Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas — Hotel in Municipality of Agios Nikolaos

the bad, the meh, the good

The Elounda Beach Hotel & Villas is a 5.5 Star hotel and part of the „The leading hotels of the world“.

Disclaimer: We love the Greek people and nature. During our stay we talked to different clients, the operations manager, director and the employees. Some employees kindly asked us to give our feedback in writing. So here is our experience. We hope it helps. We wish the hotel management and team best of luck and success.

The Verdict

We do not recommend the hotel. We were very disappointed with the treatment of the hotel employees and will not be going back. The service had several poor experiences. The food was mediocre. We never threw away so much food. We as a family (a couple with three children) stayed 10 days from the 25.9-5.10.2022.

The location of the hotel in the bay of Elounda and the scenery are spectacular. It is a big complex with two hotels. We enjoyed the beach and the cleanliness very much.

Unfortunately the 5.5 Star hotel didn’t live up to their great marketing and branding - classified as „the leading hotels of the world“. Of course there can be glitches, but too many customer experiences were poor. There were some exceptions of engaging and hard working employees - thanks for their effort to make the stay pleasant and memorable.

Analysis:

the bad: service: too many poor customer experiences with the employees and the operations manager M. Sotiris Radikopoulos. breakfast was not ready at 7.15 a.m. no water, no orange juice, no hot food service,… the reception told us wrong departure times for the bus and could not organize one van to fit our family. they made dinner reservation in the wrong restaurant. a lot of self service in their restaurants i.e. missing cutlery, searching for a suitable table,… missing children seats for the transfer back to the airport. The day before we asked them to reconfirm with the transfer company but they refused to do it. reduced tables for the customers on the beautiful terrace for breakfast. Some tables are reserved for clients at breakfast without being used and without a time frame. Additionally the operations manager reserved 3 tables for about 10 people and himself. the operations manager could not and did not want to do anything with our feedback although we gave it in the beginning of our stay. food: mediocre quality (breakfast and dinner). Inconsistent quality of the preparation and cooking of the food over several days (fruits, cooking of the meat, noodles, ice cream disgusting gooey, chocolate sauce stretched etc.) We never threw away that much food - unfortunately. :-( very slow service up to 2-3 hours in the gourmet restaurant. Our small children got tired and fell asleep with empty stomachs. Another family did not take the desert because the service was so slow. Some employees really tried their best. prices were high i.e. bottle water EUR 4 - 6, a scoop of ice cream EUR 8 - 13. In town water is 30 cents and a big scoop of ice cream EUR 2.-

the meh room: the rooms are older and used. It is time for a refurbishment and modernization i.e. shower, bathtub, toilets, furniture etc. swimming pool was not so clean and had several moldy spots.

the good great location of the hotel. A beautiful garden, bay, surroundings, beach and scenery. It was always clean outside. the room was cleaned daily and small bottles of water was provided as a compliment. the wifi was in most...

We have just returned from our latest stay at Elounda Beach Hotel and Villas. The whole experience continues to be 5*. Everything about the resort is perfect and we will certainly be returning in the future. Our excellent accommodation was well maintained by Housekeeping on a twice daily basis, the extensive grounds are beautifully maintained, the private beach and pool with their loungers are impressive, the restaurants and bars are a delight but above all every single member of staff throughout the site is helpful, friendly, professional and a great credit to the to the Hotel. As in the past, we stayed in a villa overlooking the beach and the sea, near to the main hotel building, and on a half board basis, which represents great value for money against menu individual prices - a perfect combination for us which ensures seamless enjoyment of all the facilities. As regular visitors we used the Guest Loyalty arrangements for our booking – and enjoyed the benefits that brings - and a big thank you goes to Lia Prentza, the Guest Loyalty Manager and her colleague Vassia for ensuring our stay was perfect. The same has to be said about the Reception staff who are only too happy to offer help and advice including making restaurant bookings – and always with a smile on their faces. As with any quality hotel or resort, you would expect to make bookings in advance for the restaurants and that is easily achieved through Reception. We visited each of the four restaurants on more than one occasion during our stay and found them to have great menus, lovely staff and excellent food. Yes, you do have to pay for all drinks, but these do not have to be ridiculously expensive, and you can always take advice from the charming sommelier who is on hand, about choices as far as wine is concerned . The extensive, high quality breakfast buffet arrangements are equally good. The hotel was very busy during our stay and thus lots of visitors were in the breakfast area each morning, but by simply waiting to be seated by the staff, we had no problems in being shown to a table without delay and enjoying the delightful food. So, all in all, a very good stay in an excellent 5* resort and we will...

After a long coaching transfer from the airport, we were really looking forward to relaxing week and had high expectations of this hotel. One of the first 5* luxury resorts in Greece, it certainly lived up to our expectations and did not disappoint in any way.|Greeted by staff at the steps of the coach, luggage taken care of and we were gently ushered in to the cool reception area for a welcome glass of Prosecco and the news of a free upgrade to a deluxe SV spa room!|Breakfast is a feast for the eyes and the stomach with a huge choice to suit even the fussiest person. Set in a tranquil area overlooking the pool and beautiful gardens, we looked forward to this every day.|On arrival at the beach, we were greeted by a super efficient and friendly team who helped us choose our comfortable, padded sun loungers which are then numbered with your room and are yours for the duration of your stay (we loved this little detail)! A buzzer on the umbrella allowed you to order food and drinks from the fantastic beach team as you wish. Download the Elounda Beach app for all the information you require about the menus etc. |Dinner in the restaurants is on the pricey side but to be expected in this class of hotel.| We ate twice at the Kafenion and once at Argonaut (Italian) and food was great at both.|A special mention must go to some of the incredible staff who made our stay even more special as they welcomed us like family. Georgia who we met on our first day is a huge asset to this hotel - always smiling and super efficient. Whether at the pool bar, the beach or at Veghera serving pre-dinner drinks she always had a smile on her face and we loved chatting with her. Also deserving of a mention are Anna and Marios at the beach who are both really friendly, always smiling and were more than happy to listen to me attempt some Greek! We also loved Apostolis (?) quirky humour at breakfast when he served us coffee and at the evenings at the Kafenion.|Every member of staff we came into contact with made us feel so special and this is one of the reasons why we shall definitely be returning next September....