"Excellent staff and cleanliness, but the overall rating is too high
Having returned from Katrin Hotel just a week ago, I wanted to leave a detailed and fair review while the experience is still fresh.
There were definitely positives. The staff were one of the strongest points of the hotel. Reception staff were friendly and helpful, restaurant staff were excellent, efficient and welcoming, and housekeeping kept our room very clean. The room itself was perfectly acceptable, the location is very good and the general atmosphere was pleasant.
For staff, cleanliness and atmosphere, I can completely understand ratings of 4 or even 5 stars.
However, an overall hotel rating should reflect the complete experience. Compared with other 4-star hotels I have stayed in across Europe, I find the current rating of around 4.3/5 surprisingly high and, in my opinion, misleading when judging the overall standard of the hotel.
I broadly agree with the detailed review by JohnNCathy. There are aspects of Katrin that deserve very good scores, but an overall 5/5 rating for the complete hotel experience is simply not realistic in my view.
The biggest disappointment was the all-inclusive offering.
The food was average but extremely repetitive. Day after day there was much the same selection. Cold meats were often dry, and even basic salad items such as tomatoes and cucumber were uninspiring — some tomato slices were almost literally just an outer ring. After several days we simply had enough of seeing the same things.
Another significant problem was the heat during meals. Apart from the bedrooms, there was no properly air-conditioned indoor area for guests, including the dining area. Breakfast, lunch and dinner therefore had to be eaten in the heat. In the middle of a Cretan summer this became uncomfortable, and for a 4-star hotel I would expect guests to have the option of eating or relaxing in an air-conditioned indoor space.
Whenever we ate outside the hotel, the difference was striking. Local tavernas served excellent lamb chops, kebabs and other simple dishes, and even an ordinary cheeseburger at a beach restaurant tasted far better than most of the food at the hotel.
The drinks included in the all-inclusive package were also very poor quality. We eventually bought our own drinks from a supermarket despite having already paid for all-inclusive. The all-inclusive bar also finished at 11pm.
There was no complimentary bottled water in the room and no convenient provision of bottled water as part of the all-inclusive package. In the Cretan summer heat, I found this particularly disappointing.
We also regularly found that hot water was unavailable before around 9am and after around 10pm. Whatever the technical reason, I would expect hot water to be available whenever guests need to shower in a 4-star hotel.
The room itself was fine. One annoyance was that the air conditioning reset whenever the key card was removed. We ended up leaving a second card permanently in the slot so that the air conditioning and its settings were maintained. Wi-Fi was also poor.
The hotel has two pools, but both are small. One is adults-only, while the other has a small slide and some water features for children.
More concerning was what happened to our swimwear. White parts of my swimming shorts, including the white internal lining, turned yellow after using the hotel pool. At first I thought it might simply be something unusual with my own swimwear, but afterwards I noticed that several other guests had reported the same issue with white swimwear turning yellow. This therefore does not appear to be an isolated incident and I think the hotel should investigate the pool-water chemistry.
Entertainment was another weak point. There were effectively no daytime activities. Most evenings consisted of bingo, quizzes or karaoke run by one young member of staff. There was one much better evening with a Greek musician and singer, which we enjoyed, but overall the entertainment was extremely basic for a 4-star all-inclusive hotel.
Ironically, the less time we spent at the hotel, the more we enjoyed our holiday. We rented a scooter and a car locally, explored Crete, visited beaches, villages and historical sites, and ate in local tavernas. Whenever possible we preferred being out rather than staying at the hotel, and towards the end of the holiday we were deliberately eating and drinking elsewhere despite already having paid for all-inclusive.
This is why I think the overall rating needs some perspective. I completely understand guests giving 5/5 for the restaurant staff, reception, housekeeping, friendliness or cleanliness — I would also rate those aspects very highly.
But an overall 5/5 rating should take the complete product into account: food, drinks, facilities, pools, entertainment, comfort, Wi-Fi and the overall standard of the all-inclusive package.
Taking everything together and comparing Katrin with other 4-star hotels I have stayed in across Europe, I would realistically consider the overall experience closer to a 3-star standard.
The staff deserve genuine praise and are certainly not the problem. Unfortunately, excellent staff, cleanliness and a friendly atmosphere are not enough on their own to make the complete hotel experience worthy of an overall 4 or 5 stars.
I enjoyed Crete very much and would happily return to the island, but I would not choose Katrin Hotel again."
