The Mercian Bridge group has been bringing Bridge players to Spring Hoteles since 2002.  On this occassion, they have chosen our Spring Arona Gran Hotel for their 4 weeks stay starting 6th January. Mercian Travel is a British Travel Agency offering a wide range of holidays and bespoke tours for Bridge and Bowling players to destinations around the globe. Employing highly qualified Bridge and Bowling Directors, they ensure high standard and quality holidays at all times. Amongst their top destinations are Spain, Turkey and the Canaries with many  clients returning year after year.

During the daytime, the group does the usual holiday-making activities, such as walking, shopping or just relaxing and  sunbathing by the swimming pool. After dinner, in the evening, the group meets every day to play Bridge in the Sala Arafo from 20.00 until 23.30. And should it rain, they would have an additional session from 15.00 to 17.00.

Mercian Travel also organises a welcome drink with an introductory meeting, as well as a farewell cocktail.

For the first two weeks of their stay in our Spring Arona Gran Hotel the goups is caringly looked after by Mr Malcolm Carey and his charming wife Barbara. 

Many of the Bridge players have returned year after year and are well known by our staff. We wish them a happy stay with us, and look forward to welcome them with open arm in ther next visit planned for next year. 

Should you want to see more photographs of this group, please click here.

If you have not visited the Spring Arona Gran Hotel for a long time, you are in for a few surprises. One of which is the permanent exhibition which has been situated in Sala Vilaflor, which was previously our reading room. This is an exhibition where we can go through the history of the Island of Tenerife, from prehistoric times up to the modern day.

You will be able to see how the forces of nature formed a landscape of earth, water, air and fire creating a unique history and culture on our planet.

More than 20 million years ago, volcanoes deep under the sea erupted and created these islands. What we see today are the results of the forces of nature, erosion and human activity .

As a result of these eruptions,  you will be able to see examples of several types of rocks of different materials.

The Guanches were the first human beings to populate Tenerife   They came from North Africa and developed their entire herdsman culture, adapting it to the new surroundings. The economy was based on cattle breeding of goats, sheep and black pigs. Agriculture was also important, especially the cultivation of barley and wheat, with which Gofio (typical dish from the Canary Islands) was made. You can see the objects of utility the Guanches made, such as ceramic beads, tools out of stone and bones, and jewellery out of clay, bones, horns burr, etc..

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the economy of the islands was based on cattle breeding and cultivation of corn.  Fishing was also very important and the contact to the sea was never lost.

Conservation of traditional work from the artful hand of our ancestors makes it possible for us to boast a large range of arts and crafts, even up to nowadays. The most important ones are pottery, embroidery, ship building, carpentry and basket weaving.

The rich biodiversity is an example of the acclimatization of animals to the new surroundings. Most of the flora, fauna and microbe species came from Macaronesia, Europe and Africa. They settled in the Canary Islands and thousands of them became endemic, meaning the ecological state of being unique to this particular geographical location.

In the 40’s of the 20th  century , the road of the South was built, connecting Santa Cruz with Los Cristianos, making possible to do the journey in just one hour. Also  in the middle of the 20th century  the South had only one Hotel  Pensión Reverón.

We hope you have enjoyed this short down memory lane with the exhibition, and we invite you to see it totally free during your next stay at the Spring Arona Gran Hotel, or in any of our other hotels.

Although Halloween has never been a Spanish tradition, in the last few years it has been slowly becoming a part of our “adopted” culture. At the Spring Arona Gran Hotel, we have been celebrating it for a few years, because of the amount of clients that requested it. All our Restaurant staff got their act together, to make  this Buffett the most terrifying experience.

Here are some pictures of our fright night!!!

Our Chefs, Juan Carlos and Suso with Isabel who became a witch, just for one night. But she was a sweet one. 

A terrifying welcome:  spider webs, bats and skulls were waiting for you at the Resturant….

There was also some staff with the most scariest costumes!!

Here is Mario, pouring some wine onto a jug, ready to welcome our guests.

Surrounded by Jack O’Lanterns, Suso is giving the final touch to one of our dishes.

And here we have one of the tables decorated for Halloween.

If you want to have a look at some more Halloween photos, click here to see them at our Flickr gallery.

And you, did you celebrate Halloween?? Was it terrific, or terrorific?

Here is the second installment of the series written by Mr. Stephen “Storyteller” Reid, with the Spring Arona Gran Hotel  as the background. We hope you enjoy reading it….

They sat on the balcony, drained of all humanity by the nightmare journey, for the first few minutes and sipped their champagne kindly given by reception as a ‘Welcome drink’, and welcome it certainly was. The trauma of the journey was unbelievable. Now at long last the endurance travel marathon was over, it was behind them and they just sat quietly together in the late afternoon sun enjoying the view and the tranquility created by the Arona Gran Hotel. Without speaking, they just sat and communicated their contentment quietly as they looked over the little harbour of Los Cristianos in Tenerife.

