Hotel Palazzo del Mare - Essenza

We arrived at the hotel at 11:30am, fully aware that check-in wasn’t until 2pm, which was totally fine. At first, the reception staff began checking us in, giving us breakfast times and general information. Everything seemed routine,until they suddenly told us there was no record of our booking through Love Holidays. From that point, the service took a dramatic turn for the worse. The staff quickly distanced themselves, offering no apology, no assistance, and no attempt to contact Love Holidays. Instead, we were simply told, “You’ll have to sort it yourselves.” No effort was made to help us, despite it clearly being a stressful and upsetting situation. The manager in particular was shockingly rude and dismissive. When we asked calmly for help or clarification, he showed no concern whatsoever. He barely acknowledged us, offered no solutions, and made it very clear that we were not his problem. His attitude was cold, condescending, and completely devoid of any basic customer service. Rather than diffusing the situation, his behaviour made it far worse,we felt humiliated, ignored, and completely abandoned. Love Holidays weren’t any better. It took an eternity to get through to someone, and even then, there was no urgency or real help offered. We were passed around, given vague responses, and left to figure things out on our own. It was clear that neither the hotel nor the travel company wanted to take responsibility for what went wrong. On top of all that, The toilet in the lobby was out of order, which was incredibly inconvenient given we were stuck there for hours. The electrics kept cutting out during the six hours we waited, lights and power flickered constantly, making the lobby feel more like a disaster zone than a welcoming hotel. The only positive in all of this was Joyanna at reception, who came on shift later. She was the only one who showed any empathy, professionalism, and basic human decency. She listened to us, tried to help, and treated us with kindness when no one else did. Her efforts stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the staff, especially the manager. We weren’t expecting perfection, just some support when something clearly went wrong. Instead, we were met with indifference, rudeness, and a total lack of accountability. This experience completely ruined the start of our holiday. We felt disrespected, unsupported, and utterly devalued as paying customers. We will never return to this hotel, and we absolutely will not be booking through Love Holidays again.

The hotel is at the very top end of Dobrota on the sea front. There are many budgets and some extremely expensive restaurants and bars within in walking distance of the hotel The swimming area is super and looked after by efficient staff. It is separated from the hotel by a very busy narrow holiday road. The hotel accommodation is small but has apartments next door. The adjacent accomodation has breakfast at the hotel so it gets quite busy after 09:00. The reception area converts into the breakfast hall and the staff are overrun. However they don't serve anything as everything is buffet style. Bathroom floor was wooden so it got quite wet. The cleaning was effective but we had to ask for the balcony to be cleaned. There was no change of bed linen during a nine day stay.

The hotel in a fantastic location right on the water in Dobrata, just a few kilometres from Kotor old town. It was close to a good selection of bars and restaurants. The staff were fantastic - super friendly and helpful. There was a private beach with free sunbeds for hotel guests and a small pool that was immaculately clean. We stayed for two weeks and would have happily stayed longer. The hotel now consists of three buildings and the construction work now appears to have been completed.

This place is simply superb. The location and views are breathtaking. You can go for a quick stroll along the waters. Staff are very polite and friendly. Bojona and Nikola were particularly helpful. They serve very nice breakfast including local delicacies. Rooms are big and clean.They have a nice pool and sunbathing area which is open in summers. Definitely recommend.

NOT a 5*!!! Hotel is run by scammers and fraudsters. Manager is aggressive towards women and will coerce you to cancelling your reservation on Booking so you can’t leave them a bad review which is why their reviews on there are so high. There are other platforms and our voice won’t be silenced! Rooms are full of mould and damp, so bad the wallpaper is peeling off the wall! Strong smell of mould when you walk in which is extremely bad for your health. Their communication prior to arrival was shocking - didn’t respond to ourselves or Booking for 2 months! But responded quickly to accept a cancellation fee for 50%.

Very nice boutique hotel with beautiful views on the Kotor Bay! Attentive and friendly stuff, nice and quiet pool area, access to a water front (can’t call it a beach) with lounge chairs and umbrellas . Walking distance to restaurants coffee shops annd oyster farms. Hotel needs a repairman to fix some obvious items like peeling wallpaper in the hall and stained carpets in the rooms ! Other than that I loved it!