I went here in the winter, and the poor weather that week may have skewed my view of the hotel and of Santa Cruz in general. The hotel is located in the new financial district of Santa Cruz. The location has an advantage in that it is near to the bus station and there is easy (if initially confusing) access to the Autopista.

The disadvantage is that you don't really feel quite part of the life of the city here. It is near the lido (not really feasible during the week I was there) and the architecturally-impressive Auditoria. It is also near to some buildings which are real eyesores such as two very ugly tower blocks, but to be fair Santa Cruz does have a mix of architecture going from characterful to extremely ugly and that's just the way it is.

There is a restaurant in the hotel but we did not use it. There is also a 'piano bar' but it's not someone tinkling the ivories on a piano, he's playing an electric organ and I thought this was a little bit cheesy. The bar is OK and service good, but not very atmospheric - the decor gives it a cold effect rather than cosy.

You notice the slightly cut-off feel at night if you are eating out. There are not many restaurants and bars in the vicinity. There is a little bar just a few doors away on the same street, but not open everyday, and most of the time we ended up eating and drinking in the shopping centre nearby - not El Corte Ingles but a nearby mall with a food court. The range of restaurants within the shopping centre were fine, but to a European, eating out in a mall regularly feels a little 'plastic', like you're not really getting a sense of the regular nightlife of the city.

Our room was very comfortable but a little dark: the window was facing out onto other building. Our bed was huge - it had to be at least 6ft wide, possibly 7. Bathroom was very comfortable and the cleaners were generous about topping up the toiletries every day. There was a distinct humming noise from other people's airconditioning audible in the bedroom - we had aircon but I had no need to use it - so bring earplugs unless you are used to the sound.

If you are paying for the hotel yourself rather than on business, and meaning to hire a car, bear in mind that you will have to pay for the carpark for every day you use it. Parking in the city is difficult in general but you may possibly find some free parking near to the lido - I have no idea how safe it would be at night for your car, however.

There is a gym onsite but don't expect anything extensive, we are talking about a few machines, maybe 4 or 5. The jacuzzis were good.

We had a few problems while we were there related to rough winter weather - I suspect worse than it usually is as I have been to Northern Tenerife at this time of year before. There was strong winds as well as heavy rain, and probably because of that, both of the external lifts were broken for a couple of days - I think after that they got one lift working. This meant we had to go up 6 flights of stairs regularly during that time. We would have used the jacuzzis more often but did not feel like dragging ourself up the stairs to the top floor in order to visit them.

If it hadn't been for the lifts being broken, I would have given the hotel 4 stars, since overall it was a very comfortable and clean hotel and the service was fine, even if I wasn't mad about the location.