Le Méridien Lav, Split — Hotel in Općina Podstrana

I had written the previous review to express my disspointed experience on my first night during my most recent four nights stay with Le Meridien Lav Split. I am following up that review from August 27-28 with this one to express my gratitude for the management and their effort to improve my experience for the remainder of my stay. Was it perfect, not really. But did they tried and do what they could? Yes. I would say my overall experience at the end of the 4 nights stay was above 3 stars, but slightly fall short of 4 due to a few issues. But I did got the sense that management was open to suggestion to strive better and improve guests experience, which is the most important thing in hospitality industry in my opinion.

We were contacted by Mr Nardiello the next day who was apologetic to the issues we experienced in the first room. He sent a bottle of wine as gesture and told us that the reception staff did contacted the IT department in regard to the issue the day before (which I will come to to this in regard to an area they can improve). And we were offered to an upgraded room on the marina front. But fortold that the room is right below the bar and receive some furniture moving noise. We inspected the room during day time, we check the room have good wifi signal unlike the previous room, and the room has a separate enclosed shower unlike previous room that has a shower over tub that doesn't drain well (but was later fixed while we were out for dinner after I complaint to the front desk staff on duty that night). We didn't notice furniture dragging noise at the time and gladly took the room. The room was indeed as perfect as it can be during the day time. Faces the Lav Marina, panoramic seaview, quite spacious. It was truly perfect, almost. But unfortunately as a light sleeper I did immediately notice these furniture dragging noise as I try to sleep. Sadly our sleep quality was affected due to that. But we were too tired to want to move again as room move is both tiring and time consuming. Frankly we would be quite happy with any room (even if we don't get upgrade) that doesn't have previously stated issues. But I do have to give them the praise to respond the next day and willingness to improve guest experience.

Now that's talk about other aspect of the resort that are good. Firstly, the pool operation is very smooth and very enjoyable. It's a very time, and the pool does get quite busy, but the pool staffs made it such good experience for each guest. I noticed of the staff Gabriel was particular eager to assists guests with small children and elderly guests. He seems to be running all over the pool area to set up sunbed and umbrella to ensure guests doesn't even need to move a finger (I'm more of a do it yourself type of person, it was more service than I would need, definitely a big plus for families with kids and the seniors). The pool staffs also running back and forth to take drink order to ensure guests are taken care of during their time by the pool & beach. That part of the hotel was definitely a five.

Secondly, food and drink quality are quite good. Breakfast operations was smooth, although not perfect, but the staffs definitely did a great job keeping up the guests need. We've had dinner at both Pitivca & Spalatum. We enjoyed the dinner at Pivitca tremendously. I've read some negative reviews in regard to dinner at as palatum. But to my surprise, the quality of our meal at Spalatum was excellent. Both the truffle risotto & sea bass were intrically prepared. Quality wise definitely on par as most cosmopolitan city.

Now I will talk about some of the area where they can use improvement. First 'communication, communication, communication'. The first staff I made complaint to I did not get the feeling she was taking it seriously. Although Mr Nardiello, the room director said she had indeed contacted the IT to look into issue. But there was no follow up. The second lady did appears enthusiastic to help, but again, when we return from dinner, she did not follow up with us. We knew she did sent someone to fix the tub because noticed the bathmat was moved. But if I had not notice it, I would have perceive that nothing was done. So follow up communication to guests is something the front desk staff can improve on.

The communication not only apply to front desk staff, but also notifying guests ahead of private events. There was a wedding during our stay and the area between reception and pool was closed. It did not affect me. But I saw many guests appeared surprised when they were returning to their room and was told the area was close. So they went about finding new route to their building. I am currently staying at an competitor property, one thing I noticed rather do differently right away is that they posted the sign notify guests an area will be closed due to private event days ahead. It help guests to plan accordingly. Many guests look like they were deer got hit by the head light and not knowing alternative route back. We asked the staff if an alternative way exist and was told the path to take the elevator. The staff should let all the guests know ahead what alternative route to take without trying to find one themselves.

There are some minor maintenances that the staffs could have done better. But they should train to keep an detailed eyes to notice and fix these minors issues. For as minor as they are, they can affect how guests perceive the hotel.

There are two rooms affected by the bar operation. According to the bartender, it's a known issue fora few years. I personally think the hotel should put in carpeting bar area and perhaps limit bar hour could have improve this issue greatly. The last night we wanted to have a drink at the bar, but we immediately think about how that will affect the guests in the other room that also affected. That pretty much discouraged from spending money at the bar. Happy guests will be more willing to spend money at the resort.

Overall I applause the managements afford to try to improve the remainder of our stay. I also noticed the hotel is a very busy property that is popular for holiday guests, conference attendees, as well as wedding. Split is also experience a huge growth in international tourism in the past 7 years. I feel like the hotel is finding itself turning from a regional destination to an international one. But it maybe facing some of the growing pain as it transforming into its new status as an international destination. I believe as long the management open to suggestion and criticism and strive to be better and learn from them, the property will be on par as other major international...

For the money we've paid, we definitely did not receive a 5* service.

