Golden Mare Barbati

Alannah W

As lovely as the bar and food staff were during our 10 night stay here, the service the hotel provided was dismal. They advertise room service everyday, and although we would flick the service light on whenever we left the room, we would come back to the same bedding and towels. We asked at the desk several times for it to be cleaned until they eventually came. After speaking with other guests, they experienced the same thing, we even overheard guests conversations with reception about their room not being cleaned. At one stage we ran out of toilet roll because they hadn’t serviced our room, we called reception 4 times, to which on the 4th call the receptionist brought the toilet roll up himself as the cleaning staff were nowhere to be seen. We booked a sea view room, which as you can see from the image, was not a sea view, but instead a brick view with 5% sea visible, however the hotel explained that this is a sea view room and exactly what is to expect when booking a sea view room. When we first arrived in our room there was no hot water, we left the shower running for 30 minutes until it began to get slight warm but still wasn’t warm enough to shower properly in, when we spoke to reception they did send someone up to fix it the next day, however this was mentioned to them and they denied this and said that “hot water was available at all times”. We spoke to one couple who ended up having to change rooms because they had no cold water and were even upgraded to a proper sea view room. The manager of the hotel would tell his employees off like children in front of guests which seemed inappropriate, especially when the bar staff worked so hard to make sure guests were satisfied. We ended up getting food poisoning whilst staying here (we weren’t surprised as some of the food looked like it had been sat outside for a week) and when communicating with other guests they had also experienced the same thing and were unwell during the stay, but of course the hotel denied this. All of the above had been reported to the booking company, to which the hotel replied to with nothing but lies in their response. This we found to be quite shocking, there was no apology at all, which I hope all the guests who complained don’t get the same response back that we did ! The best part of the stay was the restaurant just outside the hotel entrance. Be careful when booking this stay as they promote false advertisement, lying and poor hygiene.

Katie McKeown

I recently stayed at Golden Mare Resort and was extremely disappointed with the experience. This is advertised as a 4-star hotel, but it’s realistically closer to a 1–2 star. We arrived to a dirty room that was dirty and not clean, and throughout the stay housekeeping was unreliable, with our room often not serviced and no fresh towels provided. The all-inclusive food was poor—frequently cold—and I ended up with food poisoning. Several other guests we spoke to experienced the same, but management was dismissive and unwilling to take responsibility. Drinks were also low quality and made me feel unwell. Noise was a major issue. Despite being told entertainment would end at 11:30pm, it regularly went on until after 2am. The lack of soundproofing means you can hear everything, making it very difficult to sleep. This isn’t a party hotel, so the noise level is completely inappropriate, especially for families and older guests which there was at the hotel while we were there. Overall, this hotel falls far below the standard it advertises. I would not recommend staying here.

Ethan Botha

TLDR: Poor cleanliness, lack of towels, decent food and well meaning but ineffectual staff. Honestly a little disappointed. The staff were not able to help with minor but fundamental issues. Our room was not properly cleaned with a layer of dust noticable on the floor when we first arrived with no one cleaning over the week we were at the resort. Speaking with other guests showed that this was a common issue. Additionally bins were not emptied and there was hair from previous guests on the bedding. This fact is notable as you are unable to put toilet paper into the toilet which leaves the bin as the recommended option. We waited through most of our second day before we were given towels of any sort despite asking multiple times at reception. I will also note that the food was generally made well with a wide variety available at each meal. We also made a request to swap rooms in light of these issues but the manager was too busy dealing with other guests who ended up leaving the resort as they were also disappointed. I wouldn't have minded had they not requested that we remain at the hotel to transfer our rooms, which wasted a day of exploring the island. Had they been better prepared and actually completed the repairs that are underway, I think it would have been a good stay. Saying this I cannot in good conscience recommend this hotel knowing the state that it was in when we left.

Paul Simpson

Nice looking hotel but not very well managed. Took 3 days to get housekeeping to actually turn up to clean the room. Had to ask reception 4 times to get toilet paper replenished. They just did not seem interested at all. I was not alone with the problem. I heard numerous others with the same complaint. If you are a coffee lover this is not the hotel for you. It's basically only available during breakfast from a basic cofee machine of the kind found in cheap motels. Hotel has basically one tiny central bar that serves drinks in plastic cups day and night. Food on the all inclusive was pretty much unchanged over the entire week. Wasn't bad food, just very mundane and alot of the same day in day out. Very much a low budget hotel IMO and should be charged accordingly. Do not pay a premium price to stay at this hotel. You will be disappointed.

Sassy

Hotel & staff lovely Our bedroom was amazing! Considering we were told it was a side view of the sea we got a perfect spot! Our bathroom was mouldy and leaked everywhere & we had a few ants every day. Pool was amazing - plenty of space if you got there early enough! Just one thing.. if you are gluten free/ celiac this hotel isn't the right place for you.. I was told to 'eat round the sauce' or 'you can have the pasta/orzo' which I knew I couldn't - I don't think they quite understand the concept of gluten free/celiac - they did bring out gluten free bread and biscuits but I couldn't have much to have with the bread. Breakfast I was fine as I could have eggs ham cheese bacon & fruit but lunch and dinner it came quite difficult. I would stay here again if there was an option to do B&B