We stayed at the Bitacora, Playa las Americas in Tenerife and it is our 4th time here and we were a party of 4 adults (47, 51, 70 & 71) and 2 teenagers (16 & 17). My mum and dad have been here about 20 times and were disappointed as it has gone downhill since being AI.

It has good and bad

The good:
The rooms are of a lovely size and clean, the maid service is brilliant and A1 to them.

The pool and sunbeds are in a nice setting and it seemed as if there was enough sunbeds but more umbrellas are needed but we managed to find spare umbrellas if you walked around and carried them back to your sunbeds.

They have a wonderful childrens play area.

The food was ok, plenty of choice but not 4 **** and we all thought the evening meal was bland, overcooked and tough but we are comparing it to when we it was HB and the food was far superior.

The lounge area is nice but noticed the air conditioning was not on (mid July)

The entertainment was good and bad we enjoyed the beetles, enigma and the eagles however Saturday night was appalling with the entertainment team doing some rubbish and the woman singer Linda was appalling on one of the nights.

THE BAD

I was not going to write a review as I thought our incident was just a one off but after reading about the dart in the girls chin I thought I should write as it seemed all too familiar.

First we witnessed Chicco (although didn't know his name then as it was our 1st day) approach a teenage girl who was sunbathing on her front and Chicco came up behind and alongside her with a stereo blaring and put it right next to her ear.

But then on our 1st day here our 16 year old daughter was standing between the sunbeds and the pool in her bikini talking to her friend who was in the pool and an entertainment man "Chicco" pushed her from behind towards the pool stairs. She fell in the pool and hit her leg on the side. We did not see it happen but there were witnesses all around the pool and a man with his daughter came over to her to see if she was alright and his wife shouted over to her husband that Chicco was out of order pushing her like that. I am truly grateful to this couple for helping our daughter. Our daughter came and told us and I spoke to the couple to get facts. We then reported it to the Manager who arranged a meeting with the Entertainment Manager and "Chicco". We then went back to the manager the next day to find out what had happened and Chicco had been told not to do it again and that was it.

In all fairness to the manager he said his hands are tied because he contracts in the entertainment team and he is not responsible for who is employed. However I am sure the manager could of requested that Chicco no longer work at the Bitacora.

The wait for evening bar / waiter drinks is horrendous and you are waiting for a long time with only 1-3 waiters placing orders for the whole bar area.

Overall:

On saying that I like it here. We are not too fussed about the entertainment as we love walks and the food was bearable and no one was seriously ill from eating it” I can get sunbeds and umbrellas and it was a super relaxing holiday and I can wait for my drinks in fact we had a laugh about how long we waited.

Would I return "yes" on a deal

Price paid for 2 rooms, 4 adults and 9 nights in mid July 2013 just under £3000

Stayed at this hotel in 2009 and enjoyed it so much we decided to return. Unfortunately this hotel has now introduced All Inclusive. I feel that this has ruined the hotel as there was a stag party turned up and also people were allowing their children to run riot day and night. This has never happened before.

All Inclusive is a good things in most cases but it can attract the wrong types. This hotel usually has a lot of older guests and repeat visitors whom we spoke to and they said they will not return.

I am gutted for this hotel as we would have returned but not whilst it is All inclusive.

Hotel lovely and clean, food delicious and something for everyone. Great location. Only 2 drawbacks is people were putting towels out and reserving sunbeds from 6am, if you hadn't got your towel out by 7.30am you had no chance of getting a bed, not sure if this was because it was half term and busy or if its always like this, but when your on holiday you don't want to be getting up at the crack of dawn.

Only other issue is if you are all inclusive this stops at midday on day of departure and no-one advises you of this, you find out the hard way - even if you didn't get there until early hours you still have your AI stopped at midday no matter what time your return flight is. Other than that hotel great.

This is our second time in this hotel and it is just as nice as the last time we were here 4yrs ago.The rooms are kept clean and tidy everyday with fresh towels and linen.The food in this hotel is to die for there is something different every night and you dont need nothing to eat all day after the breakfast coz there is so much to choose from. The only problem with the hotel was the sunbeds every morning when I opened the curtains there were towels on all the beds at 8.00. The hotel decided that anyone who had a towel on the beds before 8.00 had them removed and if there was no-one on the beds by 11.00 they would come back and remove the towels which made this much better. The hotel in in a lovely area which is spotless and near beaches. I would recommend this hotel to families with young childred because there is so much for them to do.I dont no much about the evening entertainment as we went out every night but there was always something on at night.

We stayed at the Bitacora and were not disappointed.
The hotel is beautiful, but the rooms could benefit from a little decor updating, and maybe softer mattresses! Spacious rooms with nice balconies and bathrooms. The food in the restuarant was very nice, something for every taste, staff very polite and helpful. Pool area was very nice but the childrens pool was freezing. Mini golf needs updating also.
Great location and very clean area. Siam Park is a must as is Lora Park, although the bus journey is rather longer that specified. On the whole a great week with fab weather.

We could not have picked a better hotel and location. The reception staff were friendly and were always willing to give advice about the resort.

