Aminess Vival Port9 Residence

We keep coming back and have always had a good stay. The apartments are basic but do the job, and housekeeping comes if you leave the sign on the door. It's easy to get to the old town throughout the day by buggy or water taxi. There are plenty of things on site, including bars, a gym, multimedia room, kids club, entertainment, and a play area. The resort is right by the beach, and the evening walk into town is lovely. The infinity pool is beautiful, the staff are friendly, and the amenities are great.

The beach spoiled the otherwise lovely atmosphere. People from different backgrounds were leaving cigarette butts among the pebbles, and I think the hotel should be more active about keeping the shore clean. Without better attention, a few careless visitors could spoil a beautiful setting. Inside, the hotel was very clean and the staff were extremely respectful. The buffet had plenty of choice, and the Mediterranean dishes were delicious and carefully prepared.

We'd stayed here before, so this return visit was a real disappointment. Some reception staff were kind, but the resort felt run down and we ran into problem after problem. Our room wasn't cleaned, we had no towels or toilet paper, the bins weren't emptied, and the bedding wasn't changed. There was black mould on the shower spray and walls, along with other marks on the walls, curtains, and bedding. The bathroom smelled of sewage, the sink and shower were blocked, the air conditioning was faulty, and the kitchen equipment was worn and limited. The fridge and freezer were switched off when we arrived. A lot of facilities weren't open. There were four bars and restaurants rather than seven, no ice cream, and often no pool towels. Bins around the resort were overflowing. The beach loungers were never moved or cleaned, so we had to do it ourselves and then pay to use them. The worst part was rubbish on the beach, including plastic, fruit, cigarette packets, and condoms. I showed management photos and raised it with them, but the beach wasn't cleaned until the next day. I spent a lot of time reporting issues at reception. Management didn't seem to care, as if there would always be more tourists. There were fewer staff, and it felt like they were trying to run the resort on a shoestring while charging high prices. Aminess, you should be ashamed. This isn't four star, and you should treat all your customers better.

The one thing that made me happy about this resort was leaving. Staffing seemed so thin that the bars opened at 10am and the pool bar at 11am. You couldn't get coffee before 10 unless you made it yourself. The restaurants that were open were short-staffed too, with at least a 20-minute wait for a drink. Ice cream wasn't available anywhere inside the resort, though there's a shop nearby. The accommodation needs renewal. Bathrooms had a constant sewage smell, and the kitchen was poorly equipped. An apartment for five had only one pan, one pot, very few dishes, and hardly any utensils. Pool staff didn't seem to pay attention to what was happening around them. Loungers at both the beach and pool were claimed before 6am, often by people who didn't show up until the afternoon. The hotel says loungers can't be reserved, but no one enforced that rule. People would line up from 8am, claim a lounger, then leave. Sometimes they came back, sometimes they didn't. Staff left the reservations in place and seemed more interested in browsing Facebook and Instagram. Towel service was another problem. They usually couldn't exchange them and always had an excuse for not having fresh ones. The pool area was dirty, with no trash cans available. The little foot-cleaning pool was best avoided, and its water was changed only once a day. It should run all day, since the entrance was always muddy. The area around the pool was cleaned once a week, though it needs daily cleaning, and the saltwater pool was dirty.