Have just returned from my first holiday with Just You. The Hotel for this holiday was changed three times after I booked the holiday. I rang before the holiday to ask if Just You staff had visited the new Hotel (Bel Soggiorno in Maderno). I was told that no-one had inspected the hotel. This gave me a bad feeling. I went ahead with the holiday.
The Hotel is listed as 4 star. First the positive. It has a very good location beside the lake. The negatives - very old and dated accommodation. Plenty of light bulbs missing, holes in walls, things sticking out of the wall. I actually had a fairly OK room overlooking the lake and managed to sleep despite the noise from the road until late at night and early in the morning. I put up with it. I was very disappointed and the Hotel was way below standard. The swimming pool and jacuzzi on the roof was dirty and the furniture up there was cracked, dirty and very, very old. Nothing about this Hotel is 4 star. The positives - my room was kept spotlessly clean.
The worst thing about the holiday was the totally bland and tasteless food served up in the evening. We had no fresh fruit or vegetables either at breakfast or in the evening the whole time we were there. Most of us ate lunch on our days out just to compensate. I have never stayed anywhere that served worse food. An awful lot of food was wasted and we never looked forward to one meal. All of the fruit was out of a tin and the same goes for the vegetables. The waiting staff were charming and tried to do their best. The worst food I have ever encountered on any of my extensive travels. Eating out at lunchtime obviously added to the cost of this already expensive holiday.
Sylvia, our Tour Manager, was very cheerful and did her best, but we noticed that she ate very little of the food as well.
The tours were good. The hotel is very poorly situated on a part of the lake with very little boat services. We saw much nicer hotels all around the lake in much nicer towns with good transport links.
My belief is that Just You had to use this Hotel as a last minute thing and they did not fact finding at all. They should not have sent us there. I am dismayed that it is listed in the 2015 brochure.
I witnessed a dispute about a final account between a Just You guest and the Owner of the Hotel on our last night and the Owner resorted to shouting at the top of her voice and gesticulating wildly. Very professional indeed. The dispute should of course have been sorted out by Just You before the last night so as to avoid their client embarrassment. This did not happen.
I will think very long and hard about whether or not I would take another Just You holiday and I would not recommend Just You to a friend. I will write a formal letter to the Company.