Hotel Granit — Hotel in Municipality of Ohrid

A word of warning|Let me warn you about a few important major things first:|- there is no health and safety in Macedonia. Infrastructure is both basic and dangerous. |- There is a complete lack of customer service and non existent customer care|- Ohrid is their main holiday destination and it’s mega crowded in July and August|- SMOKING IS ALLOWED EVERYWHERE; inside and outside. Over 90% of the population are smokers. There is no escaping the smell of smoke, it’s everywhere you go. |- There are no quality standards; if you live and mainly travel in western or high developed economic countries, you might be in for a bit of a shock. |- It’s cheap for a reason|- Ohrid lake is a natural lake, the water is clean, fairly cold and there are water snakes. It’s safe to swim in but keep close to the shore. |- The facilities and equipment are of extremely poor quality and often dangerous ||Location|Hotel Granit is approx. 5km from the airport. Transfer by taxi is 20 euros and takes about 20min. If you have an organised TUI coach, then expect 1-2hrs transfer time, depending on the number of hotel stops they have. |It’s along the lake shore and 10min by taxi to Ohrid city centre, taxi was 300 denari. There is nothing around the hotel, it’s on a main busy road, one shop half a km away but getting there is quite tricky (dangerous) walking on the main busy road with no pavements. Rooms facing the ‘park’ are north facing, sunless and get the road noise. Room facing the lake is a must. ||The Hotel|This is not a Spanish type AI mini disco style hotel. It’s chilled, quiet, mostly older kids, there’s no one here to entertain you or your kids. It’s an old style hotel, nothing’s modern about it. The building is an old communist style building. The reception area is quite grim. It’s poorly maintained, hygiene standards are very low. Old tatty furniture, broken, frayed seats, old and tired, dusty surfaces and furniture. There are a lot of steps in and around the hotel. No walker/wheelchair access. Main restaurant is in the basement. Although there is a lift, it’s very slow so would say it’s not designed or adapted for people with mobility difficulty. July and August are the high season and Ohrid itself will be busy. ||Rooms|Are tiny by any standards, no room to swing a cat. Getting a twin room is a big problem. It’s not guaranteed you will get the type of room you’ve booked. The rooms are not clean, carpets in dire need of a proper hoover, there were some remnants of nail cuttings on the carpet in our room. Towels were not changed every day and they were stained. Minimal cleaning and sporadic. Bed sheets are not changed daily. AC works well but the unit is filthy and mouldy. The double beds are the size of a small double. The shower room is nothing impressive. Gets smelly, mouldy and stuffy. Wobbly wc seat, leaky shower, shower holder broken. They supply some basic toiletries. |They only allow one towel per person. Also the one key per room only is very inconvenient. The balconies are small with a small table and uncomfortable chairs. The TV has some english channels but they don’t all work always. A lake view room is a must. ||Food|The food is different but tasty. Small choice but adequate. It’s repetitive and can be over salted. AI meals were served in the main restaurant that was on the floor below reception, the one with the fancy chair drapes. |A word of warning; none of the food is labelled. This may be a problem for people with food allergies/intolerances. |Veal is served almost at every lunch and dinner, along with pork, chicken and some days fish. |They like to put walnuts in the cakes. |If you don’t speak or understand the language there may be a barrier in finding out dish ingredients.||The hotel has some crazy rules and they are firm on enforcing them|- one towel per person for the room|- One pool/beach towel per person|- Must sign in/out collection and drop off of beach towels|- Drinks are served in small plastic cups|- One room key per room|- The customer is always wrong, demanding and a right nuisance. Try not to ask too many questions, they find that irritating. |- If you complain, you will get blamed that it’s your fault and you have almost 0% of getting it sorted out. |- Whatever the problem, they have zero interest in helping you whatsoever. ||Pool and Beach|The pool is large but gets crowded. There is limited number of loungers and parasols. The lounger mats were all mouldy. The parasols were ripped, broken, unsteady. The sun loungers tip backwards and watching people falling off them was a daily occurrence. The decked floor is totally unsuitable for the hot weather as it burns your feet even if you stand for a few seconds. The parasols are useless, torn fabric, unsteady and broken and take off even with the slightest wind. Another danger to bear in mind as one can easily get impaled by them. |They allow the use of the pool for non hotel guests at a fee (400 denari) which reduces the availability of loungers for paying hotel guests.|The beach at the front of the hotel is a public beach. It’s extremely poorly maintained. The wc’s and showers are filthy. Dangerous in places with random metal rods sticking out of the ground. Old parasol bases thrown in the lake. The lake water is on the cold side but water is clean. The access to the lake is by broken metal steps or slippery steps with overgrown algae. Beach shoes are a must. ||Overall|Macedonia is a country with fantastic natural beauty, lake Ohrid and surrounding area seems very pretty. The weather is majestic, calm and warm. Ohrid has an amazing climate, cooler in the hot summer months. Waking up first thing, you’re instantly filled with energy. There is so much colour around. Hotel Granit is a chilled, mostly quiet and relaxed hotel. It’s best suited for couples, adults and older children. If you usually holiday in Spain or Greece in AI hotels with day/night entertainments then this hotel is not for you. But if you come here with an open mind and fancy exploring then you’ll probably enjoy it. ||The ‘free to smoke everywhere ‘policy could be a problem for non smokers or people with respiratory conditions. Relaxing on the balcony, eating out, sunbathing, playing cards at night, outing in town…literally everywhere you are the smell of smoke is there too. ||Bear in mind that the countries infrastructure and the facilities in and around the hotel are of extremely poor quality and often dangerous. |Risky trip hazards are common place such as broken steps, flooring, random metal rods sticking from the ground, slippery floors, broken parasol bases, lack of pavements, broken equipment of any sort. Poor quality, old, nothing seems to be maintained, some would say basic but in reality it’s dangerous! |If you still decide to go, please go with open eyes and...

