"We arrived at 2am with our 9 week old baby, checked in, were given a room key and off we went. I opened the room door with our wailing baby and suitcases only to find some poor man in bed!! He dived out in horror. Reception said they didnt have any other rooms and we would have to come back at 11am when management were in! After some negotiation they put us in a double room looking at a waste land (we paid extra for a sea view family room). We went to reception the next morning, the manager was quick to apologise and advised our room would be ready by around 11:30 once people had checked out and it was.
The sea view room was pretty good, the view was lovely. There were a few issues with this though. 1 - it was up 5 steps with the lift the otherside, so travelling with a pushchair this meant carrying it up and down these steps all the time (several other families were doing the same. 2 - shortage of plug sockets, only 1 each side of the bed. 3 - no tea or coffee making facilities, id noted this from other reviews so did take my own but i feel this should be provided at a 4* hotel. 4 - be aware that the sea view rooms are directly above the entertainment stage which is very loud, it finishes between 10:30/11pm.
The lifts are tiny, you can only fit one adult and a pushchair in, one of us had to take the stairs.
Baby changing - 3 of the bathrooms have baby changing however they are only in the ladies toilets. When one lunchtime our baby had a blow out my husband took her and had no choice but to go in. He said the female guests were very sympathetic but when suggested to the staff that a family room or one in a male toilet may be helpful he said "theres no point only ladies change babies" to our horror.
Food - first couple of days we thought this is great, thats until we started to get ill. Between 4 of us we often got sick from the food (seems to be mainly lunch in main resturant which is usually last nights dinner repurposed). One of our party spent 2 days in bed with it, after this we pointed it out to one of the resturant managers who denied that it could possibly be the food, we mentioned other guests had also had a similar experience but he said unless all 900 guests were ill it must just be our 'tolerance'. After this we ate out until we left.
If your hoping to walk out and about nearby its not very pushchair friendly, the walk ways have huge grates, massive kerbs and nobody stops for crossings. Theres a few resturants, bars and mini markets near by but not much. The whole area seems run down and lots of empty buildings.
The hotel does run an express shuttle to Rhodes Town, €7 return which is good, The bus was modern and air conditioned.
The hotel its self looks aesthetically pleasing but its really impractical. Theres lots of ledges, 3 people fell during our 10 day stay, one lady broke her arm, another her ankle and my mum fell on the tiles which were wet (luckily only bruised). The hotel is full of ledges and steps, not ideal for pushchairs or people with mobility issues.
The pools were fine but freezing, now the hotel has been expanded they arent really sufficient for the volume of people.
The entertainment team i must say are fabulous and made this hotel bareable. Big shout out to Tibi and Boogie who made us smile, my husband enjoyed the waterpolo.
The beach is pebble, some of its quite steep to get up and down with moving pebbles, one lady fell in shallow end and couldnt get up. Not suitable for people with mobility issues and be aware this coast is windy and the sea can be very choppy. Not suitable for children only confident swimmers.
The drinks are local only, the juice is super concentrated and foul. We dont drink so lived off lemonade and water. The cocktails seemed popular, a few people complained about the beer, completely unknown brand and seems very low alcohol, wine was also awful, never saw anyone drinking it.
Photos - twice during our stay as you go for dinner there will be photographers waiting to take your photos. Being a special trip for us we thought this was great gesture. We stood and had our photos are were told to collect the next morning. We arrived and were handed our photos, what a sweet idea we thought. As we began to walk to breakfast the gentleman chased us with a card machine and said "no, no, no you have to pay!!" This had never been mentioned prior and were €10 a photo. We bought them as we wanted the sentiment but felt they should have been more upfront about the cost.
Social media - i noted prior to travelling to the hotel that they post a lot on social media, i saw cooking classes and iced coffees, i couldnt wait to try all these things. On arriving at the hotel i never witnessed any of the things advertised. The kids club made pizzas one day but that was all. I feel some of it may be false promotion.
Theres a lot of things that are extra at the hotel, my husband ordered a strawberry mocktail, when it came with cubes of ice he said "could you blend it" the bar was empty at the time. The barman told him he would need to pay €6 euros if he wanted it blending as this would make it premium.
There seems to be lots of management walking around, the term too many chiefs and not enough indians comes to mind. There was often only 1 bar man at the pool bar in the day so be prepared to wait. They would often take your food plate or glass if it was less than half full. One lunchtime my husband put his bread roll in his mouth, looked down and his plate had already gone!
Overall i can not recommend this hotel, we wasted a lot of money coming here and its a 3* at best."
