Hotel Rey Carlos

Kateryna Shkurenko

This hotel is very strange; its advantages end with a good location. I booked a single room based on the pictures on the website. But it turned out that the room I paid for was terrible, old, and smelly. I asked to be moved to a room I could live in, but at reception they told me I had chosen that room, even though the website had shown the correct pictures. They also asked me to pay an extra 15 euros for the move. I would have liked to have at least been moved to a decent room without the old, huge closets and smelly sofas. However, the new room, which cost an extra fee, was quite dirty. The sofa was covered in white stains, the dishes in the kitchen smelled strange, and the worst part was that when I went to the toilet and opened the lid, it was already dirty. It was simply outrageous. I strongly advise against staying here unless you are prepared to clean the entire room yourself upon check-in. I'd like to add a note about the lack of lighting in the hallways. All the rooms are located on one side of a long corridor, and the room numbers are written directly on the rooms themselves. However, there is no backlighting. I had to shine a flashlight to find my room. Considering the abundance of decorations and lanterns in the main lobby, it was very careless not to add lighting to the floors.

Mario Cortes

I recently stayed at Hotel Rey Carlos, and I honestly cannot believe how awful the experience was. Yes, the location is good and the pool area is decent — but that’s where the positives end. Everything else felt like the hotel simply doesn’t care. Our room was completely outdated. No microwave, the AC was broken, and the shower was honestly unusable. The water swung violently between scalding hot and freezing cold every few seconds. On top of that, the bathroom was filthy. It was clear nobody had bothered to check the room properly before guests arrived. But the absolute worst part — by far — was the customer service. One receptionist in particular, an older man with glasses named Manuel, made our stay miserable. I’ve travelled a lot, and I’ve never experienced someone so consistently rude, dismissive, and unprofessional. We were two people staying in a double room, but when we asked for a second set of keys, he flat-out refused. Not only that, he suggested the most ridiculous “solution”: that one of us should go upstairs, open the room, leave it unlocked, go back down to reception to return the key, and then go back up again. Completely unsafe, completely impractical, and delivered with a tone that made it feel like we were the problem for even asking. It didn’t stop there. When housekeeping forgot to leave clean towels, I went to reception to ask for some — and Manuel literally threw the towels at me without a single apology. The attitude was unbelievable. There’s also a huge sign at reception advertising late check-out, which we desperately needed because our flight wasn’t until later in the evening. When we tried to arrange it, every conversation was met with the same rude, dismissive attitude. We were told we had to come back at 9 a.m. on the day of check-out — something any organised hotel should be able to confirm well in advance. Then when 9 a.m. came, suddenly late check-out was impossible, but we were told we could at least shower before heading to the airport. When the time came and we asked about using that shower, Manuel acted like he’d never heard of such a thing and again treated us like we were being unreasonable for even asking. When I asked for his name — because at that point the behaviour was beyond unacceptable — he encouraged me to leave a review. This man clearly doesn’t care about guests, about service, or about representing the hotel. He shouldn’t be anywhere near a reception desk. Management needs to seriously rethink who they allow to interact with paying customers. And speaking of management: they love responding to negative reviews saying the hotel is “undergoing continuous improvement.” But a quick scroll through those same reviews will show you the truth — the same problems pop up again and again, especially complaints about customer service. Clearly nothing is actually improving, because Manuel is still behaving this way. At this point, I wouldn’t recommend this hotel to anyone. With so many other options nearby where staff actually treat guests with respect, there’s absolutely no reason to put yourself through what we experienced here. The location and the pool do not make up for the disrespect, the lack of basic hospitality, and the complete indifference from management about ongoing problems.

David Stewart

This was the worst hotel experience ever. Initial welcome grumpy (was only CA 8pm). Corridor to room in darkness, a/c wouldn't switch on, no cleaning stuff, not even wash-up liquid or sponge, no dish-cloth. Room not so clean and towels in shower had already been used, not replaced. No instructions card or booklet. When returned to reception, clerk was bad-tempered & rude. Tried to charge me , EUR 12/day for the safe, later I found it was 2! Whole place tatty and in need of deep clean and modernization. Then the shower flooded, lots of ugly material flowed out. All towels used to mop up. Tried twice to phone reception for help, refused. 2nd time he told me I was too late and there was no technico onsite. Could have said that first time ... eventually they said they would not do anything, not change my room or allow me to shower elsewhere. Shocking. A maid eventually appeared with more towels for the floor but refused to give me any for myself. On checkout I reported it again but the same guy who checked me in said they had no record of this. Avoid this place!

James Corker

I was quite hesitant about this hotel based on the heavy number of negative reviews, but having visited I really must say that I can't agree with the opinions of a lot of people reviewing this place Yes, the building itself is a little dated and perhaps needs a bit of a refresh especially the frontage painting and the corridors , however the pool area, reception, restaurant area and the rooms (basing this on a newer room) are absolutely fine for this price bracket. They won't blow you away with luxury but as a base for a week in GC they suited us perfectly - very spacious, well-equipped and clean. Air con was powerful enough to make the room actually cold if left on enough. Cleaning/towels/bedding was done every day and we certainly had no issues with these during our stay Breakfast was fine, maybe the English hot food offerings are a little uninspiring but go for the veg, fruit, meats and cheese, breads etc. and everything is fresh and tasty. We didn't have the evening meal so cannot comment Pool area is well looked after, with a little bar accessible by a bridge and with seating both on the 'island' and around the pool, and adequate sunbeds for use Location is great, within easy walking reach of the dune, Yumbo Centrum, and Playa Ingles - and right behind is the 'Cita' centre of shops/bars/restaurants. Nearby there are also several Italian/Indian/Mediterranean restaurants as well as others to cater for most palates 24-hour reception is always a bonus, checkout at midday was a nice touch as well - late checkout is available right up until 8PM if you're willing to pay. All the staff we met were polite and helpful, never abrupt or rude as some have said Would recommend, and will stay again if and when we're back in Gran Canaria

Paw Zen Von

Very friendly and helpful staff, a always smiling lady at the pool bar, and delicious breakfasts. The hotel was very peaceful and quiet. You could hear the music from the Cita Center, but we knew that because the hotel is on a main street. Our room, room 320, unfortunately, is remembered by Rey Carlos himself. The apartment definitely needs a complete renovation, especially replacing the beds and the sofa, which was so dirty that there were food remnants and someone's earrings under the pillows. We know the hotel has renovated rooms; we only stayed for four days, so I didn't want to move anymore. Next time I book a stay at this hotel, I definitely won't accept an apartment of this standard. Best regards to the hotel team, and see you in October.