Resort Apartments Teranea — Hotel in Grad Hvar

FRAUDULENT - DO NOT STAY

I stayed here late August/early September 2022.

It is a beautiful hotel so we were initially very optimistic about our stay. Sadly our experience quickly soured but none of us expected how severely it would escalate.

The manager is a truly questionable individual who displayed aggressive tendencies including physically assaulting multiple members of our group - one person he threw a phone at, and one woman he came around the desk of reception to shove and we had to step in between to de-escalate. At another point he ran down the road yelling at our group of only women for the phone number of an individual in a separate room, which freaked us out and made us feel very uncomfortable and unsafe. Another point he yelled at our group for not providing our passports or the tourist tax despite these not being requested at any point until then. Our group had to resort to ensuring nobody returned to the hotel alone and we were always with other people when entering and leaving.

Reception illegally held our passports for multiple nights despite our repeated attempts to get them back. It is only necessary for them to make a copy, it is not allowed for them to hold them in this manner. When we confronted the manager again on our 2nd last day he became verbally and physically aggressive as described above, and ordered us back to our room. He then rang police to evict us from the hotel but while referencing "hotel rules" he could not give any examples of specific hotel rules our room broke. We had to insist police remained to mediate and witness to ensure we got our passports back as we felt threatened and unsafe in the hotel at this point

Throughout our interactions with this manager, he repeatedly referenced a situation on the first night where a violent neighbour threw rocks at a group of guests, allegedly damaging the facade of the hotel. The group that were present paid the damages despite not being caused by our group, and despite there being CCTV evidence that the damage was not caused by our group. The manager also aggressively and repeatedly brought this up to try and charge us additional money for further alleged damages that he could not prove existed.

Staff were generally helpful, polite and apologetic. None of them seemed surprised by the aggressive behaviour displayed by the manager. However staff did enter the rooms without permission at various points day and night (there were no "do not disturb" or other forms of signs available). This was distinctly uncomfortable in one instance when I was alone as a female in the apartment and a male staff member entered the premises without knocking or permission (we at no point requested new towels, cleaning or restock of the mini-bar).

In relation to the mini-bar the hotel also frequently incorrectly recorded items being taken that had not been, or had not been stocked in the first place.

Overall this hotel is being ran by an extremely aggressive, unstable and frankly criminal manager. At every point he was looking for an opportunity to make money out of us, it was never about protecting the hotel as he always ensured to never escalate to actually kicking us out until our last night - not when he could hold our passports hostage to get as much money as possible into his pocket. Obviously, I would...

Be careful with this hotel. It advertises itself as a 4-star property and charges accordingly (I paid €275/night) – but my experience makes me think it is not. On top of that, they cancelled my Booking.com reservation as if I had been a no-show, even though I stayed there: this doesn’t allow me to leave a review on Booking.

In detail, for this price:

1.) The hotel is 1.3 km from the port as stated in the description, but nowhere does it say that it’s perched on top of a hill and it’s a 20-minute uphill walk under the sun (unless you take their transfer service at €15 per trip, paid in cash only and with no receipt).

2.) The hotel claims to have sea views. Perhaps from some rooms you can see a glimpse, but most of the property faces concrete, in a completely “urban” neighbourhood, far from the typical Hvar style that could (being very generous) justify the price.

3.) Upon arrival, I was taken to my bedroom, which was in a separate part of the property. I was escorted there and left without much explanation. In the Booking.com photos, the room looks “designer” – in reality, it’s Ikea furniture, with Malm bedside tables and basic wardrobes.

4.) When I walked in, I saw there were two single beds – in a 4-star hotel, at €275/night. The staff member, probably noticing my surprise, told me I could push the two beds together. As if a double bed were simply two singles stuck together. As if, in a 4-star hotel at €275/night, it’s the guest’s job to fix the room layout.

5.) The room was not equipped to 4-star standards: empty minibar, no smoke detector, no safety instructions, and a patio door that didn’t work on the first night (was the room checked before my arrival?).

6.) The Wi-Fi, advertised as available throughout the property, didn’t work at all for the first two days – nor in the bedroom. Later it worked sporadically at best.

7.) Breakfast was minimal – the bare minimum you’d find in a 2/3-star hotel.

8.) No one ever asked how my stay was going or if I was enjoying it. Yet, the day before departure, I received a message through Booking.com asking me to leave a high rating for the hotel. When the only person who seemed to care – the driver – received an honest reply (essentially the review above), my reservation was suddenly marked as a no-show, preventing me from leaving a review. I promptly reported this to Booking.com, as it could also be damaging for them.

Hvar is (unjustifiably) expensive – as the receptionist told me at check-in – but if you want to succeed in hospitality, it’s not enough to call yourself a 4-star and set an exorbitant price without delivering the quality that a guest expects for that service, at that price.

Not to be repeated – think twice...

Our family of four (kids 9 and 7) stayed at Hotel Teranea for three days and it was great! The apartments are spacious and clean. The website does not have pictures of the bathrooms, but they are fantastic, complete with full size toiletries and waterfall shower heads. Also, the apartment we stayed in was incredibly soundproof - outside noise didn’t register at all.

However, the real star is the service. Maria was extremely attentive during our stay. For our green cave tour she not only drove us to the meeting point but then walked us over to the tour office and confirmed we were in the right place. Additionally, she arranged for a babysitter so my husband and I could go off on our own.

I cannot say enough about the quality of the hotel and the service. The bartender told us to call him if we had any issues for the rest of our stay in Croatia as we were checking out.

A few notes for families: the hotel is away from the city center so it is relatively quiet. Quiet hours start at 11 pm and are enforced. There is some music from the bar, but Maria checked in each morning to make sure it and the other guests were not too loud. There is a burger / pizza place fairly close by The pool is 6 feet deep, so you may want to buy or bring floats for children. There is a full kitchen in the unit including pots and pans. I recommend booking closer to reception - A1 or B1 have private gardens and are were secluded from the more open units where there were groups of younger people staying. The fridge is stocked and there is a tray of snacks. The prices are comparable to the local grocery store.

Hvar seems like a destination that can be many things depending on what you are looking for. For our family trip, this was the...