Hotel Rural El Mondalon

This hotel has very few services and very little staff. The staff that was there was very nice. They advertise having a restaurant on site, which is not true. It’s closed and has been for sometime which had learned after reading all of the reviews once we were already there. There is breakfast service from 8 to 10. It is strictly buffet, and below average compared to what we have experienced in the Canary islands and Spain. There is a great folder on hikes in the reception, but the reception was not open even once that we saw, except when we checked in. We had to call a number for them to check us in.. The room was dark and the desk lamp was broken. It open onto a terrace that was lovely, but had no sun most of the day. Fortunately, we were out hiking most days. Housekeepers are extremely nice, but they do not replace toilet paper and on our last day they did not replace towels but, oddly, left shower caps on our last day. The soap dispensers at the sink, and in the shower are very difficult to work and we could only get a drop at a time. Fortunately, we had our own shampoo and soap. This all seemed very odd for a 4 hotel. My sense was that the owner or manager was totally absent and had perhaps given up on the property. The one employee who seemed to be in charge and who was very nice was also the groundskeeper and mechanic as far as I could tell. It was well located for the hikes we were doing, but there are better options not far away.

A pleasant stay in a nice location. We enjoyed our stay but would not rush back if there were other options. A lovely room with good bathroom and powerful shower. Lots of good extras like tray with kettle and bottled water , fridge , safe in wardrobe , comfy beds. Good parking , nice dinner served in the restaurant and substantial breakfast. - just needs someone to get their eye back on the ball to get the product back up there. Most issues are quite fixable. Dusting attention needed in furnishings (difficult to get at bits) , varnishing and painting to spruce up wooden surfaces and walls etc. Wax the wardrobe doors and drawer runners to reduce creaking noise. New towels needed - also bathrobes past their best (however they were appreciated). I was looking forward to the pool but it was too cold to be fun - despite a massive array of solar panels the water temp was less than air temp at 19 degree C. We had a ground floor room with wooden ceiling which was lovely but sounds of footsteps and movement from upstairs were too much at times. Security : lots of locked gates everywhere - requiring the keycard - was fine but not really relaxing. We arrived by hire car however the local global bus stops outside - 1/2 hour from Las Palmas every 2 hours.

Accommodation was spacious, clean and comfortable. Plenty of hot water and a very comfortable bed. Tea and coffee making facilities don't get topped up and there was no milk. We managed to scrounge some UHT off reception but you may wish to stop in at the supermarket an the way from the airport. Plus bring your own tea bags with you. Unfortunately not as rural as we were hoping. This hotel is actually on the GC801 which, in addition to carrying lots of local traffic, is also a busy cut through during the morning and afternoon rush hours. Added to this it is immediately opposite a school, so you get the school run traffic too and the noise of the playgrounds, sports sessions and the wail of the siren announcing starting and finishing times of lessons and breaks. No immediate access to the surrounding countryside, so if you want to go for a hike you will need a hire car and a good map. Nothing to do on site, so you will need to get out and about. This will not be a beach holiday! Swimming pool is supposedly heated but only by solar power, so if like us you arrive during a period of unseasonably cool cloudy windy and wet weather the water will be too cold to swim in. Might have been better if they'd put the cover on the pool at night, but in the 7 nights we were there the pool cover was not used at all. We had intended to use the hotel restaurant every evening during our stay rather than venturing out in the dark but unfortunately that didn't work out. We arrived with our hire car from the airport late afternoon on the Monday, looking forward to settling in to the hotel and to having a leisurely evening in. No such luck: the restaurant is closed on Mondays! So we had to head out in the hire car in the dark to try to find somewhere else to eat. Then try to find our way back again (which took some time as we got lost several times!). The following evening at 6.00p.m. we booked a table for the hotel restaurant for 7.30 p.m.. At 7.30 we duly turned up only to be told that the restaurant didn't open until 8.00p.m.. In due course we were allowed to sit down. The menu is only available via a QR code that one is expected to scan with a Smart Phone. I do not have a Smart Phone so requested a paper version. There is no paper version available. Eventually we did manage to order but despite the restaurant being almost empty the service was abysmal. I received my food and had finished eating it 35 minutes before my wife was served her meal. By then we had given up caring and so gave up and went to bed. Needless to say, from then on we dined out away from the hotel every night! Once you learn your way about there are some good restaurants within easy reach... Bodegon Vandama is well worth tracking down and Restaurant Miranda is literally just up the road. We didn't appreciate just how busy this north-east corner of Gran Canaria is and will be looking for something rather more peaceful next time.