This holiday was sold to us by First Choice, I was appaled that this was sold as a family hoilday, which also doubled up as our honeymon. Especially as there was a high number of naturist travellers staying there.

The Restaurant - This was an absolute disgrace, there was a theme night every day for various countries well that was hilarious in itself. The food they put out wasnt from any particular country it was whatever they had from the night before I thought.

The Bar - No Family content at the bar what so everthe people who were in the bars made you feel so uncomfortable it was awful.

Entertaintment - What entertainment? Oh you mean the waitresses from the daytime trying to dance.

Pool - Freezing no heated at all.

Rooms - Very clean and roomy, really big beds that was the best thing about the holiday.

We had to spend over 600 euros travelling off the complex and into the nearby town to seek good food, entertainment and company.

I knew something was wrong with the hotel the first night we arrived, then on the second day of the holiday we discovered that the hotel was renound for swingers/wife swapping etc.!!!!!!! We were completely disgusted by this and considered leaving.

Also the main bulk of the other people that were staying there were German and are the rudest people I have ever met!!!!

First Choice no longer send english people to the resort and I know why!!!!!!

Having read a number of the reviews about this hotel my wife and I were somewhat apprehensive about the 2 weeks we had booked here through Thompson holidays. This wasn't helped by the comment made by the rep as we sped off from the airport, "the next hour will be spent on the most boring road in the world . . . ". Ok, Fuerteventura isn't going to come first in the "prettiest island" competition - scrub, more scrub, goat! scrub, house (?), another goat, more scrub . . - but I'd read about the history of the 'windy island' before I'd left (good idea for those who think its another Majorca!!) and so was aware of the bleakness of the landscape. Let's face facts, you don't go to Fuerteventura for the scenery, you go for the sun; to sit in the sun, to lie in the sun and that's what the holiday's there are focussed on.
So, the resort. The Occidental Grand is a large complex of 3 story blocks with seperate eateries, bars, reception, and entertainment areas. It covers a large site, so there are plenty of walkways to wander along and so many pools that I lost count! We were met by friendly, efficient staff, but did have a wait of around 15minutes to check in. The room was vast, the bed gigantic - rolling over 3 times to get to the wife was quite novel! - and clean & tidy. Constant hot water, daily maid service - all A1. It overlooked the kids playground and just round the corner from the optional nudist area. Now, a complaint at last - the naturist aea was full of Germans, BUT, that was not a problem. The problem was that this area was relatively small and crowded while other parts of the hotel, the 'textile' areas, were almost empty. Facilities included a 'deigner outlet' (bit pricey!), coffee shop, indoor games room and 2 outside bars, one opened during the day for drinks & snacks, the other in the evening.
The beach, accessed via a steep stairway was superb; fine golden sand and clear water and just metres from the hotel - luxury! Stone groins built against the cliffs give areas of privacy for those who wanted to strip off and you could walk for miles in either direction, stopping off at beach bars for a drink or a snack when the mood took you - and it did with us often! One thing, this is a 'clothes optional' beach, so, if the sight of the naked human body troubles you, then this isn't the place for you.
Back to the hotel. We were on an all inclusive deal so the quality and quantity of the food was important as the hotel was a long way from the nearest town. We found that it could not be faulted - lots of everything was available and the quality was top notch. We especially enjoyed the theme nights and the local recipes especially so. Obviously, being an island, fish was plentiful but every palate was catered for.
Similarly the drinks; tea & coffee were always on hand and the alcoholic ones, all locally made, were excellent, the Red wine (er, my favourite!) especially so. A word of caution, all the drinks at the pool bar were 'help yourself' - that included wine, the local beer and the spirits! - and so it could be quite easy to get somewhat merry in a very short time if you weren't careful (hic!).
Lastly the entertainment. We spent most nights either in the main bar or the outside bar. Staff were friendly and again, the drink did flow far too easily. What shows we did see were ok, but by that time of night we were so knackered from swimming, sunning and climbing down to the beach and back again that (in our late 50s!) we retired before midnight and slept lake babes!
Overall this was a highly enjoyable fortnight of pure relaxation and yes, we would go again - in fact we are looking now for next spring.

My parenst are both travel agents, therefor we travel a lot. Last summer (2008) we decided to go to Fuerteventura, once that it is the only spanish island we never visited. We like to stay in good hotels, so we choose this hotel because it belongs to the Ocidental group- known for its quality...the pool is good, rooms are good too.
Once we got to the restaurant, we find it more like a dirty canteen than a restaurant: The food..terrible, worst than MC Donalds or something like that. Everybody running to get the food and the drinks. But the worst of all: the floor was always dirty, full of crap, the tables pass from 1 family to another without being cleaned, which means you find yourself eating in the mess the others made before, the chairs, where you are suposed to seat are dirty with wine and other drinks and also oily...discusting... and the waitres were so rude so rude, you can not talk to them.

I never stayed in an hotel with this kind of (bad) service, its dirty, and you feel robed because we are paying a 1000 euros per person per week to stay in a place with no conditions, people dinning in that restaurant feel like pigs, not like people who are paying to have a nice holyday.

More: you can only go to the beach in the ealr mornig, at around lunch time the "beach" becomes a place full of rocks and sea...

Weather: wind, a lot of wind everyday...for some reason the island is called Fuerteventura, something like "great wind"

I go away twice a year to all different places all over Europe and when possible further and thought i would give this place a try, First choice say it is 4 star... no way.
We arrived at about 10pm in the evening with three other coaches of people, so there was a lot of us to queue. We then queued for 2 hrs at reception as there was only one receptionist, when we got to the reception after this long wait the stafff were SO rude, no apology or welcome, more of a snear!
We were told if we were still hungry we could go into the dining room and food had been left out, this made me feel slightly better as i thought at least they had made some sort of effort for us, er no. When we got into the dining room, the food was there, but breakfast had also been laid out with tea towels over the top, there were two stray cats pushing their heads into the big bowls full of cereal on the table and eating out of them!
All of the drinks were watered down, the staff were just rude and did not welcome you at all, it was all such a shame, the hotel itself was really nice and could have been great, the food in the evenings wasnt too bad, although never very warm but that is normally the case with big all inclusive venues sue to the volume they have to provide for. The main dining room was very busy and again as with most all inclusives there was a lot of pushing and no queuing but that happens. They did have two other resturants that you could eat at once during our week stay within the all inclusive deal, the food in the mexican one was so awful after my 50 minute wait to be served, i walked out and left it all, it was cold, tasteless and just not edible really!
All of the gardens were nice and attended to and the pool area was nice and clean, no fights for sunbeds, but the hotel was in the middle of nowhere really too.
We went out one day on the bus, just to get out, the town was OK, nothing special at all and again, unlike tenerife or other places i have been i did not find the locals friendly at all or inviting, so we had one drink out and came back, which again was a shame. We did look at some of the resturants whilst we were out and the menu's looked quite expensive in comparison to places like main land spain.
Sorry to just run this place in to the ground but i would never go back, even if it was free!
Once i got home to England everyone said "oh you should have gone to the North of the island - not the south... ah now you tell me!!" Sorry to be so negative about this place but i spend all year saving for these holidays and what a waste of £1500 for myself and my husband to spend, i was gutted, it looked fab in the brochure. First choice when i spoke to them promised to speak to the staff re attitude and the cats in the food hall, but i doubt it happened, i never heard back.
Please steer clear, sorry!