I travelled here as part of Travel One, had heard many favourable reports on this hotel, but bouyed up by previous successful trips with the same company, I chose this hotel.
What a mistake! Travel One books their guests into the "Heritage" rooms; they sound classy, don't they? No, they're not. For "Heritage", read "Cheap". These rooms are in the main building of the hotel and whislt there has obviously been some effort put into refurbishment, it is haphazard to say the least!
All the rooms are different in size as are bathrooms. Showers rarely work fully even when there is hot water. There are varying designs of shower so if you move rooms, you have to learn all over again how to work it. Shower cubicles are often so tight, you need to be ultra slim to fit inside, otherwise you bang your elbows. Televisions are all different, but rarely fully tuned in, or have missing buttons on the fasica. Lights rarely have switches inside the door, but are often half way across the room. Furniture rarely sits squarely on all legs, such that everything wobbles.
But the major problem are the beds. Some of them appear to have been in situ for decades. I'd 4 changes of room in one week, due simply to beds that were so uncomfortable. Sleep was impossible.
Avoid Room 3; its twin beds will each have you sloping downhill as they sag head frst towards the headboards.
Avoid Room 18 lkike the plague; not only is this the noisiest room in the whole hotel, it has a metal frame and mattress which combined are so uncomfortable, it is akin to sleeping on a saddle, If there was a Gold Medal for the most uncomfortable bed in the world, this would win it every year! This room is next to Reception; you get woken up by everyone coming in and out of the hotel; you get woken by the night clerk watching TV through the night in the adjacent Lounge and despite his young age, he must be hard of hearing as he plays the TV so loudly.
Yes, the hotel is quirky with lots of knick-knacks & memorabilia etc, lying about the premises, but if only the management could have spent as much time, effort & resources to the basics like beds, workable showers and so on, as they have putting together what appears like a Junk Shop, then maybe standards would be higher.
The bedrooms in the newer wing across the street are of a much higher standard and from what I witnessed, are recommended. These are used by other Tour Companies - they're not fools, they know the differences between the 2 types of rooms.
On the plus side, the Restaurant produced such great food; as an ex-Hotel Manager, I was impressed and the young Chef is to be recommended. Breakfasts were a bit hit and miss. The housekeeping standards were very good indeed, no faults there at all.
On another negative side, the few sunbeds around the pool all had some fault or another. Please note too, not to use the large mustard yellow cushions which are piled up around the poolside, on which people lie to sunbathe; these invariably smell of the previous occupant's sweat - these cushions I don't think have seen soap and water in years!
This hotel would be far better if there was just a bit more time, care and attention spent on it.
The resort could not be faulted; the harbour is totally photogenic and an absolute gem!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
