Amus Hotel and Spa

"We spent 10 days as a family of four (kids age 10 and 14) in a Duplex Suite with Sea View on AI basis. Based on Tui images we expected a large balcony for the room type we booked but we got a smaller one which was misleading. It didn’t cause too big an issue but frustrating as it wasn’t stated that a few of these room types come with smaller balconies rather than what is shown in the photos. Overall we had a great holiday and this is a summary of our experience: Room: fresh and bright with double height windows. Split level living with two toilets was helpful given there was four of us. The room is very narrow and felt a little cramped. There is far too little storage (just enough for two people) and consequently the kids lived out of their suitcases as there was nowhere to store their clothes (or the suitcases). The sofa bed on the mezzanine floor (Tui photo showed a proper double bed!) was too small for my children to share but thankfully there was an additional single sofa bed on the lower floor that we put out. The king size bed was very comfortable. The bathroom is well equipped but very small. There is no plug socket close to a mirror which was frustrating when it came to styling hair. It was cleaned daily and fresh towels provided. It was a nice modern room despite some frustrations but a tight squeeze for a family of four. Pools: we started our holiday using the ground floor pool which is the one element that lets the hotel down. It requires maintenance and is alongside a busy road. Whilst it was possible to ignore the road after a while it became very cramped once at capacity. A large number of sunbeds are on grass which isn’t great as it was muddy in areas. Poolside toilets unpleasant and in need of updating. The biggest frustration was other guests moving sunbeds to create areas for larger groups with no consideration for how close they were to us and blocking walkway. It was not relaxing but this is not the fault of the hotel. This is where you could find the entertainment so it was more lively for the kids but not the preferred choice for us adults. There is an adults only pool adjacent to this pool. Finding the top floor pool was such a relief. Well maintained, peaceful and a sanctuary compared to the ground floor pool (despite building work close by). Attentive lifeguard. Comfortable sunbeds. Not overcrowded. Available snacks. This is what I was expecting from a 5* hotel. Bar staff came around both pools taking drink orders. Staff: wonderful! Every person we came into contact with was so welcoming. One of the best hotels I’ve experienced for staff. The bar and restaurant staff worked so hard and always had a smile. I have a severe nut allergy and I’m so grateful for the care taken in helping me to know what was safe to eat. I was really impressed with how the hotel supported guests with allergies. Special mention to the lovely Katerina in the buffet restaurant who was so kind and professional. Food and drink: we were all inclusive. The quality and variety of food was excellent. Even though I had some restrictions due to my allergy I still had great variety of choice at the buffet. We ate at all the à la carte restaurants and the food and service was excellent. Big portions! I wish we could have visited the restaurants more than once but we did find it challenging to book in time. I always looked forward to meal times as the food was excellent and we especially liked eating on the outdoor balcony with views of the sea. I’m not an early riser normally but we were at breakfast by 8am every day as it was so nice starting the day before the restaurant got too busy and we never failed to get a table on the balcony. We enjoyed the drinks on offer. I don’t particularly like cocktails so can’t comment on that but I enjoyed a poolside Bellini and the AI wine / prosecco was very nice. So often it’s dreadful but not here. The kids loved the virgin cocktails and I developed a taste for the delicious iced coffee. Entertainment: this is mainly focused on the ground floor pool in the day. There is a very hot large function room where activity happens in evening but we don’t tend to engage in hotel entertainment so didn’t visit. We preferred to go to the top floor bar after dinner, play some games, and enjoy the live music when it was on. I was impressed with the performances but wish they were more frequent. Beach: very pebbly but fine with beach shoes. Easy to access via the tunnel so you don’t have to negotiate the busy road. Bar staff did visit but infrequently which is understandable given the distance between beach and bar. I’m not confident in the sea usually but even though when we went it was a little choppy i was comfortable going in. It was really lovely. We took a taxi to/fromRhodes town which was 15 mins away. Really beautiful place to visit. Also took a trip to Symi island which was stunning but a lot of travel required. I’m glad I went as it was beautiful. I didn’t use the spa but it did look lovely and people I spoke to who did use it were very enthusiastic. I regret not visiting. Overall this was a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday. Food, drink and staff excellent. I’d like to experience it staying in a suite as that expands the hotel facilities available. I don’t think it’s ideal for children as there’s not a great deal to do. My children didn’t complain and spent plenty of time in the pool with a ball / floats but I do think it would have been good to have a little more on offer. I think it would be great hotel to visit again as a couple in future."

