Mrs Chryssana Beach Hotel — Hotel in Municipality of Platanias

We arrived at Mrs Chryssana Beach Hotel after midnight as our plane was delayed to find reception all locked up, in darkness and nobody about, our room key was in a envelope taped to the reception door, with just my name on the envelope and the room number, no arrow to send us in the right direction. |I apologise to our fellow guests who had to listen to our cases rolling along the floor until we found our room.|This is not on there should be someone to greet you as they know you are coming and the next morning i had to ask everything about our stay even after i has informed the girl on reception that we arrived the night before and there was no one to greet us.|If you want to know anything ask the older man who is on reception in the evening, he is very helpful and will help you with buses and local knowledge and when they say bus station on the road near the supermarket, they mean a request bus stop, not a bus station as we know it in the UK, but there is a bus station at the end of your journey to Chania pronounced Hania.|The hotel used to be family owned, but is now part of a company which owns a small group of hotels and used to be Adults only, but since the 2024 season children are allowed. There is not much for the children to do at the hotel as they only have the children's pool to play in and there is no child menu at meals times. |The hotel is in a quiet area with no evening entertainment only the music player at the pool bar and a bit of background music in the restaurant.|Most of the restaurants / taverns in the area don't really cater for just going in for a drink, but you can. If you want more livelier places you can catch the bus to the other towns and the buses don't stop till after 1.00 am.|Be carful of the old couple who have the restaurant on the main road when you turn left and left out of the hotel to get to the main road, they wave at you to come in, but it's always deserted and if you go in they give you a menu without prices on then give you an extortionate bill at the end.|We questioned if we were in the correct room on our first contact with reception as we had booked a elegant room with sea view and balcony, but got a room with a side sea view and balcony, it turns out classic doubles and elegant rooms are the same size and same view, the difference is that the classic doubles are further back from the sea. The family and friends rooms are the closes to the sea and the ones with a proper sea view are the end ones on each side and the ones at the back above the restaurant and i am lead to believe that they are elegant rooms.|The reception area requires celling fans and so does the restaurant or some other means of getting the temperature down. the rooms are ok, need more wardrobe space and clothes hangers and draws, the bathroom needs a extractor fan to vent the steam when you have a shower as it's builds up and hangs down from the ceiling.|Safe is bolted to wall and needs a key which you have to ask and pay for.|when you arrive and there is nobody to show you where everything is and how things work like walking into a pitch black room and having to put the magnetic card in the power slot to get the lights and power on and how to lock the door when you leave.|Once we have found out how everything worked and where everything was by ourselves we hade a great time, the bar staff were great, the restaurant staff were great, the kitchen staff were great, cleaning staff were great, the cats were great, except when they were falling out with each other, pool was great, no real fight for sun beds, food was Greek inspired and plentiful.|Beach has some sand but mostly pebbles and the sea can get rough, but there are lifeguards on duty and they do put out red flags to warn you when not to go in the sea.|We would go back, but just book a classic double with balcony as there is no real difference between a classic and a elegant room. |The hotel it is very quiet and relaxing once you know...

