Don Gregory by Dunas

I am writing in response to Nett's review left on 10th July. I find this review a little unfair in the way it presents normal hotel policies and unavoidable incidents as if they were signs of poor quality.

A hotel not allowing vaping inside its premises is hardly unusual — many guests, including non-smokers and families, appreciate not having smoke or vapour around them. Designated smoking areas are a common compromise and it is reasonable for a premium hotel to maintain clear rules.

Similarly, dinner dress codes are also common in higher-end resorts. A holiday at a Premium All-Inclusive property is not the same as staying at a casual countryside accommodation and guests should expect a certain level of evening standards. It is always worth checking the hotel information before travelling if clothing requirements are important.

The air-conditioning problem sounds frustrating, especially on the first night, but equipment failures can happen anywhere. From the description, the staff responded by moving the guests to another room and offering a gesture of apology. That seems like an appropriate response to an unfortunate situation.

Being trapped in a lift for 30 minutes must have been frightening, especially for someone uncomfortable in enclosed spaces and I understand why that would leave a bad impression. However, the review seems to combine genuine inconveniences with normal hotel rules and then judge the entire holiday very harshly.

A Premium All-Inclusive package is not a guarantee that every moment will be perfect or that every guest will receive different treatment from those paying separately for extras. It is a package of services, not a higher class of person.

Hopefully the hotel takes note of the genuine issues raised, but some of the complaints here appear more about expectations not matching the reality of a resort holiday rather than evidence of poor service. JUst to clarify - I am a normal tourist not having any relationships with this hotel, its business or staff. Thanks

Just got back from a 4 night stay here, been to Gran Canaria plenty of times but usually Maspalomas area. Hard to find adult only hotels (and wanted a change from our usual hotel) so ventured to a different area and glad we did. I personally would say car hire is needed but we hate buses, but it depends what you go on holiday for.

The pools are both great, the beach is literally on the doorstep and plenty of lil shops, bars and restaurants around.

Parking at the hotel for less than a week was 15 € per day, so we chose to use the free spaces we could find in near by streets, did mean a lil walk but no more than 3 mins or so.

Food at the hotel was for us, great. Lots of choice (I’m quite fussy) and really tasty. Most nights there was two different types of plain pasta that you could choose a sauce to put on, usually cheese, bolognaise, tomato or a spicy one. Chips, veggies, plain rice, lots of different breads, two different soups, lots of salad, cold meats, cheese etc. plus the rest that changed nightly, freshly cooked meat and fish on the grill, paella, various different vegetable dishes, meat dishes etc. There were themes, so Asian, Canary night etc so specific dishes for those obv sushi and noodles, Spanish traditional dishes for canary night. Puddings, usual type things, slices of desert with cream, pie like things, lil brownie cubes, mousse /cream dishes in lil pots with various flavours and toppings, ice cream 4 different flavours, fresh fruit, two hot dishes that changed, usually some sort of flamed fruit in a sauce, or crepes etc. Also a chocolate fountain one night with various things you could have with it.

Breakfast had the same great choices, typical sausage variations, streaky bacon, beans, scrambled eggs, boiled, could get a freshly cooked omelette, fried eggs, mushrooms, usually a potato type thing like a waffle or hash browns, broccoli? Not the first hotel I have seen this, fried bread, porridge, churros, pancakes, breads, cold meats, cheese and salads, Spanish omelette, fresh fruit, cereals, yoghurts etc. sooo much choice.

Rooms, we had the duplex room, split over two levels. I loved it, you end up with two wardrobes, one up, one down, you have a hidden fridge, tv, sofa, coffee machine etc two toilets, two showers (one over a bath) big balcony with sun loungers. See photos.

Staff we mostly had a great experience, cleaning staff were friendly, reception we to start with apart from our check in thought were less friendly than we had experienced other places but they were if you then spoke to them, they just weren’t smiling and saying hello as you walked past etc which I guess would be exhausting. Bar staff , we experienced one rude gentleman who I think was just busy and stressed as Spain were playing so the bar was packed. Was slightly upsetting though as was a bit of a rubbish end to the night and put my partner in a bad mood too. Think the staff member could have reacted differently or just come back and apologised but nevermind. We chose not to complain. On the plus side, the staff at the restaurant are all great and we have to give a big gigantic shout out to Alexander (he’s from Colombia) in case there is more than one. He was a ray of sunshine, so professional but yet so friendly, he made us smile every mealtime and we were genuinely so gutted he was so busy our last night that we couldn’t go say goodbye. He is how all the staff should be. A great representative of the hotel.

Tiny negatives that stopped it being 5/5

Staff friendly but apart from Alex and a few restaurant staff, no one was 5/5.

The air con, it just wasn’t cold enough, we had lil fans at night that we brought with us which helped.

The lifts, two, never ever where you needed them to be, absolute sweat boxes and staff need to use them for linen cages etc so it took ages sometimes (we were floor 8) minor but frustrating.

Room, there was sometimes a smell of slight sewage that we just opened the windows to reduce, could be smelt in the corridor to the rooms too sometimes. Didn’t say anything as I doubt much can be done but was only minor.

And this wouldn’t be relevant for everyone but I was surprised there was no mention of my birthday, all hotels I have stayed at vary but do something from a card, balloons, cake, free wine (I don’t drink but it’s the thought) chocolates, lil message in the room, had breakfast staff sing once too lol but literally nothing here (yes I had mentioned it in an email to the hotel before arrival as I was debating what room and late check out as it was my birthday on check out day)

Anyway. These are minor negatives purely to explain why it wasn’t 5/5 but it really was a great stay and we would definitely go back. The food was especially a highlight for us.

We paid a significant amount for a Premium All-Inclusive holiday, but unfortunately our experience fell well below the standard we expected. Firstly, we were disappointed to find that vaping was not permitted within the hotel. The only designated smoking area was a small enclosed space where guests were smoking cigarettes, as we have stopped smoking, we did not feel comfortable vaping in this area and instead had to leave the hotel each time we wished to vape. We were also unaware that men were required to wear full-length trousers for dinner. This information was not made clear when booking. My partner had to borrow a pair of trousers from the hotel on the first evening, and we then had to spend part of our holiday purchasing suitable trousers, which was both inconvenient and an unexpected expense. on our first night we were woken at approximately 3.30 am by a dripping noise. We discovered that the air conditioning unit had broken and was leaking into our room. After reporting this to reception, we had no option but to pack all our belongings, move rooms and unpack again. While we appreciated the bottle of sparkling wine and four chocolates as an apology, this did not make up for the disruption to our holiday. A few days later, matters worsened when we became trapped in the lift for approximately 30 minutes before being rescued. This was a very distressing experience as my partner doesn't like enclosed spaces, when the maintenance guys got us out, we were kinda expecting management or someone from reception to be there ti make sure we were ok, but no. We also noticed a significant decline in the level of service after the first couple of days. Initially, the staff could not do enough for us, but after that it appeared that guests who were not on an all-inclusive package received priority, presumably because they were spending additional money on food and drinks. We repeatedly noticed that our drinks were not filled to the top, whereas paying guests consistently received full measures. This made us feel like second-class guests despite having already paid for the Premium All-Inclusive package. Overall, we are extremely disappointed with our holiday. We paid a considerable amount of money expecting a high-quality, relaxing experience, but instead encountered multiple issues, unnecessary inconvenience and poor service.