"Great hotel The staff we wonderful Had a lovely experience in the spa with very accommodating staff (after booking the wrong treatment) Bar staff and staff serving around the pool worked hard (although they were too busy sometimes!) The highlight was the entertainment team who kept the 16 and 17 year olds happy and busy without adding pressure and lite of sport activities and they got to know them well Nothing to complain about other than the gym should have air conditioning"

"If this review makes even one family stop and reconsider spending thousands of pounds on this hotel expecting a five-star experience, then it has been worth writing. We have just returned from a 10-night family holiday at the Amus Hotel & Spa with our seven-year-old daughter. During our stay, our daughter was served a burger that was substantially undercooked/raw in the centre, sewage containing faeces came up through a drain and flooded from our bathroom into our bedroom, our daughter walked barefoot through the contaminated water, crockery presented for guests to use had visible marks and residue on it, we experienced repeated drainage and maintenance problems, and the initial management response when I complained was appalling. And this is marketed as a five-star hotel. I am attaching photographs to this review. They include the burger served to our daughter, marked bowls presented for guests to use, discarded food left on the buffet counter, an unfinished fitting with wires protruding from the ceiling, a back-of-house area visible to guests, and the empty all-inclusive ice-cream freezer. These are not photographs taken from somebody else's review. I took them during our 10-night stay. Before I go any further, I want to be fair. There were positives. Most staff were pleasant during normal interactions. Two of the restaurants served us genuinely nice food. Our daughter enjoyed spending some time at the kids' club. Most importantly, when I eventually got to speak to the actual Hotel Manager, she was lovely, apologetic and tried to make amends. I mention those things deliberately because this isn't a review written in the heat of the moment. Our holiday is over. I don't want compensation. I don't need an apology. I'm not interested in arguing backwards and forwards with the hotel about our experience. I'm writing this for people currently looking at the glossy photographs and positive reviews and trying to decide whether to spend their money here. I wish somebody had warned us. FOOD AND HYGIENE The main buffet was, in my opinion, diabolical. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were consistently disappointing. The food was bland and flavourless, and much of it seemed watered down. Even the Greek yoghurt, in Greece of all places, had an unpleasant congealed consistency. But taste is subjective. I have read the hotel's responses to other negative reviews and I fully expect them to say that they receive lots of positive feedback about their food. That's fine. My biggest concerns were not subjective. At the poolside restaurant, our seven-year-old daughter was served a burger that was substantially undercooked/raw in the centre. Look at the photograph and make your own mind up. Bowls presented for guests to use had visible marks and residue on them. Again, I've included photographs. On another occasion, I photographed a plate containing discarded food sitting directly on the buffet counter amongst the food being presented to guests. There were also areas visible behind the scenes that, in my opinion, looked tired and poorly maintained. These aren't questions of whether I personally prefer one style of food over another. There were two restaurants where we did have genuinely good meals, and they deserve to be recognised separately because the difference between those meals and our experience of the main buffet was significant. THE "ALL-INCLUSIVE" EXPERIENCE We paid for all-inclusive and found the offering extremely disappointing. There is a small snack area upstairs where food appeared to be left out for much of the day. The selection and quality were poor and it felt a very long way from a premium five-star all-inclusive experience. Shortly after arriving, our seven-year-old daughter wanted an ice cream. She went to the freezer provided for all-inclusive guests. It was empty. I've included the photograph of the freezer too. We ended up having to buy her an ice cream. Is an empty ice-cream freezer the end of the world? Of course not. But when you've paid thousands of pounds for an all-inclusive five-star family holiday, having to purchase an ice cream for your seven-year-old because the all-inclusive freezer is empty tells you something about the experience. It became representative of our stay. We simply never felt that the all-inclusive product matched the standard we thought we'd paid for. THE ROOMS Our original room was tiny. For three people, it felt like a shoebox and was completely at odds with the impression we had formed of the hotel before arriving. I am aware that the hotel has previously responded to criticism of its rooms by pointing out that room dimensions and categories are available when booking. That's fine. The size of our room ultimately