Sea Side Resort and Spa

All I can say is, Wow, can honest say one of the best holidays I’ve been on, everything ran smoothly from the time we left home to the time we arrived home. The hotel was exceptionally clean and tidy, our room was lovely. We had a swim up room which was great to walk out to first thing in the morning. Food was lovely, with lots of choice, I especially liked the homemade Granola for breakfast, which i had everyday, wish I’d asked for the recipe! High recommend, and will definitely be back.

Holiday cost £4k for 1 week all inclusive and what a let down.

Positives -

Room was very modern and clean. Maid service was great, welcome bottle of wine nice touch. Premises kept exceptional clean

Branded alcohol drinks is another plus ( if you can ever get served )

Loads of sun beds available but let me get to this

Negatives - where to start

Check in - only 2 x couples checked in same time including us. Very very slow, made to sit and wait (tried to offer like a personal service at check in but it fails dramatically as you end up just sitting around waiting) . Staff welcoming but very very slow would hate to check in at a busy time. Either offer a sit down check in personal service and have more staff or just do it like everyone else - half hearted attempt at being 5*

Room - no issues here ! We had a private pool room. Without this the holiday would have been just not enjoyable

Pool area , silent round the day, which is nice and relaxing but no atmosphere at all, bland boring , although plenty of sun beds is good. Pool bar slow at times but that’s nothing major

Food - so we stayed for a full week and at check in we were told all the restaurants were fully booked even though we were entitled to one free trip to one - not great but just left it

Food at buffet restaurant / no better than any other 4* hotel, lamb one day was complete fat on bones no meat at all. Only drinks you can get is waiter service - great but if you want another one with your meal then think again, no chance , staff way too busy so if you want 2 drinks don’t even think about it . Same for breakfast ,, served tea or coffee - not able to get your own, if you want another drink then no chance - this is a recurring theme all through the hotel! Don’t offer waiter service but then make it you can only get a drink every like 45 min !!! More to come on this

On our last day we managed to get a cancellation at 6.30pm for a restaurant. Happy even though you have to pay for drinks (fine ) . Food abysmal , tiny portions and just not nice , my other half eats anything and even he said it was one of the worst meals we have ever had. Starter was ok , the rest just awful. Wish we never bothered .

Just small things , breakfast no yoghurt apart from one giant tub of Greek yoghurt ,

Hot breakfast and hot evening meals just cold too, not once did I manage to get a hot meal including going to dinner when it just opened.

Room was lovely however issues were one day the maintenance team came and removed what looked like mini wasp nests from above our room on the wooden pagoda, loads of mess and noise. Gardeners cutting all bushes back outside our room so one day for hours we just had a bush cutter noise for hours on end.

Location - we knew it was in a quiet area but little did we know there is nothing for miles. One small shop and one beach bar that’s it, no beach unless you walk to one . Not hotels fault but be warned there is nothing to do and see locally without a taxi or car

Bar - evening bar service a joke. Once again not allowed to go to bar for a drink, you have to sit still and hope for best someone comes and serves you! We started ordering 2 each in the end as you will wait between 30/45 min each time you want a drink! Just let us pour a wine or beer ourselves surely.?

We didn’t use the spa but heard it was super expensive and not great

Day 4 - staff verbally shouting at me in reception - a service I would never expect in a 3*!! Manager had to tell the staff member to stop talking to me like she was !! She was no help either

Long story short you can reserve sun beds - totally agree with this! Every morning I went to the main pool for a few hours. I was there at 7.30am every day to about 11am. I greeted the staff every morning here. One plus is you can always get a sun beds here no matter what time of day.

Day 4 I went to the room to get a sun cream at 10am, upon return my bag had been taken and towel, I found out as I was gone longer that 5 min , staff removed my belongings and took them to reception!!! At this point I counted, there was 44 sun beds available around this pool at this time . In this bag was my inhaler ! I was suddenly facing a steep hill walk without my inhaler - if I had an asthma attack this could have been so dangerous!!

Finally got my bag in reception about 11am once they came back with it , argument started in reception in front of all guests , manager no help, told Me the manager was downstairs to speak to then said he was out and then admitted that she was the manager. One of the staff members who removed the bag was shouting at me in reception where she was told by the manager to stop doing. In the end they said they fully agree that there is at least nearly 50 sun beds available as we speak but you are not allowed to leave the bed unattended even to go back to the room for something. This is extreme I told them I have been there the first of the pool every day this week from 730 the staff see me every and I never leave my bed until I go about 11 am. Staff just wasn’t interested in reception at this and couldn’t care less. I even showed them my inshaler and said if I needed this but they just didn’t care.

All I can see is this hotel is full of influencers, but I can’t understand why as it’s not a five star in my eyes at all. At the evening meal people were walking around in football shirts and swim shorts and I was totally shocked. I’m all for a relaxed five stay but never did I think sports vests and football shirts will be allowed including swim shorts at dinner.

I will say the staff are friendly just over worked

I would never go back. I would just say go to this hotel expecting a really good 4 star

If you want to work out at the gym, then make sure you go at quiet times as it’s just full of influences taking pictures and no one in there is hardly working out

The hotel is amazing from the wonderful staff to the breathtaking views. Every part of the hotel is tastefully decorated and very clean. All the staff are so friendly and made you feel very special. A special thanks to Dina in the main restaurant at breakfast and lunch and to Dogus in the main bar. They were fantastic. The only one member of staff that we weren’t impressed with was the lady giving us information about the excursions in the reception area. She appeared very disinterested and was huffing and rolling her eyes when we were asking questions. On a positive note, everyone else were so lovely. All the cleaners looked happy and said good morning etc. The room was very comfortable and the bed and pillows were lovely. I slept so well there. The surrounding area was a little disappointing ( but that’s no reflection on the hotel) and it actually made us stay more in the hotel which we enjoyed and made us relax more. I should have done more research before coming but I am NOT disappointed with the hotel at all. Be aware the TV in the room is mostly in Greek or other languages apart from English. The pool area was lovely and we never had any problems getting a sun bed ( like we do in many other hotels). The beach towels they provide are plentiful. We were lucky enough to be able to go to the 3 à la carte restaurants. Do book as soon as you arrive in the hotel as they fill up quickly. Don’t be too upset if you cannot get a space however as I thought the buffet restaurant was just as nice ( if not better) than the Cretan restaurant. Umi was nice but the Oceania restaurant was by miles the best one in our opinion. The thallassos bar was really nice and the barman was so friendly. The entertainment wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen but it did ‘entertain’ us for a couple of hours. The lighting situation in the entertainment area needs improving as we could hardly see the lovely dancers and their outfits .As other reviews have said there definitely weren’t enough staff in the main bar and you have to wait a long time for a drink. The bar staff throughout the hotel really work hard and are short staffed. In summary, the hotel is fantastic and the staff look very happy and are so friendly ( apart from one).