White Olive Marine Aquapark — Hotel in Municipality of Kos

This review has been a long time coming, but you know what it's like coming back home to reality! Excuse me in advance for the length of it, but I wanted to cover all bases.||||We (2 adults, 1 child) stayed at the White Olive back in August for 2 weeks. When we initially booked it, we had faith from the good reviews here on Trip Advisor that it was decent, however when joining Facebook groups, we slowly began to worry whether this was a good idea. ||||When we arrived, our first impressions were exceeded and we knew from there on that we need not worry. The reception staff went above and beyond for us, and customer service was brilliant. We were took to our room on a caddy, which was really extraordinary to us and quite person-centered (I mean, everyone is taken on a caddy, but it is better than being made to lug 20+kg suitcases across the resort with a child in tow). ||||The room:||||We booked the superior double room, which was to absolute perfection and exceeded our expectations. It was not a double room with a bathroom attached, but one main bedroom, and another room with a sofa bed leading to the bathroom - they were huge! The bed was massive, and the interior is to a very high standard. The room had everything you needed for your stay, including toiletries in the bathroom, a HUGE wardrobe, a hairdryer, a fridge, a kettle (if needed, although we did not use it) and plenty of towels. The air conditioning was amazing and the perfect treat when coming back to the room. The balcony was appropriately spacious and equipped. Could not fault a single thing about the room.||||There were some issues with the shower, but realistically, what do you expect when there are 500+ guests all trying to shower at the same time? This often was the case from 6pm when the pools closed, so everyone is collectively taking a shower at the same time. Some people may deem this as grounds for complaint, which I saw much of in the Facebook group, but honestly, live and let live.. just leave earlier and take a shower when pressure is much higher and temperature a bit more consistent. We would not say that this affected our holiday AT ALL, and is not even worth mentioning, but I wanted to mention as people will inevitably complain about this in their review.||||We did have a small issue with bird poop outside our door, however the domestic staff were prompt at cleaning this up, but to be honest, what more can you do? Birds poop, and you cannot control where they do their business. We read that some people could hear the birds on the roof, but we could not hear this at all. The cicadas were probably the loudest creature, and even so, what can you do about that? It did not affect our holiday in any way. ||||Our room was cleaned regularly, with towel changes every day. We would have made use of this every day, but did not feel like we needed a full room clean that regularly over our 2 week stay, especially as we are a clean-as-you-go family anyway. The domestic staff were extremely lovely and friendly, and always said hi to us whenever we passed them!||||Restaurant:||||We had mixed opinions on the restaurant to be honest, but not for reasons that others have mentioned. We felt mainly positive.||||The food was absolutely amazing. If you are a beige food person, you are probably not going to feel fulfilled.. but, at the end of the day, you are in Greece! There are beige foods available, but probably not as much as you would get in Spain for example, who often host English guests. As a family that eats food similar to Greek food at home, this truly felt like a home from home experience for us. There was plenty to choose from, enough that chips were not warranted for us, apart from our child (which I would say is quite a worldwide child food item, ha!). Fresh, tasty salad - again, giving us a home from home experience as we are from SE Europe. The highlight of the salad was the white cheese, and the tzatziki - which is something to die for. I am sure that we consumed more tzatziki more than anyone else while we were there. ||||There are themed nights which were all well enjoyed by my family. There are multiple stations, 2 of which are the same, but I think that it is set out that way as to not cause too much congestion in one area. Everything is regularly refreshed. There is an entire dessert station with 4 sides, and a few ice cream stations. We just could not complain with what was on offer, and you can tell that it is truly well thought out by those above. ||||Breakfast was really fulfilling. We do not eat pork, so there were no meat options for us, but we were satisfied with the options available. A veggie sausage might be something to consider, but nevertheless, we were still content. ||||The restaurant staff, WOW, absolutely deserve a pay rise for the extreme effort they put into everything. We have never stayed anywhere where the tables are turned around so quickly. This contributes to the overall