Nido, Mar-Bella Collection

“Marbella Collection experience”

This is probably the 10th time we have been to this hotel and as always, we received a warm welcome from the staff, especially our friend over the years Sosi and Erik the General Manager. The Group has definitely been improved by the addition of the sister hotel, Avali, which is only 200-300 yar… more

This is probably the 10th time we have been to this hotel and as always, we received a warm welcome from the staff, especially our friend over the years Sosi and Erik the General Manager. The Group has definitely been improved by the addition of the sister hotel, Avali, which is only 200-300 yards distant from the main hotel. The Grill at Avali is a definite welcome to the other à la cartes available and the beach bar is a great place to have a drink. The main hotel is as delightful as ever and the outside changes to the Terrazza really improve the experience. All in all a wonderful holiday and we will return again

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“Amazing, family holiday. Wonderful attentive staff. Fabulous memories of a truly great family holiday”

Our stay at the MarBella Collection was truly exceptional from beginning to end. Even before we departed from the UK, we contacted the hotel directly to arrange our airport transfer, and the service was seamless from the outset. Upon arriving in Corfu, we were greeted with a wonderfully warm welcom… more

Our stay at the MarBella Collection was truly exceptional from beginning to end. Even before we departed from the UK, we contacted the hotel directly to arrange our airport transfer, and the service was seamless from the outset. Upon arriving in Corfu, we were greeted with a wonderfully warm welcome and escorted to an immaculate minibus. Our driver handled our luggage with great care, and complimentary bottled water was thoughtfully provided for the journey. When we arrived at the hotel, several members of staff were there to welcome us, all genuinely delighted to see us and especially attentive to the children. We were personally escorted to our rooms, with our luggage arriving promptly shortly afterwards. As we explored the resort, we were thoroughly impressed by the outstanding facilities on offer. There was truly something for every member of the family — a beautiful spa, water sports, boat trips (with Demitra being especially helpful and accommodating), a dedicated children’s swimming pool, and even a cinema on the beach. From the moment we arrived, the experience moved from excellent to extraordinary. No matter where we were in the hotel, the staff consistently went above and beyond to ensure our stay was perfect. The level of service throughout was flawless. It was also wonderful to see the General Manager and management team so visible each day. Their passion for delivering first-class hospitality was evident and clearly inspired every member of staff. Special thanks to Sosipotras, who greeted us each morning at breakfast with such warmth and kindness; to Elle and all the fantastic bar staff in the pool area; and to Theodora, who checked in with us most days to make sure we were having the best possible time — which we absolutely were. Thank you to everyone at the MarBella Collection for creating such a memorable and truly outstanding holiday experience.

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“Nice family resort”

We visited during October half term with children under 10. Overall a nice resort, spread out over many levels but easy enough to navigate once you get you bearings. Our stay was similar to what many people have described so will point out the more pertinent things for those who may be interested… more

We visited during October half term with children under 10. Overall a nice resort, spread out over many levels but easy enough to navigate once you get you bearings. Our stay was similar to what many people have described so will point out the more pertinent things for those who may be interested. Overall very welcoming experience, all staff polite, friendly, excellent spoken English and engaging - we could not fault the service across the resort. Everyone was eager to help. We were given a complimentary upgrade to a pool room which was brilliant and very welcome; the room was clean and spacious but the beds are not comfortable (at least we didn't find it to be). Cleaners visit once daily to make the beds and replace towels. The mini bar is basic, and after the initial offerings, refilling is at an additional cost. We visited in late October, and the temperature was changeable, regular bouts of rain as well as sunshine. It was warm but not hot. Pools are fine to use once you get in them, but are not heated and takes some willpower to summon up the courage to use. Once you're in then it is OK, but if if you are expecting a heated pool - you will be disappointed. Plenty of sun loungers available to use throughout the day. There are two small and medium sized main pools. A newer separate aqua-park with slides is located up a steep hill - be mindful if you have mobility issues. The resort has many steps and is well designed for those with mobility issues, as well as lifts available to use throughout. If you have difficulty walking up long flights of steps however, be mindful of this. The 'beach' is more of a decking area with sand placed around the deck chairs with sun loungers and a bar with decking over-looking the sea which can be access via steps. Restaurant food is average. We were a family of vegetarians and found our food options limited at each meal. Pasta options were the only real hot food available at both lunch and dinner, and either with a tomato sauce or a mushroom cream sauce. This became very tiring after a week. Snack foods can be ordered from the pool side bars and brought to sun loungers but no service from seated. The main negatives: 1. Flys/Wasps/Bees - Everywhere!!! This is a real problems and really spoilt our stay. There are bees all over the food areas and pool. We ordered drinks once by the pool and subsequently attracted a whole swarm of bees that did not leave even after the drinks were discarded. We didn't order any more drinks again, but even in spite of this, the bees were endless - more needs to be done to counter this by the hotel. 2. More provision for vegetarian diners needs to be made with more variety. Food was always lukewarm - for a '5* resort' we would have expected a lot more vegetarian options and more than just tomato pasta. If you are a foodie, you may be disappointed. Meat options appeared to be more plentiful but very similar meals Things to be aware of: 1. The 'southern island boat cruise' is an hour long boat trip to a quieter part of the island - the boat stops around 100m from the shore and guests disembark from a ladder directly into the sea and can swim in the waters (around 1.2m depth) before returning to the boat. If you intend to do this, wear you swimming clothes before boarding the boat. If you are not a confident swimmer you may not enjoy this. 2. Check-out is 11am. We were very kindly allowed to stay for longer in the hotel but ask early before you departure date. Our extension was complimentary but we were advised that later check-out is usually around 150euros. 3. The hotel offers a free kayaking/pedal but no booking available, try and get there early to avoid waiting around.

