"Pre-Arrival & Airport Experience
From the outset, the stay began without any pre-arrival communication. No welcome message, no offer of assistance with transfers, and no information about the hotel ahead of arrival. For a property at your level, this kind of proactive outreach sets the tone — and its absence was immediately noticeable.
Hotel Orientation & Facilities
Upon check-in, there was no walkthrough or explanation of the hotel's facilities, amenities, or services. The only information we received about the pool came because we asked directly. Guests should not have to go fishing for basic information about the property they are staying in. A brief, genuine orientation at arrival costs nothing and adds a great deal.
Breakfast
The breakfast offering, while visually generous, catered almost exclusively to a European palate. For an international property welcoming guests from around the world, the absence of Asian options — whether congee, dim sum, miso, rice-based dishes, or similar — is a notable gap. Inclusive dining is not a luxury; it is an expectation at this standard of hospitality.
The Suite
I want to be clear that the suite itself was a genuine highlight. Beautifully appointed, spacious, and thoughtfully designed — it is clearly a space the property is rightly proud of. Which is precisely why one omission is so puzzling: there is no bath. For a suite at this tier, a bath is not an indulgence, it is an expectation. Guests choosing a premium room are, in many cases, choosing it for the full experience of unwinding — and a bath is central to that. A suite this well considered deserves one.
Bathroom Toiletries
The in-room toiletries told a similar story of unfinished thinking. While the basics were present, there was no toothbrush, no toothpaste, and no comb. These are not extravagances — they are the baseline of what guests expect to find without having to ask or pack their own. Every hotel in the upper-midscale bracket provides them as standard; at a property positioning itself above that, their absence is a noticeable gap. A small amenity kit covering these essentials would go a long way toward making guests feel genuinely looked after from the moment they arrive.
Housekeeping & Reception — Ownership & Follow-Through
This is where I must be most candid, as it is where the stay fell furthest short.
I should note that we visited during shoulder season. The hotel was notably quiet, the staff-to-guest ratio was generous, and there was every structural condition in place for attentive, unhurried service. That makes what follows all the more difficult to understand.
When leaving for a late lunch, we made a clear request at reception for our room to be serviced. We returned at 6:00pm to find the housekeeper only just beginning the clean. A request made hours earlier had simply not been acted upon with any urgency or coordination.
When I called to raise the issue, the member of staff I spoke with declined to provide any contact details for a supervisor or manager — offering no escalation path whatsoever. What made this worse was what followed: nothing. Not a single follow-up call, no visit to the room, no acknowledgement that the situation had even been flagged internally. We were left entirely in the dark as to whether anyone had taken note of the complaint at all. That silence is, in many ways, more telling than the original delay.
No one followed up, no one ensured the request had been completed, and no one appeared to feel any personal responsibility for putting things right. A guest raising a service concern should never be left feeling ignored. The appropriate response — a prompt callback, an apology, confirmation that the issue had been resolved — costs nothing and means everything.
This is not an isolated issue of timing — it reflects a broader lack of ownership across both reception and housekeeping. Requests should be acknowledged, tracked, and delivered. A guest should never have to wonder whether what they asked for will happen.
Similarly, a request for an ice bucket the previous evening took thirty minutes to arrive. During a busy summer period, one might understand. During a quiet shoulder season with ample staff available, it is simply not good enough.
The Towel Card System
I will be honest: nothing summarised the disconnect between the hotel's aspirations and its reality quite like the towel card system. Being handed a card at the spa — and informed that losing it would incur a €25 penalty — felt jarringly out of place. This kind of transactional, loss-prevention approach belongs in a crowded three-star resort where management has lost the battle against guests walking off with poolside towels. It does not belong here.
It communicates, loudly and unmistakably, that the hotel's default posture toward its guests is one of suspicion rather than trust. At a property positioning itself at the upper end of the market, that is a significant misstep. The cost of replacing a spa towel is trivial compared to the cost of making a guest feel like a potential thief before they have even sat down.
In Closing
I raise these points not to criticise for its own sake, but because the property has genuine potential and clearly invests in its physical environment. The service culture, however, needs to match that investment. A beautiful hotel with inconsistent, guarded service leaves guests remembering the latter.
The conditions for excellence were there during our stay — the season, the staffing, the setting. What was missing was the culture and the ownership to take advantage of them."
