Torreserena Resort — Hotel in Ginosa

This is for the international crowd and those who are used to a different kind of standard for a 4 star family resort (see Mangia’s for a good alternative). Checked in today: family of 7, with their extra all inclusive formula for 9 nights, one double room, one room for 5 (3 adults and 2 children). It takes about fourty minutes to check in and even though we are blessed with technology, they will give you 5 different paper cards (towels, beach etc) that are so very easy to lose, but never mind. Bring your suitcases with you and please don’t be fooled by their offer to send it to your room, half an hour later we just walked back to reception and got them because they hadn’t even been moved yet. Next, the room wouldn’t open, there was confusion over the fact that on the paper envelope it said one building and one room, but on the luggage another. In the end, we manage. Rooms are small, pictures are not really what you will find, but they are fairly new so at least that’s okay. Wait, let’s go back. Did I mention, that this is also the first hotel where they will take money for the first night when you book, but then if you don’t go back and pay the remaining fee, they will cancel your room? Ow, they did send an email (no call because my number is clearly english and there would be a struggle there) which unfortunately had gone to junk and only when I got a “cancellation” email from their automatic server, I was made aware something wasn’t right and called the number to sort it out. But now back to our first day experience here. The Beach is included. BUT. If you are paying for 5 people in one room, just know that only 2 sun beds are included regardless of how many people they’ve actually charged you for in the occupancy of your room (again 5). You will have to pay for any additional ones you may wish to have so that your kids don’t have to lounge in the 50 degrees sand otherwise. Also watch out for jellyfish. This is obviously not the hotel’s fault, but there are quite a few in the sea and there are no signs to warn you. But let’s go back. How does one get to the beach? Mm either by walking 20 odd minutes in 38 degrees no shade or through a minibus service that leaves from outside the restaurant. Now, one may expect to catch such service from the clear board that says “SHUTTLE BUS STOP” with a lovely wooden shaded structure etc. WRONG. The bus will actually leave from 100 meters away, where you did notice some people hanging under the trees in what I now assume is a queue system, because they can’t be bother to respect the simple sign they’ve put up and pick up people from the rightfully designated place. So mums with babies will be left down, families will have to wait another 15/20 mins or you can just embrace the italian in your and say “screw it” and also go wait under the tree instead. We’ve only had the pleasure of lunch so far. Food was good, some options more than others, but no complaints. Dessert choice is a bit funny and limited: 2 types of cake (chocolate or lemon) and one free ice-cream flavour (pistachio for the refined 4/5 years old who of course should be more mature than vanilla, chocolate and strawberry). A quite long queue for the one bar location where you can purchase drinks as no juice station for kids within the normal all you can eat formula, and just overall confusion altogether. Also, if you’ve planned an actual family vacation that involved multiple people in different rooms that like each other/or need to be close to each other for various reason, don’t bother asking to be set together. One room will be in building 18, one in 7 and the other in Bari and no one will try to help because customer service is not a real thing over here. To be continued, after all this is just the first day and I’m an open minded person. Things may turn around, as I don’t really think it can go lower ( you never know), but in the meantime how I wished we had read reviews more carefully before booking as some signs were clearly there, but we let the very nice photoshopped images fool...

I would not recommend Torreserena Village. I am American, and went to Torreserena with my Italian wife and our two kids so that they could experience a uniquely Italian vacation. I have now stayed in 3 Italian "Villagios", and this one was the worst.||||First for the good stuff:||Beautiful grounds||Nice, sandy beach||Wonderful activities staff who really try hard||||The not so good:||This is NOT an all inclusive. Even though Torreserena markets itself as an all inclusive, and we actually paid extra for the "premium plan" very few drinks are actually included. You are limited to water, plastic cup juices and warm beer. ||||The hotel (I really feel it should be called an adult camp rather than a hotel) has far too many guests. I believe 1500-2000, while 750 would make it much more comfortable. ||||At mealtime, expect to be run over by the crowds. Short dining time windows mean that at each meal, virtually the entire camp races to eat. We experienced recycled food and lines at virtually every buffet table. Dining simply is not a relaxing experience. One tiny bar where you have to wait in line to hand over a card for even a fountain soda. And they actually limit the number you can request per meal. ||||Foods are carefully selected to minimize cost. Fruit at breakfast is plentiful, but not ripe. Never a fresh juice, only colored sugar water that they call juice. Lunch always has salad, french fries, fried veggies and octopus. Sometimes they will have some large, inedible fish that looks nice on the table, but that has no flavor. ||||Lunch is typically a rearrangement and recycling of the prior night's menu. One night we had great food - a range of small and large shrimp. But if you arrived late, that was gone and there is no restocking. ||||There is NEVER any service. Nobody brings a thing for you, and once you finish a plate, expect to wait quite a while for it to be cleared. No water on the tables. You have to go to a water station and wait in line for a pitcher. No ice either, so hopefully you like warm water. ||||Because they run out of what mediocre food they may have, my family and I spent the first 10-15 minutes in the restaurant trying to secure the food that we thought edible. We saw other tables doing the same, and this leads to a lot of waste, as much of what looked ok, was not. ||||The town is a complete depression if you actually bother to leave the hotel grounds. We did several times, as staying in the resort for seven days is simply too monotonous. If you go on a tour, expect to overpay by A LOT, but there are some beautiful towns 45-60 min away. ||||The entertainment staff is really great and they go out of their way to please the guests. But management tries to cut costs here too much. Performances are like high school talent show level, but the kids try hard and we certainly appreciated their effort. At every other resort we have been to, the resort hires outside for at least a few good shows. Not here. These are 18-20 year olds doing their best. ||||Rooms were ok, but they could use a renovation. No wi-fi in the rooms either. Yep, we found that quite unbelievable for a place where internet access is quite mandatory. Otherwise you go out of your mind. ||||I would give this place 3 stars at best. Very boring daily routines where all revolves around waiting in line for food, waiting for the bus to the beach (oh yes, i forgot to mention that), waiting in line to get a warm beer at the bar, or watching high schoolers try to perform something way above their talent...

Overall, it was a very positive experience. The Dream Team at Torreserena this year is top-notch. Great performers, singers, comedians, dancers... Never seen so many talented staff members in a resort. The staff at the restaurant,room services, and shuttle buses are professional and polite. A special thank you goes to the swimming teacher Leonardo, so great with kids! My daughters are usually very shy, but they adore him. They follow him around, they stop by to have a chat, etc. He is lovely. Between the things to improve, i'd definitely put the adventure park organisation. You can only use it 2 times per week for one hr and only with the Serenino. This is not explained anywhere at the time of booking or at the check-in. We chose this particular resort also because of the adventure park as my daughters had done it before, elsewhere, and love it but couldn't really use it. This is a bit disappointing. Also the rooms aren't big enough for a family of 4 but at least there's a small balcony. Last thing, the pool isn't great. Overcrowded, hot, and stinking like a pond. Probably better tell younger kids to use the smaller pool at Serenino and reduce the number of children (the pool is also quite deep for children under 7/8 yrs old not being able to swim). Because of its weird shape and being overcrowded , it's hard for the life-saving guys to...