Grande Baia Resort and Spa

Hotel is 4 km away from the main road, renting a car is a must if you want to move around. Despite the superior pack and without previous notice, time at the spa was limited to 2h/day. Music and activities at the pool: too noisy. Beach: not terrible. Room cleaning at random hours. Photos on site too artistic, hence quite misleading. Wi-fi connection: good only in the room. Bar: too expensive. Breakfast: plenty, but could be a bit diversified from one day to the other. Good: car parking, 4-course meal in the 'à la carte' restaurant in the evening.

Our experience is very sad: beautiful island, wonderful location, very nice buildings and rooms... but! The service is so law... 1. reception: English is let's say somewhat higher than the average Italian. They do what they have to, but no smiling, no extra effort... later I will comer back to this point. No question at the end, if we liked it (we spent there 10 nights) - maybe they were aware that they would not get a positive feedback. We asked about internet several times, they saying that it is very good quality and speed, - believe me it is not. (This unswer was the only time, when they were smiling.) The AC went wrong in our room, they did not help. 2. Management: the whole resort is full with stupid, and redundant rules, just a few examples, we had to face against: there is a bar next to the pool, and a pizzeria, you can have meals during daytime in this 2 establishments. The pizzeria is also quite close to the pool. We wanted a pizza with ham for the kids next to the pool. They could only provide margerita. We asked them kindly to put a ham on it. It was impossible to solve. We asked them, where the pizza comes from: they showed us, that form the pizzeria next by. OK, my husband went there and asked for a pizza with ham to take away. We wanted to have it next to the pool (in the pizzeria even the small kids need to wear a top - rule again) and our meal supposed to be a salad from the pool bar (it was 16 euros and done 2 days ago I can tell - but at this point we were hoping the best). So as a family we wanted to have our meal together... They did not want to let the pizza in, what we delivered ourselves from the very same place they would do, if we could accept the one without ham. :))) Come on! On an other day we wanted to eat in the pizzeria, and after our meal we asked for an espresso. They told us they don’t have coffee in the restaurant. Only in the bar (the closer bar is closed all day, opens at 7pm only the pool bar is open). They can't serve an espresso in Italy... what? My favorite in the very same pizzeria: on Thursdays there is no pizza. yes, in the pizzeria. However the meals were not cheap, but you could not have what you asked for. There was no coffee, ice tea, ginger ale, and prosecco. 4 stars, Italy... 3. Food: Unfortunately we asked for half board as we planned a family vacation with convenience and did not want to travel every evening to the city which is 15 minutes by car. Very big mistake! I really believed, that in Italy, you can't have bad food. I was wrong. Very wrong. The food was tasteless and it was highly overcooked. Sometimes I was crying what had they do with such a fine ingredient (angus in thikness as a paper to be fired to be hard as a tread etc). It was just bad. Almost every single meal. They had a concept about the dinner: they have 4 dishes in order. Every dish had a selection of 2, or 3 meals, You could choose. Nobody explained this method to us when we arrived, but they were expecting us to understand and behave regarding to this. On the menu there was no explanation or sign which meal belongs to which dish we could only conclude form the price range later when we develpped a rutin by ourselves. So on the very first eve, when were tired as hell after a 48 hours trip, I was ordering 2 from the antipasties and the waiter, who actually did not speak a word on English got angry with me and in Italian he said half quiet: such a mass.... and then he turned back and started to ignore us for the rest of the stay. 4 star hotel, just telling again.... We asked to have prosecco for the dinner. Every single evening we were told that they ask the manager, and then returned empty handed or with Banfi spumante (what is nice indeed, but has never been a Prosecco, and I know this even I'm just a tourist...) We did not give up, asked them every singe night if they have Prosecco and the miracle did happen: on the 8th night there was. (in the beach next to the village there was prosecco during daytime, and in Lidl as well). During we were suffering to consume our tasteless and overcooked meal, a lady was singing so bad, that even the staff was a laughing on it. Breakfast: this trauma is so close, I just don't want to talk about it.... 4. rooms: we did like our rooms. It was nice, huge, it looked like on the photo. It was relatively clean, the towels are not, but the rest was OK. But! One of my kid's soft toy was taken away from the room. It was not on purpose (we later realized that this is a quite common thing there!), but they did not show any empathy, not saying a sorry, keeping us hoping, but did not help at all (they told us to keep asking every morning in person, but they did not make a call...), not giving a compensation - not a thing! (This is what I wanted to put down in detail regarding the work of the reception desk. We are talking about a kid (actually not one kid, as we later realized, that they have more photos about missing toys) loosing his favorite toy.... 5. beach: you have to walk around 12 to 15 minutes to reach the beach in 40 degrees on a dusty way up and down. Then, you are at the beach, where there is no toilette, only a toi toi (4 stars-remember) and no bar. You would spend a day there with kids, but you can't have a glass of water or an ice cream, not to mention using the toi toi is not what I hoped when I was make my reservation is a 4 star hotel. They have a shuttle in every half an hour, shame on my sons, that they wanted to pee or drink at 15 or 45 all the time. :DDD You need to visit other beaches, there are wonderful ones nearby but you have to pay for parking, and umbrella etc. We was originally looking for a resort to avoid this. 6. Animation: it was how it was, I don't want to hurt them, I'm not really into this thing, but I could tell, they really care and did they best and worked a lot. Some movements were also completely unnecessary: like line-up in front of the restaurant and shout out "Bona Sera" - I guess, another silly management expectation -, but at least, they were all nice and not lazy. 7. excursions: they have an office recommending excursions near by. We wanted to go for a dolphin watching trip. We were waiting for 6 days for a positive feedback but could not get only on the 7th day. It was too late, we went by our own and saved 30 euros. Good for us! 8. pool: it is good in general, need some reconstruction, as the bottom is falling apart and my kids were diving to collect the peaces, but is ok. On the pics you can see multiple pools. There are not only one this is true, but 3 from the total of 4 is in the wellness and spa area, which is prohibited to visit by people under 18. So the kids could lurk over the bushes 2-3 times a day walking by and detect that there is no a single person using them (this was the case in 90%). In general: It was a shame what they did with the food, and there were a lot unnecessary rules what has no sense at all except for making the guest feel bad. Maybe the guest is their enemy? I would change the management and their silly rules 100% and it could be an amazing establishment, as the resort itself and the area is very nice. I would build a toilette, and a bar next to the shore. If you choose this facility, you need a car unless you will stuck in the middle of nowhere with no likable beach and bad food.