Elba Lanzarote Royal Village Resort

We booked Elba Lanzarote Royal Village expecting the 4-star plus standard advertised, but unfortunately our experience was nothing like it.

The food was, quite simply, some of the worst we’ve ever had at an all-inclusive resort. Much of it was burnt, dried out, cold or inedible, and the choice for children was shocking. On several occasions the children’s options consisted of battered broccoli, battered courgettes and other battered vegetables. Our children struggled to find anything they would eat.

The all-inclusive drinks service was equally disappointing. We regularly queued for 45 minutes or more just to get a single drink, which is completely unacceptable when you’ve paid for an all-inclusive holiday. There were even occasions where we weren’t served drinks with our meals at all.

Cleanliness was another major concern. Many of the glasses were visibly dirty with marks and residue still on them, making us question the hygiene standards throughout the hotel.

Our room had a shower that flooded the bathroom and into the bedroom every time it was used. Although this was eventually repaired, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

The attitude of some staff made matters even worse. One member of staff actually reprimanded my child for taking a napkin from another table because ours hadn’t been set. Instead of apologising, they chose to tell off a child.

Guest Relations were no better. Rather than listening to our concerns, they were defensive and demanded evidence for every issue we raised. We later discovered Jet2 had been told our complaints had been resolved, which was simply not true. Apart from repairing the shower, none of the issues were addressed.

After just four days we made the difficult decision to leave the hotel and pay for another hotel ourselves because we simply couldn’t face spending the rest of our holiday there. No family chooses to interrupt their holiday and spend more money unless things have become unbearable.

This was by far the most disappointing all-inclusive holiday we have experienced, and certainly nowhere near the standard expected of a 4-star plus hotel.

Sadly, I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, especially families travelling with children. Save your money and book elsewhere.

Dreadful ….

Dirty Rooms on arrival
Dirty Pool
Dirty Bar Areas tables not cleaned with birds and flies all over the tables eating the left over food
Rude team
Understaffed on most days and tables from the evening before had drinks marks all over them
15 mins to queue for a drink at the pool bar (shatter queues in Tesco)
Dirty tables and not cleared at breakfast and evening meal

Loved Playa Blanca but the hotel really ruined our only holiday this year and would not stay again . 2 star at best based on the above experience

Tried to complain but not really interested …

Good location, short walk to the beach (1km). Rooms are ok, hotel in general needs a bit of TLC in a lot of areas. The floor of the room was not clean, very dirty actually and it was not clean during our stay. Food is average, nothing special, and the same everyday.

Overall lovely looking hotel with good facilities.
Holiday was massively let down by the food and lack of service.
Waited 45 mins one evening for two drinks. Pool bar long queue both bars had only one poor person serving.
No water in room.
Restaurant food ran out if didn’t go in when opened and good luck getting a drink with your food.
Only plus was the entertainment team who were all fantastic. They worked really hard providing activities for both adults and children.
Wouldn’t return to this hotel unless they massively improve the service and employee more staff.

Weve just got back from here after 9 nights. Whilst we had a lovely time, we wouldn't return. Im not one to leave reviews and dont like to be negative but I wished I had listened to my gut and changed hotels before we went. Its not an awful hotel, but its not 4 star in my opinion. We didnt get an updated room but this didnt bother us it was clean. The hotel is just not what it looks like on the advertised pictures. It could be amazing but the main thing for us was the service was terrible. 1 (2 sometimes) staff serving behind the bars during the day and night time is not good enough at this time of year. Appreciate its not the staffs fault and they weren't rude or anything but standing 20 to 30 minutes for a drink isnt for us. The other thing that let it down for us was the food. Its the worst all inclusive food we have ever had. We aren't picky and we always found something to eat. But it was literally the same thing every day and night, we ate out the last few days cos I couldn't eat it again. And again they are so short staffed going in the restaurant was like bay route. Every table had plates and food on had to stand a good 5 minutes for one to be cleared and then a few times we ate our full meal before someone came to ask if we wanted a drink. A holiday is what you make it and we didnt let it spoil our holiday. Little one had a great time and entertaining staff were fab, but wouldn't return.

