Pilot Beach Resort — Hotel in Municipality of Apokoronas

Pilot Beach||We recently stayed at Pilot Beach Resort and while the setting is beautiful, with a fantastic beachfront, clean sea and great views, that’s unfortunately where the 5-star experience ends. If you’re considering this place based on its star rating or the promise of an “all-inclusive” holiday — its not!||The All-Inclusive Package is In Name Only|It should be called “Some Inclusive”. What you actually get is the bare minimum. The resort has an impressive signature cocktail list — not a single one is included. Only the cheapest alcohol is available under the package: out of several whiskeys, Brandies and vodka’s listed, just one of each is available to all-inclusive guests. The rest? Pay extra.||Fresh orange juice? Not included. Smoothies? Nope. Even mocktails — two of the four aren’t included, which is baffling, premium cordial maybe. Ice lollies from the bar freezer? Not for you. Cakes or simple sandwiches at the bar? That’s a premium extra too. Even little glass bottles of Coca-Cola are not included — unless you’re happy to pay. ||It doesn’t end there. Every time you want a drink, your room card has to be scanned and you have to sign (well some servers make you sign and some dont, none could give a clear answer as to why). You’re constantly being made to feel like you’re on a tight tab — not what you expect from a 5 star all-inclusive holiday. I have added pictures of the bar menu’s, which is for the main and beach front bars. Anything with a house next to it is on the “All Inclusive”. There are not a lot of houses!||The same sense of being treated as a second-class guest applies to the à la carte restaurant by the beach. The menu there is fantastic — fresh fish, chicken, beautiful Mediterranean salads, and grilled halloumi — all things we love. Sadly, none of it is included in the all-inclusive package. Instead, all-inclusive guests are offered a completely stripped-down menu of about seven basic items. Ironically, one of those items, a club sandwich, isn’t even available unless you pay extra. It’s laughable, and it makes the “all-inclusive” label feel like a complete joke.|||The manager was nice enough to have a chat with us but when I expressed how misleading the all-inclusive offering was, He explained that All Inclusive doesn’t necessarily mean everything on the bar menu’s are included, in reply I mentioned that from multiple previous experiences from 5 star All Inclusive venues that 90-95% would be available apart from a few premium items, he simply shrugged and said “this is how it is”. He did offer us a few complimentary cocktails but missed the point entirely||The Room — Beautiful View, But Smelly and Cramped|We were given a sea-view room on arrival. The view was stunning, but the room itself was small with very limited storage for a small family, and worse — it had a persistent bad smell. We raised it immediately with the bellboy, who advised us to speak with reception.||The issue seemed to be an outdoor drainage problem, as the smell worsened in the afternoons and evenings. To their credit, the manager said we could view a bigger room away from the drainage issue, by the main pool the next morning. ||Room Change Fiasco|The next morning, the runaround began. Reception told us to come back in 30 minutes, then another 30, then an hour. When we finally viewed the room, it was the same size and still affected by the smell and a worse view and no where near where the manager had told us where it would be. Eventually, around 2 PM, we were told to quickly pack and move to a pool-view room. When we asked to view it first, we we got the key but were told to hurry because our old room was needed for new arrivals. After walking to the room and carrying out a brief check, we returned to reception only to be met with a sarcastic remark about how long we’d taken. Unprofessional and unnecessary.||The new room itself was lovely,better located and far more comfortable. I would advise getting a main pool view room, that whole area is very nice. ||Service – Disorganised and Poorly Managed|While most staff are friendly enough, the bar and drinks service is where the resort really falls apart. There are minimal bar staff actually making drinks compared to the number of servers taking orders, and the whole system is inefficient. You can only approach the bar if you’re ordering takeaway drinks; if you try to go up because no waiter has come to your table, you’ll be told to go back and wait for one to come to you. This means you end up having to flag down waiters or actively hunt for them — and it leaves you feeling like you’re being a nuisance just for wanting a drink.||Because of this, the wait for drinks is unusually long, even when the place is quiet. In the main entertainment area — which has the main bar — evenings are particularly bad, with severe delays. Bar staff often appear confused and frustrated, and a couple of the waiters clearly have attitude problems. On one occasion, after poor service, we asked a server for his name, he just laughed and said, “I don’t wear my name tag.” ||The service culture in the bar areas feels disjointed, unprofessional, and badly in need of attention from management.||The main buffet restaurant is a mixed bag. When you can get food fresh, it’s cooked really well and genuinely enjoyable. The problem is the layout — the food hall is small, queues form easily, and by the time it’s your turn, some dishes have been sitting for a while. It was also advertised that men must wear long trousers for the evening meal, something reception reminded me of on arrival. I packed several pairs specifically for this, only to find out it’s not enforced at all. Another attempt to appear “5 star,” but in reality just another gimmick.