Bluesun Hotel Elaphusa — Hotel in Općina Bol

Not what we expected.

PLACE - location is very nice, literally by the sea, to center of village Bol is only 10 min on foot, on beautiful panoramic path, a lot of restaurants, charming beach, hotel itself modern and clean.

ROOMS - really nice, there are all important facilities like hairdryer, plenty of space in warderobes, air-conditioning, nice bedsheets, kettle. Then when you open window.. u have view for the wall with some ventilators, eh..?

ROOMSERVICE - unfortunately not complete. No refill of cosmetics at all, no refill of water bottles or tissues. They stop on taking out trash, tidying up bed, giving towels but just big ones.

BREAKFAST - it was a BATTLE. Okay it was rich in choices, but we couldn’t comfortably eat or drink what we want and try this rich offer, because there was queue for 20 min to get coffee, to get juice/water or to order omlette. Also juice offered on breakfast is cheapest toxic-taste concetrate, we expected more. This hotel is absolutely not prepared for amount of guests they host. Staff is doing all they can, but space is just not prepared for this amount of people. Should me more beverage stations for sure, for one week stay we had coffee during breakfast once, we were going anyway after breakfast to take coffee in the bar upstairs - of course paying for it minimum 3€ for cup. Maybe even extending time for breakfast would help cause at 8:30 there is marathon to breakfast space to stand in queues and eat something. Being on vacation and relaxing not everyone wants to wake up before 7 everyday to go for breakfast without these crowds.

SWIMMING POOL - no towels available at the pool, for one week stay we didn’t have chance to get pool towel even once and we were coming around 9:30 😅. Again - too many guests for too little preparation. About pool - there’s no lifeguard. Unfortunately one evening one of us got hitted in head with heavy leather ball, that other guests were using to make, I don’t know, rugby match in the pool? It ended up with doctor appointment - light concussion and headache/vomits for next few days. Of course fault is not on the hotel itself, but maybe someone should actually look around in the pool full of people and kids and control some rules, provide safety? Luckily the adult was hit not kid, cause it could end up more tragic.

PARKING - there’s not enough space for all guests. We couldn’t find space in hotel parking, we stayed on the street getting notes from staff that we cannot park here. On the other hands dozen of other guests were parking same way cause hotel parking was full and without empty spot, and you know, going around for 1h trying to find spot or waiting for anyone to go out? Waste of time and nerves. We were leaving the car finally in illegal spot, but where else then? Then at the end of stay they ask you anyway to pay 8€ per day for parking 🤡.. and recepcionist „yes this parking on the street is illegal but you have to pay anyway”, sorry but for what? For risking scratching my car and making gymnastics to find lil spot on the street, not having safe and stable parking provided by hotel?

STAFF - in general friendly and helpful, they try their best and react as they can, but in some situations it’s impossible to do anything, changes should be applied by management and logistics. All of the staff we met in the food section, in the pool and reception were kind, we didn’t meet any bad situations with them beside uncomplete roomservice and situation with parking fee at the end. Also they were trying to keep our ID cards in reception, weird, especially that normally you just check-in giving your ID card to scan and take it back.

Hotel in general is nice and modern, but overoccupied and not prepared for what they offer. Maybe would be better out of season. We end up our stay a bit tired of crowds and discomfort we experienced in situations decribed up there^. We don’t recommend for summer vacation when you need peace and relax, for sure it’s not place that you can just enjoy total chillout, as it should be...

