My hubby and I have just returned from a two week stay at the Tucan Hotel and were mostly pleased with our choice of accommodation.

The hotel is in an excellent central position and you can walk in either direction for about 20 mins and cover the whole resort; one way leads to the marina, the other way to Cala Ferrera Bay with other bays in the middle. Cala Gran Bay, the main beach is the nearest to the hotel (a few minutes walk away) but is crowded, the smaller Cala D’Or Bay is much quieter/nicer (5 – 10 minutes walk in the other direction). The whole resort is very safe to walk around even in the evenings.

The rooms in the hotel are a good size and are comfortable and clean. There is lots of storage space for clothes etc. Some refurbishment is still being carried out; our curtains were changed while we were there but I think most rooms now have a flat TV screen. Our room also had a ceiling fan which we much prefered to the air-conditioning. The corridor carpeting is stained; hopefully this could be replaced whilst the hotel is closed/out of season. There is also occasional bad smells in the corridors; personally I think this is because of the access points to the bathrooms are along the corridors so maybe not much can be done about this.

The food at the hotel is excellent and deserves a four star grading, lots of choice and well cooked. Sometimes it did get a little warm in the restaurant but as the weather was in the high 20’s while we were there, maybe the air-conditioning needed to be on more.

The pool area is a good size and despite the 8am opening rush for the sunbeds, you can always find a spot later and if you don’t get a chance for the comfy sunbeds, the hotel has had some new plastic ones. The mats for the sunbeds are housed in the small building behind the stage, just grab one if you need it. Some are a bit grubby though.

There were a mixture of nationalities staying at the hotel but there were no problems, everyone seemed to do their own thing and get along fine. Of course, one of the best things about the hotel is that it is adult only, there are not many of these hotels about that are all-inclusive too.

There did not seem to be an abundance of staff and also some were finishing as the hotel is only open for another few weeks but if you have a chat and a laugh with them they seemed to respond as they got to know you.

There are a few things about the hotel which we think need addressing to merit its four star rating.

1. Cleanliness of the pool area: throughout our 2 week stay the pool area was only cleaned by one man walking around with a brush and long handled pan occasionally sweeping up obvious bits of rubbish. Sometimes he had another man helping with a wheelie bin but if there were the two of them they seemed to do more talking than cleaning. The whole area was never washed over hence there were stains on the floor that had obviously been there a long, long time. The pool itself was cleaned once a couple of days before we came home but we think this was only because there had been several complaints from guests. The grids around the edge of the pool were filthy and the channel underneath was disgusting, believe me, you don’t want to look. These are things that should be cleaned on a daily basis to prevent any risk of health problems. You do not expect to have to accept these kind of standards in a four star hotel. I really hope that Thomas Cook will follow up on the complaints that were made and that this lack of cleanliness is sorted out ASAP.

2. Entertainment needs improving: daily activities consist of aqua-aerobics or table tennis at 11.30am, pool or language lessons at 5.30pm which have now all ended as the lovely Mariella (the only entertainment person) finished on the Friday before we came home. Evening entertainment is also not up to four star standard. Visiting duos three times a week but to be honest, there was better at the corner restaurant across from the hotel or at the Tropical Gardens five minutes walk away. Don’t miss Ian James doing his tributes to Michael Buble and Robbie Williams, he was absolutely brilliant and well worth having to buy drinks at their bar to sit and watch the show.

3. Drinks availability: The pool bar opens up at 11am so if you want a drink before then, you need to go down to the restaurant; only open until 10.30am. It would be much better if the hotel provided a self-service machine for hot drinks in the reception area so that guests could help themselves, they should also install a drinking water fountain for cold water. I would have thought that this should be standard practice at a four star hotel.

If these items could be sorted out then the hotel would deserve its four star rating and we would definitely consider a return visit.

I must just add one small thing regarding the hotel décor which we particularly noticed and enjoyed. If you take a look in general around the hotel there are lots of areas with antique furniture/ceramics/pictures etc. This all gave a very pleasant ambiance/atmosphere to the hotel, the mural in the restaurant was also another nice touch. Personally I would have liked to bring back the beautiful round table in the reception area but I think I would have had to pay a great deal in excess baggage charges.

We had a fantastic week realxing at the Tucan. The staff were very friendly and the food was great. We were caught out the first night as we didn't realise the all inclusive finished at 11pm. After arriving late due to delays we had to pay 11 euros for two drinks! No tea/coffee making facilities which suprised me as the hotel was advertised as 4 star (it's at most a 3 star)
Entertainment 3 nights a week, which was only average. The location was spot on and we enjoyed the peace and quiet as it was child free.

This is being critically written as it was supposedly going be refurbished prior to 2011, but this has not been done. Thus just pointing out some rather bad points this time, which hopefully will be fixed in due course.

Corridors smelt of drains at various points, stained carpets. The lobby odour is still there.

Rooms - In need of refurbishment to deal with slight drain smells, less use of dark wood would brighten them up. Rooms near the lift (110,112 etc) small doubles are to be avoided as they had toilets far too close to the bath unless you were a small child.

Restaurant - Was very hot as the aircon could not cope with the numbers of people. Rather bare looking and linear, could be improved in decor and possibly an outside area though there is not much room for that.

Food - Quality is somewhat better than it was, ripe tomatoes now (maybe be people read this stuff....). Choice was reasonable considering it is a relatively small hotel. Not so sure about the recent AI element that has been introduced is a good idea, though you don't have the 'asbo band'. Some things were still running out.
Breakfast was OK, the usual standard stuff. It even got overly hot in the morning.

Grounds - The swimming pool area was OK and has been refurbished to some extent. Some people may want to know the sunbed political situation - The usual early morning 'invisible' sunbed reserve pilots ever present from about 07:30 onwards, to get the 'best' sunbeds and matresses. However there did seem to be enough during the day though they would be the plastic ones. There is a no reserve policy so just remove the unused towels.

Evening Entertainment - It was poor, plenty of people there but I suspect that was mainly due to the AI punters. The hotel was so central of no consequence, loads of other places offering entertainment so take your pick.

The good points of course remain with the excellent central position, near to everything, and now being made adults only is quit a plus if that's what you require.

So currently pretty awful 4 star, hopefully it will get much better.

We stayed here in September 2011.
+'s Location perfect for the beach, all restaurants, bars and entertainment.
Food superb with lots of variety.
Spotless. Towels changed daily.
Sunbeds very comfy.

-'s Entertainment appauling!!! One woman team (Italian). She drops in for an hour in the morning, an hour at teatime and an hour at 10-00 pm. Wotever!!!
All inclusive starts at 11-00 am. So after early breakfast you sat waiting for a coffee till then!!
Some of the head restaurant staff very unfriendly. Need to crack a smile!!