Gavimar Ariel Chico Club and Resort

Pat Russ

Starting off with the rooms, the rooms were nice, clean and tidy. Cleaners came in everyday to clean the hotel and keep it well presented.Now the entertainment, the entertainment team was AMAZING they were great with kids, especially Tamy, David and Jose. The shows from the entertainment were enjoyable and for everyone. Live singers, magic shows and magic shows all were amazing. Location was amazing no more than 3 minutes from the beach and many shops near by. Service in the hotel was amazing! Receptionists were very helpful and nice. I would recommend this to anyone reading this!

Paul Jones

This is a very difficult review for me to write as my family are still struggling 10 months on from an incident that happened at this hotel. We visited in July last year which was our second visit after previously staying in 2024. We chose it for its location as its centrally based, but more importantly we chose it as I’d read other reviews saying the chef and kitchen staff were great looking after people with food allergies (cooking food separate etc) The first year was great, we met Damian the head of house and Fernando the chef who looked after my 8 year old son, made sure he always had something to eat, whether that be chicken and chips, a beef burger etc, they even gave him some jelly which he loved) So of course we had no hesitation returning last year and putting our trust in the kitchen team once again. However on our second night of our 14 day holiday we nearly lost our son to a severe allergic reaction where he had a anaphylactic reaction and was rushed to hospital. Fernando the chef had offered to make our son a pancake, we asked what was in it and he explained there was no allergens, but within a couple of mouthfuls, our son had stomach ache, was sleepy as his oxygen levels dropped and then he was being sick. We had to inject his EpiPen into him whilst calling for an ambulance. The police arrived as well and Fernando shrugged his shoulders as to what had happened but in all the panic before they and the ambulance arrived, he told us he had given our sons pancake mixture to chef Ali to cook it unbeknown to us, it was cooked on a communal hot plate where only earlier in the evening, eggs, pancakes with wheat in etc had all been cooked on! The food had been severely cross contaminated and we could have lost our son due to this negligence. We put our trust in Fernando to cook his food separately as he has always done before and If we had known otherwise, of course we wouldn’t have let our son have a single bite of that pancake. The blame was then put on some caramel sauce that my son had put on his pancake as it said may contain on the label. (Pretty much every food item you get these days will say the same thing) We returned home broken as a family and struggling to make sense of it all, but determined to find out and prove what had happened was gross negligence on the hotels part. We brought the caramel sauce home with us and paid privately to have our son tested against it to rule it out. No surprise to see he was absolutely fine! It was cross contamination that caused his reaction and nothing else. I emailed the hotel to say I wanted a thorough investigation as I didn’t want another child or family to go through what we went through that night. At first the hotel were transparent and sent a list of the ingredients that were in the pancake (all things my son was allowed to have) They said that Fernando was the sole person that cooked his food and it was always cooked separately, however due to personal reasons he now no longer works at the hotel. Convenient timing hey. I explained that Fernando told us that night that Chef Ali cooked the food that night and it wasn’t in fact cooked separately and instead on the communal hot plate. Since then not one response. They know they made a massive mistake and of course as a company they don’t want to admit it. This wasn’t about compensation before anyone thinks this way, this is a hotel we loved, the staff were great and we wanted to return. But the only way we could ever do this, is if the hotel admitted there mistake, assured it would never happen again, and took some accountability! We are still feeling the impact of that night 10 months on. My wife suffered ptsd as a result of it, My son the same. He cried on and off after school for months about being different and his allergies, Said he feels weak and when he talks about the only fear he has in life, it’s the fear of something happening to him due to his allergies. Gavimar you are to blame for this, I only hope you never let this happen again.

Ashley van Jaarsveld

Hotel is an absolute joke. We came here expecting a fun family holiday, only to be told that no floats or balls are allowed anywhere near the pool. The lifeguard is nowhere to be seen most of the time, but suddenly appears just to tell guests what they can’t do. Meanwhile, the hotel entertainment team are allowed to play water polo in the same pool, which shows the double standards clearly. If you are planning a fun family holiday, avoid this hotel. The management is a joke and the whole experience was a complete waste of money. We have been on family holidays like this for years and have never experienced rules this ridiculous. I will definitely never visit this hotel chain again. Absolute disappointment from start to finish.

Lynne Young

Just returned from a week's stay. We had booked a studio double but it was nothing like the pictures and far from a 3 star standard. Windows and doors were rotting, furniture was crumbling apart, air conditioning leaking, the bin didn't even fit in the cupboard which meant you kept banging into the open door, mirrors marked, mould around shower and generally in great need of modernisation. It seems to be luck of the draw if you get an ok or a really bad room, but personally, I think customers should be made aware of this before booking. Our room over looked the crazy golf which, like our room is just an accident waiting to happen, exposed screws, broken wood, ripped surface etc and really needs to either be repair or removed. Location was good though, 2 minutes walk to the cala gran beach. Food was hit and miss, breakfast was good, other meals lacked flavour and ingredients were clearly of the lowest quality, but for the most part edible. Flies often frequented the salad bar so that was quite off putting. Kids slushies were just coloured liquid, no ice. Staff were good and gardens very well kept. Pool rules seem a little strict, I understand no large inflatables, but to restrict kids playing with small balls takes it a bit too far. Unlikely to return, had the room been priced accordingly, or of a better standard to meet the price paid I may have thought different.

Carol-anne Beard

Room clean enough but not suitable for disabled person .Food is terrible and cold .Entertainment was a total stables.Lack of smoking area .Pool opened at 10 and closed at 6pm .Lifeguard was a joke sat in the shade on his phone all day .Reception staff rude and unhelpful. Location is good near shops and restaurants. Beds are rock hard .Clean towels daily but room only cleaned 1 in a week.