Falkensteiner Family Hotel Diadora

Excellent place to spend couple of days with kids. Great sport area, great food, really good facilities for kids- lots of playgrounds. Really nice family rooms - we got free upgrade to suite even not knowong this. Actually we liked the beach- it’s safe for kids and we appreciated the sand part. We spent some time in fortis club playing bowling, fitness area is great too- from 14y old. Pool areas are really clean, but lifeguards are not watching properly. Until nothing happens everything is fine. The other minus is cleanliness of toilets around pool and down at the beach. 6 days and 6 days dirty. Overall is personnel really kind and polite. And the hotel is worth to return back.

We spent a week at the Falkensteiner Hotel Diadora with our three children, and while there are definitely some highlights, the level of service we experienced was far below what you would expect from a five-star hotel. First, the good: For children, this place is truly a paradise. There’s a wide range of activities for all ages: multiple indoor and outdoor pools, a full-day kids’ club (closed only from 1–2 p.m.), various playgrounds, a cinema, climbing walls, and themed activities like cooking and science classes. The hotel is thoughtfully designed with kids in mind—everything from small toilets and low sinks to bibs at the restaurant and fun features like climbing walls in the rooms. Our kids had an amazing time and were never bored. The hotel itself is modern, clean, and well-maintained. The rooms offer most of the amenities you would expect. The beds were too hard for our taste, the duvet too small for the bed, and the pillows quite flat—but bathrobes, even in kids’ sizes, were a lovely touch. The gym is another standout: huge, well-equipped, and far above average for a hotel facility. We had full board, which includes only the buffet restaurant. While we would have preferred to dine à la carte on occasion, the buffet was extensive and of good quality. Freshly baked bread every day, the freshest pizza, a large salad bar, grilled options, soups, fruit, pasta, wok and risotto stations (though the risotto was undercooked a few nights)—there was something for everyone. It would have been nice to see more plant-based options, especially as our children have a milk allergy. Unfortunately, everything from yogurt to cheese was cow's milk-based, which made things challenging for them. Now for the serious downside: the service. We addressed our concerns with the front office manager, Marina, who was professional, responsive, and genuinely tried to solve the issues we raised. We sincerely thank her—she did her best and deserves credit. That said, she’s working against some systemic problems. Across the board, service was far below five-star standards. Many staff members seemed poorly trained or simply unable to prioritize guest needs. English skills were often limited, which made communication difficult and led to frustrating misunderstandings. Examples: • We were a party of five but repeatedly received only four towels, despite multiple requests. Eventually, we were brought five extra towels in one go, which helped—but it shouldn’t take multiple tries. • The kids’ room had no nightlight, and when we called reception to ask for a USB light, we were given… a lightbulb. • Our minibar was empty. Initially, we were told minibars aren’t stocked, but after speaking with the manager, we found out they are—if you prepay. We did, but then weren’t provided with enough glasses. When I requested a beer glass at reception, I was handed a small wine glass “because it’s faster.” I reiterated that we needed a proper glass for a 33cl beer. The staff member said one wo

This is our second time here with the kids, and the hotel is truly wonderful — the location, cleanliness, and children’s activities are all excellent. The pools are clean, the rooms are just as beautiful as in the pictures, very clean, and the staff is friendly. The food is varied and absolutely delicious. My complaints are minor, but for example, the checkout is really too early and check-in too late. For a nightly rate of €500 in May, it would be nice to have the chance for one last swim in the morning and a more relaxed departure if checkout were between 11 and 12 a.m. — and check-in does feel a bit too late. Another small issue is the lack of a separate hair conditioner, which we women know makes a big difference, especially when swimming twice a day in the pool. A third suggestion would be to have something on the balconies for drying swimsuits. When they’re just thrown over chairs or railings, they often fall or get blown away by the wind. Finally — and this may seem like a small thing, but it did bother us — at the kids’ party in the evening, the songs were in English, German, and Italian, but not a single one in Croatian. It made us feel as if Croatian guests and children were less valued, which really shouldn’t be the case — they too deserve a song they can sing and dance to in their own language. Of course, we’ll be coming back next year because everything really is perfect, and these little suggestions are only meant to help make the hotel even better.

Disappointing Experience – Far from 5-Star Our stay at Falkensteiner Zadar was disappointing and far from what you'd expect from a 5-star hotel. I had to call the reception at least five times within an hour before anyone answered. After requesting some basic items, it took another hour for them to arrive. Bathrobes for kids were missing, and since no one picked up the phone, I had to go to the reception myself—something that could’ve been avoided if the room was properly prepared based on the reservation. The hotel charges €13/day for parking, which feels unreasonable given the location on the outskirts and the fact that the garage was only 25% full during pre-season. Ice cream is only served at dinner, and the kindergarten for kids under 3 is free for just 2 hours, staffed by only one person. Despite being half full, the service was slow and inconsistent. I can't imagine the situation when it's at full capacity. To top it off, they include a €10/day “voluntary” tip by default, which is unacceptable. On the plus side, the rooms are spacious and the food was mostly good (aside from the beef soup). Still, compared to similar family hotels like Amarin or Lišanj, this one does not justify its high price or 5-star label.

We stayed for 6 nights at this hotel and thought it was excellent! We loved the atmosphere especially with our two children aged 3 and 8. The food was excellent and the facilities all well organised and very clean. The star of the holiday was the kids club - our children have never been to a children’s club while on holiday before but this time we could hardly get them out of it - amazing staff, very safe and well run with a full itinerary of varied and exciting activities for them to get up to as well as multiple academies! This was our first trip to a falkensteiner resort but we would definitely be keen to go again after this brilliant experience - thank you very much!