Room with a View...and a balcony bigger than some houses
Having stayed in a number of hotels around the world we’ve got some preconceived ideas about what to expect when we step into a hotel room for the first time.
If it’s the Far East we expect a ‘WOW’ and nine times out of ten haven’t been disappointed. If it’s a city, we know we’re usually going to get something pretty functional. If it’s a resort in Europe it’s usually going to be perfectly nice, but generally speaking not up to long haul standards.
The places we’ve stayed in on the Canary Islands, apart from a couple of absolutely stunning old rural hotels and one place on La Palma which would make most doss houses seem luxurious, have tended to fall into the latter category.
This week we had a couple of meetings planned in the south of Tenerife with Chris Clarkson and Alan Gilmour from the groundbreaking new online travel site Tenerife.co.uk. We decided it would be wise to stay over rather than drive back and forward to Puerto de la Cruz and a friend recommended the Pearly Grey.
After a long hot day with Chris and Alan we headed to the Pearly Grey to check in. Okay I won’t lie to you – it was hardly heads down in a boardroom all day, part of it did involve cervezas on the terrace of the Mestizo bar, but we were a bit on the sweaty and grimy side by the time we opened the door to our room.
Now this is my sort of hotel room
I’ve read enough reviews about the Pearly Grey (Perla Gris) to know that it’s a popular resort that people return to year after year, but I wasn’t prepared for an apartment that was on a par with what we’d expect from the ones we’d stayed at on long haul trips.
You could say that it was large enough to swing a cat in, but in this case the cat would be of the king of the jungle variety. It was cool, bright and had one of those beds which just called out your name with an irresistible seductiveness.
If the apartment was the cake, the balcony was the cherry. It was big enough to land a helicopter – in fact the only thing bigger was the shimmering ocean which filled the horizon. For two pennies Andy and I would have stripped down to our underwear (we don’t normally bring swimming cosies to business meetings) and stretched out on the sun loungers. As it happened we were meeting up again with Chris, Alan and John Beckley for dinner, so the sunbathing was put on hold.
Instead we had to settle for relaxing in the sun at the stylish terrace for a short while. Then it was a body and soul reviving power shower, change of clothes and a strong coffee whilst we checked our email in one of the free WiFi zones.
Fall out of bed...and into a sun lounger
The room had been just perfect for recharging the batteries before our dinner date beckoned.