efficacy of restaurant flow, and you are not waiting for long at all to be seated. There can sometimes be a queue to the restaurant at breakfast and dinner, but this goes down super fast and we had never waited more than a couple of minutes. We saw some complaints about these queues, which we could not understand. The people that work in the restaurant are human beings. You will have to wait for something at some point in your life, regardless of who you are, or where you are - this just is not worth feeling some way about. The staff who man the door to the restaurant (such beautiful souls) are super friendly, always greeting you with a smile, and often high-fived my son, which just felt really person-centred. ||||The only downside to the restaurant/food experience, which is nothing on the hotels part, is the behaviour of the people in it. There are often children going to get their own food (I am all about encouraging independence in children, but there comes a limit), who have no idea what they are doing. I witnessed children dishing out food and putting the spoon INTO the food, often resulting in super hot spoons; using one spoon for multiple foods; dropping the spoons on the floor and putting them back; and jumping the queues with their child privilege. Come on parents! If you are not confident that your child can get their own food without disrupting others' experience, then that might be an indicator that you should be supervising them, regardless of their age. I will not put it all onto the children, as I also saw this behaviour in adults too, but adults have a choice in their behaviour, children more likely not. ||||I would maybe say that a one way system would be beneficial, but thinking about its implementation, I do not think that it would even be effective, as people would inevitably ignore it and do what they wanted anyway. ||||Overall, our restaurant/food experience was mainly positive. ||||Bar/snack bar/drinks station:||||The snack bar was great for what it was. Food cooked freshly and to perfection. There was usually some sort of meat (either chicken/beef/pork), fish, chips, pizza, bread, and a range of salad on offer. We found pork to be the most occurring meat, which often meant that we did not utilise eating meat at the snack bar, so instead we were able to have pizza, chips and salad. It would be great if there were more days of different meat as it was more like 5 days of pork, 1 day of chicken, and 1 day of beef. We are quite aware that pork is a widely eaten meat in Greece, so we did take this with a pinch of salt, but it would be great to have other options more available. The pizza was great! Chips were great too. Inevitably, I come back to the point about unsupervised children. Children were taking full pizzas and emptying the chip tray, often dropping them all everywhere. They most of the time jumped the queue, which can get pretty long, and makes the wait time even longer. All I say is shame on the parents for endorsing it, and not teaching your child to queue up like everybody else. Another observation was that I often saw people picking out the white cheese from the salad, which I somewhat get, I love white cheese too, but a full plate of white cheese so that there is none for everyone else is just pure selfishness. I would maybe suggest a bowl of white cheese alone like there is in the restaurant. On a positive note, the staff at the grill were extremely lovely and worked their hardest to ensure the snack bar was fully stocked.||||The bar staff for drinks were very efficient. The drinks themselves were not bad, and are as expected for an all inclusive resort. Some were inevitably sweet, but the ice soon watered these down and made them more drinkable, and I guess it depends what your sugar tolerance level is. They had a good range of mocktails, which were well appreciated.||||The drinks station was passable. The soft drinks were not bad at all really considering they are locally sourced rather than branded. There is a water point which is lovely and cold. There is a hot drinks machine/station as there is in the restaurant. There is beer, and 3 choices of wine. We did not have the beer, but the wine was not bad. I think it depends on how seasoned you are in wine drinking, and the quality of what you usually drink. If you want better quality wine, buy it from the bar. Otherwise, everything is completely drinkable and not watered down. The staff who manned the drinks station were so efficient in keeping the place spotless. Unfortunately, on one occasion, I saw 2 children throwing and messing about with the staffs cleaning rag, dropping it onto the floor and standing all over it. Now in this situation, I made sure that they were aware that they were not invisible, but most of all, considered why they thought it was acceptable to act in such a way. Please watch your children.