Oct 7, 2015, 8:24 pm
Falisia, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Portopiccolo, Italy [Master Thread]
Nov 15, 2018, 12:01 pm
hard product and service were good. the individual staff members (who you would see intermittently at different places—one at breakfast then across the resort at the pizza place for dinner; another at breakfast then on the other side of the marina at maxi's for lunch, etc.) worked hard and were very friendly. i don't think the staffing strategy/scheduling was quite up to par, as even though the resort wasn't particularly full for much of our stay, it seemed slightly understaffed at peak times. but not so much that i have any complaint; just enough that i would objectively acknowledge there was room for improvement.
agree that the resort is not my personal taste for such a long trip, unless you're really feeling lazy. there's not quite enough going on. a number of potential future retail/food/shop fronts aren't occupied at all yet. and at least in the offseason, those that are occupied have very limited hours. you can still take the hike up the cliff towards the castle, and you can walk along the beach in that direction too. we did like the food options and didn't tire of them. we were feeling lazy after a long and active trip through italy, and even then i got a little restless towards the end.
bit of an odd aspect to my datapoint: i wanted to do italy via rail and foot as much as possible, so we didn't rent a car. instead, we took the train in to monfalcone, and caught a bus to the bus stop overlooking falisia. don't do what we did. it's hard to tell from online maps alone, but the fact that the bus drops you off seemingly right at the resort is no saving grace. it's a 20 minute walk downhill if i recall correctly to get from the bus stop to the resort. it's a longer walk back up, and the walk up is a bit of a pain in the ... with luggage (and we traveled light, carry-on only). the same bus route will take you all the way down to trieste, so there are elements of convenience/elegance to the transit options, and it's certainly workable, but we ultimately ended up not making that day trip which was originally on my list. i am pretty confident we would have made the trip if we had rented a car.
on the second day when the internal temperature rose while we went out exploring and came back, we realized there was no functioning air conditioning in the unit. it was pretty warm outside (the hotel staff said it was unusually/unseasonably so), so that was a source of discomfort. there was a bit of a language gap but i believe the issue may have been that they don't kick the systemwide a/c on until later in the year. but at least our suite had ample doors to basically leave open to aerate the room with a breeze. i'm a bit of a grump about minor inconveniences like that, but i got over it after a couple hours. it really didn't interfere with the trip, and i vaguely recall that the front desk was helpful and i had no issue with their handling of it.
overall, i liked the resort. it had a bit of a manufactured environment feel to it, and my sense was that the development was very much in its nascence. but i would recommend it tomorrow for someone looking for something like it, and i would like to come back in some years to see how it develops over time.
May 21, 2019, 5:39 pm
I appreciate the mention of the Duino Castle. We will try to see that as well. It's 8 minutes from the hotel.
Does anyone have a restaurant to recommend in the hotel or marina complex?
How are titaniums being treated? I've booked a water view so one step up from the base room but would be very happy to get an upgrade. (I'm titanium.) Unlike the person who posted in 2017, I've heard nothing from the hotel.
Jun 5, 2019, 7:37 am
- I chose the hotel in large part to have a water view. Technically, I did. However, the room angled so it was nearly parallel with the quarry wall against which some of the complex had been built. The balcony wall was chest high so when seated in the room there was no water view. Standing, yes, I could see sailboats in front but the view above was of the complex. The angle was such I didn't see out to the water beyond the harbor.
- The hotel feels isolated. Most of the food venues were closed, perhaps because the property was very quiet. Both Maxis and the pizza place were closed.
- And on a smaller point, service was weak. This is considered a luxury hotel but only two of the employees we met really had a sense of service.
We were upgraded to a two bedroom suite. I'm always appreciative of an upgrade, but the suite wasn't well designed. The bedrooms were tight with space enough to walk around the beds. One room had a king bed, the other a single bed. There was one bathroom, too small for more than one to use it at a time. There was no walk in shower. There was a single sink. There was a pull out sofa and a single straight back chair in the living area. Toiletries were full sized Aqua di Parma, very nice.
Air conditioning had been turned on just a day or two prior in the wing with the suites. We were offered a junior suite that had working air conditioning but the day was mild and we stayed with the suite. We asked for a fan. Over the course of three hours and one hair dryer being delivered, we were ultimately told there was no fan in the hotel. By then we didn't need it anyway as evening temps were very pleasant.
Breakfast was excellent. It was buffet with superb meat and cheeses along with salads, cereals, yoghurt, strawberries, and scrambled eggs. Other egg dishes were available for additional money. They had the most opulent table of desserts (muffins, small cakes, tarts, more small cakes, pastries, more small cakes) that I have ever seen at a breakfast. There was indoor and outdoor seating. It was very pleasant to sit outside overlooking the sailboats.
Jul 29, 2019, 11:44 am
I’ve grown to understand some things should be overlooked because it’s Italy, but imo some things were outright very annoying and we won’t be returning. I stayed on an award certificate so I still felt like I got my points worth. If the property gets the service and staff right; they have a winner here but I didn’t get the feeling that the hotel was doing anything actively to improve on the service level after speaking to senior mgmt.
Sep 20, 2021, 8:21 pm
Does the Beach Club have an adults only pool or area?
Sep 21, 2021, 7:43 am
Jul 5, 2022, 1:59 am
Falisia, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa
Falisia, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa
Localita Sistiana 231/M Portopiccolo Duino Aurisina, IT 34011
Falisia, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa Review (29 Photos)
Falisia, A Luxury Collection Resort & Spa
Check In
I had originally booked a room with points and then applied an SNA. I was pre-approved to a two-room suite. However, when I was messing around to see if I could get another room with an SNA, I accidentally deleted my main reservation.
