iGV Club Santagiusta

The sea is fantastic, the staff are friendly and helpful, and the buffet food is good, with a special dish each day. The children’s options do get repetitive, though. We were also caught off guard by the nursery rules: it was open, but because of Covid restrictions the nannies couldn’t touch children under three, and nobody had told us before we arrived. Our rooms were fine but basic, and the furniture looked a little tired. We asked reception for a late checkout because we had babies aged five months and two years, but they wouldn’t help. Checkout is at 10:00, and their suggestion was to move rooms, which would mean packing and unpacking all our luggage. The open-air theatre has music and shows from 9 pm, and the sound carries beyond the rooms near the theatre. It was a nice holiday, but the value for money wasn’t great.

Checkout was a mess, and we waited 45 minutes. Service varied a lot depending on who we spoke with: some staff were great, others unfriendly. The breakfast was very basic and mostly sugary. On the better side, the location and beach are lovely, lunch and dinner were nice, childcare was great, and the massages were very good.

We’ve been coming for ten years, mainly because our son likes the kids’ program. The club has slipped in quality, though. The food is barely edible now, and most of the staff have been replaced, apart from the heads of AIGO, sport, and theater. Some of the new staff seem questionable, for example, the sailing staff had apparently only learned to sail in the past month. This week there are three tour groups, one of them with more than 200 people, and that changes the feel of the place. It seems the resort is focused on filling rooms with groups. The place hasn’t kept up with the times. Wi-Fi is unreliable, barely working in rooms and weak at the beach and pool. Even after all these years, there’s no easy way to find out the day’s schedule. General notices are posted, but not details like whether it’s white night or what Friday’s show will be. You have to stand by the loud beach speakers to hear the day’s program or go to the theater for the evening show. It reminds me of Kellerman in the film 'Dirty Dancing': time goes by and nothing changes, and the place is getting stale. From what we’ve been told over the years, it’s still the best of all iGV properties.

A great Holiday Village, with friendly staff, excellent food, and plenty of activities and entertainment for kids and adults.