Kouros Palace Active Lifestyle Hotel

"This hotel is amazing, we couldn’t recommend it more. The staff are lovely and welcoming to all guests, especially Maria and Nikos in the beach restaurant and one of the bartenders (can’t remember his name!) but he is always on the main bar and is always friendly. The sun loungers on the photos aren’t yet in the hotel but the ones they currently have are still good quality and comfy. The location is perfect and there’s a bus service which goes to Kos Town plus use of the beach and 2 pools. The menu in the buffet restaurant changes each night but you can view what it will be on the app which you can also book the beach restaurant through. Good choice of drinks including iced coffee! Overall lovely hotel and the very good experience. Hopefully we will be back!"

"Amazing property and staff. The property has been recently renovated to the highest standards and has great facilities including a padel court. We hadn't played before but thoroughly enjoyed it. The staff were all so helpful including the manager driving me to the nearby town to solve a little problem that had arisen. The sunsets are amazing from all the restaurants and the all inclusive package was great value. Would thoroughly recommend Kouros Palace to anyone wanting a relaxing holiday."

"A lovely hotel but not quite there with the 5-star service yet. We really enjoyed our stay at Kouros Palace Hotel. We arrived on the day they reopened following refurbishment, so we expected some teething issues. The positives: • The hotel is beautiful and very clean. • The reception staff were amazing - especially Nicky, Jaro and the rest of the team. • Angela in the restaurant went above and beyond. I asked if porridge was available for breakfast and she made sure it was served every morning for the rest of our stay. • The beach bar area is stunning. • The gym facilities are really good. • There are e-bikes available for rental just outside the hotel and we took them to Mastichari one day, which was lovely. The negatives — and where the hotel loses a star: 1. You only receive one complimentary bottled water per person in your room. After that, you have to pay. We’ve never stayed in a 5-star hotel where bottled water wasn’t freely available. 2. Some of the bar staff appeared to be learning on the job. The service at the upper pool bar was disappointing at first. One staff member was clearly trying his best but had very little training and wasn’t confident making some cocktails, so we often went to the main bar instead. To his credit, he improved a lot throughout the week. 3. We were strangely refused a simple non-alcoholic drink request. My partner asked for soda water with elderflower syrup (essentially a Hugo Spritz without prosecco) and was told “no, it’s not on the menu”. The beach bar, although beautiful, is probably where the hotel needs the most improvement: Drinks at beach bar: It wasn’t open on our first day, but when we visited the following day we asked for two iced coffees and were told they were an extra charge, despite already having them included elsewhere in the hotel and seeing them listed within the all-inclusive menu. Another customer had been reading the menu and, as soon as they put it down, a staff member quickly removed it before we could check ourselves. It felt like they didn’t want the hassle of making iced coffees. Once my partner asked to see the menu and pointed it out, they made them. Dinner at beach à la carte: The beach bar à la carte dinner was also disappointing. We asked what the special main course was and were told spaghetti with calamari. When it arrived, it was spaghetti with meatballs instead. I don’t eat meat, so the local cat ended up enjoying them instead. Our server Maria was lovely, very helpful and apologetic, as the kitchen had clearly given her incorrect information. My partner had meatballs as his starter too, so it felt like the calamari had been swapped out last minute. Maybe they made surplus of meatballs and because the restaurant was empty they decided to plate these up instead of making the squid? For dessert, I ordered baklava but received a trio of desserts instead — only one small piece was baklava, while the others were desserts already available daily in the buffet restaurant. Most dishes on the evening à la carte menu also seemed to repeat the à la carte lunch menu and a lot of the food was also available at the buffet on various days in the main restaurant, so overall it felt like very little effort had gone into creating a distinct evening dining experience. Lunch at beach à la carte: At lunch one day, the beach bar was almost empty with only three occupied tables and around six staff members standing around, yet we were told by one member of staff (who I won’t name) that we needed to go to the bar ourselves for drinks. Around 15 minutes later another staff member (a tall gentleman who also worked at the main bar and was extremely friendly) came over, offered drinks and brought extra bread to our table, which we appreciated. When we booked, the website only showed CGI images, so we understood there could be some differences in reality. We also got a great last-minute deal and, despite the issues above, we genuinely enjoyed our stay. That said, the marketing images for the pool and beach areas are misleading and should probably be updated to avoid disappointing future guests. The CGI images show luxury wooden sun loungers with the mattresses, luxury cabanas and wooden walkways to the beach area, but these do not exist in reality. The actual loungers are plastic (although still comfortable enough) and the beach setup looks very different from the images provided. Overall, we had a really lovely holiday and can see the hotel has huge potential once the team are fully settled after reopening. With a few improvements to service consistency and changes in the beach bar menus, this could easily become a true 5-star experience."