"This was our fourth visit to La Blanche Resort, which shows how much we've enjoyed staying here over the years. Overall, we had a lovely holiday, but unfortunately the service this time let the hotel down.
The biggest issue was the QR code ordering system at the snack bar. The idea is great in theory – scan the QR code, order food and drinks, and have them delivered to your table. However, on multiple occasions (at least once every day), our orders simply never arrived. The orders that did arrive often took around 30 minutes, which is far too long when you're just ordering drinks or snacks.
Even when all of our food eventually arrived, it was rarely delivered together. One person would receive their meal, another would still be waiting, and someone else's wouldn't arrive until much later. On more than one occasion, my husband had finished eating before both mine and my son's food had even been delivered. Drinks were also brought separately, often arriving well after the food. It completely took away from the experience of sitting down and enjoying a meal together as a family.
We also paid an additional €125 to hire one of the beach pavilions from 10am until 6pm. Part of the package included QR code ordering directly to the pavilion, which was one of the reasons we booked it. Unfortunately, one of our orders never arrived at all, making the extra cost feel like poor value for money. When you're paying extra for premium service, you expect it to work.
Another disappointment with the pavilions was the hire time itself. Although they're advertised as being available until 6pm, by around 2pm they are no longer in the sun. It would make much more sense to offer the hire period from 8am until 4pm instead, allowing guests to enjoy them during the best part of the day.
The restaurant also struggled to cope with the number of guests staying at the hotel. There were several occasions where we spent time walking around trying to find a free table, and one morning I couldn't have breakfast at all because there simply wasn't a table available.
Even when tables had been cleared, they were often not reset with fresh cutlery. We frequently found ourselves sitting at a clean table only to realise there were no knives, forks or napkins, meaning we then had to walk around the restaurant trying to find cutlery ourselves. It was another example of the service struggling to keep up with demand.
On our previous visits, one of the nice touches was that a member of staff would come to your table to ask if you'd like a drink with your meal. During this visit, that happened only once all week. Small touches like this make a big difference and are what you'd expect from a hotel that advertises itself as five-star.
While every member of staff we encountered was friendly and polite, it was obvious they were overworked. The hotel was very busy, and there simply weren't enough staff to cope with the number of guests. The pool bar often had only one member of staff, occasionally two, which simply wasn't enough. This isn't a criticism of the staff themselves—they worked incredibly hard—but of the staffing levels. During peak periods, the hotel really needs more staff to provide the level of service guests expect.
One thing that was particularly disappointing was what appeared to be a pattern of men being served before women at the bars. On one occasion, I was clearly next in the queue, yet two men walked up after me and were served first. My husband later tested this himself and was offered service ahead of two women who had been waiting longer than him. To his credit, he pointed out that they were there first. Hopefully this isn't intentional, but it happened enough for us to notice, and it felt disrespectful.
A much smaller point, but one that became frustrating over the course of the week, was the self-service tea stations. The English Breakfast tea bags were never replenished during our entire stay. There were plenty of other flavoured teas available, but the most commonly used tea wasn't restocked once, which seemed like a simple issue that could have been easily resolved.
One other disappointment was the balcony in our family room. The room itself was spacious and perfectly suited our needs, but the balcony was incredibly small—approximately 6 feet by 3 feet. It was barely wide enough to fit a chair, making it difficult to sit comfortably without your knees almost touching the railing. There was only enough room for two chairs, so despite it being a family room, there wasn't enough space for all of us to sit outside together. We appreciate that the size of balconies is dictated by the building's design, but describing it as a balcony for a family room sets expectations that it simply doesn't meet.
On a positive note, the housekeeping team deserve huge praise. The hotel was kept spotlessly clean throughout our stay, and the cleaners do an excellent job. The entertainment has also improved massively since our previous visits and is by far the best we've experienced at La Blanche. It was varied, professional and made a real difference to our evenings.
Despite the issues, we still enjoyed our holiday, and that's largely because we've always loved this hotel. There have definitely been improvements since our last visit, particularly with the entertainment, but the service has unfortunately gone in the opposite direction.
For us, the service no longer reflects what we would expect from a five-star hotel. At present, it feels much closer to a good four-star hotel than a true five-star experience. We sincerely hope the hotel addresses these issues, particularly staffing levels and the consistency of service, because La Blanche has always been one of our favourite places to stay. We'd love to return in the future and see it back to the high standard we experienced on our previous visits."
