Phoenix Beach Hotel — Hotel in Zakynthos Municipality

We stayed here late August into September (and at the time of writing we are still here, hence in part why I'm using an alternative account to post this) and I don't see the attraction of the hotel in the slightest.

Pros:

hotel is really close to a beach, practically less than 50 steps away from their front door (however there is a few other hotels with the same attraction) Rooms are clean beds are comfortable breakfast is really good! Lots of variety and there are a few things that are different every day Location

Cons:

you have to pay a premium for beach sun loungers. We saw the price reaching as high as €40 a day for the beach sun loungers , €25 for the ones on the grass. The sunloungers around the pool are free however there must be less than 30 and half of them end up in the shade by the afternoon. And because there are so few, they all get snapped up by 8am. you have to pay /extra/ for air-conditioning. If you're like me, a brit, who can't deal with being 30c in the room at night then you'll have to shell out an additional € 5 a day for air conditioning for your room. you also have to pay an extra € 5 a day for the safe. But I guess a charge for this is expected... But I was in Prague a couple months ago and that hotel safe was free. Other hotels I've stayed in just wanted a deposit that was returned in full at checkout. the staff seem uninterested & bored, and outright rude. An example being that we ordered lunch and a few drinks and were given two receipts which we paid for (and left a decent tip). We were then accosted at the sunlounger because the bar staff has made a mistake and not charged us correctly for drinks. Which we were happy with resolving, but we were treated as criminals for a €12 that was unpaid. They pretty much snatched the euros out of our hand!

In conclusion: this is an okay hotel, but definitely not a 3 star, more like a 2 star at best. It's dated, the workmanship in the rooms is sloppy, floors are uneven, the wooden decking is warped and paint is flaking off, the pool is filthy (full of leaves, stains on the walls, etc) and this is just after 3 nights here. I've got 4 more to go!

But what ticks me off the most is the price gouging.. I would expect air conditioning and the room safe to be included in with the price, but that's just me! So if you're planning to stay here make sure you add €10 per night of your stay for the air conditioning and safe. You might find that other hotels become rather competitive in pricing.. especially if other hotels don't charge for using their sunbeds!!!! ..This is my first time in Planos/tsivili so I'm not sure if this is the norm.

I know there's a ton of reviewers out there that only write a review when they want to complain, and never to compliment. This isn't the case with me, but I'm not going to post a mostly negative review on my main account when I'm still staying here!

Please listen to me, if you can afford it please pick someplace else!! If you expect a 2 star experience I'm sure you'll have a great time.

If anyone would like to ask me any questions...

We visited the Phoenix Beach mid August, me, hubby and nine year old son. We had a great stay with no major issues. ||We were in a terrace (basement) room, which all TUI bookings are I believe and we had no option to choose differently. These rooms are located by the staff/service area and can be noisy in the morning. We were woken early in the first morning by the comings and goings however after a day or two became accustomed to this and weren’t bothered by it. The room was spacious, clean, and serviced when we wanted using the door hanger indicating to housekeeping our preferences. There was an iron, ironing board, fridge and hairdryer all perfectly good and useful. The TV had no English channels though there were some English cartoons and films if you had a good look though we weren’t too bothered for the TV anyway! The bed was huge and a comfortable fold out bed was provided for my son.||The pool was lovely, small but adequate for the size of the hotel with a few beds free for guests around this. We did purchase beds on the beach on one day however felt at €35 a pair (no discount for guests) this was expensive and in fact one of the most expensive on the whole beach. This would be my only issue with the hotel in all honesty as we spent a further €70 in a few hours on food and drink while also paying for the beds and being paying customers of the hotel. Had they been cheaper we’d have likely utilised them more throughout our stay. ||The included buffet breakfast was basic but adequate - selection of hot and cold items. Don’t expect full English as we know it in the UK, but perfectly good Greek bacon, beans, eggs and mushrooms. We ate there most days and were happy with this. Food from the pool bar was reasonably priced and of good quality. A club sandwich or gyros platter was adequate to share for two adults at lunch time as a light bite and a good choice of kids meals were available. My son loved the kids burger and had a few of these! Drinks were competitively priced for the area and had an extensive choice. ||Staff were lovely and we had no complaints with any of them. My son made friends with the daughter of one of them and played with her most days in the pool. We felt like she had adopted us for a while and hope she’s still having fun! Hi Sara! ||If it weren’t for the hotel going adults only next year we would definitely return. Great location for beach and...

This holiday was very expensive however we had £100 off therefore thought we were having a good deal. Our holiday was from the 10th to the 17th of September and the weather currently approximately 28° every day.

Upon arrival, we were told that we had to pay €30 for air-conditioning for the week, however, if we arrived on the 31st of August it would’ve been free. After paying this, the air-conditioning unit did not work properly and it took them until the next day to fix it. We had no apologies and no partial refund given which I thought was slightly unfair.

The hotel is very small and quiet, which was ideal for us and the hotel is literally on the beach. as the hotel is small The pool area is also quite compact with only 34 sunbeds, most of which are in the shade. There are a further 30 sunbeds on the grass next to the pool facing the sea. However, the hotel expects you to pay €20 a day for the use of the sandbags and if you want to use the sunbeds on the beach by the hotel, they are €30 per day. I think it is disgusting. That patrons of the hotel should have to pay to use sunbeds in the hotel.

Those are the only two negative points I have , no for the positive!

The rooms are beautifully spacious, extremely clean, very modern and are cleaned every day with fresh bedding and towels every day also.

The hotel breakfast has a lot of variety and is extremely tasty and varied every day. A fantastic selection of hot foods (full English), pastries, fresh fruits, yoghurt and cereals.

We purchased food from the hotel restaurant in the evening again it was lovely. The menu was very varied. However, the food was a lot more expensive than we found in other places not too far away from the hotel.

The staff have been very friendly and accommodating .

I would love to stay here again, however, knowing that you have to pay extra for the air conditioning I’m sunbeds is putting me off wanting to come back in...