ELITE CITY RESORT — Hotel in Municipality of Kalamata

Beware of staying at this hotel - we believe they are doing a "bait and switch" scheme double booking rooms. You may not get the room you reserved and will be lied to by staff. We booked a sea view suite 4 months in advance. Upon arrival (after waiting over 45 minutes just to be spoken to by someone at the front desk) we were told they had "upgraded" us to a larger room with our own pool. The "upgrade" was not in the main hotel, it was actually in the back of the property with a view of the parking lot and a small, shallow wading pool that was looked down on by other units. We declined the "upgrade" and asked for the sea view room we booked. The Reservation Manager told us the room was no longer available and gave the excuse that we had not paid the deposit even though we had provided all of the necessary credit card information to them as required when we booked the room months before (they later acknowledged this was their fault, not ours). We told them again we want the room that we booked. Next, the Reservation Manager gave the excuse that the air conditioning was not working in that unit and therefore we could not stay in it. We asked to see the room and she refused to show us. A front desk employee later confirmed that there was nothing wrong with the air conditioning and that they had in fact given the room to someone else. We later saw people on the balcony of the room we were supposed to be in. After over 3 hours of wasted precious vacation time waiting, hearing the Reservation Manager's repeated lies and excuses & viewing other inferior rooms, they gave us 2 separate rooms in the main hotel because they did not have one room large enough to fit us (2 adults, 1 child & luggage). One small room had a double bed and the TINY room next door had a single bed. The rooms were not adjoining and we did not feel secure as we had to sleep separately. Also, as we were waiting at the front desk to check in we watched them offer similar "upgrades" to 2 other parties and encountered yet another family on the property who had the same experience as us. We were supposed to stay at Elite for 5 nights but because of the horrible experience we left the next day and went up the coast to the W at Costa Navarino which was excellent and surpassed all expectations. Do not waste your time at Elite City Resort - there is nothing special about this place and there is a good chance you will experience the same...

Update - Sept 2023 On our third stay since last year, and once again, we have been very happy and pleased with the service received by all the staff in all areas. Starting from the welcoming reception team, the staff at the breakfast & restaurant area, the housekeeping staff and of course the hotel Manager Mr Kleidonas. We thank you for your warm hospitality and appreciate the Filoxenia at your wonderful hotel. We truly feel at home. (Below is our previous review from last year).

We would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation for the wonderful hospitality (true Greek Filoxenia), we received by members of your staff, on our recent stay at your wonderful hotel.

We really enjoyed the beautiful grounds which offer you a view as if you are in a village, the gardens surrounding the hotel, the feeling of being welcomed by all the staff members, the large pool area and the comfortable sunbeds, the lay out of the hotel lobby and restaurant area, as well as the close proximity to the amazing beach of Kalamata. We felt as if we were at home, but away at the same time. The location of the hotel is ideal for those who like to be close to the beach and the town at the same time. There is ample of parking space for everyone as well, if you are visiting by car.

The staff are outstanding with their customer service skills, very attentive, courteous, welcoming, polite, and offered us great hospitality. We can't thank them enough for their attentive service, effort and true "filoxenia". They definitely stand out when compared with other hotels in the area, and show a great way of what excellent customer service is all about. With this kind of a wonderful service that we received; it makes us want to come back for another holiday at some point in the future. Full credit to the general manager of the hotel and his wonderful team. Well done to all of you !

This was our fifth time in Kalamata, but the first time in your hotel. Having stayed elsewhere, we know that the Elite City Resort is the hotel, which we would definitely choose to come back again, for all the above...

Awesome rooms (I was staying in one of the villas), great breakfast and dinner buffets - superb selection of food and wonderful outside patio seating area overlooking the beach while you eat. Was very impressed with the overall cleanliness of the resort area, the staff was so very accommodating and helpful (especially the front desk). The pool was really bumping during the daytime and had some fun things going on there with DJ's and so on. They also have an underground pedway to get to the beach on the other side of Navarinou road which is quite busy with traffic. I really appreciated the pedway because the number of times that I almost got smushed by a moped while trying to cross that road in other places was a few too many times. Overall nice location, great food, great staff, awesome view, awesome facilities and lots of cats all over the place :) The only real complaints would be the proximity to certain things. Since the Navarinou road is one big hotel strip along the beach there are a lot of hotels nearby, but the closest grocery store is about a 15 minute walk and there isn't really a pharmacy anywhere near here, you have to take a taxi to Kalamata proper if you need medicine. And also with regards to proximity, there is a fairly loud open air nightclub down the road from the hotel (Please Don't Tell) that plays some loud music into the night on the evenings that they are open - but they aren't open every night and I thought the music was alright so I didn't mind. You couldn't hear it in the rooms, but you could hear it blasting when you were outside. But in my opinion, everything else that this place offers really makes up for those...