We had a fantastic time.
Lovely hotel. Great food.
Bar staff in adults only section (Los Jameos) were amazing Chus and Arianna dancing and singing they looked as though loved their job! Very happy!
Played great music and very friendly and funny

How TUI are advertising this hotel as 4* plus is beyond me.

If you’re coming to this hotel to spend time with your family don’t bother, you’ll spend the majority of the evening separated whilst the other one is queuing 45 minutes for a drink. Most evenings he went for a drink before the evening entertainment started and by the time he’d got back from the bar the entertainment had pretty much finished.

Every single meal we had to hunt down a table, clear the table and get our own cutlery, rarely got a drink without finding one of the staff to ask for one then being made to feel like a hinderance. Never saw a table get cleared then laid again just full restaurant of used messy tables.
No aircon in the restaurant so sat sweating whilst doing the hotels job for them.

Sunbeds are all grubby and loads of broken ones. There’s tubs round the pool to put empty cups and plates in and they’re never cleared, one of them didn’t get emptied for a full 24 hours.

Snack bar is abysmal, getting a drink during the day is usually a 20 minute wait.

All the sofas and seats are stained don’t look like they’ve ever been cleaned.

Life guards make the rules up as the go along one day you’re not allowed inflatables then the next you aren’t, only one slide was working for the duration of the holiday.

Only positive was the animation team and kids club, and that there was always plenty of Sunbeds.

All the positive reviews seem to be from the adult only section. The reviews have been mentioning this hotel is understaffed for months and they haven’t bothered to do anything about it, complaining to the hotel does nothing, they tell you there’s 3 people working the bar when there’s clearly only 1 and you’ve just waiting 45 minutes for a drink.

Please don’t waste your money.

Amazing experience with Costa team tonight! We really enjoyed the show. Well done, guys!!!Thanks for this experience!

We relly enjoy the animaccion team, without them the hotel will not be the same. Big big up to Costa Coffee

Lovely rooms and pool but rest is below standard. Food choice limited, dirty tables, weak WiFi, drinks queues are awful dsy & night

Amazing time.
Great hotel.
Good food.
Rooms were good
Bar staff Chus & Ariana in adults only section (Los Jameos) were amazing.
Played a great selection of music and very friendly and funny.
A+++++++

We saved all year for this trip to Lanzarote, but sadly the pool was so cold we couldn’t use it. On top of that, the service was frustratingly slow. We often waited far too long for tables and drinks, which really took away from the whole experience. Don’t waste your money coming here.

Back from a one week all inclusive holiday booked via Jet2 holidays.
We’ll start with the positives - staff friendly and pool area pleasant.
Now the negatives - communal areas, furniture, stained damaged and dirty, sun loungers uncomfortable and filthy, long queues at pool bar and evening bar, main restaurant not air conditioned, long waits at lunch and dinner to be served a drink, witnessed families complaining about undercooked chicken so beware, one of our party had diarrhoea & vomiting for last 3 days of holiday. Smoke alarm in room was beeping through the night, night reception staff told my husband to just take the alarm off the ceiling as no one available to help! No WiFi or tv working in rooms. The patio furniture of the rooms dirty and stained . This falls well short of the level you expect for 4 star hotel service- if you haven’t already booked look elsewhere, this is the worst hotel we have ever stayed in.

Would recommend staying here. They cater for everyone . The staff are first class & totally disagree with other complaints about the food in the restaurant in their reviews. The food was very varied & catered well with all 3 meals every day . Great quality 10/10
Looking forward to coming back here in the not too distant future.

Family of four, two teenage boys.
We are on day two. If I could speak with myself 10 months ago. I would definitely not of booked this holiday/hotel. If you want to pay for poor service and food this is the hotel for you. On arrival we went for a late dinner (not that late), it was left overs!, food was cold and sparce. Then we went to the main hotel bar for a drink after waiting 50 minutes, (no air con) no joke to be served, we discovered hardly any of our cocktails or favourite spirits were included in all inclusive. I wont go into the rest of the experience today, other than the food is very average and the service is very slow. The rooms are nice!
We normally book with Jet 2 all inclusive at least 4 star hotels but this is definitely what we paid for.
For all the hardworking people out there that are looking and paying for a great experience please trust me this isn't one!!

