Hotel Nastro Azzurro

The food was generally good, though it got a bit repetitive after a while. Still, the hotel feels very tired and needs major work, especially outside, with parts inside needing a full refurbishment too. It doesn't meet what I'd expect from a quality, star-rated TUI Blue hotel, and we won't be returning. The grounds were untidy. The garden view had old pots and unmown grass. Paths and steps need pressure washing and repainting, and some marble paths had large cracks. My wife tripped on a particularly bad crack on the way into reception. The tennis courts were awful, with rusty fencing that looked like a concentration camp entrance. The building by the courts was full of rubbish, with water seeping through the walls, and the boules area was abandoned and unsightly. We saw painters working outside, but they were very slapdash, getting paint on glass roofs and arches without much care. The lower pool had sharp stone gravel around it that hurt to walk on, old mouldy sunbed covers, and some beds with no covers. The covers weren't brought in at the end of the day and had splits. The upper pool was okay, but the sea-view end looked over abandoned Giglio coaches, overflowing rubbish bins, dumped rubble, and hedge and tree trimmings. The wooded area was neglected too. There were jacuzzis there, but they were lukewarm and nobody seemed to use them. The grass was muddy around them, and there was a random shower, more broken or mouldy sunbeds, and other unkempt furniture. Our bedroom bed was rock hard, and my wife and I both had bad backs afterward. The bathroom mastic was mouldy in the corners, and the bath was so small it was only just enough for a shower. It needs replacing with a modern walk-in shower. The room had basic Nescafé, which was horrible and below the quality I expected. There were no robes or slippers. The water arrangements felt mean. A complimentary bottle was in the room on arrival, but with lunch and dinner we had to pay 3 euros. At breakfast the same water was free. One morning, while we were filling our own bottles with bottled water we were allowed to have, the TUI manager and duty Maitre D challenged us at our table. They wanted us to drink it in the restaurant instead of taking it away in a waterproof bottle, though lots of other guests did that each morning. We only had tea and fruit juice at breakfast, saving our water allowance for our bottles. The coffee machine coffee was awful too. Restaurant and lunchtime buffet staff kept pressing us to order drinks, which got irritating when we were trying to enjoy the holiday. The evening entertainment was poor, with old-fashioned music and no atmosphere. Even the more modern songs played or sung weren't good. If you like Kool and the Gang, you'll enjoy the piped music around the hotel, since that seemed to be on most of the time. The courtesy bus was old and noisy, its driver's steering wheel worn out, and some passenger seats were loose and unsafe. It looked at least 20 years old and needs replacing. The TUI website photos were completely out of date and misleading, as the photos I've attached show. The hotel has previously blamed weather in its responses and said it would consider past issues, but most of them still haven't been addressed. The TUI and Trip Advisor awards displayed behind reception were from 2015, nearly ten years ago, and aren't anything to be proud of or a reflection of the rating given by TUI, Trip Advisor customers, and other review sites.