The area of Kolymvari is not a usual area for my wife and I (we appreciate more close activities) but we booked here to be close to where some of our other family members had booked earlier in the year. It is a peaceful area and once we slowed down to its speed, we truly appreciated the laid back style. Great place for established couples who just want to be together and hang out peacefully and families. There are several destinations to do day explorations, most easily by private car (but bus is possible), but by car, the south coast, eastern gorges and noteworthy beaches are each within about an hour drive through beautiful winding drives, through inland areas. Emanuel at Front desk is exceptionally helpful, knowledgable and willing to take time to show you on the computer at desk directions and photos of locations. It was interesting to hear him talk about his avocado tree project as well. Katarina and Michale at FD were exceptional, efficient, accurate and friendly. Morning chef Maria was always proud of the consistent quality of her Greek and western centric dishes. We were B&B only so didn’t get to know evening chef except twice we dined and both times the dinners were of tasty quality and variety. Dimitria (Dimi) and Manos (dining room and pool service) were both delightful to speak with and willing to do whatever they could to make your stay comfortable and peaceful. Our housekeeper (Katrina) I think was a little frustrated by our desire to simply exchange the nights trash bag for soap, toilet paper, soap and a towel or two each morning. Such that she saw us go to breakfast one morning and we came back about 30 minutes later to find she grabbed the opportunity to refresh the room to include some nicely designed sheets on bed. She was clearly happy to finally have an opportunity to provide service. All smiles! What a nice lady. The rooms are somewhat dated but clearly they are working to keep up with the times. An interesting thing is (original bathrooms of this buildings era had smaller dimensions) they have increased the shower area size by moving the sink into the bedroom. A little odd at first, but we came to realize its convenience opening a shelf round the sink like a dressing/vanity table. The toilet and shower may be used separately with a nice window to vent after a shower. With this building come some maintenance challenges. But the staff at this Beachside, country setting (loved the gentile jingling of a bell on the small flock of sheep next field over)recreational hotel are highly responsive and will quickly as they can, remedy any situation with the room or facility. Can’t say enough, staff is top notch and move with purpose and the guest in mind. The only thing we would have appreciated would be a hot water kettle in room to make first thing in the morning beverages. Our family members stayed at a 5 star down the road and later stated they would probably have been happier where we stayed, especially considering not so great encounters with staff at that resort hotel. Thank you to the staff of Mrs Chryssana! We had a wonderful...

Pros: Quiet and clean hotel (perfect for those who are into relaxing holidays) Spotless swimming pool (though, in my opinion, Crete as a beach heaven is not the right place to enjoy swimming pools) 2-minute walking distance to the (pebbly) beach (see the image) Friendly and attentive staff Great restaurants/tavernas nearby (about 1.5 km away)

Cons: As I was heading to the hotel shortly after I arrived in Crete, I received a phone call from the reception. They told me that due to a technical problem involving Expedia (don’t know what kind of problem it could be, as it never happened to me before), they weren’t able to arrange a room for me for the first night of my 6-night-long stay, which they could somehow only realize the day of my arrival despite the fact that the booking was done several weeks before. They said they booked another room for me in another hotel (on their expense, of course), which was about 2 km away from Chryssana Beach. Fair enough, stuff happens. After spending a night and going through the hassle of unpacking and packing again, I went to Chyrssana Beach the next day with the expectation of a token of their apology. What they offered me was one free dinner at the hotel, for which you can see the comments below, and 15% discount for the drinks at the hotel, which I never used. The lady at the reception also told me that the room they arranged for me was her “favorite”. Though it was possibly one of the worst rooms for the following reasons:

1. It was the farthest away room from the pool and on the ground floor, as a result of which it was certainly not as bright as it was advertised by the hotel. I took the picture of the room around noon time, and you can see yourself how dark it actually is.
2. There was no soap and no hair dryer in the room, which they delivered upon our request.
3. The internet connection inside the room was pretty weak. I had to go out to the balcony to receive a decent wifi signal.
4. Shower head holder was missing in the bathroom. So I had to hold the shower head all the time while taking shower.
5. I had to assist one gecko and a few spiders out of the room. I think the fact that the room is on the ground floor increases the likelihood of the visit of these little fellas. It wasn’t a big deal for me, but it may matter to those who freak out by their presence. (The geckos were super cute, by the way.) Lastly, the food served at the hotel was below average compared to Cretan standards, in terms of both taste and price (Menu for 19 Euros per person). I actually would not waste my dinner at the hotel, when I was in a food heaven like Crete, but I felt obliged to use my free dinner ticket.

Since I was spending most of my time outside the hotel, I didn’t make a big drama about the aforementioned scandalous events. But I believe the whole situation was not handled...