Asterion Suites & Spa - Designed for adults — Hotel in Municipality of Platanias

We had a fantastic time at Asterion. I cannot recommend the hotel enough. The staff are so friendly and will take the time to get to know you, whilst delivering excellent service. It definitely felt 5 star.

Liana on reception gave us a warm welcome. Whilst checking in, George, the Operations Manager, came to greet us and introduced himself also. Liana offered to show us around the hotel and its facilities, and to our room. Lovely gardens which are well-kept.

Upon entering our room, we were given a special treat to celebrate our recent engagement.

We opted for a room that was not a swim-up room, but did have a balcony which was nice to sit on in the mornings and evenings. The hotel is off the main road and on a quieter one, so we did not hear much - only the sea and occasionally other guests returning to their rooms. The room was comfortable and very clean, with a chic feel to it. The bed was also very comfortable and we liked the his and hers sinks, and there was enough wardrobe and cupboard space for our luggage and clothes to be tucked away. Fresh towels were given everyday with the cleaning and some bite size chocolates and more fresh towels if needed in the evening.

Every part of the hotel was very very clean - spotless. Communal areas such as reception, toilets and the pool were cleaned regularly and in the restaurant if you spilt something at the buffet, straight away the staff would be on it to clean it.

We were half board so had breakfast and dinner (it was good to hear on arrival we could swap and have lunch or dinner) at the hotel. The breakfast and dinner buffet options in the main restaurant were brilliant. So much choice - sweet, savoury and fresh omelettes made upon request, with Greek and continental offerings. The dinner buffet was changed each evening, even the salads were varied, with some staple foods each night such as bread, Greek salad etc. All stations were frequently restocked and there was a good choice of varied desserts each night. The food was fresh and tasty too including the fresh fruit. Definitely the best buffet I have been to at a hotel / restaurant. Several trips were made at breakfast and dinner! We ate in the a la Carte one evening, I did not catch the waiters name but he was lovely and helpful with the menu. The grilled octopus is a must try. Good choices of a few wines too to accompany dinner.

I cannot explain how welcoming and friendly each staff member is at Asterion. I don’t think a morning or evening went by without George checking in with every guest, the waiting staff and bar staff saying good morning / kalimera (as we tried to speak some Greek). I didn’t catch everyone’s names but shout outs in particular to George, Liana, Elli and Katerina, but there are many others who would smile and converse when we saw them throughout the day.

The sauna is very hot, as it should be! We used this on a rainy day (at a cost). And the staff members again in the spa are lovely. We had two treatments each and they were both great, again the therapist was very friendly.

It was nice and quiet but you have the option to walk to Maleme and we did walk to Platanias (circa 40 mins for quick walkers) to look at some gift shops and have lunch. But there are some supermarkets nearby and you can walk by the beach to Maleme - it just depends how far you want to walk. We opted for a bus to Chania as it was cheaper than the price quoted for a taxi from the hotel. I was with someone who knew the area from a previous visit or two, so I was lucky there in knowing what was around. It depends what you want out of your holiday - I think the hotel has all you need for a relaxing holiday with good food - sun beds around the pool and beach etc but also the options to walk to places if you want to. We did a day trip to Samaria Gorge which the hotel helped organise with an external company. It was a very early start and late finish that day, but going through the gorge was 100% worth it!

Thank you to everyone at the Asterion Suites and Spa for a special holiday. Would 100%...

To start with, would like to highlight that the hotel was build in 2003. Period. This is not a new hotel and our friends from Chania (we regret not consulting with them before, when choosing the hotel as they knew this hotel from years ago) also were shocked the way Asterion presents itself as a brand new hotel. It’s RENOVATED , which is defo not the synonym of NEW hotel. How to tell? air conditioning system is old Doors to the room do not close automatically, you have to physically shut it otherwise the door would not lock and will remain open for the whole day Windows: if you have traveled to south European hotels 20 years ago you will definitely recognise the windows and the systems haha The furniture is slightly changed, the walls are painted, the pool has been renovated. We would rate cleaning 5/10 - use the slippers otherwise you will have to wash your feet again and again. No sanitary bags. Cleaners often forget to close the window after cleaning the room. Service is a distaster. No offense to operational manager George and manager Liana all other staff has absolutely no clue how to provide a qualitative service to the customers. We were given someone else’s bill to pay for the room accidentally upon arrival - not nice. After that everything was paid correctly. During the breakfast expect not being served for a while. They spill the juice, don’t apologise, don’t smile.

We paid more than 360 euros per night (bed and breakfast, not all inclusive, for “planet” room) and tbh we expected more than what we get. Would be ok if paying 150 euros per night!

