Grand Hotel Balestrieri

Change of management is really noticeable and their bookig system is a mess. Customer services is sorely lacking. Aside from the structure and the beach, this is miles away from 4 stars. Staying there for a week has been very disappointing. They run lots of events and at night can be very loud, not to mention the fireworks at 1 am so close to the hotel it felt like they were in the room and which were NOT mentioned to the guests. The public spaces were dirty and the rooms were kept to the bare minimum. It is ridiculous that at a 4 star hotel you have to request beach towels and pay 2 € per towel to have them refreshed. They should be provided in the room and refresh with the bath towels. Every day at the beach, we had to open our own parasols and loungers. Which, btw, should be open at 4 am and the sand should be cleaned every day. Getting a chair/lounger for the pool has been a struggle all week - no-one is ever ready. The pool bar, clearly a remnant of the good old days - Now goes unused. They do not have proper high chairs for infants and what was provided, after several requests, was dirty and substandard. One child, less than 1 year of age fell off the chair hitting the head onto the window and the floor because the booster seat was not secured to the chair properly. Getting on the Wi-Fi was a struggle and I am sure they sold our phone number details to third party that shortly after the registration, added us to a random whatsapp group. The food was terrible - which is a surprise given that everything is locally sourced and sesonal and we are in southern Italy where they take extra pride in making and sharing the local specialties. The buffet was seldomly replenished. They do not open water/wine bottles at the table as it should be. The breakfast was very disappointing. Additionally, all inclusive means that at least during meals wine, beer, and soft-drinks should be included. Only wine and water were...everything else was extra. Airconditioning not working well and it was turning off after an hour or so. Restaurant understaffed and bars open/closed without a proper schedule. No entertainment was provided due to "health" issues. Not sure what that means. There were no kids facilities nor entertainment to speak of. They management was NOT transparent about a health issue that affected the area and forced the local mayor to forbid bathing in areas very close to the hotel. I am sorry to say that more professionalism and better service are needed for us to come back in the future.

Worst stay ever! The so called DJ - who is not even worth to call a DJ - plays music every night starting from 9.30 up to midnight. You are not able to sleep as he also talks constantly into his microphone. We asked to be more quiet and they promised us it would be the last night as the season is over, but that wasn’t the case. We are planning to move to a different hotel asap. So if you are looking for a relaxed vacation, THIS is NOT your hotel! It’s a pity as rooms, pool and beach are quite nice for this area and Italian standard.

Aside from the structure and the beach, this is FAR from 4 stars. Maybe it had its glory days but it's now a mess. This hotel is focused mainly in hosting weddings and people who have rated this well recently has probably been there only to attend an event. Staying there for a week has been a total disappointment. The public spaces were dirty. The food is not so good (we ate out 3 times), no covid regulations in place. Long line in the buffet and guests are stuffed in a small space where your table could be missing the next meal. The food trays are mostly empty and you should get up and refill your own water. The table cloths are re-used. Airconditioning not working well, music too loud. Restaurant understaffed The restaurant manager useless, and speaks bad about other guests in public spaces. No playground for kids, only 5 old and rusty swings for the entire hotel. Twice, we had no water to take a shower and sometimes no towels in the room. The shower head was cracked and safe had no battery, been to reception 3 times to report. We left the property without anyone bothering to fix them. They charge an extra 50€ per person for the use of facilities. There were only 2 days in a week where there was no wedding and the pool was available for hotel guests. The management and staff knew the guests were unhappy but no guest recovery effort was made. Spend you money and precious vacation time somewhere else. I will not recommend this hotel