I stayed at both and preferred Chania vs Elounda. The rooms are more modern and upscale at Chania unless you stay at the residences in Elounda. The regular rooms at Elounda are nice but a bit dated especially the bathroom and there’s no privacy in the garden view rooms. Chania is a more interesting and vibrant city then Elounda with greater variety of places to dine at. Chania is actually located next to a beach and Elounda has a smaller private man-made beach. Both have two pools which are equally nice - Chania a quiet pool and one with music that looks out onto the beach and Elounda a adult pool and a family pool which I avoided because it was filled with kids running aroundl athough it looked nice. Elounda is split into two sides so you’ll need to walk up and down a hill or take a cart to get to each side so it’s a much larger and spread our resort versus Chania which has a smaller boutique hotel vibe. Chania is located in a city surrounded by other hotels and you can walk to restaurants and Elounda is more secluded although you could walk 15-20 minutes to Plaka but along the road. Elounda has more beautiful immediate surroundings with clearer blue water and a view of Spinalonga. Chania is an adult resort so had a more night life feel and they had a dj and free champagne for guests one night when we were there. Elounda is a very family friendly resort and there will be kids at breakfast, at the pool, at the beach, and if you’re unlucky right next to your room so you can hear the kids running around. Elounda has a nice tennis court if you play. Everything in Crete is spread out so you have to drive an hour or more to get to places so it just depends on what sights you want to see. There are more sights to see on the west side near Chania that interested me although the hotel was so relaxing we decided to just stay at the hotel a lot more than we usually do.