Seaside Los Jameos Playa

My wife, two young children (3 and 1 year old girls) and I recently returned from a fantastic stay at this hotel. We had a junior suite and stayed on a half-board basis. There is so much positive stuff I could write so I’ll try and keep it as brief as possible

We couldn’t have had a better first impression from walking through the doors to the beautiful main reception. Having had a delayed flight and then spending half an hour wrestling with car seats at the airport, we were very stressed when we arrived at 8:30pm but checking in at Los Jameos was very quick, easy and welcoming. We were offered a glass of cava, and orange juice for our toddler, and then offered to go straight to dinner while our suitcases were taken to the room, which was a hugely welcome invitation!

Our room was beautiful and very roomy, with the sofa bed set up for our toddler and a cot set up for our baby - this again was a welcome sight as I’ve become used to having to ask for a cot to be set up despite requesting it beforehand when I’ve booked into other hotels. The balcony was quite small (compared to some I’ve seen in the hotel) and ended up being used for drying clothes and towels more than anything, so we didn’t really make the most of having it, but had we wanted to then it was more than adequate to fit us all and have a sunbathe or a drink with a lovely view of the pools, cacti and palm trees. One slight irritation was the rug in the room - it kicked up a huge amount of fluff that our baby loved to try and eat but again this was a small annoyance in what was an extremely comfortable, well-presented room. The sofa bed also made a small tunnel for the girls to crawl under which went down a treat! Considering we were very close to the piano bar and opposite the Berlingo Bar, I found that the noise level at night was absolutely fine and we couldn't hear any noise from outside.

Breakfast and dinner were very good and we looked forward to all of the meal times. The food is absolutely delicious with a huge range on offer. Breakfasts tend to have the same options each day with dinners taking on the theme nights but there is a lot of choice and catering to the most common nationalities who visit Lanzarote. Coffee is on offer both from the waiting staff but also from machines, and juices and milks are topped up immediately at the buffet once they’re running low so you’re never waiting long to have a drink. The buffet dinners were fabulous - we did prefer some theme nights to others (Canarian, Mediterranean and Spanish were our favourites) but on each night there again was plenty of choice. There is a ‘Canary Corner’ most nights that has Canarian cuisine but I think that some more Canarian or Spanish cuisine each night would have been perfect - this is more of a personal preference though and I really can’t have any complaints as I found all of the food to be of tremendously high quality.

We had a fairly active holiday and only spent a small amount of time at the pools each day. There is a large children / families area that was pointed out to us when we checked in and the large pool in this area is heated and a very comfortable warm temperature. There are slides and unfortunately our eldest wasn’t keen on trying them out but they looked fun and safe from what I could see. We tended to use the Splash Park a bit further into the family area which was fantastic - 40cm depth throughout so perfect for toddlers, splash equipment that our baby loved, and plenty of changing facilities. An annoyance was rambunctious kids splashing around and sometimes scaring the smaller children, and also the usual towels left on sunbeds by selfish people who then go away for hours at a time, but these aren’t really the fault of the hotel - although maybe the towels situation could be enforced more strictly. We used the Pepe Shack a few times which was only staffed by one person and whoever was on seemed flustered more often than not, but there were plenty of drinks on offer and our request for cold milk for our baby was always catered for. Who can really complain about having a lovely cold drink in the sun by the pool!

We didn’t really make use of the entertainment as our girls are so young but we do plan on returning and I am looking forward to them being able to join with the children’s entertainment - it looked fun and those that were taking part did seem to love it. We didn’t really experience the piano bar properly either but it was always nice walking past and hearing the atmosphere and the lovely music.

Above all the staff were amazing. Our toddler had an accident on the rug in our room and the cleaner was more than understanding and lovely about it. The waiting staff were lovely and always on hand to help out - we never had to wait long if we needed to ask them anything. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful too, and the porter when we checked out went above and beyond to help us. I need to say thank you to everyone who was working in reception on Tuesday 30th June at around 3pm as they helped us locate a bag that we’d left hidden away in our room after checking out, and the porter allowed us to park outside the hotel and helped get our cases into our hire car, which was much appreciated.

All in all, we absolutely loved our stay and would come back in a heartbeat. We don’t have a huge amount of experience of all-inclusive hotels but Seaside Los Jameos went far beyond all of our expectations. I have been to Lanzarote many times and Seaside Los Jameos dominating the Playa de los Pocillos area has always intrigued me and I’m glad we finally tried it out! The aesthetics, the quality of the food, the helpfulness of the staff and the catering for all ages mean that I’d recommend this hotel to anyone.

Overall, we had a very positive experience at the hotel. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. The buildings have been beautifully renovated, and it is clear that the property is very well maintained. Everything was spotless, including the rooms, which have been tastefully renovated and furnished. There was plenty of storage space, and the beds were very comfortable. The view from our balcony was stunning.

The only issue we experienced was with the air conditioning in our room. After the technician came by on several consecutive days to try to fix the problem, we were eventually offered another room. Thank you for going the extra mile to resolve the issue for us – we truly appreciated the effort.

We have nothing but praise for the food. There was an excellent variety, with a different buffet theme every day, offering plenty of choice.

If we could mention two areas for improvement, they would be the following:

• There does not seem to be enough staff for the number of guests staying at the hotel. At the Milk Lab, the Pool Bar and the Belingo Bar, we consistently had to wait quite a long time for our drinks. The staff were all doing their very best, but they were simply overwhelmed.
• The biggest disappointment for us, however, was the practice of reserving sunbeds with towels. This is the main reason why we are not giving the hotel a perfect 10/10, and it would also be the reason why we would hesitate to book this hotel again during a busy holiday period. We would recommend enforcing the hotel’s sunbed policy more strictly or providing additional sunbeds around the pool.

Nevertheless, we had a wonderful stay at Seaside Los Jameos and would definitely recommend the hotel to others. Once again, we would like to thank all the staff for their kindness and dedication. Nothing was ever too much trouble, and everyone went out of their way to make our stay (almost) perfect!