NEMA Design Hotel & Spa - Adults Only — Hotel in Municipality of Chersonissos

One of the worst hotel I have ever been. The room booked was : Luxury Maisonette with independent Pool. Not the cheapest one ! Supposed to be a lovely place for unwinding and relaxing, but it ended as a true nightmare :

1/ NO PRIVACY : A/ the room is only separated from the other apartment by a convertible wall with an empty space of 3cm x 3meters, so you can hear absolutely everything from the other side. B/ 2/ NO PRIVACY : While in the « independent » pool and sunbathing on the deck, a drone (under the supervision of the general manager, present) was taking pictures or movies of the rooms, making probably a commercial video, making a lot of noise due to its propellers. Where is your privacy ? 3/ NO PRIVACY : Several contractors work in the other rooms and just in front of your room and pool everyday. Cleaning the ground with high pressure water jet, drilling holes in the walls to fix wooden curtain, etc. So, on top of having disturbing works noises, when you are in your independent pool, be sure your lady is also stared by all those workers. 4/ HEALTH & SAFETY : Electric plugs (220V AC) in the bath room is located at 20cm from the water tap, being very dangerous for your own safety and being a breach to European standards. 5/ HEALTH & SAFETY : All staff is wearing a COVI mask, except of course the general manager and the restaurant manager. Bosses are above that… 6/ EQUIPMENT : The independent pool is only « water » independent from the pool of the next room, but you share all the rest : the view, the proximity, the sound, the deck, the intimacy, etc. 7/ EQUIPMENT : The television in your bedroom is just not connected to the network and useless. 8/ QUIETNESS : The swimming pool makes an unbearable noise day and night due to a lack of water in the overflow system. The pump sucks air instead of water. Quite easy to fix : add water in the system, but no one came to do it during the 3 days. 9/ QUIETNESS : the bedroom is equipped with an emergency light just in front of your bed, with a green steady light all night long so bright that it is very difficult to sleep. 10/ QUIETNESS : In case of loss of energy, which happens every night several times between 2AM and 6 AM : first, the emergency light which faces your bed lights up white so bright that a dead man will awake. Second, when the energy comes back after a few seconds, the centralized electric board reinitializes and all the lights of the room switch on (and remain as such), and all curtains open. Impossible to sleep after having been awaken several times in a row like that. 11/ CLEANLINESS : The swimming pool was very dirty and no one during the 3 days was in charge of cleaning it. Result : the water is full of small suspensions and the floor of the pool is more than dirty. 12/ CLEANLINESS : The room is new BUT works have not been finished nor cleaned : remaining painting tapes around the windows, electrical wires wastes lying on the floor (from day 1 to last day !!), tags on bathroom equipment, trace of cement on the walls, etc. 13/ CLEANLINESS : No cleaning of the floor of the room is performed everyday. The room maid has no broom ! Result : dust and dirt on the floor from when we arrived until our departure. You were expecting any special measure for COVID-19 ? 14/ CUSTOMER CARE : A first claim has been made the day of our arrival on 21/07 at 17h to the Guest Relationship. A second the day after to the reception. I asked to talk to the general manager but this gentleman has not accepted to talk to me, hidden in the room behind the reception. Until our departure, nothing has been fixed or solved. The couple next room have experienced the same problems. The reception officer, only person facing customer claims, is nice but has no power to solve problems against management. Poor general management, not daring to respond to customer claims, not taking actions to solve problems, refusing to face customer to at least apologize, forcing to rent whatever...

Reception: Greeted with huge smiles and welcome by potentially back of house staff members as we set our literal first step onto the premises was the sign that we instantly turned toward each other in anticipation of realising we may have found “The One”. Mandrin then appeared and took our luggage with a gentle and genuine want to ignite our arrival. Once in reception we were politely sat down, offered a cold towel and fresh juice and reminded that our holiday starts now! A slightly unorthodox check in process with an online form but swift and seamless nonetheless. With our room requiring a few more minutes to be made perfect Liana (aptly titled “Guest Experience Manager”) invited us for a guided tour to review the facilities and site. Interactions with guests and the Spa Manager were evident as genuine smiles and small interactions were had. After a leisurely lap, we arrived back at reception where we were given our room key and shown to our room!

