Hotel Occidental Allegro Oasis

The Occidental Allegro Oasis is located in Costa Teguise, east of Arrecife, the capital. It is set on the sea front and is close to other hotels and a handful of bars, shops and restaurants. Like other tourist hotspots, there isn?t much in the surroundings in the way of Spanish culture or sightseeing. There is a small sandy beach, Playa Jablillo, a short walk away but it does get fairly crowded in high-season.

Opened in 1991, the rooms were recently renovated. The Occidental Allegro Oasis is part of the Occidental Hotel Group which runs the Occidental Playa also in Costa Teguise. Other destinations where the group manages hotels include Aruba, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and mainland Spain. This hotel is actually owned by one of Spain?s biggest banks, La Caixa.

Open in 1991, the hotel?s décor has since been stuck in a time warp of extremely garish taste. Thankfully the rooms are a little more neutral than the rest of the interiors. The lobby is made up of a shocking grey marble ? floor to ceiling and wall to wall ? with cheap rattan seating complete with garish flowery cushions. The high ceilings give the resort a shopping centre feel, which doesn?t help bring intimacy and warmth to the otherwise dull surroundings. The large spiral marble staircase leads to the tented interior bar and evening lounge area, where evening entertainment takes place every night. The evening lounge needs a refurbishment as it is fairly uninspiring. There are five floors here, which does not respect the local laws of a limit of four floors, meaning this hotel is classed under the ?illegal? category. However, this does not seem to have any adverse effects on bookings. The resort has two multi sport court and a tennis court, which look out onto the sea. There is also an unusually large kids? club, which looks like it is well-equipped with all sorts of fun games. The gym is also of a fair size and has a good range of equipment. Otherwise there is a car park out front that is free for guest use. There are two large outdoor pools (one is filled with salt water, which is heated in the winter and the one with fresh water) and a kids? pool, which looks pleasant due to its organic shape, which makes a change from the linear shapes we have seen, despite the towering resort structure. It also looks out onto the sea, which gives the area a calm relaxing atmosphere, despite it being fairly crowded and noisy during peak season. There is also music around the pool throughout most of the day. There are also two squash courts (a fee is required). There is however no spa.

There are 371 rooms here, making the resort bigger than the other Occidental resort, although it was built more recently. There are three categories: standard, individual and family. There are also four rooms that have been especially adapted for people with restricted movement. The rooms are located on the top three floors of the hotel and are all decorated in exactly the same style with the same basic furniture. The rooms are painted a bright cheerful yellow, which makes an uplifting change from the rest of the hotel, which tends to be fairly drab. The floor is tiled and the bed spreads and curtains match. All rooms have a sea view (as well as a view of everyone else?s balcony, as is common in resort of this standard). The rooms also have old generation televisions with a limited number of channels, (although there are a couple of English channels available) and a safe. The dark brown marble bathrooms are however tiny. However, in most rooms the bath tub/toilet area is separate to the sink area, which is handy intimacy-wise. There are a few own brand amenities in the bathrooms but if you like your plush toiletries do bring your own as what you might find here isn?t of the best quality. All bathrooms have bath tubs.

Guests can choose between various meal plans including bed and breakfast, half-board, full-board and all-inclusive. The restaurant is found on the ground floor opposite the swimming pool. It has a maximum capacity of 450 and serves a buffet at all three meals. There are themed nights throughout the week which tend to alter from week to week. The staff here is very friendly, especially at lunch time when there is no rush. The buffets are a mix of international dishes. We thought that the mains could have been more varied and of higher quality as most of the food we tried was quite bland.

The resort is located right on the beach (also illegal according to the law on the island), that of Playa del Andea, an artificial beach. The nearest beach is Playa Jablillo which is just across the promenade. Beaches in Lanzarote are public; therefore the hotel doesn?t have a reserved area for its guests. An independent company does rent out deck chairs though. The beach is sandy and the water is clear but the area is tiny and does get crowded in high season. In terms of finding a good beach, your best bet is to hire a car and explore the coastline.