The AC Gran Canaria is located in a 26 floor tower that pretty much dominates and spoils the skyline of this part of the city of Las Palmas, but the good news is that when you are inside the tower you don't see it yourself! Instead you het a wonderful view from your room and large balcony across the city and to both sides of the peninsula (the harbour and the beach). Rooms are very modern and comfortable, with wooden floors and nice soft beds. Bathroom is done with dark stone and glass and is of excellent quality. Airconditioning quiet and adjustable, and it does not turn off when you leave your room and remove the key card from the power switch!

The hotel has no parking pacility of its own and parking on the street is near impossible, but there are several public garages nearby costing around 15 euros per day. The cities main beach is only 5 minutes walking, as is the large and modern shopping mall on the harbour area. Staying in the capital rather than in the tourists resorts in the South of the island has as a benefit that you arse surrounded by Spanish people and atmosphere. The island is small enough (and the coastal highways good enough) to be able to reach the other side of the island in 45 minutes. I would certainly recommend staying in Las Palmas, and the AC hotel is one of your best choices there!

The AC is your classic business hotel: anonymous, minimalist and functional. It's part of a chain that raves about its new hotels in Milan or wherever in its own magazine and publishes non-sequitor interviews with the likes of Jodie Foster. It's low on character, high
on convenience, the staff wear black and don't smile much.

None of these are negatives. This is a solid place to stay. It's the tallest building in Las Palmas and almost all rooms above, say, the fifth floor will have an excellent view (see photos).

The rooftop pool (possibly the biggest selling point) was closed and the gym was a bit odd but none of this was particularly irritating, really. The AC is OK, just OK.

Breakfast (extra cost for us) was a decent spread if you got there early enough, though staff weren't exactly forthcoming with the coffee
refills.

Location could be a blessing or a curse. Up at the top end of town, it's absolutely perfect for WOMAD Canarias if you happen to be in town
for that (as we were) - it overlooks the venue. For shopping, the
big Mesa y Lopez street is a 15-20 minute walk. Las Canteras beach is a steady 10 minutes.

For culture and history fans, the location isn't anywhere near Las Palmas' old town districts - La Vegueta and Triana - so you'll need to catch a very reasonably-priced, sweaty cab down there. The city doesn't make a big deal about them, but they're quiet areas filled with really lovely colonial architecture. Indeed, Christopher Columbus
started his whole 1492 thing from here.

The hotel is well located, minutes from the beach, over the road from a shopping centre with food court and in the north of las palmas, near plenty of bus routes. All rooms have a balcony and the rooms are very clean, modern in style and comfortable (good quality furnishings). The only oddity was the way the water from the shower leaked over the bathroom floor - solved however by using one of the main towels on the floor pressed up against the outside corner of the bath! The rooms was cleaned to perfection every day (including replacing said towel!). You have control over your own air con - including turning it off if not required. The free mini bar is restocked each day with water, fanta, coca cola, and beer and the fridge is large enough to add a few of your own items if desired. The hotel also has mini safes through reception which are also free of charge. Reception is friendly with enough English to communicate if you don't speak Spanish (we don't). With so many other eateries in the area, we did not try the hotel restaurant but it looked like it had a great view, as does the pool area. Most guests at the hotel are Spanish business people. The hotel is not geared up to tourist requests like booking island tours - and indeed the whole of Las Palmas tends to be a Spanish holiday destination rather than an English one (but hey that's why we loved it). However, we booked a great one-day island tour through an agent in the South of the Island (worth seeing but 3 hours is ample to absorb the concrete structure, sand dunes, and burnt brits although the promenade around the light house at the point is pleasant. The agency was Viajes Islas Canarias tours and their email is [--] or local phone number [--]. They certainly spoke German, English and Spanish. Back in Las Palmas, we particularly enjoyed eating at the Mexican restaurant called Viva Zapata at la naval 4 (walk north along beach promenade and it's right at the NH hotel on the front and almost immediately on your right. There is plenty to do in the city, easy access to other towns on local buses and even a good science museum just round the corner from the AC.

We went to Gran Canaria for our honeymoon. The hotel is not quite suitable for tourists. It is really nice with big rooms, clean and modern and A FREE MINIBAR, but it accomodates people who travel for business rather than tourists. We stayed there for a week and we were really pleased and excited with this hotel, as we chose to book it by reading the reviews in tripadvisor. The last day our flight was leaving really late at night, so we asked for a late check out. First they said it was ok and that even if this was impossible they will arrange a room for us in order to change etc. Unfortunately, when the day arrived not only they refuse to give us a room but they made us to change in the gym's toilets as they could not do anything else.We were really tired and angry with their attitude as they did not seem to care at all, despite the fact that we stayed in this hotel for one week!We left the hotel with bad memories as we did not expect they would have treat us in this way.