More than 80% is quite a return rate. Then again, early autumn has a few persuasive arguments in Gran Canaria. Warm days carry on beyond summer, Maspalomas beach is just moments from the hotel, and breakfast and dinner can both happen outside.
The hotel itself has 94 rooms and suites among palms and tropical gardens, a chef who’s rarely finished fiddling with the menu and two heated saltwater pools. And should guests fancy giving their favourite lounger an afternoon off, the team can arrange private tours to wineries, ravines and further into Gran Canaria.
Those more than 80% might be onto something. Let’s see.
Wolfgang Grobauer has been heading up the kitchen at Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia since 2011, and his CV makes for good reading.
He trained at the Grand Hotel Continental in Munich, worked with chefs including Josef Viehauser and Otto Koch, and spent time with Jacques Maximin at Le Chantecler at Hotel Negresco in Nice. Michelin stars followed during his career in Germany, at Landhaus Dill and Cöllns Austerstuben.
At Residencia, in true Wolfgang style, the menu keeps moving too. Before one of Wolfgang’s dishes reaches the table, it may have started life as a sketch on a piece of paper. The hotel says new creations can take weeks of experimenting with ingredients and techniques, and even after a dish makes the menu, Wolfgang carries on tweaking it.
Fresh, seasonal produce is central to his cooking, and the hotel tells us that local ingredients are used wherever possible, including fresh fish from Mogán. International influences find their way onto the plate alongside them. And with Gran Canaria’s mild evenings, guests can still take dinner outside on the terrace at this time of year.
A familiar restaurant doesn’t necessarily mean ordering the familiar.
Ask the hotel team what guests should do in early autumn and a swim at Maspalomas beach, with the dunes in the background, is high on their list.
It’s not much of a detour from Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia. The beach is only a few minutes’ walk away and runs for around six kilometres, alongside a 404-hectare nature reserve of dunes and lagoon. Some of those dunes reach eight metres high and, thanks to the wind, they don’t stay exactly where you left them.
There’s more happening among them too. The lagoon attracts migratory birds including herons, ducks and sandpipers, while the reserve is home to the Maspalomas giant lizard, which can grow to around 80 centimetres long.
The hotel team can take guests further into Gran Canaria from there. Private tours are tailored to the individual, with local wineries, the island’s ravines and its interior among the places they recommend. That’s a lot of island beyond the dunes. And the hotel is keen for guests to see it, with greater emphasis on seasonal experiences and private tours with trusted local partners. The swim was only the hotel's first suggestion.
“The temperature is ideal for exploring the wonders of Gran Canaria.”
SENEIDA GARCÍA LUENGO, Sales & Marketing Manager (UK, IE, NL, BE), Seaside Collection
Seaside Collection owner Theo Gerlach had an idea for Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia: to create a hotel where guests could feel among friends in a private residence. French designer Alberto Pinto was brought in to give that idea a look of its own.
The 94 rooms and suites are spread through two-storey villas around the gardens and pool, instead of sitting together in one large building. Screened balconies and terraces give guests their own outdoor space, with garden and pool views among the choices.
And then there’s the Presidential Suite. Its private garden alone measures 400 square metres! Calling that a little outdoor space would be underselling it.
Maybe the regulars have got the right idea. Come back for the bits you know, leave enough room for something you don’t. There can be a favourite table waiting and another part of Gran Canaria you haven’t got around to yet.
There’s more to Seaside Grand Hotel Residencia than one stay, and more to Gran Canaria than the dunes next door. Which leaves us with just one question.
What have the other 20% been waiting for?
Not finished reading? There’s more hotel know-how, destination ideas and first-hand finds waiting in Lusso Stories. Or give our Europe team a call and make us part of your next Gran Canaria enquiry.
