Ilyssion Hotel — Hotel in Municipality of Rhodes

A poor start. Arrived late due to long transfer. There was no snack or sandwich on arrival. They said no-one knew we were going to be late. I suppose that's good hospitality practice then !

I was told by the night manager, I could buy crisps and snacks in their In-House shop; I was not even offered those for free. I asked him for a discount and his reply was "don't even think about it". That tells you everything about him. I had to pay. A few days later I observed a young girl was a Euro short for her items-he let it go, yet could not offer me free Pringles on late arrival! He was an obnoxious individual, casually dressed for someone in charge and smoked cigarettes on duty.

I asked if I could pay the 70 Euro "climate-tax" on my credit card. He said that the hotel would get charged a lot from the credit card company, yet he allowed me to pay for Pringles on my credit card. So its more likely that they keep a large percentage of the cash euros for themselves, otherwise why NOT allow credit card payment! He misdirected to a our rooms, with luggage in hand. It was dimly lit and tripped on raised kurbs twice. I went back to him and he re-directed me again to the right area.

The room was new, but not twin beds (I paid £100 extra to Super Escapes for this). Instead we had 2 single mattresses in a marble fixed housing, that you could not separate. It has sharp corners of that bed housing caught my shin a few times.

The food was self service buffet, the food was edible, but nothing too special. The Mesa and Greek cold food was good, as was the watermelon and sweets. Tuesday was Indian cuisine which was much better. Restaurant staff were kind and attentive, and brought your drinks based on a plastic coin swap system (fully inclusive hotel)

The location was a little rocky, a metal ladder to help decent into the sea from a concrete platform. A little 5 min walk away (south), and walk through shallow part of the sea (5 mins) was a sandy beach. The hotel pool areas were nice and not over-crowded. It was close to the pool bar and outdoor buffet area.

Unfortunately, my British pounds were stolen from my wallet in my suitcase the one day I did not padlock it; and my spare mobile phone, which I was going to swap my SIM from my old phone. I did lock my main door and patio door; so the obvious was anyone with a room key had access and stole my cash and phone.

I reported the incident to the Greek police (after a 3 hours wait at Gennadi police station), they said they would email me the report (They said it was illegal if they gave it to me - how ridiculous!). The chief and higher officer were rude and brash). I even emailed and called them from UK, but one particular one was rude on the phone and uncaring. Only after emailing the UK Embassy in Rhodes to chase the police, did I get my crime report !!

To sum up it is Ilyssion NOT a 4 star hotel as Super Escapes said. It's a 3 star and dated. Food was Ok, but the Greek cold food was better. Cocktails were done well and beer was good too. All credit to the bar staff. No WIFI in rooms apart from the reception at best, where the large aircon unit is broken. No safes in rooms-and rooms not safe.

The night manager is not a manager at all, he's poorly educated, inconsiderate and local. When I questioned him about the "twin" bed, his counter argument it was "double" room. He may be right, but there no hospitality there. Maybe his time to retire or work as a bouncer perhaps.

The female day manager was also in the same category as the night manager. She DID find me a bigger room, but I decided not to bother, as we unpacked and were 2 days in.(in the Google rebuttal they said I had a dispute about my daughter about it ! Yeah right!) I over heard her instruct cleaners how to clean. The cleaners were from Sierra Leon and the African continent.

The bar and restaurant staff were just fantastic, kind, funny, caring and helpful. They are the only credit to this restaurant. The trainee Indian woman from Calcutta there is also a credit to the place (Maybe she should be promoted to...

