Hotel Falkensteiner Diadora

A Customer-Service Failure That Ended Our Family Holiday Early A Customer-Service Failure That Ended Our Family Holiday Early I am writing this review to describe our experience as accurately and fairly as possible. This review is not about restaurant opening hours. Hotels are free to decide when their restaurants close. This review is about how a simple customer-service enquiry escalated into police involvement and our family being required to end a prepaid holiday one day early. We stayed at Falkensteiner Family Hotel Diadora on an All Inclusive package with our two young children. My wife had suffered an injury approximately two weeks before our holiday and was walking with a noticeable limp throughout our stay. On 4 August 2026, at around 9:45 p.m., I went to reception after being told there was no food available anywhere in the hotel. I was not asking for complimentary food. I simply asked whether there was anywhere in the hotel where I could pay separately for food or room service. At reception I spoke with Adam, who confirmed there was no food available anywhere in the hotel and suggested that I take a taxi to Zadar. The problem was that Zadar is approximately 25–30 minutes away by car, and there are no restaurants or food options within walking distance of the hotel. As a father travelling with two young children and an injured wife at nearly 10:00 p.m., that was not a realistic solution. I was simply trying to find a way to buy food without leaving the resort. Surprised, I asked: “Who is the idiot who would make this decision?” My criticism was directed at the hotel’s policy—not at Adam personally. I asked to speak with the manager on duty but was told no manager was available until the following morning. I accepted a meeting for 10:00 a.m., believing the matter could then be discussed properly. Feeling frustrated, I replied: “So I should just go F myself?” Adam smiled and answered: “Yes.” Even after that, I still asked him to check once more whether anything could be arranged. Adam walked away without explaining what he was doing. He later returned and began helping another guest without updating me. While speaking with my wife, she suggested asking whether outside food delivery was allowed. Because Adam had not updated me, I asked another employee, Álvaro, whether it was possible. Adam interrupted and said: “Sir, calm down. I spoke to my colleague and she will check.” I replied: “Isn’t that important information that you should have told me first?” Adam then responded: “Sir, are you crazy?” This happened in front of Álvaro and other guests. I was genuinely shocked. A short time later, Una told me she had arranged something with the kitchen. I appreciated her effort. Unfortunately, no food was ever delivered that evening. At that point the issue was no longer about food. It was about how a guest had been treated. I again asked for the manager and was told: “The manager will be here in two minutes.” I waited. No manager ever came. Instead, security became involved and we were informed that the police had been called. My wife, despite her injury, came downstairs to speak with the staff herself. We then returned to our room and started packing. A few minutes later, two Croatian police officers came to our room together with the receptionist who had replaced Adam. The officers were calm, respectful and highly professional throughout. After listening to both sides, they explained that this was not a criminal matter but a customer-service dispute. We explained that the hotel wanted our family to leave immediately even though it was almost midnight and we had already paid for our stay. The officers told us that, in those circumstances, the hotel did not have the right to require us to leave immediately. The hotel also told the police that I had threatened to leave a negative review. The officers explained that writing an honest review describing a guest’s experience is entirely within a guest’s rights. One of the officers then went downstairs to speak privately with the hotel staff. When he returned, he told us that the hotel was still demanding that we leave. However, because we were travelling with two young children and my wife was injured, the police said we could remain in the hotel until 10:00 a.m. the following morning. Even while the police remained at the hotel until approximately 11:30 p.m., no manager ever came to speak with us. The following morning, at approximately 8:15 a.m., the Residence Manager knocked on our door and told us we had to leave by 8:30 a.m. We explained that the police had told us we could remain until 10:00 a.m. She simply replied, “Ah, OK,” and left. Later that morning, General Manager Pedjman Hamie met with us personally. Mr. Hamie apologized for what had happened, told us that a receptionist calling a guest “crazy” was “not acceptable,” confirmed that he would investigate the incident, and agreed to refund the final night of our stay. During our conversation, Mr. Hamie explained that he had been informed food had been prepared for me that evening. I explained that this was simply not what happened. Although Una had told me she had arranged something with the kitchen, no food was ever delivered. My wife then said: “If the police had not come, our family would have been outside the hotel in the middle of the night.” She asked Mr. Hamie whether that decision had been his. He immediately replied: “No, no.” I appreciated Mr. Hamie’s apology, his commitment to investigate the incident and the agreement to refund the final night. Those were the right steps. Unfortunately, they came only after our holiday had already been disrupted. My criticism is not the hotel’s dining policy. It is the way a straightforward customer enquiry escalated into a guest being called “crazy,” repeated requests for a manager with no manager ever attending, security involvement instead of customer service, police attendance over what the officers themselves described as a customer-service dispute, no food ever being delivered despite being told the kitchen would check, and our family, including two young children and my injured wife, being required to end our prepaid holiday one day early. I sincerely hope Falkensteiner uses this incident as an opportunity to improve communication, management availability, staff training and conflict resolution. If those improvements are made, I will gladly update this review.

