What People are saying

Bad service and definitely not a 5 star

jazshahon 31/08/2017 13:24

Be warned! If you have any dietary needs don't go to this hotel.
Day 2 another awful experience. They call them speciality restaurants but in real they are only another form of buffet restaurant.
We booked for the Mediterranean restaurant (which you have to book at 7am in the morning, otherwise they are full) and told them we are vegetarian and don't eat eggs nor fish. We were at the time reassured that they will cater for our needs. We arrived for lunch and they had nothing for us except the buffet salad. Cosmin the restaurant manager's attitude was appalling, and told us to take whatever there is in the buffet. There was nothing in the buffet except boiled beans and aubergine. By the way the same spoon was used to serve the meat items and vegetables. Cosmin told me 'we can't manage who uses the spoons and how they are used'. Obviously not if they only have one spoon for several dishes. Hooray, apparently a 5 star hotel booked through Thomson and we are told eat whatever there is the buffet. Also to use the same spoons as those that have been used for the meat items. Paid horrendous amount of money for a family of 4 and very disappointed.
Never book with Thomsons either as the rep on duty Phil did nothing either. He just wasn't bothered. Only thing Thomsons are interested in is ripping people off!

Lovely but some slight niggles

theboyyatesyon 29/08/2017 08:04

Firstly I don't do reviews of hotels generally but as I'm sat here on my last day next to the pool I thought I would.
In essence the hotel is very nice, the food is excellent (especially the banoffee pie) and the staff really do work tirelessly to make sure the place is clean and tidy. They are also extremely polite and helpful and you couldn't ask for more.

The hotel is a right mix of nationalities, quite a few brits, Italians, Germans and French. It was good to hear the different languages around the pool and bar and all mixed well especially when a game of water polo in full flight!

The entertainment is acceptable of a night but to be honest not much better than that. The drinks are reasonable enough all local brands, but what more do you expect. I would advise you try the ice cream
Milkshakes from the beach bar as they are really nice.

The water park is very good but if like me you're much bigger than your kid there are two rides you won't be able to get on, in essence for the two best slides there, you need to be a max weight difference of 30kg!! Strange as I've been to plenty of water parks where this is not the case on the exact same rides, but there you go!

The pool area is nice, pool is salt water but to be fair not too salty, the bar is nice and they water polo in the afternoon. All I will say is that this turns into quite a competitive game and you don't want to be sat behind the goal!!

You have get up early to get a bed, that said the pool attendant is on the prowl and moves your towels if you're not at your bed in the early morning. I'm undecided if this is a good thing or not, whilst yes it probably frees up a few beds for us late risers, I think it's a part of going away, there are still beds around at 9:30 so you don't have to be very early to still get a bed and to be honest I wouldn't want someone interfering with my personal belongings.

Pool towels are provided for a deposit of €10 per towel.

The internet is free in reception, and if lucky you can get it by the pool, it's slow but does the job.

The local town is nice, a few bars and a lovely little place called the Garden Bar (I think) it's just past the town square, you'll recognise it as soon as you see it. The drinks are great and people very friendly.
You can get the bus once an hour into the town from outside the hotel for €1.80.

So I suppose the question is would I recommend it to a friend, yes I would. It's a nice hotel and the staff are lovely.

Would I come again. No, I'm afraid there are too many better and different places to go in the world.

Return visit

emma pon 28/08/2017 21:08

Well, after our 2 week break last year, we decided to return again and were not disappointed. We went for 1 week this year, family of 4 (kids aged 11&13) we had another holiday to remember, a lot had changed in terms of aesthetics this year, improvements to all bar areas helped to add to the experience. Food is amazing in all restaurants ( don't forget to get up for 9am to book your meal at reception) our room this year was fab, I'm so glad I asked for a room without bunk beds as our room was great for 2 adults & 2 big kids! (Room 903 to be recommended) Any problems were quickly solved and nothing too much to ask. We didn't leave until midnight but didn't bother with paying for late check out, instead book a slot in the shower room to fresh up before the flight. We will return ( with more family next time).
Thanks portobello beach x

