Sandos Papagayo

We are currently here and in the middle of our 3rd visit and, if anything, it's even better than before. Goodness knows how anyone rates this below 4 stars but, having said that, we have never visited in peak season. Are there things to improve? Yes but that's only our opinion. They have introduced a policy of not reserving sun beds efore 9am. Absolutely brilliant. Trouble is, they don't enforce it. We are early risers and go for breakfast as soon as it opens at 8am. We can see beds reserved with towels at that time with no one in sight and they are in the prime locations. Our view is that, if you have a policy, enforce it. Most people are abiding by it and the rule breakers will soon learn. Secondly, being early risers, we also retire early. Starting the entertainment at 10pm is too late as far as we are concerned. Finally, water should be available by the pools all the time. When it is 26°C from 10am it is not acceptable for water to not be available until the bars open at 11. In a 20 year old hotel certain things are a bit tired and there is no sign of ongoing maintenance. Where we stayed last year in Los Pocillos they were redecorating, non-stop. If they want this hotel to stay at the top of my shopping list they need to start replacing poolside tiles etc as an ongoing activity.

Our third visit, since our first in December 2022 and again in September 2023, so we have now experienced the hotel over 3 different months. It was certainly hotter in July, but fortunately there was a cooling wind most of the time, which made it bearable. There are wide ranging opinions of Royal Elite, but from our point of view, it certainly is worth the extra £25 or so per person per night. We have found the staff to be extremely friendly and helpful and were surprised about recent negative comments concerning Reception. We have always enjoyed a great relationship with the staff on Reception, and in July the service we received from Ylenia and her colleagues was first class. Another really nice member of staff is John(Jhon is his Colombian name!) who manages the pool bar. He is a great asset to the hotel and is very popular with all his guests. It’s always difficult to mention other star members of staff, but Erica,Ana and their colleagues in the Royal Elite restaurant give wonderful service. We have spoken to Carlos, the Manager, several times, and he has always been very approachable and helpful. So, we are looking forward to our next visit, hopefully in December.

Another stay in this hotel. Stayed for one week. Did the elite package. Room was ok had a few a problems with the shower,safe and bathroom door handle went to reception all problems sorted very quickly. Bed was really comfortable, cleaning of bedrooms was ok did the basics. Food was good always found something to eat. Did book the Mexican and Asian very good enjoyed both worth a go and it’s something different to try instead of the restaurant.We ate in the snack bar for lunch enjoyed it the cook was amazing always on the go making sure pizzas chips burgers etc were cooked and ready for you 10 out 10 the this gentleman. Pool areas could have done with a mop.staff pleasant. Animation team are very good always something going on if you wanted to join in. Entertainment was good really enjoyed the one saxophone player. Well worth a stay. We will be returning to this hotel again had another great holiday..

Honest review from a recent stay at the Sandos, this in my opinion is NOT A 4 star hotel and more of a 3 star establishment. Positives: location and views from the hotel demonstrate how beautiful lanzorate is, 10 out of 10 . All inclusive package for kids was great, lots of treats for the little ones. Staff and animation team all seemed to love their job and happy to please guests. Newly refurbished bar and snack bar was great for day drinks and food. Negatives: Our room was in a very tired state and desperate of a good clean and maintenance throughout. There was several public toilets and communal areas that where in disrepair, loose tiles, blinking lights, flaking paintwork, hand dryers not working, just all round tired and in need of some attention. Whilst the majority of the staff were extremely friendly a few seemed like they hated being there. The food was extremely repetitive and as other reviewers have mentioned pork and fish are always on offer. I would suggest that there are more toast machines for the breakfast as there is always such a big wait for these. Towards the end of our stay we noticed more people were staying at the hotel, making all of the areas so busy and difficult to get seated. This goes for most areas! The bar, the dining hall and around the pool!!! The reserving of sunbeds around the pool is just ridiculous! We noticed that most of them were reserved before the hotels 9am rule and people won’t be on them for hours! We even seen people lying on towels on the grass and on hard floors, which is just not acceptable for a “4 star hotel” when you have paid a lot of money to be there. There should be enough sunbeds for all of the guests. I think out of our 10 day stay we managed to get a sunbed for just 3 of those days. We ended up going to the surrounding beaches just so our children could go in the water. The entertainment was very hit and miss. It started so late and never on time which by this point our children were getting tired and bored of waiting. It is hard to recommend this hotel but if there was a push to improve the above I would I think that the Sandos would be a gem.

