 pm ! So, this is no place for night people. My son, 27 gets up at 6 pm, I must not bring him here. Is it OK for young families? Medium I would say – no safe natural beach access, only 2 shallow swimming pools, lots of stone stairs everywhere. The ocean is very rough and stony with strong undercurrents. We enjoyed walks to the ocean and swimming. The more remote you go the more fish you will see, and only one or two people. All in all, it was not bad but not a 4-star, it is very popular with a certain type of people. I have met many who came here multiple times.