Pros: you are given a wet towels for hands, very tasty green smoothie and a bottle of Prosecco when arriving. Accessibility to the beach Nice sunbeds Good evening attractions Nice managers George and Liana - they really are trying to make your stay perfect and enjoyable Really comfortable bed Parking (note it’s open parking, not an underground parking) Tasty food for breakfast Clean and chilled common areas Yoga classes Complimentary night chocolates every evening

Cons: if you get room with kitchen note that there is nothing but tea cups and wine glasses. Nothing next to the hotel. You have to rent a car if staying in this hotel! The average age of visitors is 50-60 years (might not be perfect for young couples) and mainly tourists from the UK. No draft beer (Greece has very very tasting local beer) Phone will not charge fast (dk what’s an issue with a sockets) You have to ask to bring your luggage to your room, they will not offer it to you Only one mirror in the bathroom Cats on side is fun but it worries when they are next to the kitchen and canteen all the time. One cat even followed us till the room and we were trying to get rid of it to peacefully enter our room without any animals

To sum up: the hotel is extremely overpriced for a 20 year old building and bad service. The hotel does not become new when the other company acquires the hotel and renovates it, makes a new brand on trip advisor and Google maps erasing all previous experience “in this building”.

We travelled to many other 5 stars hotels before around Europe and the service and building quality do not comply with price and attitude.

If you want a longer review and laugh, I’ll add some things: to turn off the lights in bathroom you have to close the other otherwise the door will bounce back and turn the lights on in the bathroom Common Toilet cabins at the reception can be closed only after several tries and using all your physical power or you will be looking like exhibitionist If you get complimentary Prosecco to your room whilst you are absent and arrive back only in the evening you will see plenty of water from melting ice on your table and floor there are two doors to the bathroom and only one can be locked cause the other door simple has an empty whole where the lock should be

We highly recommend to stay in Nautilux hotel in Rethymno - the service, prices and premises do comply with 5...

There is no doubt that the hotel offers a nice relaxed atmosphere. Located about 30 minutes from the airport, the staff are excellent and very helpful. There is little nearby, so if you do want to get out for the day, then you will have to organise a trip, which the hotel can do (the cookery class was outstanding), or make use of a local taxi, or a bus which runs every hour I believe. We found two interesting WW2 historical sites nearby, which were only a 10 minute drive away. The town of Chania is about 20 minutes drive away and offers some lovely town walks and excellent restaurants. |The hotel itself is relatively small, so you don’t feel overcrowded. You can either sit beside the pool or take a sun bed on the stony beach outside. The advantage of sitting on the beach, is you don’t have to endure the ridiculous music that they insist on pumping out all day beside the pool. Why on earth they choose to play bad karaoke music some days and heavy metal the next, baffled me. I did ask for the music to be turned down on several occasions, but sadly my requests were ignored. When around the pool area, it is possible to take advantage of the app and order some drinks directly from the comfort of your sun bed which is a really good feature. Sadly not all of the menu items on the app worked, so there’s clearly more work to be done there. |The hotel information states there are 2 bars - one in the lobby and one at pool side. The lobby bar was never in operation during our stay, so there is only one operational bar. I did find it amusing that they state they have a pool and outside pool. By outside pool, I think they mean the sea, unless I missed something ! |The hotel has a pool side restaurant, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast is a good buffet style, with fresh omelettes and other hot dishes available, as well as yoghurts and fruit etc. lunch is a set menu, which never changes. Sadly there’s no offering of a simple sandwich or small snack, you have to order the full lunch dish on offer. |Dinner is again a buffet style, with normally a roast on offer, plus a couple of other hot dishes. We found it difficult to select something we liked on occasions and always found the roasts very dry. Alongside the pool restaurant, is an “a La carte restaurant” with a menu that never changes. Whilst it is possible to book this every night if you get in early, we found the food a little underwhelming. The only exceptions were the sea bass starter and souvlaki. Wine is on offer, but it is only Greek wine.|On some nights there is “entertainment” sadly with the exception of the saxophonist it is pretty dire. |Our friends stayed in the rooms on the first floor and they said they were bright and spacious. Sadly we were on the ground floor and the rooms from number 101 along the side, facing the sugar cane are constantly in the shadow, so you get no sunshine into the rooms at all. The rooms are also a lot smaller than others. Whilst there, we also endured a couple of power surges and were woken at 1am/2am to a bright security light suddenly shining on in the room and the air con shutting down. Power was restored within seconds, but it did wake us every time. We were also woken on several occasions by the television suddenly coming on for no apparent reason. |As a seasoned traveller, I always ask myself at the end - would I return ? And the answer has to be no, not to this hotel, but I would return to Crete as I found the island and people really nice and the food outside the...