In the end it worked out for me. I got what I consider a better room with only one bedroom and a better view based upon the comments raisaed by @Sandiego1K about views.
I had to wait for 15 minutes for the room to be prepared, despite it being past check in time.
I did not receive any recognition of my ambassador status. Nor did they do anything special at all to recognize the fact that this was my 2500th lifetime night.
I did receive an upgrade to a suite without using SNA's.
The hotel from outside
The hotel and CLIFF restaurant
To the right of the hotel
Location
This hotel is in a large complex. The complex consists of houses and apartments for purchase or leasing. One-bedrooms cost about 450.000 EUR and two-bedrooms about 750.000. There is an on-site sales office. I believe this office also manages leases, but these are also available on booking.com for short-term rentals.
The complex has a business center for events, a Bottega, a bakery with ice cream, a large beach club for non-hotel guests, a separate beach club for hotel guests, several clothing accessories and clothing shops and several restaurants.
The non-hotel restaurants, such as Kong and the Oro di Napoli are more reasonably priced than the hotel restaurants,This is a fairly secluded location. Nearby there is a public beach with street food. If you want to save a bit of money go there. It is just a 10 minute walk.
I arrived by car, but I saw there are buses to the public beach area. However, I imagine it would be a bit challenging and probably not with high frequency.
i departed by train. You can consider both the airport intermodal station or the Trieste city station, depending on your destination. I chose the airport and believe it was probably quicker to reach.
Room
I was very happy with the room. It had two balconies overlooking the marina with a good view of the sea.
There is a walk-in closet that was perhaps a bit oversized for the overall floor space.
I liked the sliding doors for the bathroom and the closet. I am thinking about how to integrate this style into my personal home.
There are plenty of outlets around the room. Unfortunately for a relatively new hotel, they did not incorporate any USB outlets.
The bathroom had a wonderful walk in shower and a separate bathtub. There was a double-sink vanity.
Between the bathroom and bedroom there is a motorized blind that can be opened from the bedroom side. I understand its purpose but thought it was strange that it is controlled from the bedroom-side. Good for peeping Tom's, I guess. :)
After about 15 minutes in the room they delivered an ice bucket with Prosecco. I understood this to be a welcome amenity for being in the suite and not for being a status guest.
A few minor negatives:
- If your neighbors smoke on their balcony, it will drift into the room, if you have open windows.
- The coffee machine's water tank was broken, so you had to hold it in place while the coffee was brewing
- I had to remind them each day to re-fill the coffee capsultes
- There was no creamer or milk for the coffee
- There was a child's toy under the sofa, which made me question how well they cleaned between guests
- The lights on the balcony are on 24 hours per day, which means you will need to use the blackout curtains at night
Walk in shower with separate wand shower head
The peeping Tom motorized screen and amenities from Trussardi.
Sitting area
Coffee area with mini bar and complimentary bottles of water
The comfortable bed with wonderful view
Dining
Breakfast is served from 07:30-10:30 daily. The items in the buffet are listed in the menu. Additional a la carte items are available for extra payment. Omelettes also cost extra, which was a bit of a surprise for me.
I believe I read upthread that Prosecco was available for free at this property. That is no longer the case.
Here is the menu of the hotel bar/lounge wich also serves the terrace in front of the hotel
Oro di Napoli is the pizzeria located within the overall complex. It is more reasonably priced. I am not sure if you can charge to your room. This is one of the only restaurants in the complex open on Mondays (besides Cliff in the hotel), so make a reservation if you want to go on that day. They are closed on Tuesdays.
This are the room service menus
This is the menu from the hotel's beach club.
This is the hotel's fish restaurant menu. It is closed Mondays.
This is the mini-bar menu
Other options include Kong (closed Mondays) and Bottega (closed Mondays).
Spa
There are two spas in the overall complex. One belongs to the hotel guests and one is for the paying public.
The hotel spa is very nice with a steam sauna, large jacuzzi for four persons and a large sauna sunk into the floor. There are ample rooms for showering and changing.
Hotel guests do not get free or price-reduced acces to the much larger public sauna. There are however (according to the concierge) hotel packages that include access to this sauna. He highly recommended this sauna for the wintertime, when this would probably be the only activitiy to do in the complex.
Gym
The hotel has a very small gym. I felt it was too small.
Beach
The hotel's beach club is quite a hike away through the complex, about 10-15 minutes. It does give it an exclusive position at the end of the jetty, but it also seems they could have organized this better.
I believe that if you request a golf cart ride to the beach club, they will arrange it for you at no cost. However, they are not advertising this, so guests seem to make the trek on foot. It is mostly in the sun, so bring a hat!
The beach club has access to the stony beach, an infinity pool, pool bar offer light food, changing and showering rooms. The pool is relatively small and looks much larger in Instagram photos.
Overall we spent most of the time in the beach club.
One downside is that their umbrellas are a bit deficient. You cannot angle them, so it is difficult to get shade over your lounger. The sun in summer is brutal, so you will likely want shade.
The water in the pool is cool since they are constantly pumping in fresh water. The sea water was generally warmer than the pool water. The sea is very clear with high salinity (so high buoyancy).
They also provide a beach towel and bottled water at entry at no cost.
Service
Generally I found the service at breakfast very responsive.
The reception service and the in app service mostly, but did not always work.
I was denied a late check out request on the grounds they are fully booked. However, they are still selling rooms online, including my room category. I never understand why they make it so easy to catch them in a lie.