neilson croatia

[theredjellybean]

anyone been to the new alana beach club ? we are going in 2 weeks, are 7 neilson holiday, and i am worried as tripadvisor very mixed reviews...not the usual neilson rave reviews...

i am trying not to panic ...

If you check vlogger Mrs Meldrums youtube channel, she has done a few vlogs from there a few weeks ago.

i think neilsons has gone down hill. trying to do things cheaper and this means their standards have gone down. is this one of the ones where the hotel is owned and operated separately and Neilsens just provide the add ons?

be wary of vlogs. they can be paid to put a good spin on things. TripAdvisor reviews are always going to be the way to go.

Neilsons have never owned any of the hotels where they do the beach clubs.
I too have read the bad reviews of both Croatia and sardinia and am glad we didn't book this year

The Neilson side of Alana Croatia is amazing, fantastic staff as always and great new kit.

The hotel isn't up to normal Neilson standard but it's fine. It's not being run by Neilson, usually they lease the property and run the restaurant and bar this time they're letting the original company do the hospitality side.

I saw the reviews a couple of weeks ago. Thing is, the accommodation is always pretty iffy on these watersports holidays; you pay for the kit and tuition and the luxury of safe time on the water. Most people are there for that rather than paying a premium for a swanky hotel. I suspect that a lot of people go for the childcare rather than because they're keen sailors, so are a bit shocked that the accommodation is lacking.

The thing is, neilsons hols are so expensive tgat it does lead you to think that accommodation would be of a decent standard and it rarely is.

That's true about Vlogs but thought it may be good opportunity to see around the resort rather than just pics-although there isn't much of the rooms and interior featured in it, which probably leads me to believe they weren't particularly fantastic and quite basic.

Thanks everyone. Someone has pm me who is just back. Said they had great time and second week hospitality really improved. We do indeed go for the various sports so woukd rather have fab new kit than swanky room. But agree that as so expensive the food, rooms etc need to be better than basic.
Apparently the general manager from foca has arrived so things improving.

Hi, we're just back from Alana and what you can expect is the normal Neilson holiday when it comes to activities and their own staff but the accommodation is not great as the TA reviews mention and the food - whilst it improved whilst we were there from a shockingly low base - was still very bland.mostly luke warm and by the end of the two weeks, we were absolutely sick of it.

Staff in the restaurant were simply not trained. There seemed to be no system and it was impossible to get a drink served to your table. During the first week, we had to clear tables before we could sit down. I passed three staff members one day on my way to drop the dirty plates from the previous diners to the station in the corner. They all passed me as if it was perfectly natural to see a guest clearing a table! Then at some point there must have been a briefing about clearing tables and every staff member became obsessed with it to the point that if you left your knife and fork down at all, they wanted to take your plate. Complete lack of proper training.

The main problem is that the hotel and restaurant is managed by Blue Sun Hotel and prior to Neilson partnering with Blue Sun, it was very much a 3 star budget hotel, used by people on short stays who were climbing in the area or on a coach tour. A lot of the staff worked there previously and were still operating to the standard expected by Blue Sun guests,

However, in terms of the activities and the standard of instruction and coaching - absolutely excellent. Tennis coaches were superb, fitness instructors also excellent, likewise beach activities, water skiing etc.

Neilson have a five year contract with Blue Sun apparently but conversations have already started about changing the arrangement because there have been so many complaints and disappointed guests. Currently the hotel and restaurant staff are paid and trained by Blue Sun and it seems Neilson is hoping to change that.

In terms of the hotel rooms however, significant investment would be required to improve them. Very, very basic and lots of the rooms are dark and dreary with tiny balconies. The main high-rise block is really ugly.

The Spa though is beautiful and completely at odds with the rest of the hotel - it's more like a Spa you'd see in a five star property. Worth a visit.

Have a great holiday.