Originally Posted by MikeyBee

I stayed here recently... it's a nice property, with pluses and minuses.

I am SPG Plat and booked the base room ("Superior Bungalow") on points, hoping for an SNA to a "Maisonette Duplex with pool" to clear. 5 days out they were still selling the upgraded category room online, but it was not available in the SNA pool, so no SNA. Booh.

At check-in I was informed the property was "fully booked". They were still selling "Island Luxury Suites" online, but these are at least one category above the Plat upgrade pool. I tried a polite DYKWIA but didn't get anywhere. Maybe I should have tried to negotiate a paid upgrade to this level. So we got what we "paid" for - which while a little disappointing, sometimes happens...

To their credit, there was a lovely and generous welcome gift in the room, possibly in lieu of the upgrade.

The rooms are modern and clean, bathrooms look relatively recently renovated. Room styles and locations vary widely. Few rooms will maintain the sun on your terrace or pool past lunchtime. The private pools in the original part of the hotel are all, I believe, unheated, and are quite "refreshing". The infinity pools are separated by low walls and while private to you, do not have any real privacy. I saw only a couple of people brave a dip the whole time we were there...

Rooms nearer the road, restaurants, or funicular, may be overlooked, some seriously. I would be quite disappointed if I was paying several hundred euro a night and had funicular users gawping into my pool and room every 3 minutes. Some rooms also overlook the upper communal pool and bar area. Some of the "spectacular sea views" are somewhat blocked by buildings in front. The "new wing" has heated pools apparently. Oh, and the description of many rooms as "bungalows" is not true - most are two storey buildings.

The staff are generally super-friendly, and try hard. Greece is the home of so many warm and friendly people anyway...

Breakfast becomes a zoo later on, especially if the terrace is out of action due to wind or rain. There is a strange "reserved" section at the far end of the terrace for the luxury villa and grand villa guests, that is is particularly far from the buffet... The buffet itself is expansive, and includes local dishes. While sparkling wine (not champagne) is a nice addition, it was quite rough... the rose was slightly better.

Other than breakfast we didn't eat in the hotel (vacation budget didn't stretch to it) but food reviews from others were mixed. Prices were universally expensive - e.g. the "Cretan night" was 70 EUR/head + wine. Walk 10 mins into Plaka for great food at half of that or less. There's also room in the minibar fridge for your own goodies from town to keep the bar bill down.




Your fellow guests will be mostly package tour couples and families, from the UK, France, Germany, a surprising number from Russia, with some Americans kicking around too. European school holidays will bring families, outside that it will be mostly more senior couples.

Ultimately the "package holiday" atmosphere and approach is possibly the main downside, especially if you have Starwood status. The management seem to be happier to take the tour operator dollar, than to really want to belong to the Starwood chain. Searching online, tour operators seem to be able to sell higher category rooms more cheaply than they can be bought directly (when bought as a flight+hotel package). I know why this happens (tour operators block-booking or guaranteeing revenue), it just sticks in the throat a little if you're a *wood loyalist.