The Royal Senses Resort & Spa Crete, Curio Collection by Hilton — Hotel in Municipality of Milopotamos

Mid June is a gorgeous time to visit Crete, the temperature is perfect for eating out and relaxing in the 14 hours of sunshine a day. The 5 senses is a really nice upmarket resort .| I must confess as travel YouTube creators ourselves, we research our hotels thoroughly this way and got the impression from the 'shorts' & hotel promo that this was a hotel with more of an adult vibe that also caters for children. |If you get that impression too, - take notice- you CAN find some quiet corners as a couple at this time of year, however, if you have to go half board to save pennies like us, then you will find yourself stuck with the main family crowd in the dining area and packed on to the little funicular on your way to breakfast with a minibus equivalent of toddlers. This is without a doubt a family biased hotel, and I imagine will be somewhat packed in the summer. Some hotels are more skilled than others in getting the balance right for family and adult guests alike (..take the Chedi in Muscat as an example). |In search of a quiet drink at the lobby bar at 10pm one evening ...we strolled right on by seeing that the music provided had turned this area into a toddler disco. There was no where else for us to go- just an example of what I'm talking about about.| |Regarding meals, the food is really good...with very good choices (& outstanding deserts-compliments to the Patissier!) I did mind- just a little- to have to pay additionally for a soft drink or water at dinner as part of a half board package (..a small bottle of diet coke will also set you back €5, a large beer for comparison is €8). ||The food outside of the main buffet options looked fabulous, we only tried the pool bar food once which was generous and really good.||The pools look and are totally glorious... only one of the outdoor ones is heated (and definitely neither of the 2 adult only ones in front of the spa), but if you are a hardy wild water swimmer, your first dip of the day won't bother you. If you want some child free swimming...do this before 9.30 am too. (There are kids pools, a baby pool, but the two main pools seem full access for them too).||Drinks service, water or those 'oh so lovely icy flannels' don't extend to those in the adult pool area which is a shame. Being child free at 5 senses seems to have its disadvantages! ||We paid a great deal extra £ to have our own 'dipping' pool with our room... a wise choice despite a bit nippy for us to get our toes in at this time of year - however discovered the day before we left that we could have paid extra to have had it heated.|The sun beds outside the room - with the beautiful view of the ocean- are super comfy and the space outside relatively quiet depending whether or not you are next to a family. (Incidentally, we requested a long time in advance for this not to happen if possible,..but we unfortunately found ourselves next to a family of 4!) ||The rooms are mediocre in their decor for a five star resort (we chose a king deluxe Seaview with private pool), but the bed was super comfortable, the room had a great shower, with lovely products and a plentiful supply of coffee and water was on offer.|The service at this hotel was a little mixed.... so many isolated things I could add here, and as a result i did find myself actually Googling to check that this was indeed a 5 star resort during our trip.||So, It is hard to convincingly say that the 5 senses resort and spa matches up to others of this class that we have stayed at outside of Europe. Having said that, service wise, the meal time dining room greeters were exceptional and made us feel like proper guests/old friends.||Maybe our expectations were a little over inflated, after all we spent a long time choosing this resort and an even longer time saving to get to stay there.||We can only rely heavily on what we read and research beforehand to get the very best & most from our hotel choices. We have this feeling that we missed something here, since despite appreciating what this resort potentially offers, we left feeling underwhelmed and that it wasn't a place that accommodates everyone.|| This personally would make us hesitate choosing a high end Hilton chain hotel again.||Our travel vlog video will show the beauty of the place for those young upwardly mobile couples with young families for whom this will no doubt be be a perfect choice destination. There will be a balance of honesty -as in this review- for those who already follow us and those who also look for the ultimate getaway; peace & a little luxury/spoiling that most of us seek from a 5 star resort.||Finally, one more point to note, we hired a car from the airport which was the same cost as a transfer and loved escaping to Chania and Rethymno for a couple of afternoons and actually getting to feel like we were in Greece! These trips were a true highlight for us. ||Enjoy your stay here - especially the pools and the comfort of the beds around them and we hope this review is helpful for those who have read to...