Overall it was a fairly pleasant stay, however, the room wasn't cleaned properly, and the en-suite was disappointing. It was the smallest en-suite I have ever come across, not to mention the sink was dirty, the toilet seat was loose and the shower was tiny. The shower had a curtain, and due to how small the shower was the curtain stuck to you. I never felt thoroughly cleansed after taking a shower. |The staff appear to be over-worked which is probably why we were barely ever greeted with a smile. The food was rather average, about what I've come to expect from an all inclusive buffet. Furthermore, breakfast was disappointing particularly with a mere 2 slice toaster to accommodate such a busy hotel. |What isn't detailed when booking is the €30 deposit for 2 drink cups (one per person), room key, air conditioning remote and TV remotely! Yes, you get it back at the end of your stay but I have never experienced this in any hotel I have ever stayed in. |Considering it is classed as a 4* hotel, it was disappointing to discover there was no safe in the room. Another deposit was required for this and was kept behind the reception desk...I didn't consider the reception desk to be safe, it wasn't always manned and there was no lock/key pad to stop unauthorised persons from walking in. |The hotel's 'beach' was, again, disappointing, it looked untidy/unkempt, and to get into the sea there were metal steps which were a slip hazard. The area around these steps didn't have a safety fence/bars, certainly not safe for children. The sea was lovely once in there, but it was deep, too deep to stand up in. |There are a lot of stairs to contend with in this hotel, we were on the second floor, and were we not relatively fit it would have been a struggle. There were stairs down to the restaurant, stairs down to the pools and steps down to the beach. It would not be suitable to anyone unsteady on their feet/wheelchair users/people with walking aids. |Getting drinks at the pool bar and the main bar can be tiresome, as there are often long queues due to one member of staff on shift, sometimes there two staff, but rarely. I like the idea of plastic cups and the drinks token system with regards to the environment, it keeps the pool areas tidy from plastic cups, but being limited to one drink per person with such small cups can be tedious. |The main strip in Pefkos is fabulous, we had many a good night down there, including an afternoon/evening in nearby Lindos. |There are a number of restaurants and bars to choose from in Pefkos, we weren't disappointed. We visited Plakia Beach on one of our days, lovely beach with sunbeds available to hire and a beach bar in close proximity. |I'm happy to have experienced Rhodes and would be happy to return to the country, and even Pefkos, but to a different hotel and one that wasn't...

So we just arrived before 1am in the night and the old guy at the reception took the passports of my whole family threatening us that otherwise they will kick out on the street with two 1,5 year old children. Absolutely not acceptable treatment in 2024 EU! Compared to that smell, ugly room and even no water provided upon arrival seems less alarming! Now, after holidays spent there and reading a reply from the team, I am updating my review. Yes, I was very upset after arrival and of course, I believe it is absolutely clear to everyone that guests need to be registered and it has to be known, who is at the hotel like elsewhere, however, I have not experienced elsewhere (apart from Bosnia, which was hard-core) that I would have to leave my personal idetification documents somewhere, even in India at every hotel I received them back in return after taking a copy or relevant information! - and of course, I immediatelly offered I will wait until it is registered or bring them later when they would plan to do so if not at that moment but unfotunately, there was no kind apologies and polite talk like here below in the reply but very ugly mistreatment, as described above - the reply was that either I will hand over personal IDs of my family to him or he will kick us out on the street - simply unbelievable, such a person should be strongly forbidden to face a customer. Apart from that, rooms are simple but that we did not mind, we appreciated that children enjoyed water, staff in the restaurant was very kind, which we strongly appreciated, even though I cannot say that we enjoyed food - we were not hungry but sometimes it was not so easy to find something tasty or it was quickly finished. We missed a lot good fruits and vegetables and sweets were also limited. Cleaning servise was also not so good, toilet brush looked disgustingly dirty, for some reason there was a smell in the bathroom/toilet in some hours (towards evening, night). Talking about surrounding - that we really enjoyed, very close to the beautiful sea, sea water swimming pool with the view to the sea is a very nice idea, children swimming pool was enough for our babies and for the lunch/day time and evening bar, the sitting has very beautiful view to the sea 🌊🫶; if there was a sandy beach without rocks and gravel, it would have been perfect, however, the one available was ok. Finally, during the day a young man used to be at the reception and he was really nice, supportive, helpful, explaining... - simply great, both husband and I liked to discuss with him if anything was needed and we always received a great support - what a pitty that we did not meet him upon our arrival, our experience with the hotel would have been incomparably better! Some simple points enhanced could bring the hotel to an...