Garden Ada Hotel

Room on the first floor is.

The garden and the outside of the hotel are lovely, and the rooms have new furnishings that weren’t damaged. But cleanliness and communication really let us down. The hotel is about a 15-minute walk from the center, which could be inconvenient without a car. The pillows are higher than standard, so if you don’t like sleeping with your head raised, bring one from home :) We stayed four days in the room called Oyster, and the door handle was broken the entire time. Unless locked, the door wouldn’t close, and the handle came off in my hand. We reported it to the person downstairs on the first night, but it was still broken when we left. The room itself was generally clean, but there was a 20 cm blonde hair on the pillow. Staff changed the pillow without a word or apology. Breakfast was good, but on the second morning we found a roughly 10 cm hair in the tomato and cucumber. We reported it again. They took the vegetables away and didn’t bring replacements or apologize. It felt like a joke, but it wasn’t. There was no room cleaning during our four-day stay, and nobody asked whether we wanted it done or said it was available on request. They didn’t even empty the trash. I’ve stayed at boutique hotels where rooms were cleaned and wiped down with disinfectant daily, even after Covid, and an employee would check whether I wanted the room cleaned. Here, we used it only to sleep, yet it got quite dirty. I was almost embarrassed enough to ask for a Vileda set. Maybe the owner will say we should have asked, but cleaning was done at every other hotel I stayed in, and it’s the hotel’s responsibility to keep track of guests’ needs. The only person I felt did their job properly was the employee by the tea urn. He thanked me when he served the tea and wished me a good appetite. The staff all seemed tired, and there appeared to be too few of them, perhaps four or five in total, which may explain why the work wasn’t done well. The owner should value the staff. Think carefully before choosing this place.

The garden was pleasant, and the staff were polite and friendly, but those were the only two things we liked. We stayed four nights and five days, and the hotel felt more like half-board accommodation than a boutique hotel. I wish we’d booked a guesthouse instead. Don’t be swayed by other reviews. The room was filthy when we arrived, with hair in the bathroom and dust on the floor. The air conditioning didn’t work, and the rooms were so cramped we had to hop off the ottoman to get around the bed. One side of the shower stall was missing, so the floor kept getting soaked and we had to mop it up. Our towels and sheets weren’t changed, and toilet paper and soap weren’t replenished. Towels that landed on the floor were just folded up and put back. The hair dryer ran for three minutes and shut off, then we had to wait for it to decide to work again. When we asked for a replacement, they said that’s how hotels work(!) and didn’t replace it. Breakfast in the garden could have been nice, but we were told that because of Covid(!), guests had to buy their own tea. When we asked why, they claimed thermoses were banned by law 😂 That explanation was absurd.

The good parts first: the hotel has a big garden, parking wasn’t a problem, and it’s close to both the center and the beaches. We could drive to the center in about three minutes and the beaches in seven or eight. Staff were friendly, and breakfast was generous and filling. In our room, Lale, the floor had dust and hair, and the towels in the cupboard were dirty and still damp from the previous guest. I think staff may have forgotten to remove them, but that shouldn’t happen during a pandemic. One shower panel was missing, so water ran into the bathroom and had to be wiped up. The air conditioner started smelling bad after it had been on for a while. We later saw on Instagram that Habbele beach was half price for hotel guests. Since we’d asked staff which beach they recommended, I wish they’d mentioned the discount when we checked in. If these small issues are fixed and the next room gets a more thorough clean, I think this could earn five stars.