W Costa Navarino — Hotel in Municipality of Pylos and Nestor

This easter we visited with my partner, being so excited we arrived one day earlier. Unfortunately, it didn’t stand up to the hype. We ended up leaving one day earlier, losing money because the experience was so disappointing and disillusioning. The good: Staff is very polite and cheerful. On the second day, we were treated with a welcome gift consisting of: a bottle of wine, biscuits(costa navarino icon brand but with pomace oil as the main oil they use- disappointing for a brand that’s desperate to come across as premium), a couple of apples, a pear and a kiwi, and a card with a welcoming card. We thought this was a really cool touch. However the next day the cleaner took the unopened bottle of wine. We were too tired to open it when it arrived but we were glad to do so the following day. But it disappeared. This felt cheap. Lounge restaurant had amazing food, the risotto and the tomato carpaccio were sublime. Flame restaurant which is located in the Westin resort had also amazing steaks and food in general. Finally, a hotel that offers plenty of towels for the hair and everything. Everything is clean The interior design is amazing. The heated pools are beautiful The bad: The staff is untrained. When we were at the pool, we ordered 2 mojitos, the easiest cocktail and they didn’t even put sugar in it making it undrinkable. The following day we ordered coffee, a club sandwich, and a fruit salad. The coffee was without sugar again and they forgot to bring the food. When we reminded them they apologized and brought it afterward without charging us. However, I have to admit it was the worst club sandwich we’ve had in our lives whilst the fruit salad of 28 euros consisted 90% of apples, pears, and kiwi - ironically the very same fruit we were given as a treat. They have the worst pillows and mattresses we’ve experienced. My partner got an issue with his back which contributed to us leaving one day earlier. The breakfast is subpar and not a 5-star hotel standard. They try to disguise how poor it actually is by stuffing it with mostly bread and a pretentious concept they’ve come up with called the “plateia concept” which is “the village square” concept. The main idea is that the breakfast area is divided into 4 rooms and you “shop” your breakfast from the Cafe, Deli, Cookery, and Bakery. The reality is that you order your coffee and eggs, and then go to the Bakery and fill your plate with pastries and bread as it’s the only food in abundance. The fruit platter is poor. Juices are nonexistent, and everything else is in such limited variety that you’d better love bread. To be fair, though bread was excellent. Everything is chipped. The towels even the napkins you have breakfast with. It makes you feel as if you’re going to steal them which was a bit off-putting. The amenities offered in the room are not of a 5-star hotel standard. Only a shower cap, a couple of make-up pads and mouthwash. Not vanity packs, not toothbrushes, etc. The closest villages aren’t very nice and the area feels very dodgy which leaves you entirely dependent on the hotel facilities. The hotel facilities are very poor. In the W itself, there’s absolutely nothing to do except for lying by the pool. We ended up going for a paddle court in the Westin, but that’s not enough. The tv wasn’t working properly. Toilets have issues with their plumbing.

And the very bad: On Easter Sunday we checked out, knowing that we would lose money but that was ok. Then the reception suggested that we contact Booking and if they agreed to cancel the last day they would happy to do so themselves and give us a refund. We contacted Booking, and they were more than willing to help us. When we told the receptionist that Booking agreed to cancel the last day, she said that “regretfully” they cannot cancel and no refund. That left us confused and with a sour feeling. Why would you lie to us then? If you cannot deliver on your promises it only makes you a liar and lose all...

The new W combines everything you need for a perfect holiday.

Starting with a perfect welcome by the talent picking you up the the modern entrance. Costas and Patrick were not only picking up our luggage and leading us to the service desk, they welcomed us with big smiles and open hearts and gave us the amazing feeling of having arrived in paradise.

Maria checked us in and surprised us by speaking perfect German, making sure we will have everything we need. 🙏🏻

Up next lovely Eva showed us the whole property, from the generous lobby, bar and restaurant terrace area overlooking the infinity pool and devolving in the Costa Navarino bay, up to the impressing round bar and the beautiful beach restaurant Aurelia in the bay. Eva truly seems like an angel making us and the other guests happy every time we met her again during the whole stay. :)

The moment we arrived we felt so relaxed and could really let go and enjoy. The rooms are very beautifully made, generous and with relaxing terraces, from ours you could jump right into the pool for a swim.

In W the service personnel is called talent instead of staff and we understand why. Every single talent we met had this incredible spirit of making us and the other guests feel so welcome and home - with open hearts and this warm Greek hospitality that truly wowed us!!

