Elba Lucia Sport and Suite Hotel

Good points First impression was good,looks nice from outside. We had a very big room and large comfy beds and a large garden area. Poolside was pleasant with a large pool. Bar staff were quick and friendly. Animation guy Ilky was lovely, friendly, funny and tried hard with limited resources. Bad points Food was repetitive and bland. Occasionally you had the odd meal that was ok, but mostly it was poor. Swimming pool was freezing and so we hardly used it. Whole hotel was out dated and in need of a make over. Very remote with just a few scattered bars/ restaurants. Lots of rubbish ,dumped furniture and wasteland surrounding the hotel. Other points They were small ants in the room, but really of no significance. The walk to Caleta is worth doing, takes around 30/40 minutes.Look out for the little squirrels in the rocks, we had great fun feeding them. Try the Bombay Burritos nearby, delicious.

We knew the hotel Elba was not going to be spectacular because of its star rating, but we have been to hotels of the same rating that were much better for the same price. The biggest let down was the lack of air conditioning. Yes we knew in advance but thought it was just the rooms. The restaurant and bar were also without which made it hard going while eating or drinking. The food was not brilliant with a very small menu which tended to repeat itself over the week. Sometimes hot sometimes just warm. Spirits were locally made and were about at least half strength and if you try a spirit with no mixers you can tell straight away the lack of strength and taste. If you have one with a mixer, the mixer is all you can taste. We stuck with wines and beers as these were of normal strength. Although some of the wines were a bit harsh most were just about acceptable. They varied much from day to day and even bar to bar. We was a bit annoyed about the coffee at the pool bar. The first two we had were from the expresso machine in the pool bar which was as you would expect a coffee to taste. The next day however we were told to use the self service machine outside the bar and the coffee from that was undrinkable. You had to basically put three expresso shots in a cup to just taste it and it still wasn’t nice. So next time I asked for a coffee from the expresso machine I again was told to use the machine and I said it’s not a nice taste I was told it would cost €1.00 if I wanted him to make me one. I thought this was a bit off. There were three or four of the staff that were very friendly and chatty which was ok. Iker of the entertainments crew worked his socks off trying to encourage people to participate in games and was always full of energy and fun. 5 stars to him for his effort. The hotel in general is looking a bit run down and could do with a good refurb and a lot of TLC. In general it was just about comfortable. Around the pool area there are only about 8 or 9 umbrellas which means most people have to sit in the sun all day and because it’s generally breezy you can burn very easily. There is no saving sunbeds early morning as they are locked away until 09:30 but the people whose rooms open onto the pool put chairs out with towels under the umbrellas early on before the sunbeds are unlocked so save the best spots anyway. So locking them doesn’t work at all. All in all it was not a bad holiday but it was not one I would give a good ranking.

The location isn’t the greatest if you want to leave the hotel. Cab is very expensive so rent a car it’s much better and cheaper. The atmosphere of the hotel was okay, they played good music by the pool. But it’s a very small pool area I can imagine in the peak season it will be horribly packed. The rooms was the worst probably the worst hotel I stayed in. If I stayed more than 3 nights I would have suffered. If you are one not to listen to reviews listen to mine.

• the rooms were dirty
• bathroom dirty
• balcony dirty
• no bedding for the sofa bed and had to ask
• no third towel for the third person
• shower leaked so bad we had to use our towels to stop us from slipping and when asking for new towels they were reluctant (heard other people asking for towels so I’m guessing they had a similar issue)
• draws and cupboards were dirty (kept all clothes in our bags)

Food wasn’t great at all, I wouldn’t recommend the dinner, if you can just do breakfast but I know everyone has different expectations when it comes to food. There is not much around the hotel, you will need to take a cab to really enjoy the island. Noise level - no problem no complaints Wouldn’t revisit this hotel will pay that little bit more for something much cleaner.