Was a lovely hotel and adult food area was excellent and staff was lovely. The family restaurant area was mad and far too busy and the food was cold. I cannot really fault anything else as everything was really good. The only fault was we needed to keep our room on and willing to pay for it but the lass on reception who clearly shouldn’t be in that line of work as not only was she scruffy with half attempt bleached blonde hair and short of a wash was rude unpleasant and not even willing to help. We had a 2 year old baby and a blind person who required daily requirement and her answer was “NO” you can try booking a room on internet along with lots of other rude things and she may as well just walked away and it was like a scene from David Williams “ computer said no” so if your staying here “ AVOID HER” she’s far too rude. Apart from that it was a lovely stay.

We’re half way through our holiday and, most importantly, our children are having a brilliant time. The pools are lovely, the splash pad is fantastic for younger children with four little slides that keep both our 2 and 4-year-old entertained for hours, and the larger slides into the main pool are great fun too. The animation team work incredibly hard and do a great job keeping children entertained, and the kids’ club is excellent. Even if your children are too young to be left there, parents can stay with them so they can still enjoy the soft play, colouring and activities. My only concern is that the entrance gate to the kids’ club is constantly left open, so we never feel comfortable leaving our children unattended.

The hotel has some good facilities, and the staff are generally friendly and welcoming. However, there are enough issues that I don’t feel this is a genuine 4-star hotel.

We arrive just after midnight with a very tired 4-year-old and 2-year-old. We’ve requested a cot through TUI well in advance, but there isn’t one in the room. We have no choice but to have our 2-year-old sleep in our bed for the first night. When we ask at reception the following morning, they confirm they are aware of the request but simply say it will be brought to the room “at some point,” which isn’t exactly reassuring.

The biggest frustration throughout the holiday is getting a drink. Around the pool during the day and at the evening bar, there is almost always a queue of 15–20 people because only one person is serving the entire very long bar. It means spending a significant amount of time queuing instead of enjoying the holiday. This really feels like a management issue, because there are plenty of staff around during meals, clearing tables and tidying away, but no one seems to be deployed to the bars where guests are trying to get drinks. For an all-inclusive hotel, that means people simply aren’t able to make proper use of the drinks they have paid for. At lunch and dinner, guests aren’t allowed to help themselves from the soft drink machines because it’s table service, which seems completely unnecessary. Most of the staff (not all, but certainly the majority) act as though asking for a drink at the start of the meal is an inconvenience. Asking for a second drink is usually pointless – more than once we are told it will be brought over, only for it never to arrive. For a family-friendly all-inclusive hotel, the drinks service is easily the weakest part of the experience.

The food is also disappointing. While it is generally well cooked, there is very little variety and lunch and dinner are almost identical from one day to the next. After a few days it becomes very repetitive.

We also feel the room description is misleading. It advertises a “separate living and bedroom area”, which suggests there will be two distinct spaces. In reality, it’s just one room with a sofa and a TV. As the sofa has to be made up as a bed to accommodate the number of guests the room is advertised to sleep, there isn’t really a separate living area at all.

Housekeeping is inconsistent. The glass recycling bins around the pool are constantly overflowing, even first thing in the morning, suggesting they aren’t being emptied at the end of each day. On one occasion we leave all of our towels in the shower to be replaced, but housekeeping rehangs at least two of the used towels and only provides two fresh ones, which seems very odd for a family of four.

Overall, we are enjoying our holiday because the facilities for children are genuinely very good, and our kids are having an amazing time. However, the hotel falls short of what I’d expect from a 4-star property. The bars are woefully understaffed, and management really needs to look at how staff are deployed, because the queues and lack of bar staff are preventing guests from making proper use of the all-inclusive drinks. It is baffling to see plenty of staff busy during meals while the bars are left short-handed. With better staffing levels, improved food variety and more attention to the smaller details, this hotel could be much better, but in its current state I don’t think it lives up to its 4-star rating.

The hotel has some good facilities, and the staff were generally friendly and welcoming. However, there were enough issues that I don’t feel this is a genuine 4-star hotel.

We arrived just after midnight with a very tired 4-year-old and 2-year-old. We’d requested a cot through TUI well in advance, but there wasn’t one in the room. We had no choice but to have our 2-year-old sleep in our bed for the first night. When we asked at reception the following morning, they confirmed they were aware of the request but simply said it would be brought to the room “at some point,” which wasn’t exactly reassuring.

