Grand Hotel Balestrieri

The rooms, pool and beach are quite nice for this area and Italian standard, which makes the rest especially frustrating. The so-called DJ played music every night from 9.30 until midnight and kept talking into his microphone, so we couldn't sleep. We asked them to quiet things down and were promised it would be the last night because the season was over, but it wasn't. We're planning to move to another hotel as soon as possible. If you want a relaxed vacation, this isn't the place.

The food was a real letdown. It was supposedly all locally sourced and seasonal, and this is southern Italy, where people take pride in local specialties. The buffet was rarely replenished, breakfast was disappointing, and staff didn't open wine or water bottles at the table. With all-inclusive, you'd expect wine, beer and soft drinks at least with meals, but only wine and water were included. Everything else cost extra. The change in management is obvious. Booking was a mess, customer service was poor, and staff seemed too few in the restaurant. Bar opening hours were unpredictable, the pool bar sat unused, and the air conditioning kept switching off after about an hour. Public areas were dirty and rooms had only the bare minimum. For a four-star hotel, it's ridiculous to have to ask for beach towels and pay 2 € each to get them refreshed. They should be in the room and changed along with bath towels. We had to open our own parasols and loungers every day at the beach, even though these should be ready at 4 am, and the sand should be cleaned daily. Getting a pool chair or lounger was a struggle all week, with nobody ever ready to help. Events made the nights very loud, and fireworks at 1 am were so close they felt as if they were in the room. Guests hadn't been told about them. They also provided no entertainment because of 'health' issues, whatever that meant, and there were no kids' facilities or activities to speak of. The management wasn't transparent about a health issue in the area that led the local mayor to ban bathing at spots very close to the hotel. They had no proper high chairs for infants. After several requests, what we got was dirty and below standard. A child under one fell off because the booster seat wasn't secured to the chair, hitting their head on the window and floor. Getting onto Wi-Fi was difficult too. I'm sure they sold our phone number details to a third party, because shortly after registering we were added to a random WhatsApp group. Apart from the building and the beach, this was nowhere near four stars. A week there was very disappointing. They need more professionalism and better service before we'd consider coming back.

We stayed for a week and were completely disappointed. Apart from the building and beach, this was far from a four-star experience. Maybe the hotel had better days, but now it feels like a mess. It seems focused on hosting weddings, and recent good ratings may be from people who only came for an event. The public spaces were dirty. The food wasn't good, so we ate out three times. There were no COVID regulations in place, and at the buffet there were long lines in a cramped area. Your table might be gone by the next meal, the trays were mostly empty, guests had to refill their own water, and tablecloths were reused. The restaurant was understaffed, the air conditioning didn't work well and the music was too loud. The restaurant manager was useless and spoke badly about other guests in public areas. There was no playground, just five old, rusty swings for the whole hotel. Twice we had no water for showers, and sometimes there were no towels in our room. The shower head was cracked and the safe had no battery. We reported these problems to reception three times, but left without anyone fixing them. They charged an extra 50€ per person to use the facilities. There were only two days that week without a wedding, and the pool was available to hotel guests only on those days. Staff and management knew guests were unhappy, but made no effort to address it. Spend your money and precious vacation time somewhere else. I wouldn't recommend this hotel.

A great resort in a peaceful location, with a friendly atmosphere, lovely staff, first-rate facilities, a superb pool and a private beach. I'd love to come back for another holiday.