I gave the 3/5 rating based on the fact it's a 4 star hotel, the service is still lousy at best.
The hotel has great amenities, and they try to do the right things, hosting parties, happy hours, pool bar specials, nice restaurants, and very convenient to have a pool and beach right there. But, as Croatia continues to develop and more big hotels are built, they will no longer have a monopoly and I suspect these guys will hopefully step up their service.
We went in August which is of course the busiest time of the year, but the front desk and concierge essentially laughed at us when we tried to reserve anything early including the faster ferry to the island. Just very frustrating when we arrive and things are booked or sold out, especially the ferry b/c it took us atleast 2 more hours to get there and was more expensive. Then when we were leaving the hotel, they had a shuttle that would take us to the ferries, but it was just chaos. These people do this EVERY SINGLE day, you would think they would have it down to a science and be able to provide you with some guidance or any kind of answers rather than, "just wait here, somebody will be by eventually to get you". (we were told to be ready to board van at 8:15, didnt leave til 8:45 for a 9:00 ferry)
Generally speaking, there's not enough information or flyers or anything of the sort unless it has something to do with one of the companies in their chain, not even a decent map of the city, just a xeroxed copy of a map that outlined where their hotels and restaurants were(nothing more, believe me, we asked). We read that the blue cave was a great tour, but knew nothing more of what the tour entailed, and when we asked, they acted like we were idiots for asking what the tour did for an entire day. Yet, they didnt have much info at all, quoted us the wrong prices by 200kuna, quoted the wrong return hour, so we missed our dinner reservations on the return, not acceptable.
The service has been harped on enough on this board but it's unacceptable for as much as one pays to stay here. It was just one thing after another and to pay for the bons les bain and show up and to be told, sorry, we dont have your reservation, yet it's right in their reservation book. We luckily got some spots on our last day right by the entrance and we saw several people, probably 10 or more couples that day having it out with the hostess who handles the reservations. There again, you do this every day, how can it be so complicated, you make a reservation, you should have a spot.
As for the rooms, they are small, but functional, they definitely tried to be too funky with the bathrooms, water goes everywhere, toilets are weird, but these are all things that are easily looked past as hopefully you wont be spending too much time in the rooms.
Restaurants were good, but much more expensive than other places we ate outside of the hotel chain. Be sure to head to Palmizana Island, grab a drink at Toto's and eat at Meneghello, great food and super service for a small price, comparatively speaking. Also a great place in town was Luna, try the dumplings with truffle cream, man, those were amazing. Also, try out Hula Hula Bar / Bubba Gumps, good, young, fun atmosphere and great food.
Great location and amenities, but even though from other reviews, we expected the service to be bad, it was far worse than what we anticipated.
