Ethra Reserve Valentino

Weekend of October 6-8. Took my 2 kids here for a weekend to catch some end of summer sunshine! (Inset day weekend for school back in Uk). Pool was open and acceptable to my kids. Slightly cool for me. Seawater temperature was brilliant. Pleasantly warm. We spent time both at pool side and on the deserted beach. 5th floor of hotel had the hot tub pool open also. Hotel room was spacious and comfortable. Very well presented. Liked the home from home feel also. Bath tub would have been handy but shower was very good. Breakfast. Surpassed expectations for size of hotel. Very good quality. Kids obsessed with the orange squeeze machine to make their juice. Egg/pancake station cooking to order. Coffees and hot chocolates all to order. Great choice of fresh fruit, pastries, cold meats, cheeses. Location - bit of a walk from the Main Street of S Benedetto, especially with kids. In more residential suburb, pleasant all the same and nice kids park opposite hotel. Very close to nice pizza restaurant “del nord”. Walking away from the sea under the railway is a great gelateria. Would stay again at this time of year . Would likely rent a car from airport next time to enjoy more.

It doesn’t come cheap, but it is. Rooms are really outdated and all the property lacks maintenance and looks like abandoned to itself. The beach is 3 Km away and only reachable with an overcrowded train which goes through a bumpy road with no shade at all. Also the beach has a bar which closes in the hottest hours, therefore all guests are left with no access to water. No towel service at the beach - towels can be rent for 6,50 euro each only at the hotel and if you want to change them you need to rent it again during your stay. No room service. The few services provided have a strict schedule to follow: breakfast, lunch, dinner, kids activities, train to reach the beach, bars, pools, etc. In the evening they offer a selection of entertainment - the one for the kids are really lovely, but when it comes to the ones for adults the music is horrible and terribly loud. It goes ahead until midnight without respect for the guests that have young kids and/or are on vacation to relax. And this is a family resort or at leat this is how they advertise it! Food is ok, but nothing special compared to the quality you can experience in this part of Italy. Staff are nice, but clearly overloaded. I don’t recommend this place…. Really think before booking this place as they charge the whole amount of your vacation two weeks prior your arrival and there is no way for you to reduce your stay and get some form of refund when you realise it’s not the place where you were hoping to enjoy your vacation.

Very good quality of service as usual. This year the food was excellent and the pizzeria offered a super pizza (napolitan stile) !! awesome!!! I loved the restaurant at the beach also!! Special thanks to the waiter Angelo for the professionalism, kindness and accuracy in his assistance. About the pizzeria and beach restaurant, congrats to the manager Francesco for his excellent coordination, nice talking and attention to the Clients. Thanks even to Gianni, the archery teacher! The first one in my last 5 years who really instruct the Clients instead of simply make Secretary of the tournament! Good the attention on the anti CVD19 prescriptions ! The entire personell waired the mask all the time in any condition! Over standing ! The double turn and especially the all you can eat but " no self service" formula in the restaurant is a best practice to leave on for ever since it generate less chaos in the room and reduce the food waste. Feedback to get better: 1- the main night show must be better coordinate with the baby show in order to let the second restaurant turn to attend both! 2-what really disappointed me it's the lack of prinzing in any competitions 😕! Probably the famous challenge in Pescara cannot be done this year, but why don't give to the winners even a simple recognition like a "fake "medal plus a bonus for the bar, for the shop or for anything else. This year they didn't run neither the awarding celebration on the stage stage! Very very cold and unusual! 3-last but not least, I see too much plastic waste! it's time to implement a more sustainable policy ! Plastic glass at the Bar for each water drink can be replaced by a new format like paper glass one shot. Finally, waste recycling is totally absent. Anyway, very pleasant week!

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