||||If I could suggest anything to improve the drink situation, it would be the use a reusable cup system. I reckon that it would be well appreciated, a lot more eco-friendly, and possibly more cost-effective. The amount of plastic that is used is huge. We tried to tackle this by reusing our cups and straws, but others did not have the same mindset as us. I have seen somewhere that reusable cups were a thing previously, so what happened to prompt the shift to plastic must have been significant. Possibly low cup turnover, thus affecting the availability of cups? Maybe reusable cups could be reinstated, with cleaning stations for people to clean their cups throughout the day, saving them from having to be cleaned continuously in the kitchen throughout the day. I do like to stay open-minded, so understand that this decision was not taken completely lightly or easily.||||Wave pool & surrounding areas:||||The wave pool was such a hit! The waves came by on the hour for 5-10 minutes and was well appreciated by everybody, including small children. Otherwise, the pool itself is one that gradually gets deeper - I think it goes up to 1.8-2m? I cannot remember too much. I never went more than my tip toes could take me, ha! Getting inside the pool is a bit slippery, so I would definitely supervise children, or wear pool shoes. I guess when everyone is wearing some sort of sunscreen or oil, that this builds up, inevitably causing some slippiness. Some people reported the pool being dirty, but we did not really see this to be honest. On a microbiological level, a pool can never be completely sterile/clean when people are in it, so I think complaining about uncleanliness is such a grey area. Showers are there for a reason too. If there was ever any incident in the pool (or any), the pool was always closed and cleaned appropriately. A downside to the wave pool I would say is the high walls, which are obviously in place for a reason (for the waves to not flood the sunbed area) as you cannot watch your children while you sit on the sunbed, so it is an all-or-nothing situation. This could maybe be tackled by having a level swimming pool, but it is an aquapark at the end of the day, so it is just a matter of choosing your battles. ||||The surrounding areas unfortunately were a bit of a let down, although still usable. There were usually enough sunbeds, so we cannot complain about that, however the cleanliness of the surroundings themselves were not great. The tables were often drink stained, as well as the sunbeds. I am well aware of human factors when it comes to these things, so do understand that the job of ensuring these are clean is tedious, especially considering the number of sunbeds and tables in the resort, however, I do think that more attention could be given to this. Another thing is the floor material. On the side of the pool that we sat on, there was a huge well-aged rip in the floor which does not really look presentable. Perhaps a different material of flooring might combat the lack of durability. I did mentally consider material substitutes during my sunbathing episodes, and understand that this material was effective at preventing slips and falls. I would recommend wearing some form of sandal/slider when walking across this, as your feet will absolutely collect sand and other debris on the bottom, but I guess you would do that anyway. Overall the sunbed areas were not the end of the world, but could do with a little more attention. People staying at the resort could play a part in its cleanliness by actually cleaning up after themselves. From what we could see, we were the only people around us that actually took their cups and rubbish away with them. Other people allowed them to be blown over by the wind and halfway across the area - them blowing away is going to happen, but the carelessness and lack of responsibility behind not picking them up after is crazy to me. I guess we all have different values. ||||Aqua park:||||Absolutely not a bad word to say about the aqua park. There are a range of slides to choose from, and the pool at the bottom is not deep at all, so is perfect for children without the requirement of an adult to catch them at the end (of course this would depend on the age and height of your child, and their swimming capability. Our son loved the slides, and the queues for them quickly went down. We found that the lifeguard manned this appropriately and safely, ensuring that only one party went down at one time. Overall, a great feature of the resort that works well. ||||Outdoor toilets:||||Outdoor toilets were what they were. They were attempted to be cleaned regularly, and were clean when they were. They are of course used a lot, so can get dirty quite quickly. I do not want to be bringing the topic of children back up again because independence and all of that, but I found that children often did not flush the toilet, urinated all over the floor/seat, did not wash their hands, and jumped the queue to the toilets. Not the end of the world I guess, but it is not great splashing in other people's urine, or having to clean up someone else's urine spills from the seat. Something highlighting to me was the toilet tissue in the bin situation. The sign could not be any more clearer than it was, which stated that tissue cannot be flushed and must be binned. Often the toilet was plugged up with tissue, which is completely disrespectful to those that clean it because I imagine that there is only one way it can come out (!!!). Overall, a typical toilet experience when people are dripping with pool water, and there are unsupervised children - no fault of the hotel.