Initial impressions were that the hotel was massive it has a military style operation to clean the place top to bottom and generally they do this flawlessly. Watching them mop the foyer shows how much this hotel spends on cleaning. My overall rating was positive, I don’t feel it’s star rating is rated high enough however there is the following issues. The snack bar that’s open from 11pm onwards that toastie machine is awfully slow. The entertainment is questionable at times. We had a guy on that absolutely loved himself a saxophone player that managed to clear half the room. The other galf the room just spent time shouting and speaking to each other because that was more entertaining than him. If your in charge of the entertainment PLEASE watch the audience reaction too see if it engages people. The restaurant Mexico / Chinese. Was poor extremely horrible selection of food. I was asked if I wanted to try some Chinese cooking wine that generally is used in the cooking process and not for drinking and smelt like vinegar. I turned this down. The app did not work properly because the room number was so long like H 10 101 or something. The luggage room was too small and over flowing. The pool stats hadn’t been checked for more than 3-4 months prior to my arrival and when brought up with management I was reinsured that the chlorine was at the correct levels and that the pool team would complete the sign as per their policy daily to notify guests that the pool is safe. Chlorine on my visit was not smelt at all during the visit which is unusual for a pool. After using the pool I became quite unwell and got a chest infection on holiday which wasted a full day and then my partner got the same. This is what prompted me to ask and check. NEVER GET IN A POOL THAT YOU CANNOT SMELL CHLORINE IN. The English version of the pool sign does not make any sense in English. Some parts are okay but “it is healthy to use sun cream” would be an example of a translation error for “ it is advisable to use sun cream to protect your health” there were much worse examples. The pool lifeguards have unfortunately been tasked with emptying bins tidying up and putting away sun beds. This means your child has no lifeguard protection whilst at the hotel pool. In most countries the role is taken seriously and the lifeguard cannot deviate from being only a lifeguard until they are given a break every so often to retain vigilance. The pool was really cold most days 18/22 which is just too chilly. A supplementary heater could be provided in one of the pools to at least cheer guests up when it’s cold. The staff are very funny and cheerful. The managers however look very stressed. The toilets are extremely stuffy and hot inside I’m the toilet cubicles outside the main canteen had “questionable” staining to its walls a sign and the floor which remained for the full stay and was not cleaned. Someone must have enjoyed the toilets on more than one occasion. The food v

Wow! What an incredible holiday. We stayed at Sandos for 1 week and the amount of fun we’ve had as a family was truly memorable. The hotel is beautiful. On arrival the receptionists helped us navigate to our room with a map and also booked us into the two restaurants, Mexican and Asian, so we didn’t miss out due to high demand. The hotel itself is extremely clean the room is very spacious with espresso machine which was nice and with beautiful sea views. House keeping was also very neat and tidy fresh towels and supplies with body wash and shampoo and conditioner. The buffet was incredible, so much to choose from every night and children tried almost everything it was all delicious. The staff are all very friendly saying hello. The beach is amazing for snorkelling so many fish to see. It was also my husband’s birthday and we celebrated with champagne, cakes and a sing song with the animation team it was a memory we will cherish. The best part about our stay was the outstanding, highly professional animation team. Games and competitions throughout the day for adults and children including the evening performances and certificates, so much fun. Ramy an incredible entertainer with so much charisma. Paula has the biggest heart and is so funny. Rauls loves a joke and he is truly a great friend. Ozi has a big place in our hearts, as a family we can’t thank you enough for the love and entertainment you have given us over the week, a gentleman and a legend! We are so grateful for all of you making our holiday so special. If we could give more then 5 stars we would. We are already booking for next summer. Thank you to everyone at Sandi’s papagayo. Love Hollie, Colin, Poppy and Matilda X

