Editor Pick
GLB - a must read full review
- December 23, 2007
- Rated 2 of 5 by
madeia98 from Baltimore, Maryland
Grand Lido Braco
My husband and I took a vacation to Grand Lido Braco December 13-22 2007.
The Room
I give the room 2 stars because it is that of what you would expect from any of the large hotel chains in the USA.
The room needed some serious updating.
The bed was not to our liking, being stiff and hard. It was found to be true that the bed sheet was not fitted and simply a flat sheet which was tucked under that does not work well for people like me that toss and turn at night.
Dining
For breakfast you had two options – to dine in Victoria Market from 7:30am to 10:30am, where the was a hot and cold buffet with an egg and omelets station or to have a cold breakfast served in room. If you chose in room, you filled out a door card and put it out the night before. We had 4 door cards in our room and they were never replaced by room service.
At lunchtime, you hade the option to dine at Victoria Market from 12:30pm to 3:00pm, however some days there was a buffet setup and some days there was only a soup and salad bar and a four choice selection from a menu. Another option was Nanny’s Jerk Pit from 11:00am to 4:00pm where you could find a selection of jerk chicken, pork and fish.
Dinner was available with no reservation at La Pasta, the Italian Restaurant, from 3:00pm to 11:00pm and Victoria Market offering ala carte from 6:30pm to 9:30pm both offering a casual dress code.
There were two formal restaurants at the resort. Piacere which offered French and Muna San which offered Japanese. You need to make reservations for these restaurants with the concierge during the day. Upon arriving at the resort, we made reservations for 1 night at each place, which was all that was allowed at one time. Once you ate there once, you could make another reservation. When we went to make a second reservation, it seemed like they only wanted to allow you one meal at each place per stay, asking if we had already dined there, when we arrived and when we were leaving the resort.
I was disappointed with the dining options, considering I dislike buffets and for a luxury resort, this is what they mostly offered. All dining rooms are closed on Fridays, which is a Gala Dinner on the street which is where they simply only offer the same buffet found in Victoria Market along with a few added dishes. A similar even happens on Pirate night which is Wednesday and this buffet is offered on the beach. The buffets offered through out the week didn’t change much at all and the selection was lacking.
Your final offering for meals in the 24 hour in room dining which is also available 24 hours at the bar at the far end of the beach. There is however a limited selection of several appetizers including salads, nachos and wings, main courses of chicken, pizza, steak, and lamb chops and a small selection of desserts.
For dining in Victoria Market it was a bit disgusting. There seemed to always be dirty plates and bowls that were lined up for use of meals. The linens on the tables were not changed, because a glass table top was over them. The sides, however were always found to be stained.
Both reservation based restaurants has a lack of consistency. The service was on and off at Piacere and the chefs at Muna San were like night and day. Once chef had a lot of fun and even invited me up to cook. The other chef just wanted to cook and get back to the kitchen.
La Pasta was always consistent and the meals came out quick, hot and very flavorful. The tables are open air on the sidewalk and it was a very nice atmosphere.
Entertainment
While the brochure they give you boasts a lot of activities throughout the day, it was our experience that the schedule was very inconsistent. If the activities actually happened during the day, most of them were consistently late. We gave up on the activities halfway through our trip because of these issues.
The evening shows consisted of bands and singers which was quite bland.
Never mentioned in the activities schedule is the fact the some activities such as tarot/tea leaf reading and international crab racing are events you need to pay for. While these events were fun to watch, they should not be advertised without a mention of cost and they should offer them if they are going to advertise them as no cost.
The staff lacked motivation to get guests involved in activities. On several occasions we found that the entertainment staff were sitting at the bars by the pool and Reggae Café relaxing and having a chat with other staff members.
No Tipping Policy
From the bars, to the salon, and the waters sports, I personally witnessed many instances of guests tipping and workers accepting. I even heard a conversation while passing block two of rooms between two maids, one saying to the other “business is good, I just got a $20 tip”. It made me think if I wasn’t getting the level of service I expected because of the fact that I did not tip anyone.
Water sports
It was viewed as true to other reviews I read about water sports going on when it’s convenient for them or if you tip them.
I asked for a speed boat ride early in my trip, and I was not surprised when they told me to boat was broken.
One day I decided I wanted a hobiecat ride. I went to the water sport desk and was advised that there was limited staff that day and I would have to come back tomorrow. On the walk back I saw a water sport guy that had went out windsurfing. I asked him about a hobiecat ride and he said he only does the windsurfing. An hour later I saw the hobiecat boat out not once, but twice. It was very discouraging.
Filing Complaints
We did meet with the entertainment director the day before we left. She asked why we waited so long and she could have transferred us to another property. First off we knew better to not make complaints, especially about the staff because after we did everyone seemed to know us and treated us differently.
Other Mentionable
There was a gym and spa. The spa offered all the usual services at a price you would expect to pay at the resort. We had a massage under the trees by the beach that was acceptable but not exceptionable. The gym offered personal training, classes, and a variety of equipment.
The entertainment room offered slot machines which were not worth playing, two pool tables which needed felt replaced as well as pool sticks which were well used. Also offered were a selection of about 6 board games, a ping pong table, and an out of date dart board with 3 darts.
Bar service was acceptable. There were only four beers available which were Red Stripe, Red Stripe Light, Real Rock, and Miller Light. There were about 10 top shelf choices for liquor and a multitude of other liquor for a variety of mixed drinks.
A manicure and pedicure were included and was a nice touch. It was easy to get an appointment and was one of the only things that happened on time.
Laundry service was included so having the option to have your clothes cleaned was a nice touch.
My Thoughts
It is possible the lack of commitment of the staff towards policies and procedures have caused inconsistencies and a lack of management and supervision of towards the staff has lead to a lot of these issues. The resort, at least the textile side rooms need an overhaul as well as a lot of the common areas on the property. The resort, in my view, is certainly not a luxury property.
SuperClubs doesn’t mind charging for a luxury resort and not promising what was to be delivered. They should take the time and expense to reinvest into their resort.