Almayer Art & Heritage Hotel — Hotel in Grad Zadar

I thought long and hard on this review. I almost never give 3 star reviews. But I have to give this hotel only a 3. We had a room in the annex building. Positive points: beautiful materials, a lot of windows, big, ok view, 24 hour reception. Their restaurant is absolutely genius for dinner. Breakfast is soso. They easily let us leave earlier without extra costs, they recommended a nice boat tour. Negative points: When we arrived we were asked to hand over our car keys we had to inquire 4 times why they needed them. We paid for parking, but the reality is they have to move around your car between different street parkings. Which would be ok if we were explained this calmly and clearly. But the almost rude way in which we were asked to hand over our keys with no explanation just didn't feel 4 star. We were offered help with our luggage, which was nice. But when we opened our trunk he said 'omg so much'. Mind you we were traveling for 3 weeks and had 4 bags. And even if he thought it was a lot. The reaction again didn't feel like 4 star service.. Our room smelled like fish, first we though it needed some fresh air. But that didn't help. We could hear the music of the lounge bar behind the building until after midnight. The airconditioning was loud and could manage a minimum of 23 degrees. Room felt a bit too empty. There were no little extra's like pen and paper. Which you would expect in a 4 start hotel. The towels were low quality and not soft (never seen this low quality in a 4 star hotel). Synthetic bedding and pillows (I expect more from a 4 star hotel), other 4 star places we stay in have down options. The shower became a pool, and we used it correctly. The bathroom was full of water after showering. We would not come back. It is not value for money at 277...

Whilst this property has been beautifully converted, and the staff are friendly, competent and kind, there's no getting over the fact that the main building was originally the annex of a military hospital, meaning the rooms have a very small footprint. The new owner's solution -- at least in the case of our room -- was to make a sleeping loft with skylights. That means you have to navigate a daunting metal staircase in order to use the (beautifully appointed but tiny) bathroom at night. Downstairs, there was a small sofa jammed into a corner under a window, but nowhere to comfortably lounge together, especially as the room was also dark. At the price point, I was disappointed that the room was basically somewhere to sleep and bathe and not much else. Sadly, there are no common areas with comfortable seating either, although the restaurant, with extensive indoor and outdoor space, is lovely, and you're welcome to sit there at all hours. Furthermore, the room's door handle -- a seriously high-end piece of hardware -- had been fitted too close to the door jamb, so both of us injured our knuckles until we learned the hard way to pull the door closed with a left hand. |The food at the restaurant is excellent, as is the service. |Zadar is short on mid- or high-end accommodation, so this should be an option, but don't choose it if you're planning a romantic chill with a little sightseeing. The hotel has two other buildings that sounds like they might be a better bet --...

First off, the good: |Great location|Wonderful made to order breakfast |Amazing room with beautiful artwork, stunning floors, comfy bed, great view of the water|Very spacious with modern aesthetic |Hot water and coffee service outside your room||I would have given this place a 5 star rating if it wasn’t for the credit card issue I encountered. ||Out of all the places we stayed, and we stayed 6 places during our trip, this was the only one who used a credit card machine that didn’t automatically charge me in euros and provided a confusing message asking if it was euros or US dollars without explaining what that meant. I assumed it meant if my credit card was from a US bank…. || Guess I should have asked more clarification questions as I ended up having to pay an extra $100 in USD on top of my room cost, which was way above what they even listed as their conversion fees on the receipt. This was part of the Dynamic Currency Conversion scam and unfortunately I fell for it.||When I reached out to them to ask them if they could refund and re-run it in Euros as a mistake was made, and that they charged over what conversion rate was listed on their receipt, they said there was nothing they could do. ||Unfortunately this soured what would have been a great...