Apollonia Beach Resort & Spa - Ammoudara, Heraklion, Crete — Hotel in Municipality of Malevizi

Be warned, this is not a nice hotel. It’s not classy in any way. I stayed here with my mom and brother for 10 nights and we were very disappointed.

The factory right next to the hotel smells very bad and I’m sure that the fumes are extremely unhealthy, making this place a very bad choice for anybody coming here for relaxation and a health boost that usually comes from sea and sun. It was even impossible to have the door to the balcony open in the room because it would smell of gasoline immediately, which is how those fumes smell. Most days we couldn’t really swim in the sea, it’s not a nice beach and very often it was too wavy and windy for a nice swim. It’s also quite hard to get into the seawater because of the rocks. Not what we expected at all. And by the pool it was extremely loud from the animation. The best day was Sunday because that’s when they are on break and it’s finally peaceful. The beach is also not a private beach, so there might be salesmen trying to sell their wares, which can be disruptive. I was initially interested by the proximity the hotel has to the wetlands, but it wasn’t really possible to explore them. The food was a real letdown at first too, until we started understanding what to pick from the buffet. Some things are quite nice. I’ve never eaten so many fries in my life, but the fries were always a safe bet here. The dinner hall was very loud and gave the feeling and impression of a cafetaria. Not what one expects of a five star hotel at all. The room was cleaned every day and yet my dust allergies were acting up. I couldn’t understand why, until on one of the last days my nectarine rolled under my brother’s bed and I reached for it to get it back. I saw that it was extremely dusty under there! Oh my god, I’ve never seen so much dust in a hotel. The cleaning lady was only cleaning in the visible areas. The air conditioner was old, potentially dirty, and not keeping the room consistently cool. Two nights it even broke down totally. The hotel employs amateur photographers, one of which doesn’t have a background in photography at all, not sure about the other one. They are instructed to talk to everyone and persuade them into getting photo shoots. It’s marketed as “free” but then they ask for exorbitant fees per photo after the photo shoot is done. The crazy part is not just the fact that you only get informed about the price afterwards, but that these so called photographers only do point and shoot photography and don’t have any technical abilities. Honestly I don’t think that this is what you would find in a classy hotel. I felt extremely disappointed and disrespected. On my vacation, I would like to just relax, and not be bothered by scammy salesmen. And maybe a photoshoot can be nice indeed to save some memories, but please just be transparent about it. And employ actual photographers if you’re going to ask that much money. Very often we had to remind the staff to refill our soap, paper towels, etc. They initially only gave two cups for water, even though we said there would be three of us staying here. It really doesn’t give the feeling that they care that much. There was so much noise in the evenings from the animation of the neighbouring hotel. That was very disruptive. All of us slept bad while staying here. The beds were very uncomfortable. My mom and me slept on the double bed, which has hard mattresses resting on concrete beds, without a slatted base. My brother has a fold-out bed and that was somehow even worse.

We all thought that this was a total fail and a waste of our money and time but we still tried to make the best of our vacation. The best times we had was when we went on trips far from the hotel.

Edit: Thank you for actually reacting to my review, instead of just copy pasting like you did with other reviews.

I was supposed to tell you of my dust allergy so that you would let your staff do the bare minimum of cleaning, like they do in all other hotels I’ve ever been to? Sounds like I was supposed to do a lot of work to just get a...

