H10 Rubicón Palace

Overall I would say this is somewhere between a 3 and 4 star hotel, not a 5. Some of the criticisms in recent reviews are definitely warranted and I dont think it justifies the high price.

I'll start with the good:

- Its a nice hotel in a fairly good location, not too far from the airport

- The reception area is very nice; it gives a great first impression of the place

- The piano bar is also very nice, the entertainment lounge is not bad either

- The buffet food on all inclusive is great. Some people may find it a bit 'samey'/repetitive but I loved it. For someone like me who likes a good selection of protein every meal it is ideal. Accompanying items like breads and other carbs are good also. Could probably do with more warm vegetable options. Desserts werent as good as other hotels I've stayed in but I saw that as not a bad thing (less temptation to eat too much sugar)

- The drinks are the best quality I've had on all inclusive. Great red wines, good quality beers (e.g. Estrella Damm), very nice cocktails, good brands as well not just local ones.

- Quite a nice large pool area with good loungers. The grounds generally were quite nice.

- There's a great little cafe close to the pool. It does fill up fast so its best to be there for when it opens.

Not so good:

- Rude reception staff. When we arrived near midnight there were two queues to check in. We finally reached the front of our queue, as the last people in it, and the female receptionist just walked off and went home! We had to join the back of the other queue and had another long wait then were dealt with quite rudely by the male receptionist who seemed to not speak English well, bluntly told us it was our fault the rooms had been done wrong and wouldnt fix it until the next day. We'd even emailed the hotel directly in advance to ensure they'd done it correctly and they assured us they had but evidently didnt bother. We arrived at the hotel around midnight but didnt get into our rooms until well after 1am.

- Freezing cold pools. As others have said, only one small pool is heated and therefore it is packed. You certainly cant swim properly in it. The cold pools are big, but hardly anyone was using it while we were there.

- Poor pool access. We partly booked this hotel, instead of the hotel we usually use in La Palma, because it looked like it would be better mobility-wise for my elderly Mother who was travelling with us. The images we saw of the hotel online made it look like they had numerous easy access/walk in points for the pools but there was actually only one, for a cold pool. She was unable to use the warm pool at all and since the others were so cold (certainly too cold for someone with heart issues to immerse themselves in safely) it meant she didnt have access to a pool she could use properly.

- Not great for people with poor mobility/the elderly. As I said, we booked this thinking it would be better than our regular hotel for my Mother who is in her 80s, based on information we read online. It actually was no better at all. It also didnt help that one of the only two small lifts for guests was broken the whole time so as she cant do stairs, she would often have to wait a long time to use the lift.

- Filthy floors indoors and outdoors. Never before have we had such dirty feet! Whether walking barefoot in our room or by the poolside, the soles of our feet were constantly black with dirt. We'd shower off in the evening, but a few steps in our room and they'd be dirty again.

- Overbooked. The first week of our stay was just about ok in terms of how full the hotel felt (outside of the very peak hours), but as soon as it hit July 1st and more Europeans arrived it was too busy. It went from us being able to get a table fairly easily in bars/restaurants most of the time and being served drinks quite quickly to not being able to get a table anywhere and waiting an age to ever have a member of staff come to take drinks orders. The drinks are all table service, they dont have self service like most all inclusive resorts. The waiting staff were all pretty good and friendly but when busy they were very understaffed.

- Disappointing Gym. While I know I'm in the minority, part of a good holiday for me is using a nice gym different to what I use at home. The photos of the gym make it look quite big (and this influenced me picking this hotel also) but its actually pretty small and as soon as there's more than 4 people wanting to use the weights section it becomes pretty difficult to do a good workout. It's not sufficient for the number of guests who want to use it.

- Activities could be better. Whilst I didnt use the activities, my son did and although he enjoyed them, there could have been more variety and the one time Volleyball (which is his favourite and he was looking forward to) was on in the 9 days we were there he turned up and the staff were not there so it didnt take place.

In terms of the resort location it was ok but not somewhere I'd necessarily seek out to go to again. There's a promenade and within about 20 minutes you get to a few bars, restaurants and shop. There's also a fairly nice beach with calm shallow water. Walk further on and you get to the marina area with more bars etc. but its all looks a bit run down and 1980s style. Its one of the less good areas of the Canaries that we've been to.

Overall we made the most of the stay, enjoyed ourselves and there were definitely things we liked about the hotel like I've listed above. If we hadnt paid a premium price then we'd be reasonably satisfied except for the pools being so cold. However at the price we paid and based on the photos and description we'd seen of everything we felt a bit mis-sold and were disappointed overall. It definitely didnt match up to the hotel in La Palma we usually use, which is about the same price but more like a proper 5 star resort.

service times on drinks needed to improve all waiting on staff need to be allowed to take your order to cut down waiting times at piano bar we were on the 1400 roo ms which has an exit gate for buggies for hotel staff and the screech and vibration from early morning till late evening in room is loud could do with maintenance check for a smoother and quieter operation this is our 3rd time here and standards need to be brought back up to this fondly remembered hotel

Hôtel classé 5* mais en comparaison aux prestations française, c’est plutôt un 4*. Le hall d’entrée met le paquet, on nous a demandé dès le check-in si on voulait upgrade notre chambre, nous avons refusé (nous avons réservé sur verychic chambre standard demi pension). Nous avons de suite fait demi tour à la réception pour finalement upgrader lorsque nous avons découvert la chambre standard vu sur les poubelles … 400€ en plus pour une vue latérale mer et vue piscine (bcp plus lumineuse tout de même). Les buffets sont très moyens pour un 5*. Lorsqu’on est en demi pension, pas d’option pour déjeuner mis à part le snack de la piscine. Plusieurs piscines dont une chauffée à 30 degrés (ppalement pour les enfants). Salle de sport sympa, thalasso également (une partie en travaux). Les espaces sont vastes, accès à la promenade de la plage direct. Attention, partie de l’île avec peu de restaurants et commerce (la supérette la plus proche est à 25’ à pieds). Pour une meilleure expérience, prendre chambre supérieure voire suite. Bon dans l’ensemble mais je m’attendais à mieux.

Puntos negativos:

1.La comida del bufet repetitivas, aburridas y mediocres, no corresponden a un 5 estrellas.
2. Las amahacas de la piscina … es una vergüenza como están de viejas …
3. No recogen los vasos y te los vas encontrando por todos lados tirados .. es asqueroso.
4. Pasan todos los días a estirar las sábanas y digo estirar porque es lo único que hacen. Ni te reponen ni limpian….

Puntos positivos:

1. El hall y el bar con mirador y vistas impresionantes.
2. Personal amable.
3. El complejo es bonito y grande.
4. El restaurante italiano me gustó.

I travelled in January to Rubicon Palace in a standard room etc... Which was actually lovely. This time however I upgraded to privilege and this made the holiday so much better. I had an amazing room with an amazing sea view. The a la carte restaurants were sublime and having access to the privilege pool was also superb. The service was even better than before with the staff being amazing as always.

The only thing which was negative was the English there who were happy to save and steal sunbeds, sometimes six at a go and then they would not come back for hours which is so selfish. Please can something be done about this like allocated sunbeds maybe because it is very stressful having to deal with the sunbed wars when we are already privileged.

I will of course be back as I loved it and want to be back relaxing there so will see you in January probably!