Visited here twice last year in regular rooms and this time went royal elite as it wasn’t a big difference in price as we always pay for the seaview and safe anyway so you get these in with the price on royal elite . We had a room this time in block C and it was the same type of room that we had had previously but there was a stocked fridge , extra amenities in the bathroom and a bottle of champagne and gift of some local jams. The pool towel was already in your room and there was bathrobes which you don’t get in the regular rooms . The royal elite restaurant I found was much better than the normal restaurant as it was quieter and a more chilled out experience . It was nice to get served your drinks and the staff seemed more attentive in here. The food was the same as the main restaurant but just more chilled out , less queues etc. At breakfast you could get omelettes made fresh for you and there was a good choice of breads and no massive queue for the toaster like in the normal restaurant . At dinner time they would make fresh pasta for you and there was always a carvery meat and some great desserts. The 2 bars for royal elite were great , they were comfortable and chilled out and you could pour all the spirits yourself and had bottles of beer, wine, soft drinks etc in fridges so avoided the big queues in the canario bar. The only thing missing was a bit of an atmosphere in here so we still went to watch the shows on an evening . The pool area still has a big lack of parasols , it seems to be getting better up the top pool where they are replacing the old style beds and seems to be some newer parasols up there but round the adult pool and on the sun terraces in front of the sea there are hardly any and it still needs a big scrub , every morning there are cigarette ends , straws etc on the tiles so that is a big annoyance. We loved the bus to the town everyday as it’s quick and runs like clockwork but wish the times were different as it is at very weird times . We enjoyed our trip here this time and really recommend royal elite for a more chilled out holiday .

We looked at other hotels and resorts before choosing to come back as it still offers value for money. We were on the Royal Elite package and this gives more options in terms of areas to sit and chill and breakfast and dinner offered a much calmer and enjoyable atmosphere. This still is a good four star hotel; yes there are areas that need upgrading but this looks like it’s part of a rolling programme. We found all staff to be friendly and approachable. We are still here and as from yesterday, reserving of sun-beds was not allowed before 9 am and pool towels were removed - leaflets were distributed on Saturday to let everyone know. The only gripe is the lack of cleaning around the pool areas. I did speak to reception and the adult pool area was cleaned the day after, with a bit more cleaning the day after that and then no further cleaning, which was disappointing. Food wise, we found there was a good choice and it was very tasty. We found the Mexican and Asian had improved from last year and really enjoyed them both. The on tap wine in the main restaurant could be improved. Overall, we have had an excellent holiday and we will come back. Thank you Papagyo for the chilled holiday.

We really enjoyed this family holiday, myself my partner and our child (1.5yrs) and my 2 parents. The food was amazing every night, great choice, healthy and all sorts, we couldn’t get booked into the Asian night as was fully booked but the hotel rooms were fully booked up. Good shade for the baby, the room looking out the sea views was so peaceful and the view was amazing. The walk down the promenade to the marina was around 20/25 mins pushing the buggy and letting the baby walk every so often but could be quicker. Entertainment was good and the baby/child shows were also really good. All in all a really lovely place with kind and friendly staff, great food and the room was also amazing with a very comfortable bed. Showers were also good. If there was 1 thing I could say they could improve it would be the child’s park. If they could add more stuff to that park it would be even better but still didn’t bother us as was so many more things other to do also and was still 5* stay for us. The kids pool was such a good depth with good shade around if you have a toddler etc. the highchair were always spotless clean the wine was good the beer was good the juice and coffee all really lovely the fruit and salad always so fresh. Would happily go back and recommend to a family everytime. Jet2 were also really good but this review mainly for the hotel of course.