True to the photos you see on the website, Casa Ibiza really is photogenic in real life, even with the unkempt resort, everything looks good in photos. The real cause for our whole team's pledge to never go back with friends and family was really simple and could have been prevented, that is very unsatisfactory customer service.
Being from a company that provides IT services, we have been living on a standard of providing service that is nothing short of our best, which is why it was frustrating how everything has been handled--from the reservations to the logistics.
Let me also disclose that we availed a voucher from a deal-buying site. Does this entitle us to be given subpar service? No. Also, as per TripAdvisor, even without deal sites, the reviews are leaning towards bad. So it can't be just us, right?
On the website, they loosely mentioned the three pools that they have. When we got there, there were only one we could use. It was so small that the group in the pool had to leave when we dipped because it was just simply crowded. The second one was a kiddie pool, one that the kids from other groups didn't use since it's dirty. The third one was, I think, the wading pool. Correct the term if I'm not correct. It was dry when we were there. And there's really not much to do, well, except to wade on the water with your feet.
Our package came with 2 cabanas, but the ownership was not established so we had to use cabanas that were used by the group before us. No staff even lifted a finger to clean after them.
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| Main swimming pool. |
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| Wading pool, whatever the heck that is. |
Downside of ordering is that it takes them really a long time to prepare. A 1-hour wait for cheesesticks and fruit shake? Really? We were the only ones ordering so we can't understand how it took that long. We wanted to take over the kitchen and cook for ourselves-- which brings us to the corkage fees issue.
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| Photo from Casa Ibiza Facebook page |
So for both lunch and dinner, we just decided to eat outside, rather than spend a ridiculous amount of money so we can grill and/or wait for their kitchen staff to bring out the ordered dished in a timely manner.
The deal came with free breakfast. It was decent but not great. Acceptable though, since it's free. There were three breakfast items to choose from: corned beef, tapa and ham. It came with orange juice.
Another pro, (that I could think of) was the free horseback riding sessions. You are not obligated to, but a tip for manong would be nice.
More photos of the place.
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| Unkempt cabana, morning na to ah, makalat pa rin :'( |
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| Where we stayed |
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| Bar/dining area |
We were frustrated. I even wished the photos didn't turn out to be this appealing, because really, it won't compensate for all the trouble, and that feeling of dissatisfaction. I don't know if they are just understaffed or the training was poor. I'd like to say though that it has a potential to be a go-to place to relax.