became the least of our problems. We complained and were moved to another room. The second room was considerably better and had much more space. We unpacked. We thought the problem had been resolved. Then things became utterly unacceptable. SEWAGE AND FAECES FLOODING INTO OUR BEDROOM After using the bathroom, sewage containing faeces started coming back up through one of the drains. It flooded across the bathroom floor and travelled out into the bedroom. Our clothes and belongings were on the floor. They were contaminated. Most distressingly, our seven-year-old daughter was barefoot and walked through the contaminated water. Just consider that for a moment. You're on a family holiday at a hotel being sold to you as five-star, and your seven-year-old child is walking barefoot through water containing faeces that has come back through the drainage system and flooded from the bathroom into your bedroom. There is nothing subjective about that. It isn't about being a demanding guest. It isn't about having unrealistic expectations. It isn't about whether I liked the decor. It isn't about whether I thought the bedroom should have been bigger. It happened. And we had only just unpacked into this room after already having to move once. THE INITIAL RESPONSE WAS ALMOST AS SHOCKING I was furious. I think most parents would be. I wanted to speak to a manager. Initially, I couldn't even get anybody to give me the name of a manager or allow me to speak to one. We then had to pack everything up again and move rooms for a second time. The room we were moved into was directly above the room where we'd just experienced the sewage problem. Then the shower drain in that room blocked and had to be attended to. On two separate occasions during the night, security or emergency lighting came on inside our room and woke all three of us. Eventually this had to be disconnected. I also photographed an unfinished fitting with wires protruding from the ceiling during our stay. Again, rather than me trying to describe it, the photograph is attached for people to see for themselves. The following morning I went to speak to the front desk manager. Given what had happened, I expected somebody to be horrified. Instead, I encountered someone who appeared completely disinterested in what I was telling her. While I was explaining the seriousness of what had happened, she answered the telephone twice during our conversation, leaving me standing there. The attitude was essentially: what do you want me to do about it? It was extraordinary. THE HOTEL MANAGER Later that day I received a note from the actual Hotel Manager asking to meet me. This is where I will give the hotel credit. She was excellent. She listened. She apologised. She seemed genuinely concerned about what had happened and dealt with me exactly as I would have expected management at a five-star hotel to deal with such a serious complaint. The hotel arranged for our contaminated clothing to be laundered. We were given access to the private pool normally available to suite guests. My wife was given a 30-minute massage. I appreciate those gestures. I'm deliberately including every one of them here because I want anyone reading this, including the hotel, to have the complete story. They did try to make amends. But complimentary pool access, laundry and a 30-minute massage do not somehow undo your seven-year-old child walking barefoot through sewage in her hotel bedroom. THIS IS NOT MY IDEA OF A FIVE-STAR HOTEL This was probably the biggest overall disappointment. If this hotel had been marketed and priced as a basic three-star resort, my expectations would have been completely different. It wasn't. It is presented and sold as five-star. The photographs online give an incredibly polished impression. Yes, they resemble the areas being photographed, but the reality felt considerably more tired, dated and worn than the impression we had before arriving. There is ageing carpet throughout the corridors. A number of the sunbeds around the pool were damaged, including beds with holes in them. The general finish and condition of many areas simply did not resemble what I personally consider a five-star resort. I also wasn't impressed with the apparent condition of the pools. When swimming underwater wearing goggles, the water did not appear particularly clear. There were other little things throughout the holiday that individually might not warrant mentioning, but collectively contributed to the overall impression of a hotel that felt tired and lacking attention to detail. I've included photographs rather than expecting anybody simply to take my word for it. Look at them. Look carefully at recent photographs uploaded by other guests too, rather than relying exclusively on the highly polished marketing images. Then make your own decision about whether this resembles the five-star holiday you're expecting to pay for. KIDS' CLUB Our daughter enjoyed the kids' club. The people running it were pleasant and she was happy spending time there. But parents should manage their expectations. It was extremely basic. We had seen information suggesting activities including trips to the beach. During our entire 10-night stay, that didn't happen once. Her experience predominantly consisted of going into an air-conditioned room and doing arts and crafts. She enjoyed that, and I'm pleased she did. But anyone expecting an extensive children's programme from a five-star family resort should understand what is actually being provided. EVENING ENTERTAINMENT This was equally disappointing. It appeared to be run by a very small team who were also involved with the children's activities. Much of the entertainment took place in what felt like a dingy conference room and, in my opinion, was extremely amateur. Some younger children seemed to enjoy parts of it, but it was absolutely not the quality of family entertainment I expected from a resort positioning itself at this level. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU COMPLAIN? This was one of the most noticeable aspects of our stay. During normal interactions, most staff were perfectly pleasant. But when you have a genuine problem, the atmosphere can change very quickly. We began to feel as though we were the inconvenience, rather than paying guests asking the hotel to resolve legitimate problems. And before the hotel responds by listing everything they subsequently did for us, I've already done that for them. Yes, we were moved. Yes, our contaminated clothes were laundered. Yes, we were given access to the suite pool. Yes, my wife received a 30-minute massage. Yes, the Hotel Manager eventually handled our complaint very well. I appreciate all of those things. None of them alter why those interventions became necessary in the first place. I'VE READ THE OTHER REVIEWS Since returning home, I've spent considerably more time reading the negative reviews of this hotel and the management responses to them. I wish I'd done it before booking. I have noticed that criticism is often met with explanations about the positive feedback received from other guests, differences in expectations, what was advertised, what other guests generally experience, and what the hotel subsequently did to assist the particular guest. I'm therefore not particularly interested in getting into an online debate with the hotel about our experience. Other guests may absolutely love this hotel. That's their experience. This was ours. We didn't stay for 20 minutes. We didn't stay for one night. We stayed for 10 nights. We raised serious issues while we were actually there. We moved rooms twice. The Hotel Manager personally met with us about what happened. The hotel laundered our clothing after the sewage incident. And I have attached photographs supporting a number of the other things described in this review. So if the hotel's response is that most guests have a wonderful experience, I'm genuinely pleased for those guests. We didn't. WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? Absolutely not. If you're looking for a fairly basic family hotel with pools, food available throughout the day and somewhere for your children to do arts and crafts, you might have a perfectly enjoyable holiday. But if you're looking at the Amus Hotel & Spa specifically because you believe you're booking a genuine five-star resort, I would urge you to look very carefully at recent guest photographs and negative reviews before spending your money. If high-quality food is important to you, I would look elsewhere. If polished surroundings are important to you, I would look elsewhere. If you're expecting exceptional attention to detail and consistently excellent service, I would look elsewhere. And if you're about to spend thousands of pounds on your family holiday because the photographs and five-star classification have given you a particular expectation of quality, I would personally spend that money somewhere else. No hotel is perfect. Things break. Drains block. Mistakes happen. But during one 10-night family holiday we experienced: A seven-year-old being served a substantially undercooked/raw burger. Crockery presented for guests to use with visible marks and residue. Discarded food sitting on the buffet counter. An empty all-inclusive ice-cream freezer which resulted in us buying our daughter an ice cream. Sewage containing faeces coming back through a drain and flooding from our bathroom into our bedroom. Our seven-year-old daughter walking barefoot through that contaminated water. Our belongings and clothing being contaminated. Two room moves. Another blocked shower drain in the replacement room. Security or emergency lighting coming on twice during the night and waking our family. An unfinished fitting with wires protruding from the ceiling. And an initial management response which, in my opinion, was completely unacceptable. At what point does this stop being a collection of unfortunate isolated incidents and simply become a completely unacceptable holiday experience? For us, this was nowhere remotely close to a five-star experience. I would rate it at around three-star level at best. We would never return. If I'd seen the photographs I've attached to this review and read a detailed account like this before booking, I would never have booked this hotel. That is why I'm writing it. Please do your research before spending your money here. I genuinely wish we had."