I rarely write negative reviews, but unfortunately this stay was far below expectations.
I originally booked a stay at O2 Villas Ella, but upon arrival was informed that my room was unavailable due to storm damage. While I understand that unforeseen issues can happen, the way the situation was handled was frustrating from the start. We were told the room would be ready in five minutes, yet ended up waiting over 30 minutes just sitting in the lobby before being relocated to their not yet opened sister property. We were told that we would be the first ever guests at this alternate location and it was made out to be a fantastic honor for us. To say that this other hotel was not yet ready to be opened, is quite the understatement.
Unfortunately, the issues didn’t stop there. When we arrived at the new property, there was no electricity in the room. Again, we were told it would be fixed in five minutes, but it took well over an hour. During our stay, we were also assured that construction would not impact us, yet we experienced several hours of loud drilling and hammering the following afternoon.
Basic service was also lacking. We requested replacement towels due to excessive lint, but they never arrived. Housekeeping was not provided the next day, and water bottles were not replenished, with no communication that this wouldn’t be included. It felt like once they had sent us to this alternate property that didn’t even have any staff at the location, they forgot about us.
To their credit, the staff did offer a bottle of wine and a complimentary meal. However, when we asked if the meal could be exchanged for a spa voucher (since we already had dinner plans), this was declined at the time. Ironically, a spa treatment was only offered after we formally raised complaints the evening before checkout—too late to actually use it.
The most concerning part came after checkout. When I followed up through Trip.com, I was told the hotel claimed we had received and used several forms of compensation, including a half-board upgrade, room upgrade, fruit basket, and spa treatments. None of these compensations were accepted nor used by us, so the hotel claiming this is a flat out lie.
Despite raising these concerns directly with management, the hotel refused again and again to offer any partial refund and instead offered a 20% discount for a future stay—which is not a satisfactory resolution given the experience.
Overall, this stay was marked by poor communication, unmet promises, lack of basic service, and inaccurate reporting after the fact. I cannot recommend staying here based on this experience.
