I have used Tripadvisor for some years to assist with accommodation bookings for both long and short haul travel and have finally been caught out.

On the plus side the rooms at the Ariston are clean and have been refurbished. However the pool is dirty, the restaurants look as if they've been in a time warp since the 1960's. The beers/ coffees/wine.. are about 30% more expensive than the Meridien Split and the Hilton Dubrovnik - both 5* hotels. The rate included breakfast and unless I experienced an usually bad morning?? the hot breakfast was luke warm, the cheese / ham was curled up and flies had attacked the bread far before we arrived.

This hotel is one of the biggest letdowns I've experienced and I'm at a loss to see some of the really good reviews!!!

One recommendation is to visit restaurant Levenat just 50yards away - beautiful venue and the food is lovely.

Me and my wife stayed an the Ariston Hotel for 5 days in August 2007. The hotel is part of one complex consisting of 3 hotels (Neptun, Ariston, Suites). I must say beforehand that we booked it expecting the class of the mainstream 4* european hotels. We left with a bit of disspointment.

The good news: Professional service and well spoken English. The room was new, modern and spacious. The sea view made for great afternoons on the balcony.

The bad news: the dining area and the food. Either it is going to be their next renovation project or management is trying to juggle between a 3* (as I think the Neptun hotel is) and a 4* experience and cost. Either way, the food quality was just plain or plain bad. The basic choices were there but lacking in taste and presentation. What was also a bit "melancholic", was the sub-par quality of tables/chairs and linens that gave you a sense of "communist era" neglect. Not the feeling you want in your vacations.

Other info: The hotel has a rocky beach that is very tastefully supplemented with cement to smooth the path ways and sitting. areas. In order to swim, you either dive in or go down a ladder. It did not bother me.

Overall: I Would go again if the price was far cheaper or if the rest of the areas were renovated.

We had a very bad time in Ariston Hotel because of the rude staff. We had problems with the television, but nobody fixed it during our stay although our complains about. Good bedroom and bathroom, clean linen also - but this is not enough for a 4 stars hotel! Breakfast is fair but loud music and (again) bad service makes the experience unpleasant. Pretty far from the old city, the sea view doesn´t worth the distance.

This hotel comprises of three seperate hotels - Neptune Hotel, Importanne Suites and the Ariston Hotel. I stayed in the last of these hotels and would like to concur with all the other positive reviews listed on this site. Without going over the same points that everyone else raised, I'll quickly list my feelings:

1. The location of the hotel could be viewed from two viewpoints. It is a 15min bus ride from Old Town and is pretty much in its own enclosed resort. Because we were staying a week in Dubrovnik, we found this to be ideal - close enough to the Old Town for drinks and food in the evening - far enough so that you have the comfort of the pool/sea, no mad crowds etc.. I probably would have prefered something slightly closer to the town (ideally within walking distance) but I reckon it would take approx 1hr or so to do that.

2. The refurb'd rooms of the Ariston are perfectly fine - very clean, tastefully decorated, flatscreen tv (with channels representing all languages - CNN/BBC World for English) minibar, air con, safe, very large bathroom.

3. The hotel facilities are all shared amongst the three hotels as far as I could see. There are two pools (one paddle pool for kids) which were never overly crowded with a lifeguard who dispensed towels/loungers. One of the best parts of the hotel for me was the rocky jumps into the sea with ladders to get out at a number of spots. Highly recommended.

3. Breakfast is as listed elsewhere on the site and I found it quite average.

4. The bars of the hotel are average too. There is one in the reception area which has a wonderful terrace off it looking across the Adriatic Sea. Apart from that you are in essence sitting in the reception area. The barman here more than makes up for the lack of ambience as he is a pleasure to speak with.

There is another bar called the Cocktail Bar which looks just across the pools/sea. If you were staying in the hotel for a full night out, then this is where you would go after dinner. I found it fine as we paid this a visit on the first night. It seems to be very quiet as everyone seems to head into town for their nights out.

The food in the restaurants is perfectly adequate but wouldnt set the world alight.

To sum up, I found this hotel to be just perfect for what I required (a relaxing break catching some sun and sea) and a fine base to hit into town from. I would not give the hotel 5 out of 5 as I feel there are little things that are just not superb (food/bars/location maybe!) but the one over arching positive of the whole hotel (as mentioned elsewhere) is the staff. I found them to be genuinely determined to help you to enjoy your stay. They truly were a pleasure to deal with.