The biggest frustration throughout the holiday was getting a drink. Around the pool during the day and at the evening bar, there was almost always a queue of 15–20 people because only one person was serving the entire (very long) bar. It meant spending a significant amount of time queuing instead of enjoying the holiday. At lunch and dinner, guests aren’t allowed to help themselves from the soft drink machines because it’s table service, which seemed completely unnecessary. Most of the staff (not all, but certainly the majority) acted as though asking for a drink at the start of the meal was an inconvenience. Asking for a second drink was usually pointless – more than once we were told it would be brought over, only for it never to arrive. For a family-friendly all-inclusive hotel, the drinks service was easily the weakest part of the experience.

The food was also disappointing. While it was generally well cooked, there was very little variety and lunch and dinner were almost identical from one day to the next. After a few days it became very repetitive.

We also felt the room description was misleading. It advertised a “separate living and bedroom area”, which suggested there would be two distinct spaces. In reality, it’s just one room with a sofa and a TV. As the sofa had to be made up as a bed to accommodate the number of guests the room is advertised to sleep, there wasn’t really a separate living area at all.

Housekeeping was inconsistent. The glass recycling bins around the pool were constantly overflowing, even first thing in the morning, suggesting they weren’t being emptied at the end of each day. On one occasion we left all of our towels in the shower to be replaced, but housekeeping rehung at least two of the used towels and only provided two fresh ones, which seemed very odd for a family of four.

Overall, we had a good holiday and, most importantly, our children had a brilliant time. The pools are lovely, the splash pad is fantastic for younger children with four little slides that kept both our 2 and 4-year-old entertained for hours, and the larger slides into the main pool are great fun too. The animation team work incredibly hard and do a great job keeping children entertained, and the kids’ club is excellent. Even if your children are too young to be left there, parents can stay with them so they can still enjoy the soft play, colouring and activities. My only concern was that the entrance gate to the kids’ club was constantly left open, so we never felt comfortable leaving our children unattended.

The hotel has some good facilities, and the staff were generally friendly and welcoming. However, there were enough issues that I don’t feel this is a genuine 4-star hotel.

We arrived just after midnight with a very tired 4-year-old and 2-year-old. We’d requested a cot through TUI well in advance, but there wasn’t one in the room. We had no choice but to have our 2-year-old sleep in our bed for the first night. When we asked at reception the following morning, they confirmed they were aware of the request but simply said it would be brought to the room “at some point,” which wasn’t exactly reassuring.

The biggest frustration throughout the holiday was getting a drink. Around the pool during the day and at the evening bar, there was almost always a queue of 15–20 people because only one person was serving the entire very long bar. It meant spending a significant amount of time queuing instead of enjoying the holiday. This really feels like a management issue, because there were plenty of staff around during meals, clearing tables and tidying away, but no one seemed to be deployed to the bars where guests were trying to get drinks. For an all-inclusive hotel, that meant people simply weren’t able to make proper use of the drinks they had paid for. At lunch and dinner, guests aren’t allowed to help themselves from the soft drink machines because it’s table service, which seemed completely unnecessary. Most of the staff (not all, but certainly the majority) acted as though asking for a drink at the start of the meal was an inconvenience. Asking for a second drink was usually pointless – more than once we were told it would be brought over, only for it never to arrive. For a family-friendly all-inclusive hotel, the drinks service was easily the weakest part of the experience.

The food was also disappointing. While it was generally well cooked, there was very little variety and lunch and dinner were almost identical from one day to the next. After a few days it became very repetitive.

We also felt the room description was misleading. It advertised a “separate living and bedroom area”, which suggested there would be two distinct spaces. In reality, it’s just one room with a sofa and a TV. As the sofa had to be made up as a bed to accommodate the number of guests the room is advertised to sleep, there wasn’t really a separate living area at all.

Housekeeping was inconsistent. The glass recycling bins around the pool were constantly overflowing, even first thing in the morning, suggesting they weren’t being emptied at the end of each day. On one occasion we left all of our towels in the shower to be replaced, but housekeeping rehung at least two of the used towels and only provided two fresh ones, which seemed very odd for a family of four.