||||Gelataria:||||We only bought ice cream from the gelataria, and only a few times, but it was really good. Of course when we visited, it was usually in excess of 35 degree heat so the ice cream inevitably melts quicker than usual, but that is typical. The prices were fair, and the scoops were generous! We heard that the waffles etc were really nice too, but we do not have much of a sweet tooth as a family so never bought these things. If you did not want to pay for ice cream, which makes sense considering it is an all inclusive resort, ice cream can be obtained inside the restaurant free of charge during meal times. We never did this, but it is an option.||||Outdoor sports:||||My husband utilised these the most and really enjoyed the routine of AM and PM volleyball, making lovely connections while he was there. He only played this so I cannot comment on anything else, but he was satisfied with this, and it was good way to stay active on an all inclusive holiday which is usually a sedentary experience. ||||Daytime entertainment: ||||Daytime entertainment is fair, with aquagym in the wave pool, which everybody got involved in. Sometimes, the African acrobats performed at the wave pool, which was really entertaining. It would have been nice to have some water sports, such as water polo/walk the plank sort of thing, but I suspect that the uneven flooring in the wave pool is a factor in this. I am not usually a daytime entertainment fanatic, so this was not a huge inconvenience for me, but would definitely be a beneficial addition as they are also fun to watch!||||Evening entertainment:||||Evening entertainment consists of kids mini disco, followed by family entertainment. ||||Kids mini disco usually started at 8:30pm until 9pm, which was hugely interactive for children. It is repetitive, but also allows the chance for the children to learn the dances themselves. I may have enjoyed soco, bate, vira a little too much, I still burst out randomly into it during my days at home, ha! My son is usually quiet, but he really came out of his shell during mini disco. He loved meeting the dressed up shark, cat, and there was something else, but I cannot remember. Unfortunately again, bringing up the factor of children - the children were often playing on the stage despite several annoucements not to, shining red laser pens at the animation team as well as other guests, and just not supervised appropriately. It really does ruin it for everybody. Who buys a child a laser pen??? I also have no idea why parents are not teaching their children to listen. It just shows complete disrespect to the animation team and other guests. Overall, the mini disco is adequate and really fun. ||||The family entertainment starts at 9:30pm is switched up every night, usually with Sunday being a short performance due to the animation team (deservingly) resting that day. There is a variety, including karaoke, quiz night, Greek night, Michael Jackson performance, Mr/Miss Hotel and acrobatics. I think that they are pretty entertaining, especially the quiz night and karaoke. The animation team try so hard to keep the entertainment engaging and fun, and Shannon who was the one that led these shows is absolutely perfect for her role! She has such a beautiful character and personality, and is an asset to White Olive and her animation company. We loved Greek night, which was pretty engaging as our cultures dance is similar to the Greek dance. Unfortunately, Greek night was not a popular night with people leaving left right and centre, so me and my husband took it upon us to clap and cheer for the entertainers to lift their spirits a bit. We realise that everything is not going to be to everyone's taste, but it does not take much effort to show support to these hardworking people. Overall, we enjoyed the entertainment, enough that we felt like we were cheating if the thought of doing something else that evening came by us. ||||The grounds:||||The grounds themselves were maintained well and always clean. Sprinklers are often on to keep the grass fresh, and it was successful as it always looked so.||||We did not use the adult pool (due to having a 4 year old in tow) or the beach (mainly due to the rockiness at the start, strength of waves and the instant depth, however my husband was a daily user) so cannot comment much on these.||||I could write more, however my characters are coming to the end, ha! We loved our time at White Olive and would absolutely return! Thank you for a...