Very nice, family friendly hotel. We spent really good time with our 3 y.o. son. Hotel is clean, well mainteined, plenty of attractions for children in all age - mini clubs, indoor and outdoor playgrounds, nicely prepared mini climbing walls in family rooms. Food was good, especially pizza and asian corner :) There is a nice walking path by the sea shore leading to beautiful beach near Falkensteiner Iadera which is way better than the hotel beach. Free mini golf and basketball for intersted ones. Minimarket is also close by, but you have to walk through beach path - to the left :)

An excellent resort for a family with young children rooms are good size and clean. Plenty of areas to entertain children of different ages. Food was freshly made in front of us for every meal. Pizzas were really good, and a fruit stall was excellent . Coffee was also very good. The only issue was a poor wifi.

We had such a great family holiday in Diadora that honestly, the kids cried when we told them it’s time to go home (and maybe I did too a little). The animation team was fantastic, our children were running to the Falky land every day like it was Disneyland. Guest Relations girl is super helpful, she helped us to book two trips ( official turneo service Plitvice and Kornati) and wow… just wow. Plitvice is magical and Kornati feels like a dream. Food? Amazing!So many choices that I think I ate more in one week than in the whole year! Big thanks to the restaurant staff and the housekeeping who always smiled, even when we asked for extra towels for the fifth time. If I had to mention one tiny thing, it would be the coffee at breakfast, it would be amazing if they offered a real espresso or barista coffee, especially in a place like this. But honestly, that’s such a small detail compared to everything else which was just perfect.

I felt this place was the perfect example of ‘great brand vs local service’ - Falkensteiner hotels are all over Europe and tend to be quite high end, while also catering for kids. The Diadora resort had some elements that were distinctly ‘Falky’ but it was also at times let down by local delivery and service, the latter of which especially was lacking. Even small things like asking to be taken somewhere in a buggy during a thunderstorm elicited pushback and attitude. But, starting with pros, the location is gorgeous and it overlooks mountains and the sea, and has its own little pebbly beach. It’s incredibly kid friendly too and the facilities for them are amazing, from an indoor soft play area, climbing wall and cinema, to the kids club that children can dip in and out of (or do short activities like making smoothies or taking part in science clubs) which makes a nice alternative to putting them in all day. There is a games room too and a bowling alley (which you pay extra for). Also, the adult gym was very decent with some great equipment in it. The bedrooms are spacious with nice details, like a rope hammock for children to climb/lounge in, comfy beds and there is a good amount of storage. If you’re lucky you’ll get a sea view room because the ones that face into the resort seem like they’d get loud as you have the pools and nightly entertainment to contend with. The pools are all very nice, and there’s a big slide, but there is no poolside service. Food wise, the buffet is varied, and breakfast has a lot of choice. There’s a dessert room for kids in the evening, although it would’ve been nice to have more restaurant choices as part of the half board option. You are tied to one eatery. They also have a Friday prosecco night, which is a nice touch. The Iadera spa, which you can use as a Diadora guest, was great, although not very kid friendly and there is a nude zone called the ‘Black Spa’. In fact even in the smaller spa in Diadora people got naked which we found strange as kids would be nearby (but they’re not allowed in the spa at least). Things that let the place down included no real soundproofing in rooms so you could hear people running up and down the corridors, WiFi is very sketchy, the reception area always felt busy, with few staff members around (they also rarely answer the phone!) and key cards would sometimes stop working randomly. The lifeguard made a rare appearance in the pool area too, you’d like it to be more regular. Speaking of staff, some of them were great, but others simply weren’t friendly at all - verging on being rude, even in the kid club (don’t get me wrong some were great, but were let down by their colleagues). It was hugely off putting as it was a bit of a gamble who you got. Emailing them before the stay was also a bit strange too, as they never seemed to answer questions directly, for example I asked about a rental car and was told we “had to park” in their allotted space for €13 a day or our car would be towed! They add a service charge at the end of the stay top of €10 a day, which you have the option of not paying, but it’s all rather awkward. Small niggles added up, for example drinks measures were very measly, or you would order lunch at the bar and then wait an eternity for it. The television in the room was obsolete too unless you spoke Russian, German or Croat, with few if any English options, and there were no streaming services you could link to. Overall I felt this location had a few issues which it could quite easily fix, like putting more people on the front desk, prioritising guests’ requests, being more generous with drinks, making a few more English tv channels available and definitely training some staff to be a little more friendly!