The Island Hotel

"We nearly decided to change hotels due to some feedback on TripAdvisor. But we are glad we didn’t as the hotel was of a very high standard. The room seemed newly decorated and modern. It had a balcony with a view over the sea. The hotel areas and grounds are well maintained. The facilities were very good. The staff service was excellent in all areas of the hotel. Everyone was friendly and helpful. The location of the restaurant overlooking the sea, was more like a ‘real’ restaurant than a self service canteen that you sometimes get with buffet style service. Breakfast selection was excellent. For dinner there was a good selection of food, with a different theme every night. The staff kept the serveries well stocked with fresh food. We never felt that we needed to eat out elsewhere. The Hotel is just over a small road to the beach, which is no inconvenience at all. Hotel beach towels are used to show that you are staying at the hotel and so no need to pay for sunbeds. Few areas for improvement; Stop allowing the practice of reserving sunbeds with towels by the pools. Some people kept them there even when they only came back to remove them. We didn’t use the larger pool as music was playing all the time. We booked the Taverna for one meal but found it disappointing, the food and location was not as good as the main restaurant. The gym is in need of refurbishment. Finally the welcome meal pack on arrival, due to arriving too late for the restaurant, was poor, small and disappointing. Despite these concerns we would recommend the hotel and would return if visiting Crete again."

"The Island Hotel Gouves is across a small road from a lovely sandy beach. It has pleasant surroundings with tropical plants, and three swimming pools. Gouves is a small unspoilt village with few tourist shops and a good supermarket. We prefer our resort to be Greek, free of hordes of car hire and souvenir shops. Round the corner from The Island Hotel is Andrea's, serving excellent home cooked food and the delightful 'Cretan shop' selling interesting traditional products and serving delicious snacks. The food in the hotel is not 5 ☆ but is acceptable. The buffet restaurant can be very crowded, particularly in bad weather but there are usually attractive areas available for eating outside. The choice of food at breakfast was very good. The hotel staff were almost all very helpful and friendly. We were moved from a small room with a shower in the bath to a much nicer bigger one with a walk in shower. The bedrooms are not 5 ☆ but are attractive. The sea was often rough in early October and the pools were chilly. The main pool often had intrusive disco music which you could avoid at the other pools. There were plenty of loungers. Overall though it was an enjoyable week's holiday. Our thanks to those staff who made our stay much better."

"Wonderful friendly welcoming Hotel House staff are wonderful, bar staff are really nice as are the reception staff. Restaurant staff are generally really nice apart from one young lady welcoming in at the entrance who was a bit harsh and rude. Food isnt the best for breakfast - glad we didnt book for Half"