Little improvements needed

Alison Ton 27/08/2017 20:28

Just returned from family holiday here. The hotel is nice but with just a few very small improvements it could be lovely.
The good:
We were lucky enough to be in one of the refurbished rooms and it was lovely. Air con a bit hit and miss but all in all thought room was one of nicest we've had. Staff work really hard and the whole complex is very clean - really important for me on a holiday.
Pool was nice - with music which gave atmosphere during day. Pool bar great - never had any problems getting drinks or seats.
Sunbeds - never had a problem the whole 10 days and we never got up before 830am. We always found beds - I never saw an issue with sunbeds to be honest and there were 6 of us.
Water park - great for the kids a real bonus.
Beach - lovely and sea lovely and shallow.

What could be better:
Beach bar - our favourite place to go at night but the issue with lighting was not great. I'm sure more people would have gone there is lighting was better. A few lights around the seating would have made such difference.
Food - the main restaurant was not good. Breakfast was good. Lunch was ok. But evening meals poor. It felt like a school canteen. They need to make more special for evenings. Put table cloths on tables; give wine in wine glasses. Queueing for food was really bad but could be avoided by moving salad to another area and creating more food stations. Food was over cooked and not great choice really sorry! Also need to extend past 930 so there's not a mad dash at 8/830. You can't leasiurely enjoy your evening meal. Food in themed restaurants isn't great either but at least it feels more relaxed. Please sort this as it will make the whole experience so much better. The mezze restaurant was the nicest bit only open at lunch when it's too hot to sit there.
We went into kardamena to eat few evenings and it was lovely - just get the bus - 6 mins and it's clean and reliable.

All in all we had a nice week - but with some really easy fixes it could have been fantastic

Great Hotel but does need some minor improvements

stevensonhousemoveron 25/08/2017 15:57

This is a lovely hotel right on the beach with great facilities for kids both young and old. The food was lovely, plenty of choice and the home made pizzas are delicious. The themed nights at the beach bar made you feel like you were being entertained in Carribean surroundings - nice touch. All staff that we encountered were friendly and couldn't do enough to help. The water park is a great bonus and nice to spend an hour or so here to break up the day. Also lovely to have free pedalos, kayaks etc FOC so that you don't have to pay more. Recommend the paragliding - great fun at 40 euros each. The Beach and beach bar are lovely. People are always cleaning so there are never any flies or mosquitos around. We were in Rom 815 which was a great location, with great balcony overlooking the sea and quiet area. Would recommend going into Kardamena and if you are a family of 4 then its just as cheap to get a taxi for 9 euros, not worth going until after dinner though as there is more atmosphere later in the evening. Also got the private bus from the hotel to Kos, takes about 40 minutes worth a visit if you like seeing the sights and was only £7 euro return pp. We ate out twice at Captains restaurant and Loustros and both were lovely and reasonably priced.

Slight improvements that could be made at the hotel are - when I asked for prosecco or Cava I didn't get either I received Asti Spumante which is very sickly and sweet, they would be better investing a little more for a drier sparkling wine and a lot of people I spoke to said the same.

The 8pm serving at dinner is a minefield, everybody queues outside and rather than let people walk in and find their own table and when the doors do open the manager insists that everyone is shown to a table by himself, so therefore one person has to show approximately 250 guests to their table. Its really not necessary. However this can be overcome by going at 8.45 at which point you can just walk in (yes no one shows you to your table when its not busy which is strange). I do think that they like to show people to the table so that they can serve them drinks so they are trying to be customer service orientated but when you are queuing outside for 15 minutes then it doesn't feel like it and doesn't feel like a 4 star hotel.

Sunbeds are an issue by the pool and are all gone by 9am, however for us this wasn't a problem as we love the beach and always managed to get beds at 10.30 (you may struggle after that).

There is a noise of aircraft flying over and you just get used to this. It didn't affect us of an evening as you can't hear them with the doors closed.

The children didn't like the pool as it is a salt water pool but then we did know this before we booked. If this is an issue for you then the 5 star next door as a freshwater pool.