"Very Disappointing Experience – Definitely Not What We Expected from a 4-Star Hotel
We recently stayed at the Adriatic Beach Hotel in Croatia and, unfortunately, our experience was very disappointing. Having stayed in other 4-star hotels, we certainly did not feel that this hotel lived up to a 4-star standard.
After a long flight and a delay, we then had a two-and-a-half-hour coach journey before finally arriving at the hotel. When we arrived, there was no assistance offered with our luggage. We were simply given our room key and told to make our own way there.
This was particularly difficult because the hotel has steps everywhere. There are no straightforward lifts that take you directly to the rooms, restaurants and other areas of the hotel. We counted approximately 192 steps on the route to and from our room, and we had to carry our own cases up and down them. This would be extremely difficult for anyone with mobility problems or a disability.
In fact, getting around the hotel every day involved repeatedly using stairs, whether going to the restaurant, pool or other facilities.
Our Room
We had paid extra for a junior suite and were very disappointed with the room. It was not particularly spacious and, apart from having a sink area, we couldn't see much difference between it and a standard room. It also wasn't as clean as we expected.
The housekeeping was another disappointment. The tea bags were not replaced during our stay and we were never provided with English tea, only flavoured teas.
On two or three occasions, our used towels were removed but not replaced, meaning we had to contact reception and ask for fresh towels.
Restaurant and Food
The restaurant was very basic, and the food was extremely repetitive. There was very little variety from day to day, which became disappointing when staying for a full week.
For a hotel advertised as 4-star and all-inclusive, we expected a much better choice and standard of food.
Entertainment
The entertainment was another major disappointment. It was extremely poor and very repetitive, with what felt like the same karaoke-type group performing every night.
Most evenings, the entertainment had finished by around 10pm, leaving guests with very little to do for the remainder of the evening. There was nowhere else to go to dance or continue enjoying any entertainment.
Ironically, the best night was the actual karaoke night, which says a lot about the limited entertainment available.
We feel that, at the very least, entertainment should have continued until the bar closed at 12 midnight, particularly for an all-inclusive hotel where guests are on holiday and expect some evening atmosphere and entertainment.
Once the entertainment finished at 10pm, the evening was effectively over, which was very disappointing and certainly did not give us the enjoyable holiday atmosphere we had expected.
Excursions
One of our biggest disappointments was the excursions.
It was my husband's birthday while we were away, and we had really wanted to go white-water rafting. We spoke to the holiday representative on our first day and were told that the rafting trip usually didn't go ahead because they needed at least 12 people.
We spoke to numerous other guests during our stay who were interested in going, but they had been discouraged from booking because they had been told there probably wouldn't be enough people and that, if the trip was cancelled, they could have to wait up to three weeks to receive their money back.
As a result, nobody wanted to take the risk of booking.
We were ultimately the only people who had booked, so the trip was cancelled. It was incredibly disappointing, particularly as this was something we had specifically wanted to do for my husband's birthday.
We couldn't help feeling that if guests had been encouraged to book rather than being warned that the trip probably wouldn't go ahead, there may well have been enough people for it to run.
We also booked a waterfall trip after asking how long the journey would take. We were told it would be approximately an hour and a half, but in reality it was around three hours each way on the coach.
Once there, we had approximately three hours in the park, but after walking around for about 45 minutes there wasn't really anything else to do apart from sit in a bar, where the food and drinks were very expensive.
For a full-day excursion, we were also surprised that no food or drinks were provided.
We also heard a very concerning story from a couple we met at the hotel who had booked a boat trip. They were taken to an island and told to return to a particular meeting point at 4pm. They arrived at the agreed place on time, only to find that the boat had already left.
They were then stranded for around four or five hours before having to pay for another ferry themselves. They said they received no food or drink and, when they eventually returned to the hotel, the representative blamed them for being late, despite them saying they had been at the agreed meeting point on time.
They also told us they had not received a refund for the excursion.
Beach and Hotel Facilities
The beach directly outside the hotel was extremely rocky, with no sand, making it uncomfortable to walk on.
Sunbeds and umbrellas also cost approximately £8 per day, which we felt was disappointing considering we were staying at an all-inclusive hotel.
There was only one pool and not enough sunbeds for the number of guests.
We were also disappointed by how much seemed to cost extra. Although the holiday was advertised as all-inclusive, many things required additional payment.
The choice of cocktails included in the all-inclusive package was very limited, and an upgrade to premium drinks was around £220 per person for the week.
We met a couple who had paid for this upgrade but were still unable to get some of the drinks included because the hotel didn't have them in stock. This seems particularly poor when guests have paid a substantial amount for an upgrade.
The local drinks were also very weak, and staff weren't particularly flexible when guests asked if alternative local drinks could be used to make cocktails. We felt that you were simply restricted to whatever options were listed.
Overall
Sadly, this was not the relaxing and enjoyable holiday we had hoped for.
The hotel felt very basic, the food lacked variety, the room and housekeeping were disappointing, the entertainment was extremely limited, and the number of stairs throughout the hotel would make it unsuitable for anyone with mobility difficulties.
The entertainment in particular was a real disappointment. Finishing at 10pm every evening left very little to do, with no opportunity to dance or enjoy any further entertainment until the bar closed at midnight. For us, this contributed significantly to the hotel feeling more like a basic holiday resort than the 4-star experience we had paid for.
The excursion situation was particularly disappointing because we had chosen to visit Croatia and wanted to make the most of our holiday, especially as it was my husband's birthday.
Overall, we would not consider this hotel to be a true 4-star experience, and we would not return or recommend it to friends and family.
We feel that the hotel and holiday company need to be much clearer about the number of stairs and accessibility of the hotel, the limitations of the all-inclusive package, the standard of the entertainment, and the way excursions are organised and communicated to guests.
For us, unfortunately, the Adriatic Beach Hotel was a very disappointing holiday experience and certainly not the standard we expected for the money we paid.Very Disappointing Experience"