Stayed here for 7 days from 6th may to 13th may 2025, all we wanted from this holiday was a lazy relaxing time no sight seeing etc Just someone else doing the cooking, cleaning and entertaining and that is what we got So my review is going to be done with positives and negatives lists.||Positives: |1/ All the staff are very friendly and accommodating the manageress is supper efficient in her job and a big shout out to the bar man Panos on the adult pool bar he is a credit to the hotel I think he has been there 15 years. Also the guy that takes you to your rooms with our bags and back if needed on the golf buggy really helpfully and very professional.||2/ Our room was perfect a very spacious two room apartment looking out to the sea amazing views room very modern and looked brand new everything worked perfectly had aircon ( Just remember to keep you door closed when air con on or it will try its self off ) a tv in both rooms. A 2lt bottle of water provide on 1st day only. Has complementary hand wash, shower gel, and shampoo tea coffee making facilities . Cleaners came in every other day no issues with them. Bedding spotless including the duvets bed very comfortable inner pillows felt new, showers were not the very hot could have been better. Our room was very quite no issues there.||3/ All 4 pools are very well maintained and supper clean even though they are cold but you soon warm up. The slides don't actually look much BUT don't be fooled they are very good you fly down them quite fast, but the depth of the pool is very very shallow I am 8 stone and my bum hit the bottom. However they are great fun. The adult pool is just far enough away from all the action and it has the best sunbeds with supper soft padded cushions ,Wave pool comes on ever 30 mins for 10 mins lovely big pool.||5/ Snack bar always plentiful you can see them cooking everything fresh from fish to kebabs etc the pizzas are a big hit we enjoyed this more than the food in the restaurant. see further down||6/ Beach the one in front of the hotel is very Stoney but has clear water you will need water shoes, and there are free loungers and umbrellas. But if you turn left and work about 5 mins you will come to a lovely sandy beach. There is also a very long walk you can go on along the beach next to the beach set back is dirt track I did walk it but not all the way, ||7/The gym has lots of equipment but no dumbbells or barbells ( most people that workout nowadays use dumbbells ) and its very small not enough floor space to do any thing, plus you feel like your in a gold fish bowl as its has 3 glass walls great view but everyone can see you working out. So I did not use it. How ever if your a runner the whole complex is on one level and has plenty of path ways.||8/ The bar attached to the snack bar was never over crowded but it was early in the season staff on here were super friendly and were up for a laugh, the drinks were pretty good we had no complaints with them .||9/ I Believe it has new owners and as the week went on more and more things seem to being added built and openned on the last day we saw a out side covered entertainment area being filled with arcade games, and pool tables seating area and I think another bar area, it also looked like to kids play area and mini club was being up dated. There is another bar on top of the restaurant it was not open when we was there but it was being set up ready for the next lot of guest with all brand new furniture being delivered this looked amazing and was massive I am sure it will be a massive asset to the hotel the view from here was 360 degree's amazing, but it is a roof top bar so open to the weather||10/ There is a luggage room, you can hire towels with a returnable deposit and change as many times as you like, safe in the room with returnable deposit , Right next door is a buggy bike hire centre. There is a onsite shop that sells most things, No atm you have to walk to next hotel for that about 15 mins walk away on a busy road with no foot path but its a pleasant walk in evening.||11/ Its in middle nowhere but we new that there's nothing around it other than a small shop cafe garage place 5mins walk away and another hotel 15mins away, nearest town is a short cab drive of about 10mins well worth visit a bit to far to walk it ,but this really did not bother us we new this before we booked it.||Because its on the beach front it is very windy.|| NIETHER NEGATIVE NORE POSTIVE INBETWEEN ||9/ The food is typically of nearly all inclusive hotels its cooked very well and you wont go hungry there is plenty of choice regarding salads, fruit, vegetables, sweets, yogurts, and sauces, cold meats, cheese's etc and breakfast is typical of all inclusive but the main as in meat there was far to much pork and a lot of dishes that just said meat was actual beef and pork mixture, which is fine if you like pork we don't. There was chicken, beef, turkey but on 3 sittings it was all pork or mixed pork dishes, we never saw any lamb. The PORRIDGE is the worst I have ever seen its said quakers but it was full of sugar and really watery not creamy at all. By day 3 we really did not expect much from meal times I am not saying the food was bad not at all it just was not tasty or exciting enough. ||NEGATIVES||Animation|worst we have ever seen I say seen we never really saw them do anything, they never came round and asked if we would like to take part in anything. They did a aqua class most mornings it was rubbish so bad it made us laugh only about two of the staff could do the routines even then they was all over the place the rest really struggled I think two even gave up and sat down and just waved there arms about. Really did not inspire you to take part. The night time acts where the worst we have ever seen we could see them from our balcony which was a blessing as we could watch them in our cosy clothes while sipping cocktails, Some bad singing act, some sort of a Michael Jackson tribute act no the best but not the worst but not engaging enough for us to watch I think the stage is a pretty poor set up. There was not many watching the acts either when we was there. The rest I dont recall could have be karaoke one night think we went to the main bar and played cards that night we played cards most nights actual. ||Main bar Area|This room is attached to reception its very spacious clean and looks very plush nice comfortable seating but there is no atmosphere there I think it depends on who is serving you at the bar.||Although we came away relaxed we would not return here we was also looking for somewhere to bring the rest of the family 14 of us but because of the food the animation being poor maybe it was because it was the start of the season I don't know but that should not really matter, and lack of atmosphere in main bar.||Shame because everything else was really very good but don't let this put you of this is just our opinion. The whole...