||The Asian restaurant with a five course set menu was excellent with a beautiful rooftop setting. On arriving at the restaurant we informed the restaurant manager that two of us were vegetarian and the menu was adapted brilliantly. I would strongly advise booking this during your stay. ||Another plus point is the main pool, four large pools around a central island, ample loungers that are spaced well apart makes the area very spacious even at its busiest. ||Mini Bar – Another Letdown|No welcome drink on arrival as advertised and no stocked mini bar on arrival, so after a long day travelling we were left thirsty and hungry. Comically , you have to request your mini fridge to be filled daily by ringing the mini bar service. We did so on the second day, went to the beach for four hours — fridge was still empty when we got back. They restock after 1700hrs so plan ahead||Overall Feel – Cost Cutting at Every Corner|The overall vibe of this place is one of cost-cutting and corner-slashing. They seem to bank on the beautiful location to paper over the cracks. But we’ve stayed in several truly 5-star all-inclusive resorts — Atlantica Aegean Blue (Rhodes), Blue Lagoon (Kos), Liberty Fabay (Dalaman), and Akra Kemer (Antalya) — and Pilot Beach simply doesn’t compare.||Conclusion|If you’re looking for a resort with a lovely beach, main pool and views, Pilot Beach delivers. But if you want a true 5-star, all-inclusive experience with value, service, and quality included — look elsewhere. This is, at best, a 4 star resort pretending to be something far grander. Very...

We have just returned from our family holiday in Crete, at Pilot Beach Resort and we have to be honest that we left feeling disappointed with the stay. ||Expectations are set at the point whereby a hotel and holiday provider give the star rating of a hotel, with Pilot Beach themselves and TUI giving this resort 5, which sadly it certainly isn't. I have learnt from experience that in many countries you have to take a star rating with a pinch of salt but I would say that our stay resembled a 3 star hotel, certainly not 5 star, and barely getting towards 4 star.||The main reason for this is the service level we experienced, specifically the restaurants and bar areas. The majority of the staff in these areas seem overworked, disorganised, unhappy and disinterested, possibly down to lack of staff? The restaurant experience, especially the main buffet felt more like a cafeteria, with no atmosphere and often far too busy. It was difficult to find a table, and often when you did it needed emptying or relaying, then the wait for anyone to realise that you had sat down to take a drinks order varied to the point that we had eaten our mains by the time drinks arrived at one visit. This must be improved, it is certainly no more than 3 star service levels as we experienced it. ||No pool service for drinks was disappointing for a 5 hotel, even moreso when you had to walk to the bar, which wasn't that close depending on where you were sat, to then often wait a while both to be served and for the drinks to eventually be made, again mainly down to lack of staff in my opinion.||The drinks offering on all inclusive was not as extensive as I have experienced elsewhere, specifically in terms of cocktails, with all but 5 from memory being an additional charge. ||I would also read the summary of the restaurants very carefully before booking as we were led to believe that there were various options including 2 A La Carte restaurants and a couple of other options, "the hotel boasts 4 restaurants", however it transpires that there is basically 3 versions of the same buffet, and an A La Carte restaurant that wasn't open in May (not advised until after we had booked). |Main Buffet, aka the Cafeteria, Gialos which is just the same buffet fare as the main restaurant but in another part of the hotel, which you have to book to get a table and Ariadni, aka Lunch Buffet, which again is more of the same buffet style fare, with an Italian corner featuring "Pizza, Pasta and Homemade Gelato", which in reality is a kids corner with one or 2 pizza options, a kids Bolognese and carbonara and tubs of ice cream in a freezer. I feel it was just all very mis advertised and the quality and flavour of the food all very average, albeit with a large amount to choose from.||The rooms were very much "OK", again just nothing special and fairly average, not at all 5. They were not overly clean and we had issues with ants. One day the housekeeping staff took all of our towels and didn't replace them, it was resolved quickly by reception but again just an example of poor service levels. There were areas that felt like they needed maintenance, the entire stay one of only 2 urinals at the pool toilets was out of order, with the door lock broken on the cubicle also. ||The evening entertainment was as expected really for this type of resort, not too bad but nothing special. The main bar area stage usually had some reasonable act on however the area up behind the hotel where some of the evening entertainment was held felt very odd, being so far away from the bar, just a stage and some seats shoved in an area in the trees behind the main hotel complex by the sports areas.||On a positive the Entertainments/Sports team were top class, had great fun with them playing table tennis, aquafit in the pool etc. Although we did not use it for our 11 year old the kids club looked well equipped with a good variety of activities also.||Location was also good, with a nice beach. You can walk into the small town of Georgioupolis in 20 minutes or a 5 euro cab trip, or land train (which the hotel offers but is more expensive than a taxi). There are shops, and plenty of bars and restaurants in the town, as well as boat hire and excursions etc. We were all inclusive but due to the aforementioned issues with food we decided to go into town a number of times to eat. You can also catch the bus to Rethymno or Chania easily from the hotel which were nice to visit. We visited Lake Kourna, a 10 minute land train or taxi from the hotel which was nice to hire a pedalo in the hunt for terrapins (which we did find) and have a drink and bite to eat by the like.||In summary, I feel this hotel needs to improve or lower its star rating. If we had arrived with the expectation, and cost, of a 3 star, maybe even 4 star, we would have been happier and this review would likely have been 4/5, but given it's advertised as 5 we can only rate it average as that is exactly what we experienced. I also firmly believe that the restaurant summary needs more clarity as I feel it is misleading currently. I would recommend half board and go out to eat where possible, we would have done...

