Lindos Imperial Resort and Spa

After experiencing top part of Rhodes in previous years, we wanted to experience a little more of the south. We arrived very late due to a flight issue and we were placed in block 6000 originally. We spoke with the reception team to request a more central room and they accommodated us promptly into block 3000; we could not have been happier. Hotel is a walk away from the beach, recommend beach shoes if you don’t want to walk on pebbles. The pool areas covered everyone’s choice and no issue with sun beds! Food options varied and choice of restaurants during our stay were good. Recommend the Asian cuisine! You can only book within the 4 days of your stay. We booked the hotel based on the entertainment reviews, and this made it for our 2 children (ages 10 & 13). Emely from the animation team was the best! From Germany, but her English speaking and manner with us as a family was endearing! Passionate and attentive! The last time our youngest will treasure the mini disco and competitions! We have stayed in many all inclusive resorts and this sadly lacked the smaller details - not a 5 star; we missed handmade drinks - a lot are sugary and pre-made drinks, details we missed also included having a beach bag for your towels, napkins on the tables when they served your drinks (especially as we play uno has a family, wet tables everywhere) available ice would have been a bonus! We did a car hire and visited St Paul’s Bay, Lindos via bus and the Prasonisi which was amazing! And we did the usual glass bottom boat! Rhodes ticks lots off for families! Do it!

We stayed at Lindos Imperial expecting a 5-star all-inclusive holiday, and unfortunately the reality fell a long way short of what we expected. I want to stress that our disappointment was not because of one isolated incident. It was the accumulation of problems throughout our 10-day stay that made the holiday so disappointing. The accommodation was tired and poorly maintained, with peeling wallpaper, holes/raw plugs in the walls, exposed wiring, faulty fixtures and other maintenance issues. In our son's room, the door actually came away in his hands. Large items covered in plastic were also left outside our room for several days, blocking our view. The general resort maintenance was disappointing too, with poorly maintained walkways and cleanliness issues around the pool areas.

The Gym The gym was one of the facilities that attracted us to the resort, but it was in a very poor condition. Equipment was old, dirty and poorly maintained. We showed photographs of the condition to the Guest Relations Manager, Agnes, who told us that the gym and spa were rented to a private company and that she couldn't do anything about it.

For a hotel selling itself as 5-star, I found this response extremely disappointing.

The à la carte restaurants

The restaurants were another major disappointment. We had to book through the hotel app, but when we arrived all restaurants were showing as fully booked for our entire 10-day stay. We repeatedly checked for several days and couldn't get a reservation. We eventually complained to Agnes, who managed to get us bookings.

What was particularly strange was that when we actually visited four of the restaurants, they were only around half full or less.

The food and service were also well below what I would expect from an à la carte restaurant. Tables weren't always ready, staffing appeared limited, menu choices were restricted and, in our experience, the service was actually worse than in the main buffet.

For example, in the Mexican restaurant, a dish described as potato with chicken fajitas consisted of pulled chicken on approximately a quarter of a tortilla with new potatoes on the side, with decorative sauces around the plate. At the steak restaurant, a whole jacket potato with a sprinkling of cheese was presented with truffle mayonnaise drizzled around the plate.

It felt more like buffet-standard food presented on a decorated plate to create the appearance of à la carte dining than the quality we expected from a 5-star resort.

Customer service

We raised our concerns while we were still at the resort and also repeatedly contacted On the Beach.

Unfortunately, trying to get help became an issue in itself. The On the Beach WhatsApp complaints process was extremely frustrating, with conversations being ended and complaints having to be raised separately. We spent a significant amount of our holiday dealing with problems rather than enjoying ourselves.

We also contacted the Resort Manager directly and received no response.

At one point, when discussing the standard of the resort, Agnes told us that "5-star is different in London." When we complained about the food, we were told that they had a lot of people to cater for every day.

Those responses did little to reassure us.

Overall

We paid over £10,900 for six people for what was marketed as a 5-star all-inclusive holiday.

Unfortunately, we did not feel that the holiday delivered the standard we had paid for or reasonably expected.

I appreciate that no holiday is perfect and that individual people's experiences can differ. Our review is based on our own experience, but unfortunately the cumulative effect of the accommodation problems, maintenance, cleanliness, gym, food, restaurants and service significantly affected our enjoyment of the holiday.

We have raised a formal complaint with On the Beach and are now taking the matter further through the appropriate complaints/ADR process.

For us, this was not a 5-star experience and we would not return.

The entertainment team were amazing especially Gian! The mini disco at night time was great for my 5 year old and they always involved the audience which was great! Would defo come back to the resort!