I read the reviews of FV and am left a little nonplussed. At what it does in my opinion there is nowhere like it.
Ok things are individually better elsewhere (you do need more sockets, rooms are a little noisy, sometimes things do go wrong) but there are 800 rooms and villas. The place has restaurant choice to die for (some at a cost!), great bars, so many activities and is a place of absolute security where you children have so much fun.
Not only that in il borgo FV have a diamond of a manager Raimondo Cabua who, like many of the staff, has been at FV for almost 30 years.
The real test of a brand is what happens when something goes wrong and this time it did. I have to confess I have been to FV many times so I have experience of all the resort can offer.
When we arrived we found that we had been allocated a little smaller room in il borgo and one we had previously found noisy.
My parents who are elderly had been allocated upstairs accommodation in Palme where they had booked on the ground floor.
Raimondo was absolutely brilliant at sorting this out in no time at all with little fuss. My parents moved into borgo near to us which was fine and we found some more space (we are a family of 5) all this in the busiest week of the year. In fact for my mum and dad they offered an upgrade to Castello which I felt was above and beyond.
So many of the staff feel like old friends. Barbara and Vincenzo in piñeta, Giuliano in bellavista for breakfast. That is what the resort does for you.
Many people come back year after year as we have done. I honestly think normal rules of engagement don't apply here. You are not judging the rooms vs George V where clearly FV loses, nor value vs pretty anywhere else on earth.
But there is something amazing here that you cannot find anywhere else: A labour force that is part of the furniture who take immense pride in their work and always have time to chat and so many other things difficult to find elsewhere, activities ranging from rugby to dance from cycling to netball. Turn up football for dads.
Honestly. This is what holidays should be about.
My one gripe would be that the cleaning ladies can be a little too quick. (We lost a teddy and had tears) so that needs a quick word. But I am sure we will be back - my kids would kill me if we were not.