Sol By Meliá Cosmopolitan Rhodes

"We had a wonderful stay at the hotel. Everything was excellent, the room was clean and comfortable, and the staff were friendly, welcoming, and attentive. There was a great variety of food and desserts, with something to suit everyone's taste. If anything wasn't quite as it should be, the staff responded quickly and made sure it was taken care of right away. We are very pleased with our stay and would happily return."

"We stayed here as a family of three with our 4-year-old son and overall had a lovely holiday. The hotel has plenty to keep young children entertained. The pirate ship and playground were fantastic and kept our son happy for hours. He also loved the kids’ club, although there was some confusion at the beginning of our holiday about whether, as a 4-year-old, he was allowed to stay without a parent supervising. Once this was clarified, he thoroughly enjoyed attending. The mini disco and evening face painting were also highlights for him. Thank you to the animation team for welcoming our son and keeping him entertained. The food was varied, and we always found something we enjoyed. The snack bar was definitely one of the highlights – the freshly made pizzas, gyros and gelato were excellent. One small disappointment was that there wasn’t any ice cream available in the main restaurant to accompany desserts. The all-inclusive drinks were good, with plenty of cocktails and soft drink options. The cocktail of the day was usually very enjoyable, although it would have been nice if cava or another sparkling wine had been included in the all-inclusive package. The staff throughout the hotel were hardworking, friendly and welcoming. A special mention goes to Katerina at the snack bar and Mikes in the evening bar, who both provided excellent service. The restaurant staff were also wonderful and always made a fuss of our son, which was greatly appreciated. Our superior inland view room was cleaned every day to a very high standard and the view was surprisingly lovely. The only downside was that the walls are quite thin, so we were disturbed by noise from neighbouring rooms on a few occasions. The hotel is in a fairly remote location and the beach is very stony, so it’s not the best if you’re looking for a sandy beach holiday. However, the location is excellent for catching the public bus into Rhodes Town, which takes around 15 minutes and costs just €2 each way, making it easy to explore the island"

