Balatoni Retró Villa

Being able to walk straight onto the beach is a plus. The place might suit a group of teenagers who only need somewhere to sleep, but it wasn’t right for our family. It wasn’t clean, and the toilet seat was missing. It felt like the hotel had already had its best days and the owner no longer wanted to put money into fixing it.

A hotel horror story.

The food was a real problem. Breakfast ranged from dry bread rolls to rotten sausages, and after one of the bad dinners several children had diarrhea while others had stomach aches until the next morning. The rooms weren’t laid out as advertised. Their walls and ceiling were rotten, the parquet floor was badly lifted in the middle, and the nine-person room had just one toilet. It broke on day two, and the repairman who was said to be coming soon never showed up. The electricity also went out for hours that day, with no explanation. We were there Monday to Thursday with 90 children. On arrival, the owner wasn’t there at the agreed time, so we waited an hour in the blazing sun. The staff seemed fine at first, but once we got to know them, they showed no tolerance or common sense. One night they threatened to call the police if we didn’t quiet down after 10 pm. I’d only suggest this place to someone with very steady nerves and a lot of patience. Anyone with a bit of sense will stay away.

The food was leftovers, and more than once it seemed unfit to eat. When I refused to finish a spoiled sausage left from the previous group, staff answered with a few harsh words. That was one example of how little this supposedly kind owner seemed suited to dealing with people. We were here for a class camp, and it wasn’t suitable for that either. We stood outside for an hour in 35-degree heat when we arrived. The toilets were cracked and unusable, with mud already standing in several places. There were bugs in the rooms and in all sorts of places you really don’t want to find them. Even opening a room door took some figuring out: the right angle and force seemed to be needed to make it work. The owner shouted and swore at a group of 14-17 year olds, saying he’d call the police if we even turned on a light after 10 pm. Our teachers were treated badly too. When they tried to charge us more than we’d agreed, they said they hadn’t seen the email, even though they had replied to it. The way they spoke was degrading. Some of the claims didn’t match what we found. There’s no private beach, just a 15-meter unfinished concrete path leading to it. The suite is more like a moldy hole. And the 24-hour reception seems to mean they’ll appear at any time if someone speaks above 50 decibels, then bring you down with creative insults.