We booked a 3 night package(half board costing 562EUR) with the hotel and were extremely disappointed with the cleanliness, accommodation, food and customer service we received.
Cleanliness – The salad bar was covered in flies (small ones like fruit flies). It was disgusting to see the hordes of flies laying on the cold ,meats and salads. I tried complaining to the manager part way through our stay and the manager refused to speak with us as her English was not very good. We finally spoke with Mr Buckermann on the last morning of our stay. After leaving us waiting over 30 minutes while he ‘took some phone calls’, and when he finally got off the phone, he basically didn’t want to hear about our experience – he told us that fruit flies were ‘normal’ for this time of year and the hotel do not take any measures to reduce the flies. I explained how the flies have the potential to contaminate food with bacteria and other disease producing organisms – he didn’t want to hear about it. I explained that I had been ill and had only eaten at the hotel. He told me to go to the hospital if I suspected I had been food poisoned. As I left, the receptionist gave me an Angel figurine….maybe that is how they hope that guests will remain alive.
Accommodation: I booked directly with the hotel but as it was fully booked, I was given accommodation in the Villa BelVital residence. I expected that this would be on the same grounds as the hotel. Instead it was about a 3 minute walk from the hotel in the middle of the neighbourhood. It was like staying in a residential house – not a hotel. It also meant that you could not go back to your accommodation between treatments if you wanted to remain dressed in your dressing gown.
Due to advance bookings, we agreed to move rooms during our stay. The first night we stayed in an apartment where the bedroom was very small – just enough room to get out of the bed and walk alongside. It was an attic room and the temperature was about 45 degrees in the room. There was no air-conditioning in the room so we asked for a fan, where I was told that the hotel does not deploy fans to the guests. The second room that we moved to was larger but was still extremely hot. We went to the local shop and bought a fan.
Food – Despite the onslaught of flies at the salad bar, the cooked food was tasteless, badly cooked and plain. I expected a Wellness spa to have varied menu or healthy meals – no here! Soups were full of cream or just a flavour of salt and water, veal was served raw and was retuned uneaten by most of the hotel guests, fish stew with fennel was disgusting. Service was very slow – we waited over 90 minutes to get our first course. Breakfasts were OK so long as you avoided the flies. We ate at the hotel twice - I got quite ill after my second night’s dinner at the hotel with vomiting and diarrhoea.
Facilities – We had a Chinese pressure point back massage included as part of our package. We asked for this to be extended to 45minute Sports massage instead. My husband received a 30 minute Chinese massage which when he complained was rebooked to a 30 minute Sports massage. My sports massage was OK. The gym facilities are a joke! It consists of approx 3 machines located in the basement and where the temperature was approx 40 degrees. Unbearably hot! No one could exercise in the 40 degree heat!
I would advise people to avoid this hotel. I have stayed in hundreds of hotels and this has to have been one of the worst. The attitude of the manager was unacceptable and the level of cleanliness was not acceptable for a 2 star much less a 4 star hotel. Shame on this hotel and manager for the service they provide!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
