Blu Hotel Laconia Village

Wow! What a resort! We’ve just spent 11 days here and cannot fault a thing. The staff are genuinely friendly and welcoming all the time, from the reception staff to the bar and restaurant staff. Samuel makes the best pina coladas and was a joy to see each day with our aperitivos after our pool/beach day. The pool area is is the nicest and cleanest I’ve ever seen. The sunloungers are the comfiest ever and it’s the only place we’ve ever holidayed where no one reserves them! The hotel’s section of the beach is perfect too with a lovely restaurant and cafe a few minutes away. The food is fantastic with a great choice every day. We loved that you kept your same dining table all week. We also liked that the main courses and desserts were served by chefs rather than helping yourself.

I cannot fault the hotel and staff very helpful. Very clean. However when it came to the restaurant it was a different matter. The food was good but cold if you did not get in there first and then it was a free for all. We went for breakfast around 8.45am not forgetting breakfast was served until 9.30am, no cups for coffee, no glasses for fruit juice, no cereal bowls, when I asked for these I was left just standing there and nothing appeared. One morning there was no butter for toast and I was told it was finished. If you go in September-October there is no facility at the hotel to purchase any lunch such as sandwiches as we knew this was only half board. There is a small bar on the sea front for snacks but other than that you have a long walk into the town. We had read reviews on trip adviser and they were all good, but we had a feeling all was not well at the hotel at the time of our holiday. Disappointing.

The area and walk to the town is very scenic with spectacular views, Laconia Village hotel has a good swimming pool clean with plenty of sunbeds with pleasant small gardens around. Entertainment was limited but enjoyable and our room was a upgrade and if you can choose this as recently refurbished, the biggest let down is the meals especially in the evening it's chaotic with people going in all directions pushing by as they have put the food crammed in a small area with the free wine queue blocking people trying to eat .food needs improving as well and the whole experience isn't enjoyable. Breakfast is much calmer but only scrambled eggs and chopped bacon/cocktail sausages for hot dishes. We went in october which was very quiet manly elderly couples,nothing around so nearest supermarket in town ,the area made our holiday as this hotel is really 3 star .

This review is going to be in two parts and is meant to be constructive not a moan. So, I will start with the pros first. Laconia Village Hotel is well maintained. The communal areas such as the lounge and places to relax are plentiful and immaculately clean. We were allocated room 701 which had a spacious bedroom, a lounge and a good sized bathroom as well as a terrace which overlooks the garden. The whole of the property is well maintained. The level of cleanliness and housekeeping is first class. The pool area is clean with plenty of sunbeds and brollies only small complaint here is the inviting pool is beyond cold. Now to the staff. The reception staff are excellent and multi lingual. The bar staff run immaculately by Cio and very ably assisted by Ornella and a superstar young man called Simona who both went the extra mile to provide an excellent service are a credit to the hotel. Now to the cons. The dining experience is dreadful. Not necessarily the food which is variable but the organisation. You are supposed to be allocated a table for the length of your stay. This system is run chaotically and leads to people finding their first allocation being changed as in our case on two occasions. This leads to total confusion and unnecessary disagreements. All exacerbated by the inept and totally useless managers having to refer to a handwritten log book which details all the table allocations. There appear to be three managers in dark suits all of whom seem utterly clueless. Surely in the 21st century it should be simple to pre allocate table numbers and allocate same against room numbers and put all this info on a tablet. These managers seem to do nothing but, cause confusion. Instead of carrying out a pre opening check to make sure all is ready you can arrive for breakfast and find no cereal bowls or desert spoons are available. Or, the scrambled egg runs out and a ten minute delay at least ensues whilst a refill arrives. Or the wine runs out and no replacement is organised. The net effect of this inefficient management is the dining experience is denigrated to like being in a canteen or feeding time at the zoo. The one bright spot in this debacle is the service supplied by Daniel and Fidel who were exceptional. Unfortunately, this abject experience means the hotel’s star rating is nearer to 3stars rather than 4 stars. The area is lovely and I think hiring a car is a must to be able to appreciate all that it offers. Small cautionary note be prepared that many restaurants and cafes only have the old French style stoop toilets which can be off putting. I hope Blu Hotels take these comments in hand and improve the dining experience.

For the price the hotel was good, but the service was lacking at times. Entertainment- Pietro worked hard every night, friendly and accommodating every nationality. An excellent voice whether singing Classical or modern music, Bocelli to the Beatles. Rooms - Basic, small room, clean, comfortable bed, good, hot showers, cleaned daily Area - was quiet, we were thankful to rent a car to explore more of the north west region (La Madellena, San Teresa Gallura, Palau, San Teodoro, Olbia, Tempio, Porto Cervo were all worth a trip. We didn't try the buses but heard they were not reliable. The beach at the hotel was good but not many amenities possibly because it was late season. Dining - food was good, but not fine dining! Plenty of variety; the soups were delicious. Because some foods could run out everybody rushed in at 7.30pm. It seemed to be managed chaotically. The under staff were pleasant but the head waiters were a law unto themselves and were not happy to be disturbed, even when asking for something like spoons. HOWEVER the thing that most upset us was something quite trivial. We had been told at the first meal where to sit and that under no circumstances should we change places; that was the rule. (They were very strict making some people sit on the verandah when it was raining). On our final night our table number had disappeared and someone else was sitting there. When the head waiter was approached he said we had to sit somewhere else so that an Italian group could be accommodated. At reception they said they had tried to phone us! The 'Front of desk' agreed that the situation was bad but could not change anything. We explained that as we had followed their rules and they had broken them we did not want to sit anywhere else so we forfeited our dinner. Such a small detail but we felt quite offended, both as an older couple and by our nationality. It left a sour note on the final evening.

The hotel La Conia Village was a little tired and even though I travelled solo my room was small and not a four star rating. The restaurant food was plentiful unfortunately a couple of waiters were not helpful but the remainder of the staff were lovely. Cannigione it's self is good and the beaches are beautiful