Philoxenia Hotel

We went with our son who had his own room he was in D block we were put in E block only those in D and C could use the top pool which was quieter than the other one as we were in E block we could'nt use it did' nt make sence really. The rooms were ok but definetly need update food was good but no butter for lunch or dinner only breakfast .bar was awful waiter sevice dreadful sure drinks were diluted nothing seemed to come from a bottle ,entertainment well what can i say he never smiled or comunicated with anyone . Would i come again No sorry don't think so

Firstly I would like to say that I have written many reviews on this site and always try to be fair in what I write. Having been involved with the catering industry for over 50 years I like to think my views are balanced. Lets start with the positive points............. Was offered a friendly and efficient welcoming by reception and given directions to our room. No help offered with our baggage which was slightly disappointing. Room was well prepared and spotless but I have to say very cramped. There was a mini fridge with 2 bottles of water supplied. The tea and coffee making facility was welcome and replenished every day. The room had a nice balcony although over looking an abandoned building project. ( That didn't bother us as we didn't plan to be in the room other than to shower and sleep.) Room was cleaned every day and towels changed frequently. The bathroom as an adequate size but the shower cubicle was too small for comfort. If you are of a larger size then you may have trouble with this. The use of a free safe was good and there was air conditioning as well that worked well. The hotel is situated a short walk from a village accessed by a short walk through the pine forest next to the hotel. We were there from early May so not much was open( 2 bars- a small supermarket and 1 restaurant. It was very quite being early season so I am not in a position to comment on what it would be like in full season). It seemed like a nice little village and lovely beach.) nothing else close by. Nikiti town is 15 minutes by car. 25e one way. The pool area at the hotel was nicely kept with a small separate pool for infants. I have to mention that the hotel was not very busy because of the time of year. We normally went to breakfast around 8-8.30 am and went directly to the pool straight after so was able to have a choice of sunbeds with no issue. However as the morning progressed and the temperature rose , more and more people with family's were having issues with finding free sun loungers. There were back up loungers stored in corners but with no where to put them. The area around the pool very quickly became crowded. I would think in high season with full occupancy this would be a big problem. Now for the not so good things........ I have to start with the bar service. It is awful. Mainly ran by a young woman ( not going to mention names ) who I thought was down right rude at times. They have a system where you are meant to place your order with the 1 waiter who covers the pool area and terrace. He then takes your order by ROOM number on his mobile phone device. Which can seem to take an eternity based on how the wifi is performing at that time. He then goes off taking other orders. You have to wait for your drinks to be prepared and then wait for either the 1 waiter or another young lad who helps him to bring you your drinks. The issue with the system is that the order is under your room number so if its the young lad bringing your drinks he doesn't know who its for and ends up going round all the tables to see if you ordered those particular drinks. This is even worse during the evenings when the bar and terrace are very busy after dinner. Again there is only 1 waiter to cover the whole bar and terrace. once or twice I tried to order directly with the girl on the bar and depending on what mood she was in sometimes she would serve you or other times abruptly tell you to order with the waiter. Its the same in the restaurant when its busy trying to get drinks to have with your meal. 2-3 times during our 10 day stay we had dinner without drinks. The system is shambolic and must cost the hotel money on lost revenue. We did see some full board customers complaining about the service and not being able to get drinks when they wanted them. I also saw couples giving up and walking away from the bar. On several occasions we saw and heard the girl behind the bar berating the young helper when he brought drinks back to the bar that were either not ordered or were wrong. Not what paying customers want to see and certainly not the young helpers fault. I put it down to an inappropriate ordering system for what is needed. Surely having table numbers would improve it. It will be chaos in the full season. The restaurant is ok at most. Buffet layout. ( Hot ?? and cold.) Breakfasts were ok with enough choice, fruit juices, hot ?? buffet, cereals, toast and pastries. No real issues there. The problems arose in the evening meal. Firstly if you happened to enter at a busy time we had issues finding an empty table. The few staff that were on didn't seem interested in helping you as they were too busy. At times like this you ended up sitting on a used table and then waiting for it to be cleaned. My real issue with the restaurant was the temperature of the food. Often luke warm and often cold. Even as food was coming out of the kitchen to replenish the buffet the food was often luke warm which I would say is worrying. Choice on offer was ok with often cheap cuts of meat used in stews etc which was fine. One observation was that they don't really cater for young children other than pasta and bolognaise or tomato sauce that was available every day. No pizza's or breaded chicken items that most kids would eat. If I were a parent of young children then I would think twice about bringing them here. My 2 kids when they were young would have struggled with the choice offered. Entertainment has to be seen to be believed. Shall we say its at the lower end, and I will leave it at that. Me and my wife certainly had some belly laughs at what we witnessed by means of quizes and bingo and the rendition of Titanics "life will go on" by the entertainer will live with me till the day I die.

On the whole the staff were very friendly with the odd exception and all of them worked extremely hard long hours which was appreciated. I have been to mainland and the Greek islands more times than any other country and I love the Greek people who are soooo friendly. It was a relaxing 10 days holiday. Would I return to this hotel, no, disappointingly. Thankfully the weather was good. This is an honest and balanced genuine review based on my experience of this establishment.

The main reason why we have chosen this hotel is because it had great facilities and half board/full board MEAL OPTIONS, which is GREAT for FAMILIES WITH KIDS. Hotel manager Irini made sure we are all good and that everything is running smoothly. The food was abundant and various, with theme days (Greek, seafood, Asian etc.). Make sure to try delicious Greek specialties their cooks make. Most of the guest are from the region (RO, BG, SR) but there were also guests from other parts of Europe as well (UKR, UK, GER etc.) The beach is some 200 meters walk down through the pine cone woods. You can also enjoy some natural tree shade on the beach, which is a very nice feat! The beach is clean, the water is warm, there are beach bars with nice music -- classic Halkidiki experience :) There are no clubs in the town as far as we noticed. We are family of 4, stayed for 12 days in July-August this year, we stayed in new building and really enjoyed our stay.