Not only that the room service food was almost inedible : way too salty , and generally not tasty, the room service personnel or the kitchen were constantly messing up our orders ( bringing receipts for the food, but forgetting to bring the actual food , or preparing food exactly the opposite way from how we’d requested. Of this I will talk more specifically further down

Nobody really cared about cleaning the territory much. There was a dead bird laying around for 3 days near the main exit to the pool/beach and nobody even cared to move it . Same with cigarettes, coke bottles, apples and orange peels at the beach etc

Breakfast had quite a poor and always similar food choice ( i’d definitely expect better for a 5*hotel. Moreover, I was shocked to constantly find things like very dull and soft grapes, blackened bananas , almost spoiled watermelon etc

The only opened restaurant was Italian Conlemani. The food was alright, but trust me, if this is the only option you have for 10 days … it becomes rather difficult to enjoy.

The kids play room had a great potential , but unfortunately was so dusty and was used as a storage for kayaks and other thins left behind until the summer seasons starts again. Well , if you still have people with kids coming, perhaps it’s wise to keep it clean even off season. 🤷🏼‍♀️

What surprises me most is that having complained several times in person and over emails, i have never received a word form the management. It just feels as if they don’t care at all. Yes, reception staff were apologetic, but it clearly didn’t solve our issues. When I complained about our experience to the reception manager, he suggested that I speak with the FNB manager and not him about my food issues. Well , should he not have approached me after so many complaints himself ? Also, funny enough the reception manager did not fail to mention that the suite we were paying 600Euros per night was actually worth more than 1k during the season , kind of making the point that we should have been be happy anyway. Well, we never asked for a discount or negotiated about the price of the room in a first place. That was the rate the hotel offered us from the beginning. And to be honest, I truly believe that this was a rip off for the overall experience. I mean apart from the size , the room is not worth the money.

More about my food experience. I once ordered chicken soup that a) had not chicken in it and b) had a "Knor" cube in the bouillon that wasn't even dissolved properly. We arrived with a 2 yo and eating from kids menu that offers nuggets, pizza and fries was not an option. After my frustration about the food options, the chef has offered us a personalised kids menue. But even that did not help as almost every night something would go wrong with kids food as well. I order steamed veg and specifically ask for them to be firm, they bring me almost falling apart overcooked greens. I ask for fresh veg, they bring them boiled. I even gave chef specific requests on how long to cook certain food, but even then my instructions were simply ignored. Yes everyone constantly apologised, but it doesn’t help when you have a hungry 2yo.

Honestly, for me and my family this was the worst way to spend 6k+ Euros over a 10 days period. We even made a decision to cut our vacation 3 days shorter , as we've just had enough with the food and the...

We stayed here in June 2023. We stayed in the premium sea view room, and we booked through tui.

Positives: absolutely beautiful hotel, wonderful room with amazing view. Bathroom was also great (massive!!) waterfall shower, lots of products provided and a bath. pools are amazing, both were pretty quite for our entire stay (beginning of june) beaches were beautiful, towels provided all day. We swam in the sea a few times at the hotel beach and it was lovely port 75 restaurant was beautiful, amazing service and best steak I’ve ever had! (No fat at all!!) the little ice cream bar near the beach was also very lovely the staff helped arrange a trip for us to krka, they were incredibly accommodating and helpful, and this resulted in us having a fab day at krka waterfalls! Definitely recommend booking through the hotel, as we got picked up straight from the hotel and taken to the waterfalls and back. a walk up the beach and you arrive at a few more restaurants, I recommend taking a 20 min walk up the beach to Pansion amigos if you are looking for food outside the hotel the underside pub is lovely, great vibes and they serve food

Negatives: I wasn’t overly keen on the breakfast, the eggs were lovely (thank you to the egg man!!) however I felt there could have been more savoury options, maybe a potato option ? (Hash browns, breakfast potatoes?) the toaster in the breakfast buffet was strange, this wasn’t the usual toaster you would see in a hotel (particularly a 5* hotel) the toaster took forever to toast the bread, and would often be a queue as it was just an ordinary household toaster. our room was right by the champagne bar, which was fine for the majority of the time. However, this hotel has a lot of private events with companies, and one night the champagne bar was being used to this, and it made me feel quite uncomfortable as a hotel guest as I felt like I was intruding. if you opt for bed and breakfast, it is NOT easy to get lunch; the hotel restaurants are incredibly expensive, €25 for one sandwhich in the champagne bar… and not a lot else to offer in the other restaurants. it is hard to get to split, the traffic Is horrendous more or less every single day, and take about an hour each way (sometimes longer) however the Ubers are cheap (around €8 to split) restaurants outside the hotel only really offer dinner food (fine dining sea food) again, hard to find a quick lunch, we had to walk about 20 mins to find lunch staff in the breakfast buffet could have been a bit more friendly…

Overall, lovely stay, very romantic and would really recommend for those staying in Podstrana. Unfortunately we did book this hotel as we thought it would be easy to get the split (as advertised by the hotel) but unfortunately due to constant traffic, this wasn’t the case. Couldn’t fault our room at all,...