They smiled knowingly at each other and without a word being spoken they both ran into the room and started to tear their clothes off. It was like a race to see who could get all their clothes off first. His wife had gone to great trouble to make sure she got her décor for the holiday ‘just right’, but he did not really care. He knew as soon as things stared to get really hot all thoughts of style would be discarded and simply discarded, treated as an encumbrance. However for the sake of peace and quiet he told her she looked lovely and everything seemed to match beautifully, but to take it off before they dived into the pool. He could see no place at the moment for a see through ‘wrap’ no matter how stylish.

They tried very had to walk slowly and quietly, with some decorum, from the lift across the lobby area and past the waterfall without looking in a rush. The glass doors hissed open and they walked out to the pool area. It was very warm and the tiles were hot under their feet forcing them to walk faster and faster like long distance Olympic runners with dislocated hips. The place had plenty of sun beds and they tossed their stuff onto the nearest bed and hand in hand slowly walked down into the pool. As the cool water enveloped them in its embrace they felt the trouble and stresses of the last 8 hours of travelling very quickly disappear. “AHHH!! Bliss” was all they could whisper.

After the pool experience, whilst they dripped off to dry out they quietly sat on some cane chairs under a huge umbrella, when a very formally dressed waiter came up and offered them a drink. It was then he suddenly realised that they had no money with them. He would have to drip all the way back to the room leaving a snail like trail of water right across the hotel.

“I know! Charge it to the room” he thought.

The waiter simply asked for his little credit card type room key, which he swiped through a hand held card reader and he was away with the order.

No query, no proof of identity, no hassle or sense of guilt? Nothing!

“The waiter knows and likes what he does,” he thought. “He knows what he is doing and is good at it. Now why should that come as a surprise?” He thought. 

The waiter returned a few minutes later with their drinks order and got him to sign a little chitty.

Before the waiter returned to his quest for thirsty clients he asked him

“Can I charge anything to my room as easily as that?” he asked.

“Of course Sir. All you need is your card. You do not need to carry money with you at the Arona Gran Sir. We also prefer you to use the card. It makes things so much simpler“

That was the rock they would perish on he was sure. The hotel was making it so painless and simple to indulge themselves but then, that is what they were there to do.

They dawdled over their drinks and reluctantly returned to their room to unpack shower and dress for dinner. He was glad that the hotel did something as old fashioned as having a dress code for the dining room. He knew his wife and a number of other women enjoyed ‘glaming up’ for the evening but would not admit it. He also enjoyed rolling up to the bar and having a beer with the other men while they waited for their partners to “Make their Entrance”. It was all part of the fun.

The lift left them quietly beside the little piano bar with its comfy settees and views over the pool and harbour. They took a couple of seats overlooking the waterfall when a tall dark haired waitress came up with a silver tray containing a little ceramic bowl of nuts and a small candle for the table. They ordered two drinks and listened to the silly chat and banter of the pianist as he teased a couple of well dressed women about some musical they had all seen in London. The pianist started to play his own version of romantic melodies on the big black shiny grand piano and they both let out a relaxed sigh. Nothing but a pleasant dinner to look forward that evening in beautiful surroundings, watching the sunset over Los Cristianos and La Gomera. Lifting their glasses it was definitely time for

“Cheers! The Arona Gran”

To read the first part: Love at first sight , please click here

Apart from the Canarian and Spanish themed dinners, that are held on alternative Thursdays at the restaurant of our Hotel Vulcano,  for a few months, we are now offering some new options. They are  the Barbaque and Sea Food themed dinners that are served on alternative Tuesdays .

In these themed dinners all the ingredients are specially selected and cooked to your taste.  There is a wide option of meat dishes you can choose from, such as shoulder of lamb, goulash , crispy chicken etc. The show cooking options will be:

A thick fillet steak grilled to your taste

Or maybe a tender sirloin steak

Grilled breast of turkey with pinneaple

Here you can see some of our show cooking staff preparing these delicious dishes, while you wait.

And if it is fish what you into, and are lucky enough to be spending your holiday here, you will enjoy our grilled king  prawns.

Or our steamed mussels with coriander sauce

 And what about a fish brochette?

Or the grilled Dover sole with streamed potatoes

Maybe some cod fritters Orly style with broccoli

 And if its salmon your favourite fish, I am sure that this oven baked whole salmon, will be your main choice.

So, whatever your choice of meat or fish is, you know you can enjoy it on alternative Tuesdays at the restaurant of Hotel Vulcano.

Also, you can enjoy your dinners on Tuesday, with live music from a harp player.

This is one of the many improvements that are on the way, and that we have prepared just for you.

Hope you like it!!!

Many of you have shown interest in knowing who is behind the scenes at Spring Hoteles web, the blog and the social media. As usual, your wishes are our command so here we are, and now you can put a face to our names!!!