We stayed at this hotel during the last week of the season in October. We stayed as a family of 4 with our parents also staying in another room.

ROOMS: The rooms were spacious and bright. Air conditioning provided with a TV in both bedrooms and a small balcony. The apartment blocks face each other so the view isn’t always that great, but we were lucky as we could see the sea and pool area. Safe was free to use, you need the key from reception. Drains in the bathroom did stink, our parents room did not have this problem so may have been a once off House cleaning was excellent and fresh sheets and towels provided daily.

RESTAURANTS: The all include restaurant was good and provided decent variety. There are two other restaurants for the evening, one Italian and one Greek. We tried the Italian and I have to say the food was great. You can only book one of the restaurants once, so we weren’t able to try the Greek.

LOCATION The location of the hotel is quite remote, there is a shop around 1/5 mile away with a Starbucks. At the top of the road there is a bus stop that takes you into Kos town, €2 for an adult and € for children each way. This takes you right to the port in Kos Token system for drinks

POOLS: There are two pools, one a wave pool that is quite large with plenty of sunbeds (Not sure what this is like in July/August) The pools were cold, but this was expected for the time of year. The slides in the other pool are great. They are not too small, so adults can have a bit of fun, and they are not too big for kids. What made the slides special were the staff/lifeguards. At many places there are queues as they wait for the pool to be completely clear, their approach is safe, but not ridiculous and you never queue. They also count down for the kids to race and have plenty of passion which the kids (And I) really enjoyed.

POOL BAR: The pool bar was good, the snack bar was limited but you can always go to lunch at the main restaurant. Typically, burgers, chicken, pasta and chips. At the pool bar they operate a token system for glasses to drink from. This is great (During the day) as you don’t see loads of plastic cups lying around. The tokens are provided to you when you check in, one per person and you hand them in when you want a drink. To get another drink or token return, you have to return the cup. During the evening, when the entertainment is on, the pool bar area gets very busy. I complained about this as it took me 45 minutes to queue for a drink. . When I raised this, the feeling I got from the staff was that I was complaining about them, not hotel policy not staffing. You also have to queue in this to return your cups to receive your tokens to get drinks the next day.

ENTERTAINMENT The entertainment was not great, the mini disco was done with little passion. It was the last week and winding down, so check other reviews for the time you are travelling. We were bored in the evening and with the hotel being remote there was nowhere else to go and ended up being in bed early.

MOTABILITY HIRE They car, buggy, moped and bicycle hire on site, we didn’t use this so I cant really advise

THE BEACH Hopefully from some of the pictures you will see that the hotel backs onto the beach and sea. You cannot get into the sea here as the beach drops off with a small drop into massive rocks. There is a beach 10 minutes walk west that is nicer, but sunbeds are €10 per person

THE STAFF In general they were very good, a few unhappy with me for complaining about the pool bar queues. One things we cannot thank them for enough, my daughter lost her teddies that she has had since she was a baby and meant an awful lot to her (She wrapped them up in her bed blanket to keep them warm when we left the room!). When room service took the blankets for cleaning, they were taken and sent off to a laundry company. My daughter was distraught… The staff supported us and worked with the laundry company to help get them returned and made her birthday. Very helpful and polite.

Finally Cats…. If you love cats, this...