Hotel Zlatni Lav — Hotel in Grad Cres

My great grandfather is from the town of Belej, so my wife and I wanted to spend 2 days here on the island of Cres to see what this island had to offer. Upon looking for English websites, this was one of 2 hotels that I found on Cres. It had decent ratings, so I decided to give it a go. It is located in a small fishing village that has a few restaurants, 2 markets, and a few cafes. It is a quiet little town, overrun by German speakers (not a problem mind you, Ich spreche Deutsch) during the summer months for their holiday. ||Upon our arrival, we found the parking (free) and checked into the hotel. We were “upgraded” to a suite. It was not a suite, but rather a larger room with more open space, not more amenities. The lower floor has a TV from the mid 1990s, a non-working refridgerator, dirty sofa, and enough closet space for two people. The bathroom was very nice, clean, with a larger than normal corner shower. ||||The bedroom area is, well, bizarre. In order to get up to the bedroom area, one must climb steps. However, because there was not enough room for normal steps or a spiral staircase, they used alternating steps. See picture below. That area up there was not filled enough with furniture, but it did have another 1990s TV, comfortable bed, 2 night stands and 2 reading lights.||||The balcony was really small and sad. Some rooms had really nice ones, we were not one of those. I think because we were the suite, we had a smaller balcony? That does not make sense. Additionally, the hotel is at the top of a hill and the walk down is nice, but it is not “on” the beach. ||||Breakfast was just average: warm bacon and sausage (not very warm really), cold eggs, juice, coffee and tea, and the usual breads, cold meats, and cheeses. I have had better, but for the cost, this place should have a better breakfast menu.||Overall, it was a decent place to stay. I think they could upgrade the furniture some, have internet that works and don’t charge for it, and upgrade the breakfast. At the time of writing this the internet was not working. No reason was given, but when it does work they supposedly charge for it. I think I would look around some, perhaps staying in the town of Cres rather than this town of Martinscica. Nothing against this town, but Cres Town was much...

Our stay was not an unpleasant one, but I had much greater expectations from a four-star hotel. The visuals are nice – the interior is rather cheerful and pleasant to look at. However, the walls are paper-thin, so you had better hope you get quiet neighbours. The furnishings look very basic. The TV set is of the ancient cathode ray tube variety. There was no one large bed, only two single beds on wheels put together, so you’re very likely to fall between them if you lie in the middle. The bathroom contains no accessories/toiletries apart from a blowdrier. The toilet has low to medium flow, and the water supply merely trickles, and so it takes, and so it takes the tank at least 10 minutes to fill the tank. The air conditioning can only be turned on/off if you call the reception desk.||||The staff was polite and helpful enough, but we did have an uncomfortable situation one night when we came back at 11 p.m. and found the front door locked, with the reception desk unmanned. It turned out that we had to use the room keycard (separate from the room key), which we had actually been advised to leave in the slot inside the room for continuous power. The breakfast was very basic and not very satisfying. There were no gluten-free options and nearly all meat items were made of pork. We did not try the à la carte menu. There is a swimming pool with spa/massage services, but our schedule was busy so we did not get to try it.||||The environs are peaceful and quiet enough, but I would not recommend staying here for a vacation. There is a campsite within walking distance, but the best beaches are located around the bay some 20 miles to the north. Martinšćica as a town is nothing to write home about; you’re better served staying in Cres if you like a town with more establishments or Valun if you like quiet...

How is it possible that the hotel is categorized with 4?? Realistically between 2 - 3. A room on the ground floor with a "terrace" - a narrow corridor and in close proximity to the night passage, which is open day and night. After check-in (reserved for 3 nights/4 days), before leaving the hotel, we closed the window as stated in the instructions for operating the air conditioner. When we returned in the evening, the room was above average hot and stuffy. The air conditioner in the room did not work - they kept this from us and suggested that we open the door to the corridor and the balcony door - a 4 hotel?? The next day (after a sleepless night, because we were forced to keep the door to the "terrace" open due to the heat in the room - listening to the hotel guests walking through the night entrance in the immediate vicinity) "a friendly receptionist with many years of experience" told me the happy news that released a room with working air conditioning - of course for an extra charge - 4* hotel?? When I explained to him that the room belonged to me as described and advertised, he offered me two options - to move with an additional payment or to stay in a room without air conditioning. I decided on the third option - I left...