Kleanthi Apartments

"We stayed at the Kleanthi Apartments in Gouves, Crete at the end of June/beginning of July. It was our first visit and we were not disappointed with our accommodation. A lovely quiet location, Kleanthi and Nicos were very welcoming. Our apartment was very clean and tidy and the bedding and towels were changed regularly. In addition, there were plenty of sunbeds for everyone around the lovely pool supported by the pool bar which provided excellent food and drinks. We especially enjoyed Kleanthi’s special omelette and Greek salad washed down with a cool Mythos for lunch! Also, we experienced Nico’s first BBQ of the year which was attended by a full complement of residents staying at the apartments. It was superb with a variety of meats and salad. We then all followed that up with cocktails and drinks; Nicos makes a wicked Long Island Iced Tea!! A great evening was had by all. The apartments were well served with and excellent local bus service and a good selection of tavernas within about 20 mins walking. All in all a great holiday and well recommended for a relaxing escape in Crete."

"We arrived at the hotel between 12am and 1am with an 11-month-old baby, an 8-year-old, a 13-year-old and six adults, only to be told by the owner that there wasn’t a room available for us. This was despite the fact that we had booked and paid to stay from the date we arrived, so the room should have been ready regardless of how late we checked in. Instead, we were forced to walk down the road in the middle of the night with eight suitcases, a pram and tired children to another hotel. The owner of that hotel and the Kleanthi owner argued before we were eventually given random rooms for the night. We were then told to return to Kleanthi “not too early”, so we went back at around 1pm the following day. After reading other TripAdvisor reviews, it’s alarming to see this appears to be a recurring issue. Guests are paying for a night’s accommodation that simply isn’t being provided. This is completely unacceptable. When we finally got our room, I was allocated an upstairs apartment despite travelling with an 11-month-old baby in a pram and there being no lift. Thankfully, a family member swapped rooms with me because my brother-in-law refused to let me struggle up and down the stairs with a baby. He even carried the spare bed upstairs himself because of the situation. The owner’s attitude throughout the holiday was awful. He behaved as though he couldn’t understand why we were upset after being turned away on our first night. Every time we reported an issue, he acted as though we were inconveniencing him, often rolling his eyes, huffing and puffing because he had to get up and deal with a problem that shouldn’t have existed in the first place. For our baby, we were initially provided with a bedside "next to me" crib, despite him being almost one year old and far too big for it. When I explained this, the owner questioned whether I was sure. My son outgrew that type of crib months ago. A travel cot was eventually provided, but instead of a proper mattress it contained nothing more than a folded blanket. The apartment itself had numerous maintenance issues: * The kettle didn’t work and had to be replaced. * The hob didn’t work and also had to be replaced. * The bedroom door handle was hanging off. * The electrics failed twice, and the fuse box inside our room actually sparked. * The swimming pool was in need of a thorough clean, with visible grime around the edges. Although advertised as self-catering, the kitchen was poorly equipped. There was no usable knife, no chopping board, no scissors, and only one saucepan and one frying pan, which simply wasn’t adequate for preparing meals. Housekeeping was also disappointing. Our apartment was supposedly cleaned, but the bedding wasn’t changed. We know this because baby food that had been spilt on the sheets was still there after the room had supposedly been serviced. The only real positive from our stay was the owner’s 68-year-old mother. She worked incredibly hard and was always busy helping guests, while the owner was often sitting on his phone at reception. What disappointed us most was the complete lack of accountability. Not once did we receive an apology for being turned away on our first night, despite having paid for that accommodation. There was no acknowledgement of the inconvenience or any attempt to make things right. It honestly felt like this had happened so many times before that it was simply normal practice for them. I would never stay here again and would not recommend it to anyone. Based on our experience, the positive reviews are very difficult to understand. We spend all year looking forward to a break away and have been left deeply dissatisfied this is what our holiday consisted of."

"We were extremely disappointed with our stay at Kleanthi Studios & Apartments and would not recommend it. We arrived at around 2:00am after a long day of travelling with six suitcases, two children, a baby in a pram and a total of nine people. We struggled all the way up the long driveway with all of our luggage while Nikos (who I believe is one of the owners) watched us. When we finally reached reception, instead of helping us, he simply handed us two bottles of water to share between all nine of us before telling us we couldn’t stay there and had to walk to the hotel next door for the first night. We were never given a proper explanation as to why. We then had to stand there while he argued with the receptionist before we were eventually checked in. After speaking to two other families during our stay, we discovered they had experienced exactly the same thing and had also been moved elsewhere for their first night. The following day we were told not to rush back because our room wouldn’t be ready until 2:00pm, meaning we lost even more of our holiday waiting around. When we eventually got into our room, it was advertised as self-catering, but that was very misleading. There was only a cheap camping-style electric hob placed on the worktop, the kettle didn’t work, and there wasn’t even enough cutlery for everyone. This was especially inconvenient when travelling with a baby. Even more concerning, the electrical wiring for the hob was coming away from the wall, which appeared to be a serious safety hazard. The balcony was another disappointment. It was barely wider than a plastic chair, making it impossible to sit outside comfortably. The pool area also raised safety concerns. There was a visible scum line around the edge of the pool for most of our stay, which was only cleaned on our last day by the owner’s daughters. One of the pool filters was being held down with a brick, and the metal door to the plant room was propped open with another brick, leaving what appeared to be an unsafe area easily accessible. The biggest disappointment, however, was the attitude of Nikos. Every afternoon he would arrive around 3:00pm and spend his time sitting at the bar or lying on the sofas in reception using his phone. Meanwhile, his poor mum worked tirelessly all day, cooking, cleaning, serving guests and even looking after his children, who were there every day. Time and time again we watched her clearing tables while he sat and watched. We actually found ourselves helping her clear away after meals because we felt so sorry for her. The only real positive from our stay was Nikos’ mum. She was friendly, hardworking and did everything she could to make guests feel welcome. She is the one person who deserves recognition because she seemed to carry the entire place on her shoulders. Overall, the poor organisation, misleading self-catering facilities, safety concerns, lack of customer service and obvious lack of management made this one of the most disappointing places we have stayed. We would not return and would not recommend Kleanthi Studios & Apartments to anyone."