Galini Sea View Hotel — Hotel in Municipality of Chania

I'm not a big "review" fan, however, this time I decided to express my deep disappointment in order to help other people to not get fooled like we did. First of all, this is not a 5-star hotel, maximum 3 - I now have noticed that I am not the first person highlighting this fact. On arrival e were not explained anything apart from on which floor our room is and what time they serve food. The room was very tired, it was not clean (see pictures attached) and the all-inclusive package only included 5x small bottles of still water in the fridge. There was a bottle of red wine waiting for us - too bad it was off, literally sparkling. We went for our first lunch (from 12:30 until 14;30). We were the last ones to join at around 14:20 - there was no food left. I took a left-over chicken which was disgusting, cold and tasted awful. No one would bring us water, I am not mentioning any other drinks. On the same day we went to have some dinner. Tables were dirty, blue linen was sticky, all tables available were missing cutlery or tissues (yes, tissues, they give linen napkins only to the first arrivals), no glasses etc. Very understaffed floor, you could see a couple of waiters running around - sometimes you had to wait until the end of your dinner to finally get a glass of water. The best options, such as chicken and some salads were finishing quickly. Re-fill? I don't think so. The empty dishes were swapped with full one within 15-20 minutes. The restaurant was constantly running out of cups for tea or coffee. You had to literary hunt for them. We were offered wine - and how disgusted I was to taste the watered red drinks. Wine was mixed with water and was tasteless! Same with the an apple juice which had this light yellowish color and tasted nothing but water. On the next day I had hair in my cereals, feta cheese was off, there was again no cups so I had my tea in the tumbler. There were supposed to be 3 more a la cart restaurants which apparently were closed during our stay - no mentioning about it either. Coming back to 5x bottles of still water in our room fridge... They eventually finished but were not swapped with new ones, so i went to the lobby and asked for water. "You have to pay" - I was told - "These 5 bottles were complimentary"- this was all-in package as mentioned earlier. I then was asked: "Did you save the empty plastic bottles?" Why, why, why would I do that? Apparently you have re-fill them in the lobby using the water-machine. "You did not mention this when we were checking-in" - I said. "Sorry" - was the answer. Other drinks were only available during breakfast, lunch and dinner (if you are lucky). In the beach-bar though you could get some cocktails which was a chemical and disgusting mix. The lift broke 3 times in 4 days. None of the options in the shower were working. We had to pay extra for using the iron. Pools were dirty. Taxi the hotel was providing was charging more than other taxis. Once we had to share the taxi with other customers - no one asked if we were okay with that -(P.S. the public transport connection was really bad) - so we were charged twice! We were not able to share the total cost with the other people, but had to pay 16 euros each even though one go to the city is 16 euros, so we paid 32 in total. Once we asked to get us one specific place - 10 minutes drive from the hotel. Neither the receptionist, nor the driver knew how to get there and were asking us (!) to help with directions. Gym was filthy, equipment sticky or broken, really messy. The sink was blocked. By the way, the sink in our room smelled so bad like some died down the pipe. I work in hospitality business for long time and normally I am the first one to defend the side of customer service providers. If this was at least 4 starts hotel and less money (we paid really big money for October season) I wouldn't say a word. But this is absolutely not acceptable to advertise yourself as 5-star resort and then provide such a poor service.

Please, do not waste your money and time and look for...

