Gaia Palace Hotel — Hotel in Municipality of Kos

definitely an interesting experience…. (PLEASE READ!!!!!) NOT A 5 STAR!!

Me and my fiancé spent our first holiday away together at Gaia palace for 7 days.. the hotel itself is nice, very quiet as we went in may, nice clean environment, lots of variety of sunbeds, shaded bed areas, but we werent thrilled with the actual experience within the stay. First off we arrived at about 12:30AM, had to pay the tourist tax straight away which cost €15 per night for just 2 people which was an absolute joke especially after reading some of the reviews which said they only paid €4 per night, we arrived to the room absolutely knackered ready for some sleep only to find the bed SOAKING wet, it took them ONE HOUR! To come round and give us fresh clean bedding. We knew that they definitely knew the cleaners put on wet bedding as the porch door was left open so it would dry off by the time we arrived .. which meant there were loads of ants and spiders now roaming the room. The receptionist told my partner who complained twice , once about the bedding and secondly to complain about how long it was taking to which he responded “it’s a bad time”. We also had to change it ourselves as apparently there was no one around to help.

The room and shower itself was clean and spacious but the first night the shower completely broke so they had to then come and resolve that problem.

For 5 nights we were both woken up at about 6am sometimes earlier to the cleaners literally just chilling outside our apartment door laughing, talking really loud and slamming things which wasn’t pleasant at all especially since once someone steps out of their room you can hear everything and quite annoying to say the very least. We also had one experience where the cleaner knocked on the door once but we weren’t sure if it was our door as the walls and door itself are quite thin, my partner went to get up and she just walked in saw me in my bikini and just said “okay” and walked back out … The food is very naff and repetitive, the same exact thing down to fruit is served every morning for breakfast, mostly always cold- I’m pretty sure the only thing that was changed was the filling in the omelets they served. Lunch and dinner is pretty much always the same except on Thursday is Greek night and they serve gyros. And we had an “Italian” night on Monday which was just a different assortment of pasta and doughy pizza . The salads they served were the exact same everyday which was dry old looking salads, dry cucumber, a lot of cheese and deli meat assortment and bread, fruit and veg were often very dry and repetitive , not a lot variety in terms of meat- mostly fish, chicken or beef which was dry most of the time We woke up pretty much every morning with quite a poorly tummy which could also be a result of the pure sugar drinks -

The drinks are shocking. If you don’t pay for the “ultra all inclusive” you are served basically syrup with a-load of off brand alcohol. Very sugary and sickly off brand ‘coke’ and ‘lemonade’. Cocktails are served between 6-9pm and you only get a choice of three unless you want to pay to have one earlier or a different choice - which is just ridiculous for an ‘all inclusive hotel’ . The drinks are incredibly strong and sickly after about 2 of them.

There are two onsite little shops which serve branded drinks and snacks which is nice but when you pay for an all inclusive I feel it should be a case of you still get decent quality drinks.

I must also point out the hotel is in the middle of nowhere! Just surrounded by 2 other hotels, and cow fields, there is a bus stop at the top of the road but I’d suggest getting there early as the buses were rammed by lunch time. The beach is nice- we didn’t actually use the beach bar but there were a lot of sunloungers when we went to watch the sunset. It’s only a short walk passing the “Zoo” which absolutely stank. We didn’t go in as we heard ALOT of bad things being said about it and didn’t want to...

