Robinson Esquinzo Playa - All Inclusive

I’m going to mention the vegan bit first because we are and that has to be forefront when booking holidays. We came last year and the vegan station for breakfast changed most days. This year it’s the same lukewarm breakfast every day. One of those is much too spicy for breakfast. Do not bother looking for a cooked breakfast as they don’t do tofu-egg or vegan sausages (yet they offer eggs every way). If you eat meat and eggs you have 40 choices for breakfast, if you’re vegan you have 4 (but nothing hot). Lunchtime there is an amazing curry at the vegan section with the same condiments each day. There is also a poke bowl option but you have to cover the floor for get all the options in the dish- but well worth it. The vegan desert has only one option- ever. No icecream, no sorbet, no vegan cream, no vegan custard. But also remember, if you want the cake, get it quick as they only put one out and it quickly disappears. Dinner time (last year offered 2 different vegan options, this year you only get the one!!!). There will be another type of vegan curry along similar lines to lunchtime. They have a lovely looking fresh pasta section but the bolognaise only ever offers meat, they do meat burgers with no variation. They could do so much more with just a little effort. It’s so frustrating when there is so much food about and so little choice for us. The alternative milks are out in the mornings for breakfast, but at lunch and dinner time they are in a tiny fridge at the front of the restaurant. They run out of soya milk regularly, so you have to ask and wait for someone to bring more to you. I gave up bothering today so used the almond milk but it had separated so couldn’t drink it. The hotel is well run, clean and tidy. Rooms cleaned daily. Robinson is a German company so everything is in German including all the leaflets, classes and signage. Pity the paperwork we were given wasn’t in English as that would have helped. They have a pool for children which is never used and a pool for swimming lengths in which is full of children playing. Because parents don’t go in the small pool, the children hardly go in. It’s a steep walk down to the beach but lovely once there to get in the sea. I thought this would have been one of our annual holidays but as the vegan options have actually diminished since last year, sadly this will be our last time here.

The venue is very spacious. They offer many great sports activities such as tennis, volleyball, table tennis etc. the facilities are in great shape! The food is good. I would recommend this place specially for families.

Perfect service! Felt like we were coming home! Beautiful view from the room. Great food choice for vegetarians and vegans also. The gym has everything an athlete needs. We watched two evening shows and both of them were great, just the right length and very entertaining.

IMPORTANT TO READ BEFORE YOU BOOK. This hotel was chosen on the back of advice from a TUI in store travel agent. I was looking for a holiday to recover from a bad 6 months and was seeking total relaxation and solitude if I needed it . I was extremely shocked and disappointed to find on arrival that I had basically been dropped into what is essentially a German hotel. 98% of the guests at my time of visiting were Germans (they were as surprised to see me there as I was in staying there - but possibly not as distraught!! The TUI reps visiting the hotel could not believe that I had been advised to go to this hotel as they say it is widely known throughout TUI that the Robinson chain of hotels etc worldwide are really for the Germans). The signage was all in German - instructions and information - shows and entertainment were all in German. A lot of the main dishes in the buffet restaurant were in German and they could not easily translate what the meat or flavourings were when I asked as they were served by German's or Spanish people who knew mainly snippets of German rather than English. The management structure was German. I missed out on several dining experiences as I did not see they were going on as I could not read the advertisements. Yes, a lot of Germans have a very good command of the English language but are not always inclined to use it entertaining one of the only English guests staying. There were a few extremely friendly ones. In addition to this they have a particular "concept" for dining whereby most tables are laid for 8 people. This is quite a squash when all seated and of course that meant I was then forced to be spending every meal time in complete silence being ignored or trying to make small talk with Germans. To be honest it was their holiday also so they should not be forced to be speaking in English for my sake. There were very few smaller tables (if they were they were in amongst the family dining which quite frankly was like feeding time at the zoo I asked if I could reserve a small table somewhere but you are only able to reserve tables if you buy their more expensive wine! It did not matter one bit how uncomfortable I was, they would not budge. The hotel on my arrival misplaced my luggage for up to 2 hours - I will not detail in full the conversations I had with German managers regarding how this was handled and how they did not seem to value me as a guest when I complained - in short they were very defensive and rude. Don't get me on the manner of the Guest Services manager when I was talking to her; looking past me interacting facially with other guests during our conversation and then breaking into German to speak with the rep about the situation when her English was perfectly fine and therefore precluded me from the discussion which was so rude. They had offered a (half) bottle of wine which I declined as I was all inclusive and had all the wine I needed and I also declined the offer of one of t

Myself and my partner chose this hotel due to its close proximity to the beach, number of pools and large list of activities. To begin, the hotel itself was faultless, we cannot point out negatives. The facilities are brilliant. However, I would say 99% of the guests are German and this hotel is predominantly aimed towards German visitors. All of the entertainment is German, thus we were unable to understand anything. The activities are all spoken in German, so again we could not join in. Also, the majority of writing is also in German, for example in the labels in the restaurant and most of the information leaflets. Unfortunately this was a huge dampener on our holiday as we were unable to fully enjoy ourselves due to only speaking English. In addition, it was often a struggle to communicate with the bar staff as they often misunderstood what we were saying. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the holiday itself, however we will not return due it it’s lack of English inclusion. On a positive note, a huge shoutout to Ben the photographer at CASACLICK, he was brilliant!!