Overall, we enjoyed our holiday because the facilities for children are genuinely very good, and our kids had an amazing time. However, the hotel falls short of what I’d expect from a 4-star property. The bars were woefully understaffed, and management really needs to look at how staff are deployed, because the queues and lack of bar staff were preventing guests from making proper use of the all-inclusive drinks. It was baffling to see plenty of staff busy during meals while the bars were left short-handed. With better staffing levels, improved food variety and more attention to the smaller details, this hotel could be much better, but in its current state I don’t think it lives up to its 4-star rating.

I stayed here with my 2 children for 1 week on an all inclusive basis. This is a nice hotel which deserves its 4 stars. We booked direct, and saved money by doing so. Hotel is clean, well maintained. No sunbed wars, lots of beds available all day with umbrellas. Good choice of food for adults, although my children didnt venture beyond the chips. Location is good, a 15 min walk into Playa Blanca, but same walk back has a slight incline, taxis cheap though, 4 euro would get you back. Daytime entertainment very good, kids enjoyed the water polo etc in pool. Spa is lovely, myself and my daughter had a nice back massage.
Rooms cleaned daily, beds changed once per the 7 day stay. 2 litre water left in room daily, fridge useless!. Coffee machine (Nespresso) is good. only 4 pods given though.

A couple of negatives: no airconditioning in buffet restaurant, nor in theatre, or in bar area. This meant that when we finished eating we removed ourselves outside as was too hot. therefore I cant comment on entertainment at evening as we couldnt see/hear it. In addition, the cocktails available on AI were very limited. I also found that there was a delay in getting tables cleared - dont get me wrong, there were clean tables available, but I like to be close to the food to limit my walking with plates (disabled), and i found it hard to get a cleared/newly set table.

People are dirty! not the hotel's fault, but why cant people bring their drink cups back to supplied bins at the pool area?? I stayed in a hotel once where if you didnt return your cup you didnt/couldnt get another drink, this hotel needs to employ some kinda policy to help with the cleaning.

I would return, however the AC issue in the communal areas was a put off.

I’m truly gobsmacked that this is a 4 star and that Jet2 will even keep this hotel on its books. We came all inclusive. We’ve been here 4 days and so far have only been able to eat breakfast once and would only eat toast or pancakes, I wouldn’t dare eat lunch or dinner here. They don’t clean the tables for more to sit down and eat, some have complained of undercooked food and the pool bar, well there is only one person cooking then they leave to a unmanned brasserie, the tables are never cleaned and it’s basic chips and yukky sausage. There isn’t any decent fruit and the bars are managed by 1 person. In the evening you’re waiting 45 mins in the queue for a drink- tables are never cleaned by waiters. We’ve seen cockroaches around the area including the pool. We’re at the point of just wanting to go home and not even bother waiting to be moved hotels. You’d get better food in prison! I’m not even a fussy eater and nor is the rest of my family, we would eat the same each night if it meant the place was clean! Something the restaurants are NOT! There are no reps in the hotel either unless you’ve complained which doesn’t appear many people do and they just get on with it, after still spending so much money- the same as what better hotels would charge.

After reading some of the reviews, I was a little worried, but I can say this place is not as bad as the reviews. We took the adults only option, ok the hotel is more focused on families, but TBH we spent most of our time in the families side and it was absolutely fine, no trouble getting sun beds waiting for drinks was not a problem it was very quick. The food was ok, if you want a more of a quiet place to eat the upstairs restaurant is the place to go, and the lunch down at the adult only pool is very good. Moan time, we took the opportunity to eat at the steak restaurant, the staff was very nice and was always happy to help, only thing is we got a vegetarian burger and a Angus burger and they was both burnt,we could not eat them but that was the only problem I had on my stay, would definitely advise repellent as I got so many bites on my leg we counted 30 from my first day. Big shout out to the guest liaison manager Maliek (sorry if spelt wrong) this guy was buzzing around making sure everyone was happy nothing was to much trouble and felt very welcome. And costa one of the ents team freindly and welcoming. Over all we had a very pleasant stay thank you.

Recommendation more entertaining aimed for adults.