Compostela Beach Resort

We stayed here as a last minute booking, through the Thomas Cook website, which referred to it as Compostela Beach Golf and not Compostela Beach Golf 2. At least the taxi driver seemed to know where to take us!

Having previously stayed at Las Americas and Los Cristianos, this place is ideal to walk to either as it's about mid-way but set back from the beach in front of the golf course. Both of the above resorts were within 10 mins walk. As was the main shopping centre, and the beaches.

For a family of four staying in a one bed apartment, the accommodation was absolutely fine. Beds good and rooms big enough not to feel confined.

Walls are thin, expect to hear other guests. Apartment was looking a little tired, but could not fault it for cleanliness. A maid visited most days.

Pool excellent, clean, water warm and poolside beds plentiful. Early one morning the whole area was even pressure washed with a detergent.

Staff friendly and spoke good English. It would appear that while we stayed, Norwegians and Scandinavians were in the majority.

Kitchen had a cooker, kettle, toaster and fridge/freezer, but no microwave oven.

We stayed in a front, road facing, ground floor apartment. Though it could be noisy from the traffic, you saw some life and the sun was on the balcony from dawn to dusk. Had we have had a ground floor golf course facing apartment it may have felt very isolated and certainly wouldn't have had the sun as we did.

Entertainment was minimal, but adequate considering we were out of season. For children there's a play area, small pool, and access to the internet.

Shopping on site, or from across the road could be expensive. We found an underground supermarket across/around the scrubland and down the hill opposite a large electrical store to be the place the locals frequented. It was a lot cheaper and had a much better product range. It also had some steps that led to the beach.

Never used the restaurant, so cannot comment other than it looked good and was always in use by others.

We checked in at the Compostela 3 at about 10.00pm and were surprised to find there was nowhere to purchase a meal. Our apartment was a 2 bed roomed penthouse and we found this to be clean on our arrival.

However the apartment was only cleaned 3 times during our 7 night stay. We ate in the buffet restaurant twice on the second occasion the food was cold and was not replenished when finished. The Chef was standing at reception chatting to a waiter totally oblivious to the cold and disappearing food. When I complained to reception and asked for the food beverage manager I was told that he was unavailable for the next 30 minutes.

When he (the manager) finally appeared the chef did get his finger out and started to bring out more food. The service in the poolside bar was really poor, staff were surly, unhelpful and rude. When a customer ordered a vodka and coke and wanted to sit at the bar to drink it he was told he couldn't do so and was told to sit outside.

The gentleman had actually told the bar staff that he wanted to sit out of the sun because he was hot. It seemed apparent during our stay that the Compostela 3 was being run to accommodate staff and not guests. The complex was about a 20 minute walk into Playa and the taxi drivers seemed to be able to charge what they liked. We were charged between 4 and 8 Euros for the same trip into Playa.

I certainly would not return to this complex due to the poor service and the bad attitude of the staff who seemed to think that the guests were there to fit in around them and not visa versa.

This is a 4-star aparthotel, which adjoins the golf course - between Playa de las Americas and Los Christianos. The name of the Compostela Beach Resort is misleading. The resort is nowhere near the beach and anyone who wants the beach must use a taxi or take a 15 minute walk.

The premises are fairly new. Our bedroom looked out over the golf course, with a lovely outlook and distant views of the sea. The accommodation was very comfortable and our apartment was clean and spacious, with a separate bedroom, lounge and fully equipped kitchen.

The buffet restaurant serves breakfasts, lunches and dinners - with an impressive choice of dishes. The food quality was generally very good. Guests can opt for self-catering, half-board or all-inclusive terms. We chose half-board.

There was nothing seriously wrong with this hotel and our holiday was good value for money. However, various aspects of our holiday were sub-standard for a 4-star establishment.

Several members of the hotel staff would benefit from attendance at charm school. One of the receptionists was particularly discourteous. After check-in, I returned to the reception desk to obtain the safe key for our apartment. The receptionist was too busy to attend to my requirements and told me that to come back later, because the staff were changing shifts.

I subsequently discovered that she had also failed to issue a meal ticket, to show that we had paid for half-board accommodation. This caused problems when we arrived at the restaurant for dinner. The head waiter turned us away from the restaurant - and told us to go back to reception.

We drank wine with our evening meals. When the wine-waiter took our order, he asked for our room number. We assumed he would charge the cost of the wine to our room - which is normal practice in 4-star hotels. Consequently, we were highly embarrassed when the head waiter accosted us on the second evening and accused us of failing to pay for our wine.

Tiles around the swimming pools were highly glazed. We felt this was dangerous, because the tiles became very slippery, when wet.

There were notices in the swimming pool area, with a long list of rules. Guests were not allowed to listen to radios etc., in case the noise disturbed the other guests. However, the hotel's PA system played incessant music throughout the day - which seemed rather inconsistent.

However, our main concern concerned the "rip off culture" which pervaded the Compostela Beach Resort. The hotel charged 2-euros per day, for the use of a sun-bed. Prices in the bars were very expensive and we would have been very cross, if we had opted for all-inclusive terms - because many of the drinks involved a supplement.

There was an extensive car park which cost 3-euros per day. Not surprisingly, most guests left their cars outside on the roadway. The TV's in the apartments were fitted with coin meters, costing 1-euro per hour. Many of the TV channels on the list were unavailable.

This could have been a very good hotel. The basic half-board rate was very competitive and we did not allow the negative aspects to spoil our holiday. However, anybody contemplating a holiday at Compostela Beach Resort should be very wary of the expensive add-ons.