Our second time in this hotel, arrived with friends who we had recommended the hotel to and were feeling positive. THE GOOD: Food - is still absolutely the best quality anywhere on the island that I have encountered (spent a year here). I haven’t found anywhere to match it - fillet / rib eye steak / salmon / king prawns / monkfish / speciality dishes / all in abundance - (though the quality of the base ingredients was notably poorer during the second week). Drinks - all good, quality cocktails, very nice bar staff, pleasant, helpful and efficient with little queuing. There is a fabulous Englishman working around Guest Services and I regret not asking his name, he is a huge credit to himself and the hotel, incredibly helpful, personable, knowledgeable, he goes above and beyond, knows about the extensive tropical planting scheme in the gardens and he really deserves a special mention. Sailing - we came again to make use of the beach catamarans specifically, the weather was again not conducive despite our significant experience. The lack of active on-the-water rescue boats / delays we observed in reaching capsized craft (compared to our usual Neilson sailing holidays) deterred us from venturing out in the unpredictable winds during our time here. THE NOT SO GOOD: Our visit was marred by a number of things - The room - wrote a nice note to the hotel in advance - requesting if possible to be accommodated as previously with things that were important to our holiday - close as possible to the Adult Zone and sauna complex, to be west facing over the barranco and quietly located. It was as though the hotel had been deliberately awkward and set out to allocate exactly the opposite - they couldn’t have done better at allocating exactly what we did not want. Tried to renegotiate with reception before even going to the room but without success (due to the room’s obvious poor location relative to where we would be spending our days in the adult zone) On arrival in the “superior room” we just spent 1.5 hours sitting miserably in absolute silence, unbelieving that we would spend our time here in the room allocated - overlooked, east facing, dark, oppressive, zero view and not where you would choose to spend 2 weeks: Requested west facing - were allocated east facing Requested quiet location - noisy and sleep disturbance every night Requested close to the adult spa section, (travel companion aged 75)- but located distantly After 5 days feeling miserable in the room and at the location, we tried negotiating to move rooms to be closer to our friends and the good number of empty rooms alongside them close to spa. Reception said they would phone us if a move were possible - no call was received. Staff had previously said that the hotel was full. There were a very reasonable number of very obviously unoccupied shuttered rooms… Also trying to figure out what superior means in terms of room type - because it didnt feel superior, though the beds were

We had na amazing 14 days in this property. Please don't be discourage with being only guests who do not speak German. 99% of guest are from Germany, however our choice of staying here was intentional. We did not find any difficulties communicating in English everywhere we went. Our 6 years old son had a blast with the Robi Club, which by the way is the best club we have ever seen. Different activities everyday, and they will take the kids out and not only sit in one place. Club starts from 9am and finish at 9pm. You can even book meals, so your little ones can have a food together with other kids. Amazing. Which other hotel does that ? Big shout out to Sahand, Iris and Chiara who were always speaking and translating to our son. Food was brilliant as well. Lot of choices between meat and fish. Small pizzas beaked on the spot as well. Nice cocktails and not like other properties we stayed in Spain, when all of them were coming from tap. Teresa was our favourite bar staff who always looked after us. You need to try Paulaner from tap is you are a beer person. Reception team very good. Massive kudos to Hilke the Front of House Manager who allocated great room with view before our arrival. I cant praise David enough as well who sort out the car and advise us on all available options of doctors and hospital as we had an emergency with my pregnant wife. Thank you again for everything. Our family had a great stay thanks to you all.

We have stayed at three other all inclusive hotels in this resort. While many aspects of the hotel are very good, there are some issues you should be aware of. The TUI brochure promises a very long list of activities. At other hotels the nationality mix has been 50/50 German/English and all classes and activities were accessible to both. Here it is rather different. The hotel is completely German run. All the non-spanish staff were German, all the signs, leaflets and info was in German, we had to translate all the food labels in the restaurant. This part was fairly easy to overcome. But then please be aware that all the evening entertainment is in German, all the Yoga and fitness classes are in German, and all the social activities are in German. We were turned away from a meditation class as they could not provide it in English and unless you are fluent in German you will feel rather isolated and excluded from most of what goes on. We rather feel like we booked to have lots of facilities but unlike other hotels were not able to access them. TUI should make it clear that unlike other hotels everything is provided only in German. All staff were friendly and the hotel was excellent in many ways but we feel very let down by TUI as we did not get what was promised. Complained to them but they are not interested and were fobbed off with "there is an English speaking rep available".