TUI BLUE Tesoro Blu

This was our second stay at the Tesoro Blu. We loved it the last time which was five years ago so we decided to return. Not sure if it was a case of rose tinted spectacles the first time but we certainly won’t be back for a third visit. THE GOOD 1 Beds are the best I’ve ever slept in. 2 Showers are best I’ve ever experienced. 3 The hotel is immaculate as are the gardens. 4 The swimming pool is superb as are the sun beds. 5 The White Bar and eating area are beautiful. 6 The rooms are immaculate and well cleaned with plenty of storage. 7 The omelettes at breakfast were lovely. 8 The yoga class with Catrin was very good. THE MEDIOCRE 1 Some of the waiting staff were very friendly, others less so. 2 Reception staff efficient but distant. 3 Breakfast on the whole was dull with cheap skate ingredients aside from the omelettes. Bad quality jam, lack of variety of breads, and the same everyday. 4 The entertainment made us retire to our room by 9.15 every night, except for the one evening when Hollis played. THE BAD 1 We were charged €7 for a bottle of sparkling water!! Our questioning this extortionate price on our first night was met by contempt by the hotel manager who should not be in the hospitality business (she blanked us for the rest of the holiday). She told us that in a 5* hotel you should expect 5* prices. The dining experience at this hotel was far from 5*! 2 The food was average at best. Frozen vegetables, unflavoured poor quality meat, uncooked fish, the veggie options were often the best of a poor choice. The salads were ok, but the same every night. Food was like staff canteen, catering for the masses without love or flavour, not good in Greece! 3 As we were staying for the last part of the season, things deteriorated even more. The movies stopped working during a storm and they couldn’t be bothered to fix them. This left even less for us to do given the poor entertainment. 4. The coffee with breakfast was sub-standard; the orange juice was diluted from the beginning and somehow deteriorated into squash, being at the end of season. 5 SINGLE USE PLASTIC, coffee milk, butter, jam, honey, straws. Just shocking in this day and age! 6 We like to book TUI Sensimar primarily for the exercise classes. Sadly these were few and far between, again end of season apparently! 7 The lack of quiz nights, Greek nights and wine and cocktail tasting....it was like nobody could be bothered anymore. All in all and comparing to the 4* hotel which we are currently staying in Budapest this hotel is a disappointment.

Bit late on this review as we spent 2 weeks here 2nd half of June. I’m not sure the 100% perfect holiday exists but this for us was as close as it gets. The fact that we are going to book again for next year sort of confirms this. We only book adult only hotels & have sampled loads. This place has great rooms, fantastic staff, decent food, great location and is well run. The Hotel sits on the edge of the resort and we walked into Scala a number of times to sample the local Tavernas. The walk isn’t too far at all and we tried a few places to eat but actually enjoyed the Hotel evening meal where you could control what you wanted (not too much on a plate so not over faced) and enough choice for us. Evening entertainment a little limited but the twice weekly Hollis rock show was superb. We paid €5 for the CD and have nearly worn it out! (Wife just danced around kitchen to it while finishing up). We don’t normally do half board as we like to eat out & have a wander. But after a 2 am start we decided to eat first night at hotel, & what a revaluation. You can eat when you want, & choose you’re own table by the pool or behind in little outside area, no queuing just chill and pick what you want to eat! ( what a change from being told where you sit & what sitting you are on). Staff fantastic, never been to any hotel as friendly as this one. What a little gem, perhaps we should have kept it to ourselves & a secret.😋