Room: For reasons of selfishness I want to keep our room number a secret as it is by far one of if not the best room in the hotel. Take the lift to level 2 and the only room on that level and our door was immediately in waiting for us. Now having a well deserved middle aged (45 at the time of writing) preference for a private pool in our room, we are a little accustomed to a wow factor whenever we arrive but this became another level. The decor is amazing, dark but with accented lighting make for a cross between a cave and minimalist art gallery. Topped off with a full width balcony and full French doors, we were ecstatic with the privacy we kept our fingers crossed for! Liana provided a full tour of the facilities and if I could make a recommendation it would be to listen to how to operate the touchscreen lights and Aircon. Figured it out in the end but one to watch. The pool beds are best in class, firm enough to hold your drinks but comfy enough to lose an afternoon sleeping on. Heated pool, room service, wine fridge and minibar fridge actually big enough to fit a litre bottle of Gin and 4 large bottles of water in. Silent AC. Clean crisp space with slippers, washing products galore, plenty of wardrobe space and huge bed (me 6ft1 and my feet were well on the bed).

Food: Self proclaimed buffet snobs, we did recoil at the fact this was our only inclusive option but from the layout, the personal touches, the boutique feel and variety this was no ordinary buffet. Always a glabal themed night but never excessive and still managed to retain a Cretan essence. The wine selection looked small but well thought out, our experience in May meant it wasn’t heaving and we always had a choice of seating inside or out.

Communal Areas: The Pool, amazing, Sofa beds amazing, 4 poster lounge beds…now they’re just showing off! Again amazing. All coupled with a service team who remained attentive and friendly.

Verdict: You have to be super critical in order to score this place any less than 11/10. Couple that for half the money for an island of the Stella type, you won’t get close to this service, finesse or execution. Thank you a million times over to staff and especially the manager who has created an incredible customer...

Such a wonderful and relaxing stay, would absolutely stay at the hotel again. We had an independent pool and it was glorious. Our room had the sun until about 11:30/12 but that’s mostly enough and you can easily head down to the main pool for a bit more sunshine. Room was smaller than it looked on the photos but the pool area with the room was probably bigger than expected - we spent a lot of time out there in the evening playing cards and just enjoying being outside, hugely recommend. Definitely keep an eye out for mosquitos though, but not the hotel’s fault - we think we even found a plug-in on the final day in the room so look in bedside drawers in case there’s one hidden that can save you!

The staff were all brilliant and genuinely made you feel welcomed every single day (or every time you walked past!). Femke in particular was wonderful and lovely. Even from check-in, it immediately set the tone for the stay. Some minor miscommunications over a dinner booking and taxi ordering, but never felt like a problem for the staff to resolve, they just fixed it seamlessly.

The whole hotel has a really relaxing, modern, and luxury feel. Even when there is music at the main pool it’s quiet enough to be nice background noise and not overpowering, all the guests were also really respectful and fairly quiet. A lot of the lighting is subdued and helps set a really calming mood.

We had a 40 minute massage plus 15 minute facial each with Ina and Juenda and they were wonderful. The spa manager, Joanna, was also lovely and friendly and helped sort us out with some great options. Definitely recommend booking in the spa at the start of your stay to get the relaxation truly started!

Only thing that let us down a little bit was the buffet dinner. The options weren’t extensive for vegetarians and some of the food labelled vegetarian definitely had ham/meat in it, so watch out if you have strict dietary needs. However, always found a couple of things to eat so it wasn’t an issue as such, and it was nice to have themed nights with some stock options every night. Also surprised that drinks (even just water) wasn’t included in the dinner. But the pastry chef needs a raise, desserts were always incredible and breakfast was delicious.

Local area really doesn’t have too much to do so consider day trips out. The local town also seems to not have that many places open for lunch and most shut on Tuesdays we found. Volkano (Italian) and Mam (comfort food) were both great and Taverna Souvles was bizarrely cheap (€5 gyros) but tasty! When you see the other hotels in the area too, it just makes this one look like it’s on a completely different level, truly feels luxurious.

Overall, would stay in this hotel or a sister hotel again in a heartbeat, the staff are a true credit to the hotel. Would just look for a slightly busier location where there are more food options or hotel dinner to cater better for veggies. Really I’d give this...