Below average hotel in a stunning part of the world. Firstly I’ll start by saying the local Macedonians are all lovely, all the taxi drivers and the waiters etc have been fantastic. The same DOES NOT apply to this hotel. The beer and alcoholic drinks are only all inclusive until 10, not that it matters as there’s only one beer (usual for an all inclusive and not the end of the world) but the selection of spirits was none existent. Only one bar is all inclusive which means if you want a beer with your dinner then you have to go back upstairs. When you get to the all inclusive bar you need to summon a member of staff over from where ever they’re sat on their phones to pour you a beer and they are anything but polite and pleasant, this is the theme of the hotel. Only one member of staff was pleasant with us (a young girl, who unfortunately I forget her name always said ‘cheers’ to us, lovely). I tried my best to learn some basic Macedonian, hello please thank yous etc, and when spoken staff couldn’t even crack a smile, yet it was met with great pleasure outside the hotel. Staff need lesson or two in customer service for sure.

The food is average, not terrible to be fair but nothing to write home about, the bad point is that my Fiancé is allergic to nuts and the hotel had virtually no interest in this, we frequently asked what was nut free and instead of getting an answer the staff would just walk off leaving you dumb-founded only to return 5 minutes later with a plain dry fruit salad and nothing else, a bit much to be eating that all week. Snacks were apparently 12pm-5pm but this was just ice cream, hardly a snack. Breakfast runs 8-10am and at 9:15 we asked if there was any more Greek yoghurt, to which the member of staff replied ‘no, finished’, with 45mins left but this is the problem, at 10am they literally close the doors and turn the lights off whether you’re finished or not.

The rooms are tired and need a fair bit of TLC but to be fair the beds are quite comfy. Our shower leaked in most places and clearly there isn’t much maintenance inspection going on. The room doesn’t have basics such as a safe or iron but they offer an ironing service for around £3 a shirt…

There was no entertainment, not the end of the world for us who came as an 8, and we ventured into Ohrid Town a few nights (absolutely great restaurants and atmosphere), but if you were a couple expecting for a lively night, this is not the hotel for you. That being said, the views from the terrace are stunning and perfect to have a quiet drink and laugh with family and friends.

The pool, the pool actually wasn’t too bad to be fair! Sun beds need replacing but the pools clean and fresh and a good size. We preferred the lake which was actually warmer than we were expecting and again felt very fresh and clean. We hired some paddle boards and had great fun on them. Just pretend they don’t have a gym because they might as well not. I’m into my fitness but I wouldn’t expect a world class gym but this was hopeless, small 1” bars with only 15kg or 10kg plates that don’t actually weigh their designated weight.

As for the area itself we will definitely be back. As previously stated the majority of people are absolutely lovely and the scenery is breathtaking. We took a boat ride with Nikolai from B and F cruise who took us up to Saint Baum and down around Ohrid Old Town, for 8 of us it cost €250 and couldn’t recommend him enough, friendly guy who told us all about the area and history.

Ohrid old town is a must, cobbled streets and ancient monasteries. We’ve had fun in beautiful restaurants and the cocktails are delicious but cheap.

Hotel Granit, if you’re reading this please update your images on your website and TUI etc, the hotel definitely doesn’t look like these current photographs.

All in all, come to Ohrid but stay away from...

Hotel Granit is on a perfect location - right on Lake Orhid with direct access. Lake Orhid is beautiful and huge and crystal clear, and there is a little jetty to jump off into the lake. The hotel also has a nice pool with sunbeds around it, some of which look onto the lake. Ohrid is a 10-15 minute taxi ride 300 denar, 700 in the evening. However, the all inclusive food is not good at all. Breakfast is the highlight of the day - the eggs are overcooked and the bacon in a cm of oil, there is cereal and a lovely spread of feta cheese and ham/salami and bread. Lunch. The same cheese and ham with Greek salad is available every day which was lucky as I ate then every day, There were cold, undercooked chips every day with cold Spaghetti and mince with tomato and no seasoning. Then pork chops and chicken are overcooked, dry and cold and a veal stew in gravy and dry burgers. With pasta in water. None of this is kept warm and is very tasteless. Dinner- repeat of lunch. Ice cream 12-5 Snacks - only there for a few minutes around 5pm as there are not enough for guests so they run out very quickly. Snacks are filo pastry with cheese but are undercooked and cold so are just a soggy tasteless greasy lump. So disappointed. We paid for 'a la carte' food from the menu most nights as that was much better. The all inclusive drinks are available 10am to 10pm and mixers are self service from a machine. The students that work at the all inclusive bars are smiley and friendly. The hotel has a very annoying policy to lock the gate giving access from the pool to the lake throughout the day and all the other gates are permanently locked so there is a long walk with many stairs to get to the lovely lake. This is meant to stop the local kids from getting into the pool and hotel but they just hop over the metal fences so these measures just inconvenience the hotel residents. There are many many stairs and the staff place tables across access to the restaurants from the pool and the stairs so you have to go up a further set of stairs and then down the internal stairs to get to there. After a few days I just moved the table out of the way to get where I needed to be. This hotel could...