"We're just really disappointed. We've paid less than a third of the price of this holiday before and had far better experiences. The photos and reviews looked amazing but our experience was less so.
Pros:
- clean
- looks the part
- staff are attentive and helpful
- TUI rep was great and went out of their way to help
- what food was available was good quality and there was an excellent drinks choice (including non-alcoholic)
Cons: (buckle in!)
- Arrived after midnight to no air con in the room, took over an hour to be told it wasn't working and there would be none that night. Took almost 24 hours and an escalation to TUI to have it fixed.
- Realised the next day as we tried to book dinner that several of the advertised restaurants were still under construction, leaving only the Italian (that you're only allowed to book once per week), the burger restaurant and the buffet. The Greek, Mediterranean and Beach Bar were all still being built, adding noise next to an otherwise peaceful beach. A week is a very long time eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in a buffet restaurant when you were expecting another 2-3 choices. Ended up off site for 3 nights' dinner at our own cost as we were unable to book the Italian as it was full within minutes of bookings opening at 7am every day. No one advised that these would be closed and we'd have booked elsewhere had we have been told, as good food is a priority for us on holiday. We were told it's because May is "low season", which is surprising considering we've never had this issue in May on any of the other Aegean or Mediterranean islands/countries we've been to over the years at this time of year.
- Paid extra for a family room - this was a great size however is in the main building, so all the noise from the lobby (including loud discos into the night, drunk guests in the bar and new guests arriving with suitcases after midnight) kept us awake or woke us up most nights. One night we had the pleasure of listening to our neighbours having a screaming match at 12.45am, which was nice in a family area, and meant it was after 2am before I was able to get to sleep. Avoid staying in the main building wherever possible. I will add when I complained (again) they moved our room so the following nights were much better.
- The hotel is on a hill, so there are stairs EVERYWHERE around the large site. It just wouldn't be suitable for some guests and I was struggling as a pregnant person. I believe you can get around the edge of the hotel site on a golf buggy, however for example, the Italian restaurant is surrounded by stairs, so not sure if that is accessible or not.
- Flying ants on the beach were a real nuisance (not the hotel's fault but put a dampener on the beach experience having to swat them off you incessantly).
- Taxis to Kos Town are around 50 euros each way and public buses are available but a bit haphazard, so ended up having to pay around 50 euros to TUI for a transfer at set times on a set evening which was disappointing as we like to explore local places usually. Buses to Kardamena were better and cheap but only once an hour or so and don't run on Sundays, so plan ahead.
- The hotel is under the airport flight path - flights aren't super regular but be aware if the noise is something that would bother you as they do go into the night.
- the kids pool's fountain slide wasn't turned on until our last day - on our first day I'd asked why it wasn't on (out of curiosity as the kids were still happy to play and get friction burns down the slides) and was told there's nothing wrong with it, so wasn't impressed when we walked down to the pool to find it suddenly spurting water knowing they'd been having to manually wet the slides all week.
The hotel has potential to be good, but unfortunately there were just so many big and small things wrong with it during our week that we really wouldn't recommend it and won't be returning. We spoke to at least 5 other parties who were all also having the same or similar issues so we weren't just unlucky. A real shame!"