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“Disappointing”

We have just returned from 7 nights at Marbella and overall we are disappointed. I’ll start with the positives. The hotel itself was beautiful. Really clean, tidy, and well-kept with gorgeous views. The room was lovely and clean as well - even under the bed (a spot I usually don’t dare look at in … more

We have just returned from 7 nights at Marbella and overall we are disappointed. I’ll start with the positives. The hotel itself was beautiful. Really clean, tidy, and well-kept with gorgeous views. The room was lovely and clean as well - even under the bed (a spot I usually don’t dare look at in a hotel) was immaculate. Sunbeds also super comfy, and service around the pool and in the bars was good. Good selection of cocktails; the Mr Herber was a particular favourite. Breakfast was also good, not the biggest selection but it had everything you needed. Now onto the rest. The main thing for us was that the food was incredibly disappointing. The buffet was reminiscent of school dinners. The meat was always inedibly dry and over cooked. Everything either completely unseasoned or overly salty. We got to the point where we dreaded lunch and dinner because the food was just so depressing and such a let down. Dessert options were also really disappointing. The juice at breakfast was more akin to squash - I’m not sure why they weren’t able to offer real orange juice. Food in the a la cartes was equally disappointing. We had one nice dish out of our three meals; the rest was almost inedible. We also weren’t given steak knives for lamb chops, something I would definitely expect at a so-called 5*. Disappointing selection of wines by the glass in the restaurants as well, and it was a shame to not be able to have cocktails. With the exception of very very slow service in Kum Quat and waiters not knowing which table had ordered what, the service was generally good in the à la cartes. Not outstanding, but good. There was never a vegetable in sight. One night there was some criminally over-boiled green beans but that was all we got all week. It would be nice to see peas, broccoli, carrots, or something along that line every night (and cooked properly). Even in the à la carte restaurants veg was nonexistent. We asked for a side of veg one night and were met with some very confused faces. After a lot of back and forth to the manager and the kitchen we were offered a side of ratatouille, which we declined. We then saw another table given a bowl of broccoli and cauliflower so I’m not sure why it wasn’t available for us. Lunch options were also disappointing. The buffet was closed for lunch at the start of our stay but this wasn’t mentioned anywhere - the app and information sheet we were given both said open at 1pm for lunch. Reception told us different things depending who we asked. There were limited lunch options without the buffet - poolside food was ok (although the chicken nuggets were the driest things I’ve eaten in my life) but not for everyday. The actual menu for lunch in the à la carte differed to what was on the app, much to our disappointment when we sat down to eat. There was little in the way of snacks throughout the day which was tricky with lunch not starting until 1pm. There was ice cream available at the pool which was a nice touch but self-service so it didn’t feel particularly 5*. Not allergen-friendly as only one scoop used for all the flavours including pistachio (a nightmare for nut allergy sufferers). Housekeeping was a bit odd. They came at weird, inconsistent times despite always being seen outside our room. They never learnt our routine and came once when we were at breakfast (great) but otherwise would come anywhere from 9am to 4pm. It got a bit difficult if our toddler was napping and they would consistently knock to ask when they could clean the room, despite having ample hours of us being out of the room that morning. They also left the area outside our room quite untidy, with odd toiletries, coats, and plates of food removed from rooms being left to sit on the wall for a day or two. They would often take used flannels and not replace them, same with mugs and glasses. They also helped themselves to a pot of nuts we had left on the side, obviously snacking as they went. There were a lot of small touches overall that you wouldn’t expect a 5* to fail at. We didn’t have body wash in our shower when we arrived and had to chase this a few times after asking. Only 2 out of 4 coffee capsule slots were filled on arrival, with the remaining 2 randomly appearing halfway through our stay. The UHT pots of coffee cream provided expired over 6 months ago. No milk or teabags given despite there being a kettle. We asked for a memory foam pillow and were told late at night that we couldn’t have one until the next day. It’s a bit odd to offer a pillow menu if you can’t keep up with demand. They parked our car for us on arrival, but refused to retrieve it for us and bring it down to reception when we checked out. The service was inconsistent and became noticeably worse as it got busier. The hotel definitely wasn’t full when we went but I struggle to see how they would handle being at full capacity. Some staff excellent were excellent (Ioannis, Marina, and Ellie) but overall I wouldn’t have said it was 5*. The app was clunky to navigate and didn’t work a lot of the time. You can supposedly use it to order food around the pool but this never worked for us. Requests for room amenities or housekeeping would either appear in 10 minutes, 6 hours, or never. Signage around the hotel was tricky, you’d be following signs to somewhere and all of a sudden it would just fall off the signs. The fitness centre, for example, isn’t on the lift directory so you’re directed to the lift and then left completely confused. The rooms were nice but the open plan bathroom layout was not particularly toddler-friendly, despite Marbella now leaning towards the “family friendly” end of the market. No way of locking the glass doors into the toilet and shower so cue our toddler pushing them open every time one of us was in there. Again on the family friendly note, high chairs were in abundance and really clean which was lovely. However, I feel the hotel could provide baby plates/plastic plates and/or baby cutlery to guests with babies and toddlers just for ease. There’s also nothing really geared towards younger children. It would be good to have a small playground or an area of the kids club with toys where parents can accompany children to play. There were a few people smoking around so it would be good to have a designated smoking area, particularly as there were a lot of babies. Overall a nice stay, beautiful hotel and setting but not sure we will return.

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