"Unfortunately, we cannot recommend this hotel. We paid approximately $1,100 per night, and for that price we expected to have a nice experience. Instead, the service and problems we encountered throughout our stay often felt more like what we would expect from a one-star hotel.
Our problems began almost immediately. When we arrived to check in, another guest was at the front desk complaining that his room door would not lock and that anyone could simply push it open. Our room was supposed to be ready by 2:00 PM, so we were told to go to the beach and that we could eat there while we waited. The restaurant hours we were given were incorrect, nothing was open yet, and there were no beach chairs available. We returned at 2:00 PM and our room still wasn't ready.
Once we finally got into our room, we discovered that our door didn't lock either. You could literally push the door open from the hallway without a key.
This was obviously a major security concern, and we immediately notified the hotel. It took three separate attempts to resolve the problem. Eventually they switched us to a manual key, but we later discovered that our room had been left unlocked with all of our belongings inside for a significant part of the day.
Even more concerning, earlier at the beach, when staff looked up our room, another guest's name appeared to be associated with it. We believe it may have been the same guest we had seen at reception complaining about his room not locking. If so, it was extremely troubling that we may have been placed into a room that the hotel already knew had a serious lock problem.
Because of the problems we'd already experienced, we were offered a complimentary meal at the Infinity restaurant. When we went there for dinner, however, we couldn't even get anyone to acknowledge us. Staff members were on their phones and others appeared to be outside smoking. We repeatedly tried to get someone's attention and eventually gave up and went into town for dinner instead.
We took the hotel's water taxi into town and specifically confirmed where and when it would pick us up. When we returned to the pickup point, it never came. After waiting more than 30 minutes, we contacted the hotel and were told the water taxi had stopped operating because of the weather. We completely understand cancelling a boat for safety reasons. What we don't understand is why nobody notified the guests who had taken that boat into town that their return transportation had been cancelled.
We then asked the hotel for help arranging a taxi and received no response, despite them having just responded to our previous message. We eventually arranged one ourselves and paid €40 to get back to the hotel. This was only a one mile drive so the price was insane.
After sending an email that night detailing all of the issues eventually the next afternoon, the manager reached out and asked to meet with us. By that point, we had already left the property for the day because after everything that had happened, we simply didn't want to spend another day there. This was particularly disappointing because the hotel and beach were a major reason we had chosen this property in the first place and we had initially planned on enjoying the property that day. Instead of enjoying an expensive resort stay, we spent most of our time wanting to be somewhere else.
I do want to specifically recognize the manager because he handled our complaint very well once he became involved. He met with us, was genuinely apologetic, acknowledged that there were no excuses for what had happened, and brought us a beautiful fruit tray and champagne. He also arranged a complimentary dinner for us at the Japanese restaurant, which was very nice and which we enjoyed. We appreciated his kindness and his effort to make things right.
Unfortunately, this happened near the end of our stay. While his response was excellent, it couldn't give us back the majority of the stay that had already been ruined.
Even on our final morning at breakfast, the service continued to disappoint. We were barely acknowledged and weren't even brought a menu to order items outside of the buffet. It was another example of the lack of attention and hospitality we experienced repeatedly.
At $1,100 per night, this simply isn't acceptable. At that price point, guests should not have to chase down staff for basic service, repeatedly report a door that doesn't lock, worry about their belongings being left unsecured, be stranded in town without notification, or struggle to even be acknowledged at the hotel's restaurants.
The property itself has the potential to be beautiful, and the manager's response to our complaint was genuinely appreciated. However, a five-star hotel is defined by far more than its property and amenities—the service has to be five-star as well. Our experience was nowhere close.
We spent a significant amount of money on this stay and left feeling like we had wasted it. We unfortunately would not stay here again and cannot recommend it to others.
I sincerely hope management uses experiences like ours as an opportunity to make significant changes, particularly with staff training, communication, restaurant service, room security procedures, and overall guest service. There is potential here, but based on our experience, this hotel has a long way to go before the service matches either its five-star positioning or its five-star prices."
