Santa Barbara Golf and Ocean Club, Canary Islands

It would appear Diamond’s favourite word is ‘Sorry’ and I have heard it a lot on this holiday. The word loses its meaning when it is said too many times.

We were telephoned a week before we went by Diamond to see if we had any special requests and asked if we would like to attend an update presentation. I said we were defiantly not interested in buying any more points, in fact we want to get rid of it. I was told that this could be discussed at the presentation. So we, therefore, agreed to attend.

We requested rooms that were near to the ground floor and near to each other as we were travelling as a family and couldn’t get a 2 bedroom suite. We requested this based on the fact that as a family we didn’t want to be apart and also the ground floor as my father has COPD and means walking too far or up and down stairs too often can have an impact on his health.

Upon our arrival at the hotel, after our flight at 9.30pm, we waited to check in for 35 minutes due to the fact there was only 1 receptionist. After being given our rooms we complained that they were too far apart and not on the ground floor as we had requested and in actual fact could not have been further apart. We were told there was nothing that could be done and the receptionist did not know why the two rooms were not together. We were told to come back at 10am the next morning.

Upon arrival to our room we found that it was not a refurbished one, neither was my parents’ rooms (as a member you would think we would be allocated one) and to my annoyance, the sea view was blocked by a staircase and the walkway to other rooms. To make it worse the patio door would also not shut correctly.

The next day we duly went to the reception at 10am only to be given keys to a room that was just as far away from the other one and to be on the 7th floor!! When the other room was on the 2nd. One small point we did get a refurbished room this time. When we asked if there was anything closer they said no they are fully booked even though the room next door to my parents was empty for 2 days.We met the assistant manager (as the actual manager has left) at her ‘meet the manager’ and explained all our problems and concerns. Her only response was sorry and she would look into all our complaints and get back to us (we are still waiting!). My list of complaints to name a few were:

• Our requests not being accommodated
• Ants in the bathroom.
• Paying for a safe.
• NO identification on the bins.
• Member’s treatment against people on freebies.
• However the list does go on.

Basically, I wouldn’t touch Diamond if it was free and I will certainly never be returning to the Santa Barbara ever again and I stress you find somewhere else to stay in Tenerife.

Stayed here a week. Hotel clean basic room 519, not a very good room after requesting a pool view and getting charged extra to be told hotel fully booked wasn’t happy.

Wanted to book a trip to SIAM PARK.

Went to ask for advice at the CONCIERGE was greeted by a blonde female who told us we had missed our welcome meeting and to attend a meeting the following day…(little did we know the meeting was a timeshare meeting)

We went to the so-called meeting to be met by a poxy salesman.

He tells us there is a free dinner for us upstairs at Melrose little did we know it was a table set for us and him and serves us some chicken which let me tell you-you would not feed to a dog then he patronises with spiel to get you to tell him your income.

He even made the how did you vote in the referendum? Basically phoney stuff .

After 40mins I actually asked what were we here for and he said to invest 7000gbp in a timeshare scheme… What?????

We were under the impression we were getting information about SIAM PARK and getting a discount.

He then apologised told us we didn’t seem the type to have the money and said we were misled into the meeting.

Coincidence the blonde was never on the desk again please don’t fall for this and any trips book through the shop down the road as the hotel is 30euro more

We stayed in this hotel only for 1 night during our stay in Tenerife.

We decided on the hotel according to the overall evaluation of guests. We just wanted to stay near the airport because of early flight.

We took a taxi to get there and the first thing the taxi-driver made was to cover the price display. The hotel is located on the ocean coast but the coast is not accessible. You still can use the swimming pool but it was overcrowded.

There are no options for shopping in the neighbourhood. We had to pay 6€ for wifi which is not acceptable. They will charge you also 100€ deposit while check-in.

There was a huge line by check-in and we had to wait 2 more hours for our room. I booked a studio.

We got it after all. No.329.

There was an incredible smell of drains on the whole side of the hotel.

It was smelling terrible also in the room.

I do not recommend this hotel.

We bought in to ‘Discover Diamond‘ in 2013 on a friends recommendation and have visited 5 of the resorts, 2 in England and 3 in Spain. Four out of five of the apartments have been in need of refurbishment and were not of the standard that we are used to. However, each time we booked we did so with a more positive attitude hoping that Diamond would show us what it could do.

Arriving at Santa Barbara lifted out spirits- the reception area was impressive, staff friendly and efficient. The front desk decided that the originally allocated apartment was not good and so reallocated another- spirits lifted again.

On walking to the apartment we were greeted by the appalling smell of sewage. The smell was present for most of the day so prevented us from using our balcony. We could smell it around the pool area too.

The two bed, one bathroom apartment overlooked the dreaded sewage treatment works, a service entrance and a building site- the upside, a sea view but not ‘Truly Splendorous’ as advertised. Noisy from early morning so no lazy starts. Damaged and marked furniture, no washer or dishwasher and certainly not ‘Amazing’ as described in the literature.

Melrose restaurant failed on the first evening- average food served and not the ‘most delicious food you can find anywhere in the world’.Staff were inattentive- drinks and desserts failed to arrive: diners sitting close to us had the wrong food delivered to them. We never went back but found other places to eat outside the complex.

In our case, being Diamond members has not been an advantage. We feel very badly let down by the company. This experience had one positive- the sun shone all week and that is something that Diamond have no control of.

Finally- why does Spain not separate its smokers from non- smokers? The public areas cater to this appalling habit.

Diamond could lead the way by having designated areas for those who want to damage their health and let the rest of us have a chance at breathing decent air, that is if we’re lucky to be away from the sewage plant!