Pilot beach aug 2025.|We have visited 14 all inclusive resorts. We don’t revisit as always like something new or look for things that are missing in the next one. Family with 2 teens. Visited with another family with children the same age. I read lots of reviews, videos and tips which really helped to get the most from this hotel. |Positives|Huge positive was number of beds and space between them. 1st day after late arrival we managed to get 8 beds at 11am at one of the smaller pools. We spent most of our time at the main pool but could always get 8 beds and parasols around 9.30ish. Often there were stacked beds available all day. Groups were well spaced out as parasols cannot be moved. |Beach was amazing- soft sand. Lots of beds. Again, beds always available for all of us after lunch in the first few rows. Great for wave jumping, probably a bit rough for small children. |Food- we were really impressed. 3 options for buffet on AI. One large, smaller Greek and bookable but free one at the beach. This was our favourite for the view. Bookable on the app a day or so in advance. Only 1 option at lunch but could get “snacks” from beach restaurant but had to sit in and eat. Not really advertised and staff unsure but more on that later. |Lobster evening was fantastic. Beautiful setting, great service by the warm and friendly restaurant manager. She is excellent. Also went back with the kids for the Asian evening on our last night. Again, bookable on the app and you can see the menus which change on different nights. |Room was always clean. Our cleaner had very good English and checked what times would be suitable. Fresh towels and beach towels. She’d seen some birthday cards in the room and brought my daughter some flowers, us some wine and some soft drinks which was lovely. Bottled water left everyday. The room was quite small for 2 adults and 2 teens. Storage was a problem for 4. The £3k upgrade for the 2nd bedroom was not worth it so we made do. |We didn’t really participate in the activities. Listened to a few of the singers but pool bar extremely busy in the evening with lots of small children and seats all taken by the time we had eaten. We spent evenings at the beach bar. Blonde guy was really helpful, chatty and quick service. Showed an interest in our games, suggested cocktails etc. really great service. |Negatives|Unfortunately, the majority of staff at this hotel seem to have no idea what’s available to guests on AI. We were told 3 times that we couldn’t eat at lunch time in the beach bar/restaurant. Despite there being a snack menu on the app. Even when checked with reception they weren’t sure. Eventually we went in with app and showed the £0 next to the items and were told we could eat there after all. Burgers, gyros etc that is under the snack section on the app are available at the restaurant on the beach. |Nothing was really explained to us. I had read a lot of reviews and picked up tips but staff were unsure. Ice cream available in the far left of Italian corner all day but not really any snacks for hungry teens. |Pool bar drinks were awful. For some reason soft drinks are served from 2 litre bottles that are not cold and the lids left off. Always flat, luke warm as the ice melts so quickly. 2 of us order 8 drinks to takeaway but always had to ask for lids and trays. No one ever offered to take them down. Just not 5. On the odd occasions 1 member of bar staff did walk the pool but you had to flag him down. I think this was 3 times in 12 days. |Wine at dinner was good but again not always chilled. |There were 8 of us and we were happy with 2 tables of 4 but we always felt that despite the same conversation at the same time every breakfast, lunch and dinner there was no thought about making a table of 8 available (just put 2 together) We ate together 4 times in 12 days (36 meals) our children are fine but if kids were younger it wouldn’t have worked. Again, just poor service. |Fitness zone on beach was a field in the sun that everyone walked past. Was looking forward to yoga or Pilates but expected it in an air condition room not full sun in full view. |No bath plug in our room. Asked for one on the app. Received a quick response but never actually received the bath plug.|We paid an extra £2k for 4 for all inclusive. We’re not big alcohol drinkers. Husband said wine and beer were good ( if it was cold) cocktails were hit and miss but only a small selection available on AI. |Overall this is a good 4 With good research and thorough use of the app it was an excellent holiday. Unfortunately, staff knowledge and customer service prevents the 5|Overall, I would recommend the hotel. Lovely setting, lots of space. Staff friendly but just...