We have just returned from a 10 day stay at the Riu Arecas. We had booked this hotel to join my Cousin who is a Riu Hotel lover and we had never been to Tenerife or a Riu Hotel before.

We'd emailed Reception a couple of times before our visit and all enquiries were answered swiftly. On arrival, I have to say we weren't disappointed. The hotel was very welcoming and the foyer was impressive. We arrived earlier than expected but this didn't seem to be a problem as we were booked in quickly. They had a bell boy and luggage delivery service but rather than wait we chose to just move under our own steam.

Because the hotel rooms don't sleep more than 1 child we had to book a Suite and WOW was it worth it. The door opened into a large hall area off which was the bathroom (fantastic shower) Lounge and Bedroom. The lounge became the childrens bedroom and our room was so big it didn't matter that we'd lost it. Both rooms had TV's but they only had Spanish or German channels so we didn't bother with them. The master bedroom was huge and had a separate walk in wardrobe/dressing room and the biggest bed we'd ever seen; my Husband had to roll over 3 times from his side just to snuggle up to me on my side!! Both rooms had sliding doors that went onto the balcony, which was double the width of a regular balcony and even had sun beds - it was that big! We were on the 4th floor and overlooked the pool and outside bar with great views to the sea. It was such a great room, perfectly located in the hotel - it really was a real treat to have all that space - although we were paying for it!!

All the staff were more than helpful and polite. They all spoke good english and they loved the children. Meal times became good fun!

The food was great. As others have said it gets repetitive after a while but the quality is never anything but superb. Breakfasts were adequate, they had everything you could want...and some! I'll never quite understand the need to have ham, cheese & salad or yesterdays vegetables recooked for breakfast but believe me it gets eaten!?! They also serve cakes & doughnuts at breakfast (?) but this proved handy as we were half board we would bag one of these and a piece of fruit each so a hearty breakfast and those to snack on saw us through to evening meal. Dinner service was divided into a 6pm or 8pm sittings and you had to be booked into one of these, but this was done at the start and you kept that time & table every night (though they are flexible if you talk to the Head Waiter). The choice went from the salad bars, the cooking stations (the fresh fish was always amazing), the pasta/pizza bar, cheese & biscuits and deserts/ice cream bar. Food was always replenished swiftly.

The pool area was lovely and the waiting staff were great. Not sure if the pools were heated or not but we didn't have a problem especially on the hotter days. We didn't stray from the pool with the sloping entrance which was great for the children to run in and out of.

The entertainment staff were brilliant. For the first half of the hol the hotel was fairly quiet and the brilliant Camacho single handedly ran the schedule through the day AND the Mini Disco in the evening with only Saturdays off!! Then Eva arrived and a Mini Club started up for the kids twice a day too...my Daughter loved this. If you don't have children you still need to go watch the Mini Disco at 7.30pm just to try and catch the kids dancing to Chu-Chu-A. It's an action song and it is just hilarious to watch!

The adult entertainment is not so good. The house band is rubbish but to be honest we didn't hang about much after the Mini Disco as we either managed to get a short walk out of the kids or just went back to our Suite for the kids to have a play before bed. But that was fine for us!

I can't think of anything else to say about the hotel - we had a simply wonderful time and unfortunately came back to snow which made us want to be back there even more!

I would definately return.

We have just returned from the Hotel Arecas, having had a really good holiday there. It was our first visit to the Riu chain and we were very impressed. I am not a lover of hotel food and dining rooms, preferring to eat at different restaurants, but we ate there most evenings, the food was a lot better than any other hotels I have stayed in. A bit repetitive, but very good food.

Our room was at the side of the hotel with a partial sea view, it was very comfortable and kept extremely clean by the maids.

Having read the previous review from the lady who was disappointed, I have to agree that the hotel was at least 75% full of middle aged and elderly Germans, and so the staff did appear mostly geared up to them, but they were extremely helpful and friendly to us also. I couldnt find any fault at all with the staff.

The pool area is lovely, and peaceful. Nice pool bar serving drinks, and snacks during the lunch period. Yes, there were always those who put their towels down at dawn on the sunbeds (and the Brits were just as guilty as other races!) But we never had a problem getting beds, and the hotel was full.

On our check out we were unable to retain our room past 12 midday, but it was no problem as there were nice shower rooms to use to get changed.

The evening entertainment was a bit dire, the resident group "Capriccio", were, as others have commented, truly awful! But we found our own entertainment quite close by. Two bars, one just opposite the hotel on the main road called "Tiggy's", run by a nice British family. They had the usual quiz night/karaoke and it was very friendly in there.

Another place is "Oscars". It is just along the side road by the hotel, past the Chinese restaurant,down towards the beach, and you have to go downstairs to it. Run by a great Scots couple, Karen and Kevin, it is very popular with the local Brits. We spent three very pleasant nights in there. The home made food is excellent and makes a change to the hotel fare. The quiz night on Thursdays is something else, and not to be missed! They look after their customers very well and are really welcoming. Do give it a try.

About 10 or 15 minutes walk is the Playa del Duque. (Quite posh!) A superb beach with huge coconut umbrellas and gorgeous thick comfy sunbeds. Yes, it is a bit pricey (18.70 euros for 2 beds and a brolly), but well worth going to once at least.
Some nice places to eat and drink just behind the beach, and further along at the Plaza is a very modern shopping centre,
also with eating places. You wouldnt think it was near to Playa de las Americas, as it is worlds away!

All in all I would certainly recommend the Hotel Arecas if you are like me and dont like noisy places with hoards of children, but if you are young and want the nightlife then it wont be for you. I will certainly consider staying there again at this time of year.

We stayed only 3 nights in that hotel although we had booked for a whole week. It really was a nightmare. It was our 4th trip to Tenerife and we wanted to try a new hotel, what a mistake! First the hotel is packed with elderly German people so the staff hardly speaks english, and obviously we are of no interest whatsoever to them...but the worst were the rooms. We changed rooms 3 times!!! First we had booked-directly at the hotel- a sea view and didn't get one and had to wait for the following day to get a partial sea view one. That night we were woken up at 3 by the bin trucks picking up all the glass during 20 min. Crazy!! When we complained we were told that they didn't know about that!!!! So they suggested another room, again overlooking the car park etc on the ground floor so we got tired and checked out. The staff were not helpful at all and really didn't care. We went to the H10 palace next door and it was very good value for money, good food, quite new clean hotel in large gardens.

This was our fourth stay at this hotel. Whilst I agree with some of the other reviewers that the towels & soft furnishings have seen better days, and maybe the food could be a little better. The staff more than make up for these things. Nothing is a problem to them, they're courteous, and helpful at all times, any problems are dealt with immediatly. The hotel is clean, comfortable & friendly, if you have any requests they'll do the best to accomodate you.
If we have a complaint, it's about the resident group Capriccio, they are dire!!. They play the same German popular songs night after night, don't think they've ever heard of disco or rock or anythink that would make people want to get up and dance.
That said, we're looking forward to staying at the Riu Arecas again next year.