"English translation below. Vi har lige været på ferie i 1 uge på dette hotel - første gang vi har været på Rhodos. 1. Maden og drikkelse 6/10: + Fint udvalg til alle måltiderne, både som os (der ikke er kræsne), for børn og for kræsne - Maden skuffede dog, den manglede smag og det var kedeligt. Der var i høj grad sparet på krydderierne. Langt det meste smagte ikke rigtig af noget. - Vi tog ned på “restauranten” man har inkluderet i sit ophold hvor man bestiller ala carte. Det var virkelig virkelig elendigt, desværre. Det kan jeg ikke anbefale, buffeten var trods alt bedre. Jeg fik kyllingen, den var enormt tør og du får dén og én halv kartoffel… min kæreste fik pastitsioen (pasta med kødsovs) - det var virkelig ikke godt. Pastaen var slet ikke kogt nok og de “flamberer” osten på toppen så den lugter virkelig specielt og den var bare blevet sort og havde en kul agtig smag. + Poolbaren havde virkelig en lækker frokost! + De sparer ikke på alkoholen - det er jo super dejligt haha, jeg bad dog om lidt mindre i da det var lige krads nok. Men rigtig lækre drinks, fint udvalg. = Til prisen er maden okay, man skal ikke forvente det store. Meget basic og standard all inclusive mad. Kan ikke anbefale ala carte restauranten. —- 2. Værelset: 8,5/10: + Vi fik et værelse på 2. sal med udsigt udover poolen og lidt havet, SUPER godt værelse!! Smuk smuk udsigt og vi kunne sagtens falde i søvn selvom der var gang i den udenfor (meget fint isoleret). + Rent og pænt. Mini køleskab med 1 vand ved ankomst. + WiFiet var rigtig godt på værelset. + Vi ønskede lidt senere udcheckning så jeg spurgte receptionen ret sent aftenen før om vi kunne checke ud 1-2 timer senere end kl. 11. De var super venlige og vi fik 1 time mere til 7 euro pr. ekstra time. Det var super rart at have værelset det længere og at de var så fleksible! - Nogle småting var lidt meh, men det var ikke noget der påvirkede os eller vores ophold. = Alt i alt virkelig godt værelse ift. prisen! — 3. Poolen / badefaciliteter 3/10: - Ud af fjerene hvis man skal have chancen for en seng!! Absolut rædselsfuldt! Jeg har aldrig oplevet at skulle stå op hver dag kl. 5:45/6 for at være heldig at få en solseng. Desværre har hotellet ikke en politik om, at man ikke må smide håndklæder og reservere solsenge så folk smider ofte deres håndklæder på sengene allerede aftenen om natten… Vi kunne se poolen fra værelset og jeg så en der sov dernede fra kl. 2 for at reservere en masse senge foran poolen… Vi havde virkelig ikke lyst til at være “de typer” der reserverede senge men hvis man ikke gør det, er der 0 chance for at få en plads. Nogle anmeldelser herinde siger man bare skal gøre det senest kl. 8/9 - det passer ikke. HVER en seng er taget på det tidspunkt. Jeg reserverede kl. 5:30 og spiste morgenmad når de åbnede kl. 7 fordi jeg ikke faldt i søvn igen. Jeg lå allerede på solsengen kl. 8 de fleste dage da jeg synes man skal ligge der hvis man har optaget den… Jeg kunne der konstatere, at 80% først dukkede op kl. 10/11 stykker. Nogle endda senere. Det er en kæmpe streg i regningen for mit vedkommende der ikke gider skulle op imens det er mørkt for at være heldig at få en solseng fordi folk smider deres håndklæde og spærrer for andre. Hotellet bør indføre at der gåes en runde fx kl. 7/8 for at fjerne håndklæder hvor der ikke ligger nogen. Jeg vender aldrig tilbage så længe det ikke er tilfældet. - Sand overalt i bunden af poolen fordi folk ikke vasker fødderne inden de går i, og fordi der er anlagt græs på halvdelen af poolarealerne. -De 2 pools der er, er slet ikke nok eller store nok til antallet af gæster. Det hjælper heller ikke, at folk ligger på kæmpe oppustelige madrasser og badedyr….. burde ikke være tilladt, man kan ikke komme til og børn kan risikere at havne under. - Man skal være forberedt på rigtig rigtig høj musik ved poolen. Det kan man komme udenom ved at lægge sig længere væk, men det virker unødvendigt højt. ALT I ALT 6/10: Rigtig fint hotel til prisen. Det er mest et hotel for børn, hvilket er helt fint men hvis det ikke er for alle så skal man vælge et andet hotel. Langt det meste personale er venligt. Vi vender ikke retur - alene pga. de udfordringer ift. poolen og til dels maden. Men til prisen er det fair. —- We have just spent one week at this hotel on our first trip to Rhodes. 1. Food & Drinks – 6/10 +There was a good variety at every meal. Whether you're like us (not picky eaters), travelling with children, or are a bit fussier, there was something for everyone. – Unfortunately, the food was disappointing overall. It lacked flavour and was quite bland. They clearly went very easy on the seasoning, so most dishes didn't really taste of much. - We also tried the à la carte restaurant that's included in the all-inclusive package. Honestly, it was really, really poor, and I wouldn't recommend it. The buffet was actually much better. I ordered the chicken, which was extremely dry, and the portion consisted of that and about one and a half potatoes. My boyfriend ordered the pastitsio (Greek pasta with minced meat), and it wasn't good either. The pasta was undercooked, and they "flambé" the cheese on top, which gives it a very unusual smell. The cheese had basically turned black and tasted burnt. + The pool bar served a really nice lunch. + They certainly don't hold back on the alcohol, which was great! I actually had to ask for a little less because the drinks were a bit too strong for me. The cocktails were delicious and there was a good selection. Overall: For the price, the food is perfectly acceptable, but don't expect anything extraordinary. It's very basic, standard all-inclusive food. I definitely wouldn't recommend the à la carte restaurant. --- 2. Room – 8.5/10 + We were given a room on the second floor overlooking the pool with a partial sea view. It was an excellent room! The view was beautiful, and despite the entertainment outside, we had no trouble sleeping thanks to the good soundproofing. + The room was clean and well maintained. There was a mini fridge with one complimentary bottle of water on arrival. + The Wi-Fi in the room was excellent. + We wanted a slightly later check-out, so I asked reception quite late the evening before if we could stay one or two hours longer than the standard 11 a.m. check-out. They were very friendly and allowed us to extend our stay by one hour for €7 per extra hour. It was really nice to keep the room a little longer, and we appreciated how flexible they were. - There were a few small things that were a bit "meh", but nothing that affected our stay. Overall: A really good room considering the price. --- 3. Pool & Swimming Facilities 3/10: - Be prepared to get up at the crack of dawn if you want any chance of getting a sunbed. It was honestly awful. I've never experienced having to wake up every morning at around 5:45–6:00 just to have a chance of getting a sunbed. Unfortunately, the hotel has no policy against reserving sunbeds with towels, so people often leave their towels there during the night. We could see the pool from our room, and one night I actually saw someone sleeping by the pool from around 2 a.m. just to reserve several sunbeds in the front row. We really didn't want to be "those people" reserving beds, but if you don't, you simply have no chance of getting one. Some reviews here say you just need to reserve before 8 or 9 a.m., but that's simply not true. Every single sunbed is already taken by then. I ended up reserving ours at around 5:30/6 a.m. and then had breakfast when it opened at 7 because I couldn't get back to sleep anyway. Most days I was already lying on my sunbed by 8 a.m., because I personally think you should actually use it if you've reserved it. By then, I noticed that around 80% of the people who had reserved beds didn't show up until 10 or 11 a.m., and some even later. For me, this is by far the biggest downside of the hotel. I don't want to wake up while it's still dark just for the chance to get a sunbed because other guests reserve them with towels and block everyone else from using them. The hotel really should introduce a policy where staff remove unattended towels at around 7 or 8 a.m. if nobody is actually using the beds. Until that changes, I wouldn't return. - There was sand all over the bottom of the pool because many guests didn't rinse their feet before entering, and because half of the pool area is covered with grass. - The two pools simply aren't large enough for the number of guests staying at the hotel. It also doesn't help that people use huge inflatable mattresses and floats, making it difficult to swim and potentially unsafe for children. - Be prepared for very loud music around the pool. You can avoid it by sitting further away, but it still felt unnecessarily loud. --- = Overall Rating – 6/10 Overall, this is a decent hotel for the price. It's mainly geared towards families with children, which is absolutely fine, but if that's not what you're looking for, I'd recommend choosing another hotel. Most of the staff were friendly and helpful. We wouldn't return, mainly because of the pool situation and, to some extent, the food. That said, considering the price, it offers fair value for money."