Hotel Flamingo

I booked the room at Hotel Flamingo last year because I was seeing Sting at Villa Forte. I am now booking to stay there again this year (even thought there is not a Sting concert) because the Hotel Flamingo left such a wonderful impression. After I told him that I had Celiac's disease (allergic to gluten), the head of the food services made sure that there was an incredible gluten free breakfast waiting for me each morning....AND, he also informed me each evening of what was definitely gluten-free. The assistants who helped me to and from my room with my bags were also very helpful and gracious. And the front desk...well, these are professional Hotel Directors. I can't wait to return there this year! ...and send out a message in a bottle.

I came here for a meeting. Delicious Italian food and beautiful beach views are unforgettable. This should be a suitable place for family travel, for those who like a quiet and comfortable environment.

The only redeeming feature was that we had a wonderful cheery cleaning lady, who did a great job. We were there with a group and had to dine from the buffet. Mostly this was pretty bad. Anything decent disappeared quickly and was not replaced for a long time. There was a continuous shortage of plates and bowls, to the extent that people ended up eating dessert out of a glass or coffee cup. The food that was on offer was luke warm at best. At breakfast, the coffee machine regularly broke down, and often there were absolutely no croissants or bread left, sometimes just crumbs. We decided to splurge and eat at the restaurant up the road, but unfortunately it closes on Wednesday., the day that was possible for us. We were not "allowed" to patronise the restaurant at the hotel . perhaps it was full. - no reason was given. The pool looks very nice on the photos, but there is only one rickety ladder for access. I did mention this to reception but nothing was done about it. As for the beach - well, it is sandy until you get to the water. The sea floor is rocks. This hotel is really isolated - it's about a kilometre walk up the road to the bus stop for Cagliari. The buses run about every 2 hours. There is no town in walkable distance. We stayed a couple of extra nights that were not with the group, and were billed 460 euros for the 2 nights with full pension. Maybe that is reasonable if there is actually food to eat, but most of the time you are just scrounging to find anything. There are no benches to sit on in the grounds, which do seem well-kept, and it would have been pleasant to sit outside.

This is without a doubt the worst hotel I have ever encountered. It is a two star on its best day. In all honesty, I wouldn't even give it that. The staff are rude, the rooms are dirty, the food is mediocre at best and everything you would normally expect to be included will cost extra. You are not a guest, you are a cash cow, ripe for the milking. First off, it is remote. Like really remote. We knew this when we booked. The downside of this is that you will need a car to get away from this place. I would seriously suggest hiring a car at the airport as the cab fare to and from the hotel is 90 euros each way. On arrival, expect the reception staff to speak no English, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish or Norwegian. All of the languages that we can communicate in. Alarm bells should have started ringing at this point, but foolishly we persevered. Having been allocated our room, we found it to be subpar. The floor might have been cleaned at some point within the last month, judging by the amount of hair and dead insects rolled into the corners. As we arrived later in the evening and didn't fancy a trip into town for dinner, we thought we would give the hotel restaurant a go. Big mistake. The service is non-existent. The food is a joke and the pricing is imaginative. Avoid like the plague! First we were seated, by possibly the rudest waiter on the planet. This was a theme that the hotel seems to cultivate. I don't know whether this was because we are not Italian or if they reserve this treatment for all guests who pay their wages. We ordered three drinks, for some reason each drink required a receipt to be slapped down on the table with thinly veiled contempt. The drinks took half an hour to materialise, but only after we stopped the waiter from having a nice cosy chat with his friend. That really annoyed him. Next, we ordered our food. That also took half an hour to come to the table, with no accompanying dishes. Three drinks, chicken, fish and a pizza came to 200 euros. A total rip off considering the food was clearly not fresh and had absolutely zero attention to detail lavished on it. At this point we retired to bed. Too tired to even try and communicate our disappointment to the reception staff. They wouldn't have understood or cared either way. Next morning we went for breakfast and as many have already communicated, it is lacking to say the least. The fruit is from a tin, the bread was gone and the cold cuts were clearly from a packet. The coffee machines were running out and one of them was pouring milk all of the floor from an overflowing drip tray. Any attempt to bring this to the serving staff's attention will be met with a tut, an eye roll and the impression that you are the one causing the issue. Because they are 'so very busy' chatting to their mates and generally hating everyone who isn't Italian. The lack of service and general rudeness of the staff managed to upset my wife to the point she had a stand up argument in the middle of the dining room with what I assume to be the head waiter. My wife is Portuguese but very placid. to wind her up to the point of a full on row takes some doing. He succeeded with flying colours and at this point I find out that my wife knows how to swear in Italian. We thought we would try the beach, just to get away from the appalling service in the hotel. Well, everything at this hotel comes at a price. Sun loungers are 30 euros each, per day. no, that is not a deposit, its an actual charge. It is a 20 euro fine if you want to take your room towels and use them on the beach instead of being ripped off for the sun loungers. At this point we wanted to spend as little time as possible at the hotel, so we went into town. That is a 15 euro cab fare each way. I would recommend taking the bus for a far more reasonable 1 euro each way. After one week, we decided that this was more like Butlins than a four star hotel and all of us had our fill of the appalling service, lack of room cleaning and general misery and suffering encountered by not only us, but seemingly everyone else. We left halfway through our two week stay and flew home. We are seeking a refund from the travel agent as the hotel was definitely not as described and not a place I would recommend to anyone other than masochists. Do not visit this hotel under any circumstances.

The hotel was a nightmare from the start. The design of the suite is terrible, the sink is outside the bathroom in the living room! The only working plug socket is under the television, you have to charge your mobile phone on the floor!! The shower is only hot for one person and the floor is flooded every time you use it. Our last night there was a power cut. We were in bed and the emergency lighting came on. Also one night the maids hadn’t closed the balcony door properly and someone opened it in the night - that was very scary as my Mother is elderly and couldn’t sleep afterwards. The breakfast was poor and every day we struggled to find a table. They ran out of cutlery, plates, food and drink every day. The attitude of most of the staff in that hotel is shocking. They do not want to help you!! There is one exception, the concierge Manolo, he is an asset to the hotel. Thank you Manolo for helping us on several occasions. We arrived to a double bed when we asked for twin beds and it was not an easy task getting it resolved. We had to wait until very late before sheets arrived and we had to make up our own beds!! The swimming pool is cold and has a dangerous broken step to get in and out of it. The only reason this hotel didn’t get one star is because of Manolo and also the air conditioning is good in the suite and the beach location is good. If you haven’t paid for half board then you have nowhere to eat in the hotel! You have to cross the road to eat in the Pizzeria. Luckily the pizzeria is good and I recommend it. I also recommend you take the bus outside the hotel and pay one euro to travel into Pula and eat there!