A questionable 5-star rating, more like 3 star. Not value for money. If you are looking for a “luxurious” hotel, look elsewhere. Arrival/Change of rooms Booked for 6 nights. First night - We (family of five) arrive after 11pm). We discovered our two rooms were at two different locations. Mine (grandmother)at a different location short distance by the beach and the rest of the family (father, mother & 2 kids age 6 and 3) situated at the annex on a steep hill with only 1 double bed. Obviously, inappropriate they moved to main building just for the one night. And I was given that room just for the one night. The room was cluttered with worn-out furniture, cats meowing all night and smokers smoking outside the room (am a non-smoker). We were given a big white bag with a cold chip wrapped in white flat bread and one banana. This is the best hotel can offer, a very poor effort. In the morning, we were offered alternative rooms. The first offer, again was inappropriate, the second and final offer was “slightly” better, reluctantly we accepted. At least it was 2 rooms next to each other next to the main building, land view (reception) and long distance view of the sea. Don’t Disturb Sign - Having waited for maintenance to replace four light bulbs, he showed up on day two disregarding the “Do Not Disturb” sign I placed outside the door. I left the room briefly, (I didn’t have a phone in the room), I popped down to the front desk leaving my handbag opened on the bed. There is 3 euro charge per day for safe deposit-box in the room. Instead of waiting my return, he entered the room. He made no apology. I reported the incident to the front desk. They apologise, reassured me that it was contrary to their policy, the matter would be reported to General Manager to discuss with me further. Three days later, I spotted the Manager at reception and spoke with him. I also had to call the banks to report the possibility of my credit cards been compromised. Room - The furniture was outdated and worn out. Drawers not closing. Towel old and dis-coloured. No phone in the room and room not sound proof. The room was dark and dull partly because four light bulbs not working which I reported. On one occasion the room was not cleaned. On our returned at 3pm, reported rooms had not been cleaned, waited around while it was done. Another occasion, it appears it was cleaned but definitely bins not emptied. Bathroom room has issues like smelly, mold. Poorly constructed shower unit causing shower doors not to close and shower floor slopping backwards away from the gutter, as a result having to stand in puddle of water and a very wet bathroom floor. The shower didn’t have any power. Meal/Restaurant - Food bland, tasteless, repetitive and cold. I complained about the cold fries, they took and reheated. Due to the low quality of food, subsequently a lot of food discarded. The restaurant very noisy and crowded. And poor quality snack selection. Activities/family resort - Lack of activities or entertainment for children and adult. Location -Excellent sea view, close to shops and town. Good - Fruits, the view, some of the staff, and wifi This hotel failed to meet my expectation unable to relax. Smokers are everywhere. There are no non-smoking areas. This put me off and a health hazard for me! If you want true 5-star service and comfort, look elsewhere. This is not a...

Let's disregard the fact that this hotel is by no means 5 stars. Upon arrival, you will be greeted with a long wait time at the reception as a single person usually attends the desk. Your first room (we occupied two as a family) smell like mold, the toilet was running, the shower was broken and the chair was unusable. As a change of room was requested which later we found it (from the guests) is quite common, the new room had similar features including 20+ years old mattresses. Also their double bed is really 2 single mattresses put together.

In 2023 (and probably the past 10+ years) internet is pretty common in everyday life. Banking, working, entertainment. Here you will have a 5kb/s access for about 2 mins before get disconnected. That equals to dial up in the early 90s. So forget about any work, streaming or even calls with friends and family unless you use roaming. Running out of hot water in the evening is also an added bonus. You came to relax? Forget about it. The hotel is in a U shape. If you face inside, you will be privileged to listen to all the drunken people scream, yell, and play air hockey at 2 am. By 6 am the stuff will be walking around talking louder than necessary to ensure a prompt wake for the early coffee. We will talk about coffee later. If you face outside, it isnt much better as their in-house transportation will run in circles with the same people ensuring that you can catch a glimpse into others life every 15mins or so.

Food and drinks - Food is worse than in a countryside carvery. By day 2, we eat nothing but breakfast which is mainly some fruits and eggs. Normally, people would grab a fresh juice and/or coffee with their breakfast. Well, the juice you will get is the 10% concentrate version from the cheapest supplier and you get a coffee from a machine that is worse than any coffee I ever tasted. It's a black coloured water. Also, you cannot get proper coffee at this property before 12pm (noon) for whatever reason. Once you can, they charge you 4 EUR for coffee with ice (freddo espresso). Keep in mind, we are at all-inclusive. That being said, going outside and eating to order rather than in a dorm canteen mess, seems obvious.

Getting to the beach with their advertised transport that comes "every few minutes" will usually take you anything between 30 minutes to infinite.

They have a menu in the room, but room service is unavailable, so Im still unsure what it is used for. Also, a 3 EUR per day will be applied if you try to use the safe in the room.

Overall, this is a poor experience. The facilities are just bad. The gym has pieces of equipment that were maintained before the millennia, the lifts have no sensors so your 5 year old can get smashed, and the sun beds are not cleaned properly.

Half the staff are on a school break to make some summer money and care nothing about standards or hospitality. I could try to compare this hotel to any 4 or 5-star hotels I visited before, but it would be an insult to those hotels. This place by no means should be qualified as a hotel.

To sum it up, they charge you a premium price but this place should not be called a hotel. This is a motel or dorm at best where free but poor-quality food and drinks are being provided.

Avoid this place! Take a nice hotel elsewhere and go explore the local restaurants where you get friendly service and...