At the beach restaurant “Aurelia” we had the most incredible dinners with not only very delicious food but great fun. Big shout out to Maria, Magi, Katerina, Fanis, Lukas and Dora - we felt like family with you guys!! ♥️ DJ Montana who is a resident at “Aurelia” made us dance all night, he’s the best and great fun.

Konstantinos the Food & Beverage manager always made sure that everyone was happy - his heart is incredible and you feel that he is truly the perfect host - always with a big and friendly smile on his face in front of not only guests but also the talent giving their best every day.

“Between” is another cool bar location at W were they have DJs coming every other day and you can dance into the sunset. We met Johanna and Nikos there - seriously you guys are amazing !! We had so much fun with them - talking about greek hospitality again - you guys are made for this !! ♥️

We started our days with a chilled coffee at the generous breakfast and a big smile from Anastasia - had the best eggs Benedict ever! everyday - they are so good we couldn’t get enough! ;)

Chilling at the beach and pool was so relaxing, the music was very nice (not too loud at all) and we were always taken very good care of. The “whatever - whenever” team that gets you everything you need (including a brand new backgammon we’ve been wanting to play) organised a Jetski tour for us where we could ride across the Costa Navarino bay and check out the cute villages around to the hotel complex.

On top of everything, on the last night of our stay - the "Experience Designer" organised an unforgettable picnic on the beach with pillows, candles, fresh fruit, champagne and and a fire place to watch the sunset - it was breathtaking. 🙏🏻 Thank you Eva and Despina for putting so much effort in this surprise!! It was perfection.

Patrick was the sweetest, coming in on his free day to give us a goodbye present from him and Costas - you guys are the best !! ♥️

Congratulations to the management of W for picking out the talent and schooling everyone to perfection, keeping in mind that the hotel is brand new and was only open for 11 days when we arrived.

We are so grateful for the time we spend with you at this beautiful location - BIG BIG THANK YOU to the whole W team for making our stay unforgettable. We will come back this year and every year...

The biggest disappointment / the worst 5* hotel with DISCRIMINATION

This year was our third visit in W Costa Navarino. We returned expecting at least the same service as last year, if not better. Sadly our stay started horribly and ended in disappointment.

The troubles started immediately upon arrival. We booked 4 “shared pool rooms”, under the same Surname and also wrote that we are a family and wish to be together (logically).

The disappointment started when we were given 2 rooms at one shared pool and the other two at a neighboring shared pool. This was disappointing but no tragedy.

As we travelled 15 hours to get here, we left our luggage in the room and went for dinner. The dinner was great, from service to food. Top quality and top service. Until now,nothing out of the ordinary. But then, we returned to our rooms.

Immediately we noticed a very powerful and unpleasant mold smell, coming from the AC. There was also a very high humidity in the room, the bed linens were actually wet from the high humidity. Our clothes all started to smell like mold. The pillows had the same mold smell as the room, it was imposibil to sleep in the room.

After a lot of nerve racking complaints, we got nothing “Sorry” from the front desk. Only after promising that all 4 rooms would leave the hotel tomorrow, did they find a solution for the 2 problematic rooms changed at 03:30 in the night. Guess what, they managed immediately to give us the neighboring two rooms, to the initial rooms. I would like to add, only 2 rooms had this problem, the other two rooms were fine.

We found it to say the least strange, why 2 rooms with problems were knowingly given to us. The only difference was I have a Romanian account and my father has a German account.

So we can conclude from this, it was clearly a DISCRIMINATION . These moldy rooms were “good enough “ for us Romanians.

You can imagine after a horrific first day, our holiday was ruined but we tried to not let it get to us. Then the problems just piled on. I will describe them shortly: They made 1 room wait at the gate for 15 minutes at 23:00 in the night upon arrival, although the airport transfer was booked through the hotel The staff at the breakfast is a catastrophe. They do not clean the table, they rarely ask you if you want something, that is if you can spot them. I took a manager by the hand and showed him how our table looks for more than 20 minutes, but this didn’t improve the situation at breakfast More than half of the “clean plates“ from every food station are dirty, this doesn’t happen not even at 3 star hotels. You have to search a while until you find a halfway clean plate I ordered room service in one room and they delivered it to another (waking up the man sleeping in it).

To top off a disastrous holiday, at checkout we told the front desk that our luggage is at the door, ready for pickup and went at the Agora for a coffee. When we returned at the front desk after 1 hour and a half, we and our taxi had to wait another 20 minutes for them to get our luggage. It was surreal! It was as if it was a hidden camera joke.

But I guess it was the expected ending for the worst holiday we ever had.

In conclusion the this is for sure not up to Marriott standards and management was passive aggressive when told about...