Domes Aulus Elounda

OK, so the hotel mostly looks great with cool communal areas that have been recently refurbished to a pretty high standard. The fixtures and fittings in the rooms are a touch on the basic side - think Travel Lodge as opposed to W in the heyday - but the terrace and views compensate, or at least they did once we moved from the Zen suite (private pool) which they allocated to us to one which actually had the gorgeous outdoor area that features on the website photos. The move was a whole palaver in itself, taking over an hour just to bring us the keys, but really they shouldn’t be selling their flagship rooms without making it super clear that the provision of a sun-drenched terrace is merely a lottery and that you may need up with a dingy number that’s inferior to this year’s glorious UK summer.

Anyway, enough of that, because that’s not the main problem; I believe that the issue can be summed up as a complete lack of service ethic or practice. A crew, and there is no shortage of them, of disinterested and mostly surly staff that seem to have been OOO on the day that Hilton ran the ‘how to look after customers’ training. It’s so bad they even tell you about it during the prolonged check in: don’t expect to find towels at the pool, you get ONE each in your room which you must take with you and return to the room. Who loves sitting on a soggy towel after a swim. Not me and certainly not when I’m stumping up the best part of £800 a night for the privilege. That’s probably why the loungers were so grubby, especially on the beach.

Oh, and the near vertical journey to and from the rooms. Not to worry, there’s a shuttle every 30 mins so god help you if you forget the sun tan lotion en route to the unattended pool. Yes, it’s great that you can help yourself to beer from the tap or grab a soft drink from the fridge, but isn’t that what you go on holiday to avoid. Is it really asking too much for someone to come and serve drinks by the pool or even to help put up the umbrellas. The whole thing seemed to be designed to give the staff as little to do as possible. Really guys? Is that genuinely how you want to run the ‘Cool Living Experience’.

On to the food. It’s easier to book a table at the hottest new London restaurant than one of the À la carte options in the hotel via the hit and miss app. Hard to rate them properly - we ate out on 5/7 nights as it was impossible to make a reservation. Night one we were in the Greco Levante restaurant, which I had to badger the hotel to book for me as we were arriving late and apparently they don’t take reservations until guests arrive. Turned out they didn’t really do us a favour - the meal was dreadful with a lamb kebab so fatty you’d have thought twice about giving it to the dog and food lukewarm at best with no one checking that things were ok along the way and indifference when we pointed out the problems at the end of each course. We did try and eat at the à la carte Asian one evening but they’d pretty much run out of all the raw bar options by the time we were seated so we left and had a last minute dash to Delfina up the road, which I have to say was excellent. So, all in all, over the course of the week in terms of dinners, we endured one bad meal and on another night managed to secure a table for an OK pizza. Hardly VIP Ultra All Inclusive Gastronomy. Now you might say we could have plumped for the buffet instead, although call me old fashioned in wanting my dinner served to me. Anyway, we had to avail ourselves of that option at around 6pm one evening as dinner wasn’t until 9, we were peckish and there was nowhere else to get a snack (I mean, really!?). So, this was a buffet that had literally just opened and you’d think everything would be nice and hot. You’d be incorrect. It was the same story at the ‘hot’ breakfast and lunch buffets with unexciting, repetitive and lukewarm food.

Other little snippets: the front desk/concierge misplaced our car key so we had to change our plans while it took them 3 hours to find it; the Greco Levante restaurant is overrun with wasps, including crawling over the buffet; the main hotel bar is indoors with not enough seating so guests were often forced to go and sit on sun loungers in the evenings; the gym was 25 degrees, which is way too uncomfortable; the minibar or coffee station weren’t restocked every day and we’d asked for extra sparkling water which was not provided; the selection of printed information that we were given upon check in looked like it had been created by a 5 year old and printed on the cheapest paper possible.

These guys could learn from Stella Island, which is just along the coast in Crete. Truly wonderful food and beverage when we visited 3 years ago. And Zante Maris Suites in Zante (obvs) would also give Domes Aulus a run for its money.

A very good place to go if you want some quality and private time to relax and charge your batteries.

The was honestly one of the highlights of our stay. There was a fantastic variety of dishes every day, with plenty of options to suit different tastes. Everything we tried was fresh, well-prepared, and full of flavour.

