The Truth About Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife Is About To Be Revealed.

One of the perks of being in the travel industry is that we get the opportunity to go, look and see for ourselves certain resorts and specific destinations. One of the trade magazines advertised a competition to win a week's stay at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife. All that was required was to complete online training about the hotel and three lucky travel agents names were drawn out, mine included.

So all I had to do was pick the dates, turn up at the airport and enjoy the hotels hospitality.

We arrived at the hotel in a private taxi and that’s when the Hard Rock Hotel experience started. We were greeted by a member of staff who obviously was into Elvis. He escorted us to the check in desk where we were handed a welcome glass of fizz. We were on a B&B basis but I wanted to try all the hotels restaurants so upgraded to half board for €20 per person per day. A porter offered to take our cases to our room and it was then I noticed all the staff name badges had the name of their favourite group or artist in the music business, which was a nice touch.

We were allocated a deluxe silver room, which is the lead in category, and it was excellent, from the very comfy beds to the rainforest shower with a decent sized balcony that caught the late afternoon early evening sun. I made arrangements to view other room types for the following day.

After a tour of the hotel and lunch at the Constant Grind Coffee Shop, we settled at the adult only pool area which for me personally is a haven, but if I had children with me then their designated areas were superb, catering to all age groups. This is not to mention the beach club area with its man-made beach and huge pool, private cabanas and upscale restaurant for lunch.

Everywhere you go around the complex you have music playing, which you would expect of a HRH, what I would not expect is a few people complaining about it...what did they expect? And to be fair, it is not all loud in your face as Hard Rock provide a complete mixture of all types of music, rock, pop, ballads and funk. All around the hotel you see music memorabilia, there is even a rock shop to get the all-important HRH prezzie or souvenir for folks back home.

And now the restaurants – 3rd Half is a sports bar with an extensive menu to choose from and no doubt packed when a big sporting event is on - I had the ribs!

Narumi is a Japanese style restaurant where you can have the traditional teppanyaki, order from the pre-set half board menu which includes a drink, or from the a la carte with a €25 credit per person. I am not a big sushi fan but my wife really enjoyed everything served up.

On our third night we booked in to AliOle, a Spanish tapas style restaurant. We opted to eat outside on the terrace, which has stunning views and was very pleasant. As we were going through our starters, I realised that the music was not piped but a gentleman was singing live easy listening ballads, he was terrific. I ordered off the half board menu and went for the beef cheeks, which looked succulent but were covered in an overpowering garlic sauce. The staff in this case were superb, and swapped it for me for something off the main menu – a dish called ‘Broken Eggs and Iberian Ham’, with no mention of Canarian potatoes. It was so tasty, I would recommend to anyone and not just fussy people like me who do not like garlic.

Every morning we had breakfast in the buffet restaurant called Sessions, which provides great variety, and to my delight, fantastic sausages. The whole buffet had something for most nationalities. We also tried this place on our penultimate night, again finding lots of variety.

Our final night was in Montauk Steakhouse, of which I had heard fantastic things about from some colleagues who had stayed here previously. We dined with a charming couple we had met a couple of times. I was very impressed with the fact they have a knife choice (see pics) – Japanese, Spanish, German or English, and they advise on which to pick depending on your choice of main, although no half board option here so there was just a €25 per person credit towards your bill with a drink included. I chose the fillet, while Michelle had the rack of lamb, with both cooked to perfection. All in all it was a superb dining experience.

Most evenings we watched the singers performing, with one lady in particular being amazing. I think she will be trying out for X-Factor and will definitely get my vote. A couple of evenings after the show we went up to The 16th, a sky rooftop chill out zone with live music and cocktails, where you can stare at the stars or go out early evening for great sunsets.

We took a couple of half day excursions, a small 10 person yacht out to see dolphins and whales where we saw plenty, and a trip up to Mount Teide, the highest peak in the whole of Spain at 3718m above sea level, both excellent all in all and great trips.

Top tips if you book half board - make sure you book your restaurants on day one so as not to be disappointed.

For any more info just drop me a line!