Can't recommend it at all! Not more than a 3-stars hotel! Most od people are there many times and seems like they don't know other hotels. We were in over 25 hotels so we have a comparision. Old rooms, that are very dirty (we had a dirty toilet + shower like it would have never been cleaned well!) The food isn't really good. There were days, we we didn't found anything good. The a-la-carte restaurants are ok but not more. The greek one was good, the italian one had Bruscetta and Tiramisu that didnt have anything to do with the original receipts (bruscetta was white baguette with tomato and mozarella, tiramisu seems like it was from whipped cream rather than mascarpone). Also the water was discusting! It tasted like chlorine, i dont know how people could drink it! We bought water from the shop in the village. ,,Normal'' water in the a-la-carte restaurants costed 3€! So we had additional costs eventhough we had All Inclusive. No good service - No welcome team or manager that cares for the people in the restaurant (I don't need it normaly but this is something to expect in a 5-stars hotel). Also we wanted to eat on 9pm (it is possible till 9:30) and sit inside when a waiter told us to go outside because they are making the tables ready for the next day. Also on lunch the coffee machines were turned off and the food was taken away before the end (e.g. dinner till 9:30pm at 9:25pm they already took the food away, even though people were still looking for food). We had our flight at 3am in the night and had to check out at 11am. It was possible to make a late check out for 80€ to stay for 7 more hours. Really? We didnt unterstand the price after all the bad things (we also wrote our bad experience it in the internal review 2 days before we left but they didnt care). So we wanted to use the shower room - The people working on the reception told us to come in the morning when we left. What we did on 8am and got the information that its full - So thanks for nothing! For people who want to be active and like to use the gym - can't recommend it! It's a little room in the SPA with very old devices and it smells a lot like mold! Bad program. Shows in the evening but nothing special. Only things like greek night, Aoerobic etc. One night there was a movie night (in a room downstairs) as an evening program! Thats nothing I expect when being on vacations. During the day there aren't any special programs. Most of people there are 50+ or familys so maybe the program is made for them (for us - a young couple - it wasnt good!) Ugly beach with more stone than sand. Also it was very dirty. One day the hotel animated the hotel guest to an activaty to clean the beach together - really? shouldnt the hotel be responsible for it?? (even the people living there are saying, that its one of the ugliest beaches on the island). Bad location. We made 10-15 km every day, so we saw a lot of the neighbourhood, there is nothing special. Nearby there is a small town called Ammoudara with a few shops and restaurants, but there isnt going on much, even in the evening. So nothing for people who like to go out in the evenings (it wouldnt be needed, if the program at the hotel would be good!). Also near by is the main electricity fabric, that is responsible for the electricity of the whole island (a resident told us). The only good thing is the good distance and communication to Heraklion. All in one we had bad vacations and were very disappointed (we went there after an internal facebook group, where they are only telling the...

A charming mobility friendly hotel built on it side. The hotel and gardens are so pretty with a stunning bay window beach view from the pool bar. So easy access to the beach. I visited early mid oct and it wasn't insanely busy. We found it very easy to get around there are many support ramps and rails although some are a bit wobbly and decent chairs by the pool if you find sunbeds are too low also ground floor rooms bit dated but ok. Despite this we hired a mobility scooter from reception outside company at (30 euro a day) because the hotel is built on it side it can be a long way to walk between things for someone with limited mobility also most evening entertainment happens right near the main road in the amphitheatre which is also outside and uncomfortable (hotel maybe consider cusions). The entertainment teams and shows were very good and lively both day and evening keeping everyone happy. There are 3 pools one main deep pool all round Great for jumping and diving, one smaller pool split depth and one pool that a pretty cool slide goes into. The pool bar served a full warm buffa at certain times and snacks at others including amazing pizza better than lunch offered in my opinion. The beach is clean and very long but watch out the banks can be deep which can be very dangerous for small kids or anyone unstable on their feet. The beach is lifeguarded at certain times and a watersports company near by also towards the big colomb things is a company called HORSES ALMIRU just walk along and you will see the stables. I did a beach horse ride for 25euro. Marina the owner was a lovely lady and all her animals are well cared for. It is so worth it. I found her page on FB although i think the hotel should tell guests about her. The hotel food was average in my opinion for a 5*. In my opinion breakfast was naff, there was 5 different types of egg on offer but no proper sausages only weiners. There is plenty of food and they do theme nights and have a live station at dinner as well. Puddings delicious. The A La Carte restaurants were ok but nothing special. You need to book them when you arrive because they have limited space each night. All include a 3 course but it is sparce choice. The Italian was disappointing as it served the same main you can get at the snack bar all day. The greek was posh and beautiful positioned on the side on the beach but wouldn't recommend eating their with children unless they really like tradional greek. A couple of prices to finish if you like to plan your holiday.|Torist tax- 70 euro per room for a week ouch!!!! For out of season too.|Safe in room - 24 euro for a week|Late check out fee if its available - 50 euro til 3pm or 80 euro til 6pm. |Spa treatment- varies but i paid 140 euro for 2 same treatments on different days.|Spa pool is cold nobody was using it. |Hotel sold Excursion - Dia Sailing Morning 9 til 3...