As for location this hotel is not far from most amenities. The bus stop is just around the corner or across the road depending which way you want to go.

The Hotel was spotlessly clean, our room was cleaned every day and we had fresh hand towels everyday and clean bath towels when we left them in the bath for the cleaning staff. The pool towels only cost 1 Euro per day and where soft and good quality.

The restaurant was very clean and the staff were friendly and helpful. The food was very varied and first class.

We did not see much of the entertainment in the hotel but what we did see was good.

We would certainly go back to the Bitacora and it really does deserve its 4 stars, really should be a 5.

we stayed at this hotel in aug 09 the room was large and cleaned every day with new towels etc only downside room may be a little outdated but so what! the hotrl is very central only 5/10 mins walk to beach shops etc.the staff were very polite and friendly apart from the lady in the play area!the food in the hotel was buffet type but with loads of choice.there is childrens mini disco etc then the kids can watch a film after,when the parents can then chill out!there are 3 pools one with a water slide which is great for the kids.1 would visit this hotel again.

Stayed in the Bitacora late july for 2 weeks with the mrs and two kids, 3 and 7.
Room was 4th floor overlooking dis-used parrot park with view towards PDLA. The parrot park wasted the view, it needs flattened and built on. We saw movement in there and some chap sleeping on a hammock, likely the owner, staying put for a good offer. Anyway, that was one of the big downsides of that room, the view. Superior rooms obliously have superior pool views. Worth the money, if we had it.
Hotel food was superb, best we'd had yet. We always stay 4* and the choices here surpassed anything we've had before. Very hard to criticise anything from the restaraunt. Very good frendly team in there.
Pool/daytime activities not in your face, but plentiful if you want to take part. Kids activites there if you want also. Dual pool arangment V. Good. Floaties and wild kids in 1, then the oldies pool to relax. Slide is long and adult friendly, and lands in kids pool. Kids pool is split, deep end(where slide ends) is adult waterpolo depth(and used for this) shallow is knee deep and infant friendly.
The pool areas are v clean and well maintained. Kids play areas round the parrot park west facing side of hotel consist of 2 ball pits (under 5s and over 5s), netball ring, archery, minigolf(in urgent need of a refurb) boules sandpit area, tennis courts / 5aside.
Evening entertainment was so so. 3 tennors were fab. everything else we saw poor. Eveing entertainment held in the inside bar hall. Airconditioning seemed non existent. Very uncomfortable in there early evening.
Male waiters seemed unhappy to serve at the bar, waitresses seemed ok. Just a point to note if your in a hurry for a beer. Happy hour, the only one in the hotel was 6pm - 7pm in the bar hall on the reception level. Pool/restaraunt on the lower level. 2 for 1 for 1 hour. Beers 3euros for 400mls. vodka/coke nearer the 5euros mark. In Los Chris, theres a few bars doing 1 euro pints.
Rooms are very dated. Old but quality furnishings. Rooms are very big. Even with 2 adults and 2 kids, they are still big.
In our 2 weeks we had cockroaches in the room maybe 3 or 4 times, not something you'd expect on the 4th floor. Reception sprayed the room after us telling them about the roaches. Didn't see them again. My biggest gripe of the whole 2 weeks was the fact i emailed the hotel prior to going on the dress code. The hotel replied saying men were allowed to wera 3/4 lenghth trousers to evening dinner. They changed this rule 1 week into our holiday and pulled me up on this. I complained to the assistant director and was allowed to wear what others were not for rest of the stay. Aircondition in rooms was superb, too cold infact. Airconditioning in public areas seemed non-existant. Cooler outside at times.
+ points on hotel are location, food, pools, aircon in rooms.
- points evening entertainment, roaches in rooms, airconditioning in public areas
we've been to tenerife 3 times before and likely not going back for a while. If we go back, this hotel would be near the top of the list.
If anyone considers going toi the bitacora, you'd be wise applying for a spring card of the spring hoels web-site prior to your visit. You register this with the hotel when checking in and from then on, everything you charge to room, is dicscounted by 15%, when you pay it. Big savings, you just need to get one before your visit. You also get your room till 6pm on day of checking out, if its available for free.

the hotel was brilliant!

the room was very clean and were cleaned every day.


there was lots of variety with the food, breakfast and evening meals were served buffet style with something different every night.

didn't really stay in to watch the entertainment but there was always something going on.

we had no problems with sunbeds and we didn't go to the pool area until 1-2 oclock everyday but there was plenty of space and spare beds.

would recommend this hotel to anyone and would not hesitate to return myself

Fabulous Hotel. Didn't want to come home.
The staff from reception through to waiters and bar staff were very friendly and sociable.

Food was good no complaints at all. Lots of choice, including deserts. Some of it was cooked to order, ie omelettes, fried eggs for breakfast and steak, pork etc at the evening sitting.

The location was ideal. Which ever direction you went in you were never far from all the attractions and amenities of the resort.

No pressure getting sunbeds in the morning. No one put towels out before 8am.

Most guests we spoke to are repeat visitors and I can see why.

The Animation staff were very good. Competitions and activities all day long. They are also very friendly.