Spent 12 nights here and despite some positives, would definitely not return. Anyone rating this hotel 5 stars has not been to a proper 5 star all inclusive resort!||First biggest issue is that all inclusive does not mean all inclusive!!! You only get the cheap off brand drinks, which are terrible!! Watered down, flat and sugary. Wine is terrible and bottled water not included!!! Absolutely NOT 5 star in any sense of the word. I'm assuming they rate it as such to charge the higher tourist tax fee, which is a rip off.||Second biggest issue is the food. As vegetarians, there was very limited options and dishes were not labelled well. Basically lived on salad, chips & bread. If you were vegan you would starve. Hot dishes were luke warm at best. All food and drink at buffet self service and the area is far too small for amount of guests, some of whome were just plain feral! We met a few other British couples who all said the same thing, so they paid to get a taxi and eat out every evening!!! If you do eat meat, be aware that it will be the cheapest, lowest welfare meat available. Often ran out of glasses or glasses were very warm. Not one member of staff asked how meal was! Clearly they are worried about the answer. You also have to walk through whole lobby to get funneled into restaurant, no access from outside and only 1 toilet! Not well thought out at all. I suspect this is so the spa staff can continue their hassel of trying to get you to buy a massage.||Had a standard room which was spacious and had a nice balcony, however, walk in shower leaked so badly that water ran out the front door. Safe did not work. Neither issue was sorted by reception. Also distinct lack of storage! Only 2 small drawers and 7 hangers in wardrobe. Only a sheet in the bed. Thin tog duvet would have been much better. AC worked well.||Pool areas were nice and clean. We spent more time around the smaller pool as there was almost constant extremely loud music around the main pool. We just wanted to relax and read. No toilets near smaller pools. You have to pay a deposit for pool towels. Each time we went to get fresh ones we were told none available. ||Entertainment was not great. Had to pay if you wanted to do bingo or even to use the mini golf! |The Greek night was ok, except food very limited for us. The next day we were accosted going into breakfast by the photographer who took pictures on Greek night. She handed us the photos and said "these are yours" then said " oh but they are not free" handed them back and said not to worry then and she got stroppy and gave me a dirty look. |Biggest disappointment was that they had a "mini zoo" didn't go in as we actually love animals and they should not be exploted in this way. Even from outside you could see they had zero enrichment and enclosures were tiny. Review would have been 3 stars if not for this.||Beach was ok, but sunbeds very uncomfortable. You had to pay for a comfortable one. Drinks also not free. ||Wifi not great, kept dropping out.||You are made to wear a very tacky plastic bracelet to decern what type of "all inclusive" you have. The ultra all inclusive doesn't even include everything, so be aware!! ||Best days we had were the ones where we hired a car and went out to other beaches and went snorkeling. Paradise beach was the best one! The old fort near army base also definitely worth a visit, especially at sunset. Unfortunately the toilets there are not maintained! The lady who helped us with car hire was very helpful!||Bar staff were great. Very entertaining and friendly and got to know you very quickly. Reception and restaurant staff hit and miss. Cleaning lady was lovely. ||This resort could be soooo much better if they stopped trying to rip you off at every turn and offered better food & drink options. AI...

Reception staff quite abrupt and later found to be quite rude when asking for help, waving arm saying ‘ I don’t know and can’t help you’ were common responses.|Lovely room, nice and spacious, hotel was clean and grounds well kept. Plenty of sun beds and pools. Secluded and quiet however it is not a 5Star resort or an ALL INCLUSIVE package, that is unless you pay an additional 25e per person per day! That would add an additional 500e to our 10day stay. We only found this out when we went to the bar and asked for a sparkling wine and was told by the barman. The white wine was warm and served with ice, the red wine was ice cold, mixers were flat and tasteless. So many people walking around the hotel with their own drinks/ mixers from the local supermarket.|If you are ultra inclusive you can get a small bottle of water otherwise you get a plastic cup of water. Drinks pretty tasteless. Cocktails are served at set times but you have to have what they offer between these times, you’re out of luck if you do not like one of the 3 options.|Additionally if you want a martini you have to pay extra on top of your ultra inclusive package!!|But a bell rings at the pool bar 12plys times a day giving out free ouzo shots, so your lucks in if you like ouzo ( didn’t matter what package your on either)|The restaurant was ok- each day looked for a laid table and had to ask for either cutlery or wait for a clean plate, frequently ran out, this included glasses, it was all self service no one ever came around and checked how your meal was.|On the website it states men to wear trousers and a shirt for dinner- there was no enforcement of this and people were wearing anything.|On the walk to the beach we passed by the zoo with reindeers, it stunk!|The beach looked nothing like the photos. You have to pay for a sun bed like the ones around the pool otherwise you need to find a metal framed one for free. |We spoke to many guests who advised not to go to the beach of an evening as the sand flies bite! We saw some terrible bites and didn’t go back.|The gym was ok however, no water, no towel or sanitiser reported this daily to reception. The saunas were never turned on. The aqua class was fun, Kesia the instructor is a great asset to the fun factor of the hotel.|Evening entertainment was a quiz, Karaoke or bingo at 10e per sheet. Thursdays Greek night with dancing which was good and Greek food which was nice.|Overall very disappointing with package, service, and quality of food |and drink|Shout out to Alexis and Kesia but...