Forte Village Resort - Il Castello

In summary: service is excellent and attentive, but this resort is in sore need of a major uplift in facilities. It is frankly tatty / shabby and overall pretty disappointing. Read on for detail. We have often read about how wonderful this resort was. We knew it was large etc, with lots of sporting facilities, but we were curious. So when an opportunity to bid for a long weekend here came up in an auction - we did, so we could give to a good cause and satisfy our curiosity. We are a couple in our early 60s who live internationally and travel all the time across the globe. The first thing we did was to upgrade our stay from the large “4*” hotel on site to Il Castello, smaller and 5*. We like things to be classy and quiet and even though we were early in the season, we didn’t want to be in the melee. We had hired a car so we could see something of the island. Parking it at the hotel was utter chaos. There is no car park as such for guests. Just a large dirt area, used by staff, many building contractors and guests - if you can find a space that is. There is no valet parking option. Il Castillo staff were friendly and helpful, and the service levels were good. On arrival, we were given a room upgrade without asking to an ocean facing suite, welcome drink, room was ready early etc. Our room was on the second floor with a large terrace. I believe these rooms may have been refurbished, but it wasn’t really clear. Warning: they have weird power sockets. Normal European plugs do not fit for some reason, and even reception did not have an adapter that fitted. There were no USB points. There were no tea and coffee facilities in the room (but an old style minibar - how quaint!). Wi-Fi was adequate and free water was provided. But the room itself was properly tired. The shower was hard to control and bathroom fittings were showing signs of wear. The whole thing reminded me of those slightly disappointing faded independent Caribbean hotels. I expect that there - I expected better here. The common parts are large and echo-ey, with little real thought given to interior design by modern standards. Nothing cosy. The grounds etc are OK, but by no means as groomed and lovely as I’d hoped, and there seemed to be many little cottages close to each other in quite dark parts of the grounds. It isn’t actually a very large resort - a lot is compressed into an area that is actually pretty small by modern standards. Pools and so on are large with something of an older theme park vibe. Lots of tennis courts etc. As we were there when it was quiet, it was surreally empty but I would imagine it would all be heaving in the summer. Also - there were several large conferences booked in; it didn’t bother us particularly but if you do not like being mixed with large groups, better to check in advance. The main food area that was open for us was the outdoor buffet in Il Castillo, which was OK but not up to the standard of buffets we have seen elsewhere by a long shot. Generally d

Booked this hotel on recommendation of my late mother who had been here several times and told me we should go. We came here to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary and on arrival, we were offered an upgrade from Pineta to Hotel Castello and we were giving a beautiful villa room which was really spacious. We had a bottle of champagne waiting for us in the room which was a nice touch. The grounds are beautiful and the beach is so lovely with plenty of beds. The service was very good and the food was also amazing (especially the pizzeria). Our favourite place was the Wine Bar, so relaxing here and the Sommelier (have forgotten her name) was so welcoming and friendly and you would get lovely snacks with your wine. Also, the entertainment was very good and the girl singer was just another level. The one thing we did find disappointing was, that as it was later September, everything seemed to wind down, certain restaurants were closed and some of the shops had closed already.