This review is based on out visit as a family of 4 staying for 4 nights in April 2025. From the start it must be said that overall this is a great resort with all of the expected perks of a hotel branded as “Curio Collection by Hilton” on a hillside close to Rethymno in Crete. The level of service is very high as it is expected of such a hotel and the facilities are very nicely designed and well maintained. The staff, from the reception to the room attendands are friendly and helpful and always with a smile. The amenities of the hotel are great including even a choice between the outside heated pool, which made it possible to swim without issues at temperatures of 20 Celsius, and the regular one which was for people used to swimming at 16 degrees water temp. The Spa area is also large and beautiful, albeit expensive. There is also a large kids area with a small waterpark which during summer times should be a great asset. The breakfast and dinner buffets are great by any standards, here the only fault we could find was maybe the relatively slow service for coffee in the mornings, but really this was not a big issue given the size of the place and the number of guests. They offer also sports- tennis and table tennis and also football which for April is great. I don’t know during summertime as the enjoyment should go down when playing at 40 Celsius. There is a beach guests can use ( we didn’t ) which is located at the sister hotel “Royal Blue” which is on the shore in front of The Royal Senses and this allows for convenience during summer. However there are much better beach options all around within 10-15 km. The hotel, being on a hillside, extends on many levels and can be a bit complicated to navigate, but the staff was always helpful and there are plenty of lifts and even a funicular to help people who want to avoid many steps and steep climbs. As a last resort there is also the option of asking for pickup with one of the golf carts the hotel staff uses to help transport luggage and other stuff around the hotel. If all of the above is true than why only 4 stars? Well, that is because everything is relative and with higher positioning and price come also higher expectations. And in this case for us, the expectations were that the place will be flawless and while being close to it, that wasn’t what we experienced. First the location- hillside facing the sea sounds great and it should be, but before seeing the see from your terrace, you will see a baren field with no landscaping which downgrades the view in our opinion. Also it is not within walking distance of any town or village which means that your are somewhat restricted to the on-site restaurants for dinner. The buffet is great though and it seems that the Mitato A la Carte Restaurant should be very good. However if you want to have a an authentic cretan feel and experience you have to drive the 3 km to Panormos or take a cab every evening. There is also the option of Rethymno some 15 km away for even more options. The room layout- this was the biggest dissappointment for us. While it is beautifully decorated and everything looks of great quality, it made no sense to us why a 5 star luxury resort would have basically in all rooms the vanities in the room ( not in a separated bathroom ) and also split the shower area from the toilet making it awkward in the morning when moving from toilet to shower while other people are brushing their teeth in the room. Our room was a Family Suite but from what we saw in the pictures and while walking around the hotel, most rooms had the same setup. Small nuiassances in the room which should not be found in a 5 star hotel in our opinion: flashing green light on a sensor on the ceiling , noisy mini bar ( both potential issues for light sleepers ), room separator which doesn’t go all the way to the ceiling which means that it doesn’t completely separate the 2 sections of the suite, smelly sewage in the toilet area which was not overcome by the ventilation. Overall this is a great hotel to be considered for a...

Outstanding Staff, Great hotel for short stays, beautiful sunsets.

Check in/out: Checking in and out is a VERY slow process. Expect each event to take upwards of 20 min or more. The staff will likely have you take a seat while you wait and they will distract you with a snack, water, and a cool towel…but it is still a terrible first impression. The hotel could adopt modern digital check in options (like that of the Hilton app). Despite settling the bill, the night before (30 min), we still waited 20 min on our departure day to check out. This was not isolated to us as I witness the same wait times for other travelers.

Staff: The staff is outstanding, very attentive and seem to be well rehearsed in their roles. Even during stressful/busy times at their restaurants, the staff did a good job of staying calm and focusing on the guests needs. One area that could use some more staff is the main pool area. There is generally only one person working the entire area for orders and wait times can be quite extensive. Stella is one of the suit managers. She is awesome and seems to really enjoy what she does. She went well above and beyond to ensure my wife and I had a great time. Give her a raise!

The room – Royal Senses Suite (rm 1507): Very spacious and could comfortably sleep 4-5 people if needed. The amenities are fantastic and the overall layout is superb. The private deck and pool are at the heart of the suit and the upstairs bedroom is designed for taking in the breath-taking views. Overall, the suite is very private from other guest, however, the staff have a walkway path that is heavily used during check-in/out times. Also, it is possible for you to see into other guest’s areas as well as them see into yours. This has can only be done via extreme angles that you would not naturally do, but does impact the privacy as you can feel ‘watched.’ There is a very private tanning area upstairs, though. The quality of the materials used is great. However, the workmanship is second rate at best. I wager this is a result of using a low-cost construction team and/or rushing to get the suite done. There are signs of this all over the place when you start looking. One that is easily noticed is the instability in the wood used around the stairs. Everything is loose and will certainly need to be replaced before long. The view from this particular suite is a bit disappointing. There is a wall directly behind private deck that severely limits your view of the landscape and sunset. To make things worse, the hotel has planted a tree behind the deck and between the wall that is perfectly positioned to destroy the only spot you can actually see anything from the pool. This is, again, another sign that the suite area was rushed to completion without taking the guest’s view into account. The pool is VERY salty and is adequately sized for two people but would feel crowded with kids. There are two sets of stairs to the pool. One is totally unnecessary and really creates a danger-spot between the deck and the pool and was not well thought out. We did the Floating Breakfast. You must do this at least once! It seems pricy at 50+ euros, but it is actually a lot of food and we ate off of it for two days.

The hotel: Grounds are immaculate and well attended too. However, the subpar workmanship of the hotel has resulted in water seepage through the retaining walls from every pool. There are salt stains and uneven walking paths everywhere as a result. The hotel has an exclusive app, but it is nearly useless and gimmicky (android tested). If the hotel adopted a modern table service using this app, it would be very useful. The two main pools can get busy, but they don’t feel crowded when they are. One thing that is hotel lacks is a swim up bar. Half-board is well worth the money. Drinks are included at breakfast, but not at dinner (sad face). We did not visit the waterpark area. The hotel itself is not designed with children in mind and I would not have enjoyed having my children in this hotel as there isn’t much...