The on line department is run by two young men, and I am sure you have spoken to them on several occasions, as they are also behind the web help line. Their names are Bernardo and Stani.

Bernardo is 35 years old and is originally from Tenerife. He is married and has two little boys of 7 and 3 years old. Bernardo loves sports, and his hobbies are going out on his mountain bike during the weeks-ends, and also running a few miles after work at night.  Bernardo has been working with us for the last 3 years, and his previous work was also within the travel industry.    

Stani is also 35 years and he is from Slovakia. He is married and has a 3 year old little boy. His only known hobby, or should I say addiction, apart from devouring chocolate is flying a light aircraft and adding up flight hours on his license. His dream would be to become a commercial pilot. Stani has been working with us for the last 6 years, since the on line department was set up.

And now it’s my turn. My name is Bea. I am also married, and I do not have children, but two lovely cats. I have been working in Spring Hoteles for over 15 years. At first I used to work at the recepcion of Hotel Vulcano but for the last 10 years I have been in the commercial department.  I dedicate most of my free time to my absolute passion, my baking blog.  The rest of my time I love riding with my husband our Harley Davidson.    

We three make a very happy team and balanced team, tough boys will be boys……. and I need to keep my eye on them from time to time!!!.  

Our main offices are situated at Hotel Vulcano, so if one of these days you see us walking round the hotel,  just stop us and say hello, so we can get to know you too!! 

Feel free to contact us at any time, we will be happy to be of assistance!!!.

Our e-mails addresses are:

Bernardo : spring(at)springhoteles.com

Stani: web(at)springhoteles.com

Bea: comercial(at)springhoteles.com

If you have not been one of the lucky 2000 guests, that chose to spend New Year’s Eve in one of our hotels, we are going to show you a small selection of  photographs of our Buffet decorations,  hoping that you decide to spend next Year’s Eve with us!!!

The first two photographs belong to the Buffet at Hotel Bitacora, and are two beautiful ice sculptures in three colours. The ice swans were in the good company of huge carved pumpkin,  in the shape of a snake.

We could also find a wide variety of very special dishes made for this ocassion, such as this impressive tray of lobster!!.

Below, in the Buffet of Hotel Vulcano,  our chefs surprised us with a carved watermelon in the shape of a flower, surrounded by a bouquet of fresh flowers and other fruits.

At the entrance of the Buffet, we find a “cascade” of king prawns surrounded by trays of smoked salmon, lobster and other delicious sea foods.

And here is a smiling ”family photo” of the Restaurant and Kicthen teams of Hotel Vulcano, that were on duty on that night.

 This funny snail welcomed all our guests at the entrance of the Buffet of the Arona Gran Hotel.

This was the impressive salad Buffet that was prepared for this occasion.

A just a “small” representation of the Kitchen team at the Arona Gran Hotel, who is wishing you a Happy New Year!!! 

Please let us know if you ever spent Christmas or New Year with us. We’d love to hear from you!!!!

We just have enough time, in this last hours of this year, to send our heartfelt wishes to all our clients, suppliers, colleagues and friends of Spring Hoteles a very Happy New Year 2011.

We hope that we can welcome you again in the New Year!!

Hello everybody!!! Today we are starting a new project in the Spring Hoteles Magazine Blog.

We have have given it  a good “facelift”, made it user friendly,  easier to read  and we will be adding interesting features. We will be posting frequently in Spanish and English. You will be able to find here what is happening in “the backstage” of our Hotels. We will keep you informed of our attendance at important tourism fairs. We will tell you who is visiting us. We will help you get to know the personal side of our staff. You will have the chance of participating in interesting prize draws.  We will be offering you other features such us Day Time Out, Night Time our, Traditions, Gastronomy,  Sports etc, and we hope that you may find them interesting.

Despite being present in Facebook and Twitter, we would like to use this blog to bring us closer to you. Please follow us , and participate with your comments on this new and exciting  adventure.

Thanks for reading and for your support!!

A la carte Restaurant “La Palapa”

We would like to announce that we have opened the ‘a la carte’ Restaurant “La Palapa” in the Spring Arona Gran Hotel, which will open its doors every Tuesday and Thursday night. We will offer a special menu for our guests (additional supplement cost) so they can enjoy a pleasant dinner overlooking the sea.  We currently have an offer on our website where for a minimum stay of 5 nights we are giving away a romantic dinner and a €30 voucher for drinks (conditions here)

Our evening entertainment held in conjunction with a bingo raffle among the clients of a dinner for two people.

Gala Dinner “Black and White

Every Wednesday we offer a Gala Dinner “Black and White” where guests receive at the entrance a glass of champagne and the ladies a rose. Dinner will be entertained by a harpist who will perform at three different points over dinner. The staff will dress in black and white and invite customers to dress likewise.

There will be a special Buffet, offering lobster, Wellington steak, sliced ham and sausages, etc.