Isabella Island Hotel & Villas, Valamar Collection

The staff made us feel genuinely welcome. Every person we met greeted us warmly and professionally, and they went out of their way to help. At dinner they regularly brought us highchairs, offered rides for us and our bags, and quickly showed us other rooms and moved us without question when the hill and balcony were hard to manage with our daughter’s additional needs. The team at the Maro Club also created a lovely atmosphere and were excellent with the children. It really felt like they cared about giving guests a good experience, and I hope we can come back. We spent five all-inclusive days here as a family with two young children. The island is beautiful, and the children’s facilities are what drew us to the hotel. There are indoor and outdoor play areas for different ages. The playroom by the dining area was especially handy at mealtimes. The Maro Club building has several rooms with toys and activity space, along with great soft play. We didn’t take part in the organized activities, though they looked fun. Our children are still too young to swim, so we didn’t use every pool, but the heated baby pool kept them entertained for hours. We all liked the food and drinks. Even as a vegetarian, I found plenty of choice and variety, and there was more food available than I expected. Our UK agency package also included a good range of cocktails and spirits. Thank you so much.

I’m not recommending this hotel after our September 2025 visit. I had praised it highly following our September 2023 stay, from the location and accommodation to the staff, and used to tell people it was a 10/10. This time, though, we arrived looking forward to the trip and found a very different experience. We booked in June 2024, when the hotel was half board. All-inclusive began in May 2025, but at check-in on September 9, after staff asked whether we’d stayed before, nobody mentioned the change. That was the first disappointment. We’d been up since 3 a.m. and asked about getting food at the pool bar, only to be bluntly told no, we had to go back to the mainland. That was the second. We could upgrade our room booking to a villa, but couldn’t change from half board to all-inclusive. The villa wasn’t as clean as I remembered the hotel being. The food wasn’t great, and everything felt rushed, from breakfast to lunch, snacks, and dinner. Some staff were helpful and would chat with us, while many wouldn’t give us the time of day. When it was half board, pool bar staff used to talk with guests and ask about their holiday. The hotel also now uses paper cups and plates, which doesn’t fit with a company promoting environmental care.

The room and service were about what I’d expect at this price, and the location is great. The all-inclusive package, though, left me very disappointed. Guests on half board seemed to have the same choices we did, apart from the midday meal. Only beer and wine were included, and cocktails cost considerably more than in Poreč. The food was repetitive, however you look at it. There were also no lifeguards or liferings by the beaches and swimming areas. I couldn’t honestly recommend the resort unless they sort out the food.

We first stayed at Hotel Isabella years ago and gave it five stars on Google. After several visits, the recent drop in quality and steep price increases have changed my view. I updated the rating to two stars, or three at best. The all-inclusive package was added in place of the earlier half-board setup, but the selection is limited and largely repeats each day. The service hasn’t risen to the level guests would expect from all-inclusive. Food is repetitive, with little variety or creativity. We often ended up eating pizza and pasta. There were hardly any proper meals for children, the soups were sometimes too salty, and seafood was almost entirely absent, despite being something many seaside guests look forward to. Fish was usually available but served the same way each time. Other parents we spoke to had much the same impression. June’s selection was actually broader than August’s, even though August cost more. Parking was another bad surprise. We were charged automatically for it despite not using the hotel lot, and although we stayed only one night, the charge covered the whole stay. A guest who doesn’t notice would pay unnecessarily. The hotel didn’t apologize for the mistake, which didn’t feel professional. There were also little problems that kept going unfixed, like no children’s spoons at the tables. I raised that more than once over the years, but nothing changed, leaving me with the sense that guest feedback isn’t heard. The former manager used to communicate with guests and keep standards up. Since then, the quality has clearly declined. June was worse than the year before, and August worse still. I believe service would be much better if that manager were still in charge. The Google rating also feels questionable to me: Isabella shows 4.8 (96%), while Booking.com shows 8.5 (85%). The Booking reviews seem realistic, but the very positive Google reviews don’t match what we experienced. Nothing has improved since our first stays, which initially impressed us. After the June holiday we were already considering somewhere else, and only came back in August because it was a last-minute booking. Unless service improves, we’ll most likely stay elsewhere next time.