Abora Catarina by Lopesan Hotels

Sigutis Kvietkutis

It was our second stay at Abora Catarina, and unfortunately it was much worse than our first visit in 2023. It is difficult to understand how a hotel can decline so much in just three years. The biggest problem was the air conditioning. In reality, there is almost no effective air conditioning in the hotel. Common areas, including the dining area, corridors and elevators, were not cooled at all. With +31°C outside, the temperature in the restaurant was around +28°C. I asked the staff several times to turn on the air conditioning, but nothing changed. Guests were sweating during meals, and the staff did not seem to care. The rooms were not much better. I checked the temperature with my own thermometer and it was constantly +25–26°C, even with the air conditioning set to maximum. The room controller appears to be only decorative, as changing the temperature setting makes no difference. We changed rooms, but the problem remained. The cooling system seems to be centrally controlled and does not allow guests to adjust the temperature. Another issue is the bar drinks. The spirits are still heavily diluted, the same problem I mentioned in my 2023 review. Even with an all-inclusive package, we had to buy our own drinks from nearby supermarkets because the quality of the alcoholic beverages was unacceptable. The food quality has also declined. Breakfast is repetitive, which was already the case in 2023, but lunch and dinner choices have become worse. There is often only one meat option, while many other dishes are vegetarian or fish-based and remain untouched. Guests regularly had to wait 10–15 minutes for freshly prepared meat dishes because they disappeared immediately. Overall, our second stay at Abora Catarina was a big disappointment. Compared to 2023, the hotel has clearly declined in comfort, food quality and overall standards.

Stanislav Milkov

The staff are the absolute selling point! From the reception staff, through the cleaning, restaurant staff, bartenders and most of all the animation team. The animation team does their absolute utmost and their efforts make the holiday and time very pleasant. The rooms are comfortable but dated. The beds are already out of shape and other facilities in the room can be renovated. Definitely the insulation must be improved as you can hear everything from outside. Food is a hit or a miss. Some dishes are absolutely delicious some are very mediocre. It really depends on the theme of the night for dinner per se. Dessert bar is subpar a 4 star hotel. The snack bars are all purely fast food, which is also very poor quality. The coffee is quite poor, unless you buy one, but the alcoholic drinks are good! Very rich choice for drinks, including cocktails made in person.

Darren McCann

We stayed at Abora Catarina with my wife and our 22-month-old daughter and had a fantastic holiday from start to finish. We stayed in room 242, which was very spacious and perfect for a family. The room had a large terrace with a balcony and a whirlpool jacuzzi, which was a real highlight and great for relaxing. The location of the hotel is excellent. It’s right next to the famous Maspalomas dunes and close to plenty of food options, supermarkets, and shopping centres, all within walking distance, which made getting around very easy. The food was very good throughout our stay, and we always found something tasty to enjoy. We were especially impressed with how quickly food was replenished, meaning everything was always fresh. The same applied to the snack bar – it was constantly being restocked, so the food was always hot and enjoyable. A special mention has to go to the animation team. They were excellent – always friendly, energetic, and particularly amazing with our young daughter. They spent time with her on many occasions, which really meant a lot to us as parents. They organised fun activities during the day and still managed to put on top-class shows in the evening. A big salute to the animation team for the fantastic job they do. We also really enjoyed the pool areas, and our daughter absolutely loved the splash park – it was definitely one of her favourite parts of the holiday. Overall, we had a wonderful stay at Abora Catarina and wouldn’t hesitate to return. We will definitely be back.

Karl

We arrived on Sunday and overall had a great experience at this hotel. Initially, we weren’t too happy with the room we were given, so we asked if any upgrades were available. The receptionist (I believe her name was Luna) was extremely helpful and checked availability for us. She explained that nothing was free that day but asked us to return the next day after check-out time. When we came back, she wasn’t on shift, but she had already left detailed notes on our booking, which made everything seamless. The team then gave us keys to view two alternative rooms and choose what suited us best. The room we chose was excellent, a lovely open terrace with extended glass balcony views, plus a shower and jacuzzi, which really made the stay feel special. My partner and daughter were very happy with the upgrade. The reception team really stood out. Staff like Luna, Lydia, Tommy, and Oscar were all incredibly professional, welcoming, and genuinely helpful. They went above and beyond from recommending restaurants to helping with bookings and taxis. If I had my own hotel business, I would definitely hire all of the staff here. They are extremely professional and a real asset to the company. The management should be proud to have a team like this. Overall, a great stay with excellent service, and I would definitely recommend it.

Andrew Millward

As other reviews have said, the staff are absolutely the highlight of this hotel. Unfortunately there's a few things that let it down. Firstly, the air conditioning in some of the rooms are absolutely shocking. We left our spare key card in all day so the air con would stay on and it still didn't cool the room down. After speaking to some other guests this seems to be the same for the majority of rooms. We also came back to the room half way through our stay and the air con was making the room smell awful. We mentioned this to reception and it's a known issue. We found it colder outside with the doors open than using the air con (if you open the doors it automatically cuts off the air con). Secondly, the rules they have around the pools don't really make sense. In the main pool you're not allowed any inflatables, no toys, no balls etc. We had our small beach ball taken off us and the life guard told us the pool is for people to relax, not for playing games. But this is also the same pool the animation team uses for all the games like volleyball and water polo etc? Along with all the animation team diving in the pools splashing everyone and throwing kids about. Don't get me wrong, our kids loved playing with the animation team but they hated they couldn't take their own ball in or small inflatables. I understand lylos etc as they take up a lot of space. But things like a small ball to play catch in the water shouldn't be banned. This meant we spent most of our time in the slide pool where they do allow toys and inflatables, but it did mean we missed out on all the entertainment. This didn't just include the games in the pool, but they have the games along the pool like darts, Jenga, poker etc. There is zero entertainment at the pool with the slides. If the main pool is meant to be used for relaxing surely it makes sense to move the entertainment to the pool with slides? It blew my mind they do things like get a huge floating mat out for people to run across and dive in to the main pool but stop you even taking a ball in. After being told we couldn't use our beach ball I went into the on site shop and got a small ball the same size as a tennis ball yet still we got told we couldn't use it. The shop sells all sorts of inflatables and toys yet unless you're in the slide pool you can't use any of it. Those are the two main issues we had with the resort. That said, the staff are all very friendly, the animation team (the little time we spent with them) were great with the kids. The food is fine and there's a huge variety so someone can always find something. They have themed nights as well to mix things up so it's not too repetitive as well. The beach closest to the resort is all sand dunes which are roped off so you can't access them (they have security keeping an eye out). However, they offer a free bus service to a gorgeous beach about 5 minutes away by bus. Something we took advantage of that can be easily missed, you can opt out to have your room cleaned every day if you don't need it. If you choose to do this they give you some vouchers for premium drinks that aren't included in the all inclusive. Well worth doing if your room doesn't need a clean. There's plenty of drink options already in the all inclusive package but if you want to upgrade to cover all drinks it's 14 euros per person per day. We didn't find this necessary as we had enough options for us but some did choose to upgrade. It's worth noting though if you want to upgrade you have to do it as a room which means you have to upgrade the kids despite them not getting any additional options. Overall the hotel is "fine". It's just the little things that let it down. If the above isn't an issue for you then you'll have a great time. We just struggled to sleep in the heat, and we missed out on almost all the entertainment as we had to use the slide pools where they have zero entertainment.