Originally Posted by ringingup

I’m checking out today after a 5 night stay with points at 80k per night (I’d booked at 90k and noticed that one day and for one day only the rate went down to 80k, so I cancelled and rebooked). I will post more detailed thoughts once the holiday is over. Off to Carloforte later today.

To clarify something with respect to the post above. While I love Costa Smeralda, Sardinia has much more to offer in terms of coastline and beaches. The area around Chia, with its many beaches has always very popular among locals and tourists.



View of the laguna and sea from the hotel.

Originally Posted by myeurocrush

Does anyone have the email address for the hotel?

Originally Posted by factory81

The hotel is nice. Having stayed at the Renaissance Il Ciocco and this hotel - I feel there are similarities.

They both appear to be nowhere near anything of importance. They both have less American tourists, and more locals and Europeans.

They both pack a ton of charm, in their own resort compound . They both are undervalued and under-priced, unless location is stressed (this place is hours away from Porto Cervo and that scene). They both cater to business / group functions and tourists alike.

At 90,000pts/nt, or $529~/nt, we chose points. A similarly priced Hilton in the Costa Smeralda was over 200k pts/nt. Amex Platinum gives gold status, which allowed us to get complimentary breakfast.

The hotel was built in the 1970's, but the front desk mentioned it has been consistently refurbished throughout the years, and most recently refurbished during the pandemic, when they joined the Hilton chain. The whole area looks to be part of an investment by a firm called Italian Hospitality Collection. In the complex that the Conrad resides in; there is an event center, shopping plaza, semi-perm/permanent music stage, the Baia Di Chia Curio hotel across the road, another 4 star hotel that isn't affiliated with Hilton.

English is less spoken in the area, and you may need to have Google translate help you with retrieving your check, or making more specific requests.

The breakfast buffet is a nice spread. Even serving complimentary prosecco. While not as nice as the Park Hyatt Paris, the breakfast is very impressive. I would never have expected Hilton to include a warm buffet breakfast with omelette station and prosecco.

We were upgraded to a Junior King Suite, which has its own private balcony. Both the room and the balcony is quite generous in size, especially for Italy. The view from the suite is a sea view, and if I returned, I would not hesitate to rebook it.

As I understand it, everyone goes to the northeast side of the island. I haven't been there yet, but the south part of the island where this is, is a emerging tourist area. Looking on Google Maps, it becomes more clear how the biggest beaches in the south are right where these hotels are located. This might explain why the points rate seemed low? The drive out to Chia is nothing special, passing a lot of industry on the way. Eventually things start to seem more touristy, before eventually arriving in Chia.

Beach chairs/access is shared with the Baia Di Chia. Golf carts will transport to/from the beach - driving right thru the Baia Di Chia resort. The beach is nice. Great quality sand.

​​​​​​Everything can be charged to the room. Their shopping plaza has a pizzeria, gelato, coffee shop, art gallery, couple boutique stores selling clothes & shoes. The pizza was fantastic.

​​​​​They were offering free arrival drinks. We elected for a mojito, which were served strong. Everyone is very helpful, pleasant to work with, and generally seem happy to help you; very refreshing, even, given how some hotel staff make you feel like a chore.

In summary; the hotel is really inviting, the service is spectacular, the location is great. I suspect the local residents of Chia will be learning a lot more English as a result of Hilton. I can see the appeal of Sardinia, and can also see why people would spend a week or longer just on Sardinia. Just remember that it is nowhere near Costa Smeralda, and you won’t have the same scenery or geography here; still rugged coastline, but not as dramatic as the northeast.

Update - we just drove from Chia to Teulada, and want to say the drive is amazing - like the Pacific Coast Highway in California. Tons of beaches to stop at, tons of amazing viewing areas. You won’t want to miss this.
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Originally Posted by ringingup

[email protected]
[email protected]

I have some managers' addresses as well, but I'd rather not post them publicly.

Originally Posted by Land-of-Miles

Just back from 8 nights here after learning of its existence on this forum.

The stay was great value on points but I would be less impressed if I had paid in cash at circa 800 euros a night or almost 1000 euros a night in the room we stayed in.

I have to say the experience was something of a mixed bag. We were upgraded from the redemption standard kong deluxe to an Oasi one bed suite with garden. I would not describe the rooms in either the Oasi or the main wing as luxurious by any stretch although in my experience poor furnishings etc. are not unusual in even high end Italian hotels the rooms were not really on keeping with my expectations of a Conrad (based on many other Conrad stays). I was pleased with the additional space of the suite we had as a regular room may have been too small. The bathroom though was quite small and difficult for two people who don't normally share a bathroom (or when we do have lots of space, his and hers sinks etc).

The Oasi wing (effectively a seperate hotel adjacent to the main Conrad and badged as the Oasi hotel on the in room statutory notices and floor map). The Pool on the Oasi wing was quite nice and often felt like a private pool for the 2 of is (it could accommodate only 5 couples and we were often by ourselves). The downside was no service for drinks or food at the pool and a pushback on taking drinks from the room (I appreciate the apparent danger of glass by a pool but the attendant could have had plastics available or they could be left on the room).

The Bioquam main pool was bigger but with inbuilt effective cabanas and poolside service. It also had fabulous views over the lagoon and towards the sea.

The biggest issue was the food across the resort. Oddly the main restaurant Terrazza used for breakfast was by far the best evening dining option in the wider Laguna resort. We ate at every restaurant apart from the 2 buffet restaurants in the piazza and curio. Food beyond Terrazza was really quite disappointing, being poorly seasoned and bland, the feature Sardinian Restaurant was bland, the steak restaurant served steak with no seasoning and consequently not much taste. Even the fish restaurant at the Curio Dune was similarly lacking real taste despite great fish. I love Italian food and out of resort in other places we enjoyed food that was tasty and fresh with a local twist, this was really not true within the resort with the honourable exception of Terrazza (where the half board guests get reservation priority).

Even the pizza place (effectively a section of the piazza) delivered soggy bland pizza. This wasn't great but was somewhat unforgivable given Maldives level pricing (e.g. 25 euros for a cocktail, 500% markup on wines and champagnes so 25 euro bottles being sold at 140 euros etc.). I expect to pay a little more in resort but I found some of the pricing positively offensive. The best overall value for money and ironically the tastiest was Terrazza but it also had the highest drink prices. Oddly the standout meal I had was a room service burger which was really really good, cooked medium (a rarity in the UK) although hardly a snip at 45 euros including tray charge, it was really very good

The gym and spa were great and service overall whilst patchy on places was generally good. The proximity to the wider package tour focussed Laguna resort and it's extensive and loud Animation programme was a bit of a problem for me and likely so for other guests dropping 1k euros a night.

So the property really is a mixed bag. I would recommend mainly eating out of resort and there are some great options in nearby Pula, including the awesome Michelin starred Fradis Minoris where a 7 course tasting menu and matched wines with aperitifs, and digestifs and coffee came to less than we spent on 4 courses, and a bottle of wine in property.

It is a real shame also that they do not offer a wine experience evening. Sardinian Wine has very different variatels than most non Sardinians will be used to and only by tasting many do you build a picture of the variatels and styles you like (my express tip is that pretty much all wines from the Santadi vineyard are excellent even if sold at many multiples of the price on the winery, which we visited rather enjoyably).

If you are not a foodie then the shortcomings may not impact you greatly but if you are, you are likely to find yourself very disappointed with much of the F&B.

One further tip is that complimentary Prosecco (or local Sardinian Sparking) was not available at breakfast either self pour or offered by the servers, which again in my experience of high end Italian properties is an outlier, it's practically thrust upon you elsewhere.