The service everywhere I went was top notch and hotels cleanliness was spot on. Will visit again for sure

We booked here as a treat for our anniversary as it was listed as 5 star. We paid just over £3000 for a tropical nest - 7 days for 2 adults. When we arrived it was around 1 am Wednesday (the transfer from the airport took 1.5 hours). We were greeted in reception and given our room details. We were told to return to reception the following morning to have the full welcome conversation due to the time of day. We were not offered any refreshments despite it still being almost 39 degrees. We were then taken to our room, 503, by a golf buggy as the hotel is built into the side of the mountain. The porter was amazing and moved all our luggage, stopping my husband from helping. On arrival to the room, we were greeted by a very small room which didn’t look very clean. At this point we were exhausted so decided to just go to sleep. In the morning we opened the curtains to find our £3000 view was the back of another brown building! No sea, no mountains, just brown concrete. Further inspection of the room showed broken furniture, stains on the walls, dirty taps in the bathroom to name a few. We went down to reception at 7am (in a golf buggy again due to the steep landscape) and explained how disappointed we were with the room and that we didn’t feel it was the 5 star room we had been expecting. We showed photos of the room to the receptionist who said she would have to speak to a manager when they arrived at 10am and that they should have some news around 12 as to whether there was an alternative room. When we returned at 12 we were offered an alternative room, 203. We were then shown this room and it was a vast improvement- bright, roomy, lovely view of the sea and Spinalonga Island- exactly what we were expecting from the start. We settled into this room and started our holiday. Over the next 24 hours we enjoyed the pool, and private beach area. The pool area was reasonably clean, although there were some cigarette butts under the loungers first thing in the morning. It was quite easy to get a lounger in the morning but they were usually reserved with towels by late morning. There were some spare plastic loungers available without cushions and umbrellas that you could use if stuck but shade was very limited. The small beach area was just below the hotel across the road. It had about 20 loungers (again, usually all reserved with towels by 11ish) and a small beach shack that served drinks and light snacks (baguettes/fruit/salad pots). We ate at the main buffet restaurant and booked our one night Al a carte dinner at the Amphitheatre restaurant for our final night. The food in the main buffet restaurant was adequate but again we didn’t feel it was 5 star. I wasn’t really sure what I expected but the food was basic, steamed fish, roasted vegetables, plain pasta etc. Very little meat unless you liked pork. We found we were eating the same each meal, whether breakfast, dinner or tea. The staff in the buffet restaurant were helpful but some didn’t smile and didn’t look approachable. On the Thursday afternoon we received a phone call from one of the managers to offer us a free upgrade to the “Cool Living” area and another room change. We weren’t aware of the Cool living area but this is where the 5 star experience began!
We moved to room 220 which was a suite with a balcony- with a jacuzzi on the balcony. We had a separate bedroom and dressing area. Only mild complaint was the shower was just a hand held wand - no bracket on the wall, so difficult to wash hair - but no biggy! Anyway, the cool living area is right at the top of the mountain, again by buggy or air conditioned car, and was amazing. This was a secure gated area with access via a swipe card. There were 2 pools, one which was an infinity pool. The sun loungers were about 12 inches thick. The restaurant in this area was called Greco Lavante and the food here was amazing. Fresh fish, fresh salmon, beautiful salads and fruit, freshly cooked breakfast items, a fabulous choice. And the evening meal was absolutely delicious. My husband had a slab of brisket that melted in the mouth and I had fresh sea bream. We even went to thank the chef it was so good. The bar up there served branded cocktails and the service was great. Lots of smiling faces and you felt looked after. We did have a great time on this trip but feel it would have been a very different story if we had stayed in the original room. We joked that it was like the titanic. We had been below deck for the first couple of days, then we were moved to first class. We don’t feel the whole hotel should be listed as a 5 star hotel. The “below deck “ area is a 3/4 star with the cool living area a 5 star. When talking to a lady who had booked the cool living accommodation with a private pool, she told me she had arrived at 1am too and was offered food and drinks on arrival - clearly another 5 star perk! The staff were fabulous, especially the reception team and the porters who work tirelessly getting everyone up/down the hill. Elounda town is a 30 min walk one way and Plaka a 45 min walk the other way. If you have any mobility issues, this is not the place for you.