Star Beach Village

We stayed at Star Beach during the May/June half term as a family of 8 (ages 8 to 78), travelling with Jet2.com / Hays Travel.

Overall impression The resort itself is beautiful. There are several pools and water slides, which gave us plenty of variety throughout our stay. We never struggled to find sunbeds or parasols, and towels are provided. The sandy beaches, although quite narrow, still had plenty of free sunbeds, and the sea is shallow and clear – ideal for children.

Food and drink We found the food to be excellent. All on-site restaurants are buffet style, with the main restaurant offering the widest choice and variety. Everyone in our group was able to find something they enjoyed at every meal.

The bars serve local beer, wines, spirits, soft drinks, slushies and ice cream.

Pool bars close at 6pm The Lobby Bar at 11pm The Entertainment Bar at 12am Rooms and cleanliness Our bedrooms were spacious and cleaned every day, with fresh towels and bedding provided when needed, plus large bottles of water. Rooms include a kettle, fridge and safe. Overall, the hotel felt modern, very clean, and the staff were helpful and friendly. We had a really enjoyable stay.

Accessibility and mobility issues Our only negative feedback relates to general accessibility on site, which was not made clear at the time of booking. In fairness, I feel this is more an issue to raise with the holiday company we booked through, although the hotel’s own website could also be clearer. Had we fully understood the layout and access issues beforehand, we probably would have chosen a different hotel, even though we did have a lovely time.

We travelled with my elderly parents (both 78). My mother uses a walking stick and struggles with stairs. At the time of booking we flagged this and requested airport assistance, and we also emailed the hotel a week before arrival to explain her concerns about getting around, asking if this could be considered when allocating rooms.

Layout and access:

The main building houses Reception, the bar, the main restaurant and some bedrooms, and does have lift access. The remaining bedrooms are in nine smaller 3‑storey blocks scattered around the site. These do not have lifts, although staff do help with luggage. There is another building, Star Beach City, across the main road, where rooms can be accessed by lift. The site is on a slope, with stairs and ramps throughout the resort to move between the main hotel, bedroom blocks, pools, bars and beach. All pool-area toilets are located underground, down steps. There are no accessible toilets around the pools; the only accessible toilets we found were near the main restaurant on the lower ground floor, which can be reached by lift from Reception. The fast-food bar area outside is accessed via a steep stepped/ramped bridge. The beach is reached via steep ramps and steps. How the hotel handled our needs To their credit, I feel the hotel did what they could with the options available:

We were allocated a block close to Reception and the main hotel areas, and staff helped with luggage. Our two rooms were opposite each other, which was ideal for us as a family. However, our rooms were on the second floor, meaning my mother had to climb two flights of stairs every time she went to her room. At check-in we requested a ground-floor room, but because it was late, we were asked to enquire again in the morning. My mother did not want to make a fuss or risk the group being split up, so we decided to stay where we were.

We also spoke to another family dealing with similar issues, and several guests with pushchairs were struggling with the layout. As a family resort, it seems ground-floor rooms are in very high demand.

Recommendation If accessibility or limited mobility is a priority, I would strongly recommend:

Requesting a ground-floor room at the time of booking, And confirming this specifically with your tour operator and the hotel, in writing, before you travel. In summary, we had a really enjoyable holiday at a lovely, clean and friendly resort with great food and facilities, but the accessibility challenges on-site are important to understand in advance, especially if you are travelling with elderly relatives, wheelchair users, or pushchairs.

This hotel doesn’t even worth the one star. Probably the worst experience I have ever had. We arrived at midnight, with 3 young children. All was good until we were taken to our room which was tiny and in the parking lot. Strangely enough when we compared it to the photos on the website it didn’t look the same. The desk in the room was covered with what seemed like dry fruit juice. I then went to the reception to tell the room wasn’t clean and the men looked at me saying there’s nothing he can do about it. He offered me to take two different rooms which was impossible with young children. He didn’t even offer to send someone to clean it. The following morning we went to ask again to change to a bigger room and they took us to a new room which was much bigger and was actually in the category we ordered (superior family room as oppose to the one we got upon arrival which was a standard). This room was clean but with a big puddle of water because the ac was leaking. After moving I went back to the reception to tell them about the leak and to ask about the refund for the first night (since we paid for a more expensive room) and the guy never sent anyone to fix it and said to come in the morning to talk to the manager. I went back in the morning and I have to say that the manager is probably the worst person in the whole hotel. I explained what happened and she told me that in less than 12 hours we got the room we wanted (as if it’s normal not to get it). I told her about the fact that the room wasn’t dirty and she didn’t even apologise, she told me to write an email to the reservation and ask for the refund and tell them about the room. When I asked her why she couldn’t do it as the manager, she told me that “anyways the difference in price is not big so why am I making such a fuss about it”. I was shocked and asked to speak to a superior, she said she was the only manager and then she turned to the person next to me and asked him if she could help him just ignoring me. When I told her she was rude, she said she wanted to talk to someone who “wasn’t complaining about everything” and she refused to give her name. I decided that I’m not wasting my energy on her anymore but when my husband her the story he went to the front desk to ask for her name which she again refused to give her name and saying that I lied and she didn’t say anything like that. This is probably the worst service ever.

If you add that to the fact that the food is horrible (snack bars are good) and that the facilities are old I would definitely won’t recommend you waste your money on this hotel. I’m sure Crete has better hotels to offer. I don’t understand how