Catalonia Oro Negro

Separated from its busy road by a flight of steps (or a sloping stone path) and a tidy, grassy garden, the Catalonia Oro Negro has a large lobby with white marble floors and glass walls peeking through to the brick pool courtyard. Despite the lobby's wide stretches of marble and glass, it is hardly serene: There are parents hitting up the vending machines, kids weighing themselves on the scale, retirees resting on wicker chairs outside of the adjacent bar hall, and new arrivals meeting with tour representatives in a corner area that takes up a big chunk of lobby real estate. Guests of all ages check out the wall calendars and standup boards announcing the day's animation lineup (morning aerobics, midday petanque, pre-bedtime kids' mini-disco, late-night "The Voices" music performance…). A great many of the guests are regulars, some coming as often as four times a year. It's a crowd that's largely fun-loving, but not in a roisterous way -- more in a happy-to-hang-out-at-the-hotel-all-day kind of way. Older guests especially tend to stay mainly near the pool or in the solarium (where they rotate their lounge chairs en masse to follow the arc of the sun), breaking only for trips to the buffet or an afternoon shuffleboard tournament. 

Catalonia Oro Negro is located on the 1,000-foot stretch of Arquitecto Gomez Cuesta that serves as the western border of the massive Golf Las Americas golf course. On Catalonia's side of the road, there are other hotels (including the unaffiliated Oro Blanco, one lot to the north), supermarkets, Chinese buffets, whiskey bars, car rentals, and lap-dancing clubs. It's not seedy, per se, but the scene can get rowdy at night, and the looming dark of the golf course on the east side of the road can unnerve tourists used to the constant lights and people of Playa de las Americas. - 10-minute walk west to the beach

• 20-minute walk south to Playa de las Vistas
• Four-minute drive to Siam Mall
• Five-minute drive to Siam Park
• Nine-minute drive to Los Cristianos
• 12-minute drive to Playa El Duque
• 14-minute drive to Jungle Park

Catalonia Oro Negro offers 269 air-conditioned rooms with varying decor and amenities -- though the balconies (with views of the sea or golf course), mini-fridges, ceiling fans, double full-length mirrors, and marble-heavy bathrooms are constants. Standard Double Rooms were last renovated in the early 2000s and are dated in appearance, with cheap furniture and yellow-and-red flower-print bedcovers. Renovated Premium Rooms have essentially the same arrangements as Double Rooms, but they come with chicer floral bedding, 40-inch flat-screen TVs (flat-screen TVs are 32 inches in standard rooms), and bathrobes and slippers, plus free bottled water, tea, coffee, and safe access. There are about 50 Premium Rooms, and they are all located on the top floors. There are also Family Rooms, which are two interconnected rooms with four beds, one full and one half bathroom, and two flat-screen TVs. TVs in all rooms come with nearly 60 channels, including BBC 1 and 2, BBC World, ITV, and Disney Channel. Bathrooms have floor-to-ceiling marble tiles and countertops, with shower/tub combos, hotel-brand soap and shampoo, and wall-mounted hairdryers. Premium Rooms have a few extras, like magnifying mirrors and disposable combs and sewing kits. All rooms lack alarm clocks, but the hotel can provide wake-up calls. The hotel reserves a portion of rooms for non-smoking guests. Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel, though there have been reports that the signal is spotty in upper-floor rooms. 

The rectangular heated pool and its attached sundeck are inarguably the focal points at Catalonia. The pool is surrounded on all four sides by a concrete and brick-tile pool deck, which extends into a wide solarium on the pool's southern side. Blue sunbeds abound, but be aware that guests regularly start lining up for these early in the morning, then make a frenzied dash to their sunbed of choice as soon as the deck opens. There's even a term for this daily episode: "sunbed rodeo." Quibbles between competing sunbed-seekers are not unheard of. Even more coveted (or at least, fewer and farther between) are the blue umbrellas, so guests hoping for shade should incorporate that sunbed-to-umbrella ratio into their hunt, or settle for the shadows from palm trees and the three building towers. The hotel is constantly replacing broken or cracked tiles, so be on the lookout for mini repair sites, as well as slick, wet surfaces that have been splashed with water, and sole-scorchingly hot tiles that have been baking in the midday sun. In November 2016, the hotel began offering towel service. At the far edge of the solarium is a small spa center offering massages, body scrubs, nail services, and facials. Beyond this is a long, shallow oval-shaped pool for kids, as well as a small playground. There's a packed itinerary of activities throughout the day, including pool aerobics, zumba, French and English bowling, elastic-band workouts, and sjoelbak for adults, and henna art, mini golf, darts, mikado pick-up sticks, and face-painting for kids. Entertainment continues through the night, with events such as mini discos, live music shows, or bingo taking place either at the outdoor stage near the pool or in the indoor bar hall off of the lobby.The fitness center is small, but it gets nice natural light from its windows overlooking the small, street-facing garden. Its machinery (treadmill, elliptical, bicycle) has built-in TVs, plus there is a flat-screen TV on the wall. There is also a rack of free weights, a stretch area with exercise bands, and a water machine. Two computers in lobby are available for guest use for a fee, but Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel. There is a free parking area in front of the hotel.

There is one main buffet restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Most guests are on the half-board package, which covers breakfast and dinner; half-board guests can swap one of those meals for lunch instead, but they should notify hotel the day before. Breakfast offers the usual suspects of bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, fried tomatoes, beans, and toast, plus a selection of bread, pastries, cereal, fruit, salad, cheeses, meats, juices, and coffee. There are live cooking stations for omelettes and pancakes. Dinners are less repetitive: they follow a five-night rotation of international themes, like British, Asian, and Mexican. Every night features live cooks preparing meat, fish, and pasta to guests' liking, plus self-serve soups, salad fixings, vegetables, cheeses, and pate. The dessert bar reliably includes a big variety of cakes, tarts, and brownies, plus ice cream and whipped cream. Waiters take drink orders, which guests pay for upon exiting the restaurant. There is a dress code for dinner (no flip flops or shorts), but reports have pointed out that it is not consistently enforced.The restaurant closes between meal services, but Daniels Bar, which is kitty-corner from the restaurant, is open all day and serves pizzas, burgers, salads, coffee, or alcoholic drinks. Guests can make use of Daniels' three flat-screen TVs to stay up-to-the-minute on sporting events.A full-board package is also available, but there are no all-inclusive packages covering drinks.