Park Plaza Histria Pula & Marina Wing

Arriving at Park Plaza Histria I felt a little disappointed, as this hotel was on a complex rather that in a resort, I had booked last minute and not done my usual meticulous research because I would not normally have booked a hotel on a big complex. However the disappointment soon vanished as this is a wonderful hotel and a really lovely complex. Although there are 3 other hotels on the complex and lots of rental apartments, the whole complex is one of peace and tranquility. The site is lovely to walk around any time day or night, everywhere is maintained. The bus to Pula stops just outside the complex. Back to the hotel, the staff were all friendly. the rooms were spacious and clean. The food was lovely. Swimming pool was nice, area clean and peaceful, plenty of sunbeds so no need for people to put their towels on beds at stupid o'clock to reserve them. This hotel also has an indoor pool, fortunately weather was good so did not use this. Would 100% recommend this hotel as for me there were no negatives. Thank you to all the staff for their hard work.

We had a lovely holiday based in this modern comfortable hotel. View of the sea from the pool area and we spotted dolphins from there every evening. They also have a very large indoor pool for a proper swim. Our room was clean, the bed comfortable and a nice balcony over looking the bay. There is a bus stop close by to visit historic Pula, we had gladiators parading the streets one evening before they ended in the colosseum. We will definitely visit again!

On arrival we immediately noticed our room was incorrect and appeared to be a downgrade to what we had booked. We notified reception staff on the phone and when we were invited down to reception the two members of staff were unable to help due to their position and said a manager should be on hand the next day. The next day no manager was there to help our situation. We were only staying for 4 nights as part of our European trip and as this was supposed to be a relaxing time we decided not to chase up again on the 3rd day. It was disappointing that on three contacts with reception no staff followed up with us or checked on us to resolve the issue. Our room was a tiny box room that originally had two single beds separated( we had booked a double room.) We notified the staff that we would like a double bed and their solution was to push the bed together and leave the two duvets on, no mattress cover, a big unpleasant gap in between. (See photos) It did not appear professional, or like we were on holiday somewhere nice, I make my own bed with much more care. The room advertised on all of the websites photographs are spacious with a sitting area however the room we received was big enough for just a small bed with the bathroom to the side. They also advertise a turn down service on the website along with Elemis toiletries, however do not be fooled, this is a false advertisement and not what is included in your booking. It has taken over 2 months of chasing up Park Plaza to compensate us a measly £80 when we were paying over £200 per night. To offer something positive the hotel breakfast was very nice with a varied selection of foods and hotel manager Dragana has been understanding and helpful. The photographs on my review show what you book online and what you actually receive. The room is significantly different and I would think twice about booking and expecting to be valued as a paying customer. Unfortunately we did not receive what we expected.

I'd had my eye on this hotel for a couple of years and was really looking forward to going. It was well reviewed the pictures looked good and I've liked Istria when I've been before. I'll start with the good stuff: - Rooms are spacious. Nice balconies. Easily the comfiest bed I've ever had in a hotel. - Generally quiet, no noise. Certainly can't hear the next rooms through the walls. - There's a regular bus service (every 20 mins) just up the road that gets you to Pula in about 15 mins for 2 euros. Very reliable. - Lovely, big indoor saltwater pool. - Reception staff were generally helpful. Radomir in the restaurant was also nice. The bad stuff: - The rooms look great at first... but they're not great on closer inspection. The tap in my bathroom for example had blue rust all round the end (picture attached.) It clearly hadn't been cleaned properly and frankly just needed replacing - if it's got blue rust on it then it must have been there for quite some time! It's not nice to drink from or brush your teeth with. Likewise, the towel rail (the other picture attached) - the brown dots *all over it* are rust. It's not very nice to hang your towel on. Like the tap, you can see clearly within 5 seconds that it needs replacing, but they haven't bothered. Certainly not good enough for £1000+ per week. - I spilt a little bit of water on the carpet one day, so I went to soak it up with some tissue. When I picked the tissue back up it had loads of long, black hairs on it! (My hair is blonde and short and no one else with long, black hair had been in my room.) Just not a clean carpet at all. Again, not good enough for £1000+. - Foyer: I was in the Marina Wing. One day there was heavy rainfall. I walked into the foyer in the Marina Way and a big puddle of rainwater had come through a gap in the window/wall and was lying on the floor. It's just shabby. - Air con: it was particularly hot one night, so I went to turn the air con on, but despite putting it on the cold setting and lowering the target temperature to 10oc, the air con was pumping out hot air! I couldn't get it to do anything else, so my room ended up even hotter. - Restaurant: there is a big, impressive variety of food, but that variety becomes less important when all the food is really, really salty. I much prefer savoury to sweet, but this was too salty even for my tastes. Also, on a few occasions the food was cold - you could even put your hand on the edge of the trays of 'hot' food and feel that the trays were nothing more than lukewarm. I don't know if you've had cold baked beans or beef stew before but I promise it's not very nice! Again, clearly the devices to keep the food warm need replacing. - Check out is at 10:00. I was getting picked up to go to the airport at 13:50. I asked if I could possibly use the indoor pool for a couple of hours after check out before I went home and I was told no... unless I gave them an additional payment! This is after spending over £1000 for a week there. I've genuinely never encountered a hotel that doesn't let you use the pool on the day you go home before. The pool was not busy, either - me having an hour swim before I went home made no difference (I know this because I looked in the window to the pool after check out and there was no one else in the pool!) I thought it was absolutely pathetic and incredibly greedy. It's also the last impression I had of the hotel. I don't blame the reception staff for this - its clearly a 'brilliant' idea from the hotel management. The whole thing feels like it's designed for Instagram. You'll see pictures of it and it'll look great, but when you actually scratch the surface it's shabby. Anyone can see when a towel rail or tap is rusty, for example, but they've done nothing about it. I'm not really writing this for the hotel's benefit. I don't honestly think they'll care if a Brit didn't enjoy his stay there. I know they'll get thousands of new guests there next summer, they know they'll get thousands of new guests there next summer. They'll make lots of money. I'm writing this for anyone who was like me and thought this looked like a good place to have a holiday. My advice would be to stay in Porec or Fazana - there are nicer hotels there - or, frankly, just go to Italy instead (Croatia is just as expensive as Italy now they're in the Euro.) This place really isn't as good as it looks. It's all style and no substance and certainly not value for money.

Great room with a sea view, spacious with all the facilities we needed. Large bathroom and great shower facilities. Staff were all very pleasant, extremely helpful and attentive. Food was excellent quality and plenty of it including a good gluten free selection of products. Right on the sea front with some wonderful beaches close by. Decent swimming pool. At this time of year it was not that busy that you could not get a sun lounger. Only a short bus ride from Pula airport and the bus drops you right outside the hotel. Hotel was a 5 - 10 minute walk to the bus stop. Only 2 euros each way to get into Pula. Plenty to see and do in the town. One particular spot not to miss is the Arena. You can take photos from the outside but worth the 10 euros to walk around and explore, including the area cut out underneath the central arena.