Seaside Palm Beach

Seaside Palm Beach was built in the Seventies as a curved, Miami-style block in the palm oasis at Maspalomas, and it has been part of the Seaside group since 1975. From the garden it reads as a concrete horseshoe of balconies wrapped round a large freshwater pool, with palms all around, a few minutes on foot from the lighthouse and the dunes. In 2002 the Paris interior designer Alberto Pinto led a full refurbishment, and instead of erasing the decade he turned it up. It is a member of Design Hotels and appears in the MICHELIN Guide's hotel selection.

There are 328 rooms and suites, each with a furnished balcony, and the rooms come in Pinto's four colour schemes, Beige & Brown, Yellow & Turquoise, Violet & Green and Coral & Blue, with Seventies-style furniture and lamps and bold graphic art on the walls. The doubles are compact, 25 m² before the balcony in the Twin, Superior and Deluxe Rooms, and what changes as you climb is the outlook. The entry Twin Room has a limited or street view, the Superior Room looks over the garden, the pool or the sea, and the Deluxe Room sits on the fifth to seventh floors. The Corner Deluxe is the largest double at 27 m², and Master Suites run to 41 m² with two balconies.

The design is the reason to book, and it does not stop at the bedroom door. Bar Salón has red tub chairs, striped wood panelling and a pink-lit ceiling, with live music in the evenings. The Main Restaurant is done in warm reds and yellows, with floodlit palms and the pool behind dinner. Outside, the curve of the building frames the pool terrace and Bar Africano under the palms. All five pools are heated, the main one in the cooler months. Two are for adults only, a 30°C saltwater wellness pool and a brine pool, and the guests-only spa's saunas, salt cave and those two pools are included in the room price.

The trade is that this is a big family resort as well as a design hotel. Pepe's Club takes children aged 4 to 12, and sunloungers cannot be reserved, so the pool terrace is shared with everyone. The rooms are small for five stars and the cheapest look onto a limited or street view, so the price that matters is the Superior Room's: €287 against €246 for the entry room on the same June night, breakfast included in both. Dinner is smart casual. Book it for winter sun with real style and the dunes at the end of the path; for a big room or an adults-only hush, look elsewhere.