NOT FOR COUPLES - SALTY SEA WATER SWIMMING POOLS. Firstly the room was extremely dated and certainly not 4 star standard, we have stayed in nicer 2/3 star travel lodges. The hotel was at least 20 years old from when it was last updated. The shower screen was broken, holes in the bath which were patched with filler so it was like sitting on stones and wall which had a fist sized hole and had a bodge job of poly filler to try and cover it up, the leather headboard was flaking away it was so old, large chips around the bathroom sink tiles and stains on the floors and curtains. As you opened the patio door to the balcony it would come away from the wall. We turned up to the hotel expecting a nice relaxing time however the pool was filled wall to wall with children and there was no relaxing atmosphere at all, this is not a problem however it’s certainly not advertised as a family hotel in our opinion so this was disappointing. It is £2.50 for a bottle of small 500ml bottle of water but walk down the road and you’ll pay £0.75 - it’s more expensive than central London. The spa treatments are also a minimum of £60 for a massage which is overpriced for a basic spa within a hotel vicinity. Both pools are also salt water which is not advertised, there are a very minimal amount of sun beds round the pool, they clearly do not have the capacity to cater for the volume of guests so we ended up going to the beach. We were so disappointed with our hotel room we asked to see if we could be moved and spoke with Andre at reception who was very helpful and agreed the room was not that of a good standard. He advised there were no other rooms available as the hotel was full so he would make a note of our concerns. Unsatisfied with the response we asked to speak with the manager and miraculously within 5 minutes another room was available for us to look at as an alternative and he advised it would also be an upgrade to our original room booking. We looked at the alternative room which was a smoking room and were hit with the smoke smell as you entered, furthermore it had two single beds pushed together as one. Next to the air conditioning unit was a 50cmx50cm hole which had been cut and the tile was half broken hanging down, it was worse than our initial room so we politely declined the alternative. We finally managed to cancel our booking through our provider and we booked a brand new private 2 bedroom apartment just down the road for half the price, which was the saving grace of our trip to Bol. We could not leave this hotel fast enough, we still cannot understand the 5 star reviews this hotel has received and it was due to the good reviews we booked . There are much better private rentals on the island - avoid this hotel at all costs. This is the first negative review we have left but feel strongly about how poor our experience is and we would like to avoid it happening to others. We have stayed in various different hotels in all continents and how this hotel has been voted 4 star is mind blowing. We didn’t sample the food as we left so...

The person on the reception wasn’t welcoming at all. The staff in general were just executing their work without any thought about hospitality. Few times we were waiting with our baby for hotel employees to use the elevator. In other hotels, they would kindly leave and let us use it. The elevator is super small and we had to wait a lot because it was only one for the whole section of the hotel. Also, automatic door on it closed few times before we could enter. About hospitality, the person in charge of dinning hall, is quite rude to employees, criticism in front of guests is probably ok if all guest don’t speak croatian. But majority of them do. If you need to say/order something there are other polite ways of doing it. The room was ok, a bit old, but too small for a 4 star hotel. We reserved directly with hotel and we weren’t aware how small it is. This is maybe our mistake, but 4 star hotel shouldn’t have rooms like this. Missing price list in the room appeared second day of our stay. It happened after we already eaten what we thought was complementary food to welcome us. Something that can be bought for 7kn in the market they are pricing 25kn. In general, they are saving on everything in the hotel and trying to up-sell things. If the dinner is included, you will pay for drinks. They charge even for water. If you want to visit spa you need to pay it. (only indoor pool is free) The parking is few hundred meters from hotel and although it is included in the price, it is difficult to find spot there. Of course, you need to drive there yourself. The TV in the room wasn’t working. To repair it they needed more than 16 hours. Sound isolation in the hotel is quite bad. We had a small baby and I’m sure neighbors could hear us (because we heard them talking on the phone and having sex). Food was generally ok, but you need to ask for everything twice (they put just one slice of meat when you ask) and it is probably a way for hotel to save on expenses. The menu for the breakfast didn’t change much and you shouldn’t expect anything special. The dinner menu was changing every night and you could find a thing or two to eat. But again, nothing special, cheaper cuts of meat and a lot of bread and pasta. Be careful, if you don’t eat gluten, they are not listing all ingredients of meals and personnel is not quite informed about what is served there. So I always asked twice if there is any breadcrumbs or wheat flour inside. (often it was, so it kind of narrowed my options) Big minus are sweet table, the cakes look delicious but they are below average in taste. I would say cheap tasting. One major plus was the option to order gluten-free bread. (but that is it from gluten free options) One small irritating thing is shower head; it doesn’t fit in the wall mount so it irritating to use it. Often it just falls down. It is small thing but, I had...