Hotel Palazzo del Mare - Essenza

We arrived at the hotel at 11:30am, fully aware that check-in wasn’t until 2pm, which was totally fine. At first, the reception staff began checking us in, giving us breakfast times and general information. Everything seemed routine,until they suddenly told us there was no record of our booking through Love Holidays. From that point, the service took a dramatic turn for the worse. The staff quickly distanced themselves, offering no apology, no assistance, and no attempt to contact Love Holidays. Instead, we were simply told, “You’ll have to sort it yourselves.” No effort was made to help us, despite it clearly being a stressful and upsetting situation. The manager in particular was shockingly rude and dismissive. When we asked calmly for help or clarification, he showed no concern whatsoever. He barely acknowledged us, offered no solutions, and made it very clear that we were not his problem. His attitude was cold, condescending, and completely devoid of any basic customer service. Rather than diffusing the situation, his behaviour made it far worse,we felt humiliated, ignored, and completely abandoned. Love Holidays weren’t any better. It took an eternity to get through to someone, and even then, there was no urgency or real help offered. We were passed around, given vague responses, and left to figure things out on our own. It was clear that neither the hotel nor the travel company wanted to take responsibility for what went wrong. On top of all that, The toilet in the lobby was out of order, which was incredibly inconvenient given we were stuck there for hours. The electrics kept cutting out during the six hours we waited, lights and power flickered constantly, making the lobby feel more like a disaster zone than a welcoming hotel. The only positive in all of this was Joyanna at reception, who came on shift later. She was the only one who showed any empathy, professionalism, and basic human decency. She listened to us, tried to help, and treated us with kindness when no one else did. Her efforts stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the staff, especially the manager. We weren’t expecting perfection, just some support when something clearly went wrong. Instead, we were met with indifference, rudeness, and a total lack of accountability. This experience completely ruined the start of our holiday. We felt disrespected, unsupported, and utterly devalued as paying customers. We will never return to this hotel, and we absolutely will not be booking through Love Holidays again.

We weren’t guests of the hotel, but visited the bianco beach bar attached to the hotel after seeing it on TikTok. The bar manager advised us that it was there first weekend opening so only 1 row of loungers were available and no umbrellas. However there were umbrellas directly behind us. The view is very nice and very peaceful, the music is not too loud also. The steps into the water are covered in algae and one is very slippy (a hazard which needs cleaning). We went up to the seated shaded area for lunch and ordered a burger (as per the managers recommendation - twice!) and a veggie wrap. However, we were very unimpressed with the food. It was soggy, bland and the chips undercooked. The pina colada was amazing and I’m sure the other cocktails are great. Really can’t recommend this place which is a shame as it’s a great venue

NOT a 5*!!! Hotel is run by scammers and fraudsters. Manager is aggressive towards women and will coerce you to cancelling your reservation on Booking so you can’t leave them a bad review which is why their reviews on there are so high. There are other platforms and our voice won’t be silenced! Rooms are full of mould and damp, so bad the wallpaper is peeling off the wall! Strong smell of mould when you walk in which is extremely bad for your health. Their communication prior to arrival was shocking - didn’t respond to ourselves or Booking for 2 months! But responded quickly to accept a cancellation fee for 50%.