Isabella Island Resort, Valamar Collection — Hotel in Grad Poreč

The island of Sveti Nikola on which the Isabella Island Resort is based is spectacularly beautiful with some amazing views. The hotel itself is modern with good rooms and very friendly and helpful staff. The ferry to the attractive town of Poreč works very well and always on time. However, there are some issues which potential guests should be aware of: The Tui description of the resort can be misleading with many of the limitations confined to the small print. The TUI transfers were not well organised; coaches have to drop you at the bus station, a 10-to-15-minute walk away from the ferry. Minibuses were supposed to be organised but we had to wait 40 minutes with our suitcases for this to happen. The Tui rep should have pre ordered them before the coach arrived at the bus station. Similarly on the return the TUI rep who arranged to meet everyone off the ferry did not arrive and there was a mad scramble for a minibus with many forced to walk. The all-inclusive drinks package does not work well. During our visit in early September only the lobby bar was available to serve the limited all inclusive drinks, the pool bar having closed from 1st September. The drinks package was confusing because if you requested a drink with a zero-sugar mixer it was either unavailable (tonic water) or you were charged extra (sugar free cola). No other bars on the island were included in the all-inclusive drinks package. As the pool bar was closed all drinks had to be obtained from the lobby bar which had limited re-usable plastic glasses (I understand that glass is inappropriate around a pool and I am not advocating single use plastics) but a gin and tonic in a cardboard coffee cup is not what I expect from a 4-star hotel. The majority of the guests were European, mainly German, and included a significant number of smokers. There were no designated smoking areas so it was difficult to avoid the smoke. Also, as European children do not return to school until mid-September there were many kids, this is primarily a family resort! There appeared to be many activities for kids but limited for adults. There was no real adult only areas except a small part of the self-service restaurant, The Isola restaurant, and even then, kids cut through to exit the dining room. The Isola restaurant food is if reasonable quality but very repetitive with a considerable lack of choice; 1 soup each day chicken or beef on alternate days. The salads are very limited in choice; there is only 1 cheese. No specialities. If you like pizza, pasta and chips you will be fine. Also, dishes are not regularly topped up further limiting the choices. There are no other restaurants available on the all-inclusive package. The main activity pool can be very full of kids, the infinity pool, a short uphill walk is much nicer but is not adults only and many beds are reserved for v guests and no all-inclusive drinks available. The lounge area in the hotel, between reception and the lobby bar is quite comfortable, however with table football and pool tables placed in the middle it is not a relaxing place to sit Day guests may visit the island for a few euros and they appear to take advantage of the hotel amenities, including the pool, and can overcrowd the ferry. The holiday was more expensive than many all-inclusive hotels in Europe but did not deliver good value This is the first year the hotel has offered all-inclusive and the management admit that they are still learning. The management acknowledged the shortfalls and were very generous to us and offered us an upgraded package, hopefully next year many things...

Two years ago I gave this hotel 5 out of 5 stars on Google, but now I have to update my review. Today it deserves only 2, or at best 3 stars.

We have stayed at Hotel Isabella several times, but unfortunately, in recent years the quality has gone down while the prices have gone up significantly. Compared to the earlier half-board, all-inclusive has been added, but the offer is very limited and mostly the same every day. Guests naturally expect a higher level of service with all-inclusive, but this is simply not the case here.

The food is repetitive and lacks variety or creativity. In the end, we often ate just pizza and pasta. There are hardly any proper meals for children, soups were sometimes too salty, and seafood was almost completely missing, even though this is exactly what many guests look forward to at the seaside. Fish was usually available, but always in the same form, with no real innovation. When we spoke with other parents, they more or less confirmed the same experience. In June the food selection was actually wider than in August, even though the August stay was more expensive, which makes little sense.

Another unpleasant surprise was parking. The hotel automatically charged us for parking even though we didn’t use their parking lot at all. We only stayed one night but were charged for the entire stay. If the guest doesn’t notice, they end up paying unnecessarily. There was absolutely no apology from the hotel for the incorrect parking charge. This approach does not feel professional.

We were also disappointed by repeated small issues that never got fixed, for example, the absence of children’s spoons at the tables. I mentioned this several times over the years, but nothing changed. This shows that the hotel does not really listen to its clients.

The previous manager always tried to communicate with guests and keep the hotel at a good standard, but since then the quality has clearly gone down. June was already worse than the previous year, and August was even worse. I believe that if the previous manager were still in charge, the level of service would be much higher.

One more thing that feels questionable is the hotel’s Google rating. For Isabella it shows 4.8 (96%), while on Booking.com it is 8.5 (85%). The reviews on Booking sound realistic, but the overly positive Google reviews simply don’t reflect the actual experience.

The hotel impressed us on our first stays, but nothing has improved since then. After our June holiday we already considered choosing another place, and we only returned in August because we booked last minute. Unless the services improve, we will most likely stay...

Good facilities, friendly staff, and very nice place to stay. We had a superior room with sea view, which was comfortable and of a high standard. Design of the bathroom felt a little more style over substance - it looks great, and I can see the practical side of the layout, but the glass doors with gaps and a small round hole in the doors for a handle leave little privacy. A relationship test for ya ;-)

We stayed half board and made use of the buffet breakfast/lunch, which was always a great level of quality, though can be busy for the first hour in the evening (we stayed early march 2018), you may want to adjust your time going down as appropriate.

Boat back and forth is very regular and no hassle to use.

I used the gym a couple of times, its a decent sized air conditioned room with toilets, lockers, water dispenser and small towels provided. I only used the treadmill and elliptic, but a couple of bikes are there to, and plenty of weights if you want to use them. The outdoor gym seemed rather more comprehensive and has a nice setting in the wooded area behind the main hotel.

A note on internet access: 100mb or so up+down. My home connection nowhere near as fast. So yeah, if you need wifi/internet, you're covered. I even had a signal whilst on the beach, though YMMV. I couldn't get my chromecast setup with the tv however (ie, it worked, but couldn't fully setup on the network) so we were stuck with the provided channels. Not complaining, just noting that there's likely no point you trying to do the same, but again ,perhaps YMMV. No user login/password issues, just connect to the wifi and off you go.

Staff to be commended, as its seemed that most had a good grasp of multiple languages and always approachable and willing to help. The restaurant can get busy at times, so have to bear with a little (you order drinks from your table, but free to go fetch your own food from buffet).

They have a drinks package but the price is per person per day, so weigh that up if you want to go for it (ie, 240kn per day vs just 34kn for a single beer.. are you likely to have 7 beers in a day?), but its simpler to just hand over your room key card to charge to the room as you go. I also tracked my spend on my phone to avoid bill shock on the last day.

Overall, would be happy to go back but i'm not exactly someone to repeat the same holiday every year. The Istria region is very nice however, so i can certainly see us returning. Worthwhile booking an excursion or two (we visited lake bled and the...