BalluBallu

Is there any news on this property ? I looks very nice. Did I read correctly that Breakfast is not included for Plats if on C&P otherwise it is ? Because I get differnt answers deppeding where I read

Thanks for any comments

truequant

I've recently been staying there a couple nights a week quite regularly.
I like the property. It is the nicest property that i have seen in Cyprus.
The breakfast is pretty good -- and it is free for everyone. It has nothing to do with status. Breakfast is free. Period.

I am a Gold and there are no real benefits for me. They claim they are upgrading me -- but they aren't really giving me a better room other than seaview.
But the basic room that i have been getting is pretty nice. Excellent bed.
And the room is clean.

Checkin staff told me that when i become a plat they will start giving me a large suite. The other perk for plats is free internet. Otherwise you have to pay for internet.

Also, btw, there is no executive lounge.

jaymar01

Personally, I prefer both the Amathus Beach and Four Seasons hotels in Limmasol. But, frankly this is more personal preference.... Le Meridien Limassol is definitely a first-class hotel experience.

Limmasol is not my first choice for a Cyprus destination. The beaches are very pedestrian, and Limmasol is anything but a laid-back holiday destination.

The best beaches on Cyprus are around Ayia Napa (great except in July/August, when the town is over-run by 18-24 Brits), and the Karpas Peninsula on the Turkish side of the island.

ehud

Not my experience back in Aug. Yes Breakfast is free but only for paying customers. Those on points or C&P - Don't expect it. I have to admit, though, that BF is excellent!
I was there on a paid SPG50 & I had to argue about the Breakfast. Got it eventually.

truequant

I know for a fact that right now (low season, very empty hotel) there is no one at the entrance to the breakfast room asking for room numbers so i just assumed that it is free for everyone. It could be that in high season they do screen. I don't know.

Ehud, how much was your SPG50 and did you use it in high season? Right now i have a very low rate so i am happy -- but during high season i am considering using SPG50 if it makes sense to.

ehud

I don't really remember but it was a good price for the high season. The best price was for 1 adult in a room. I took 2 rooms & as PLT got upgraded.
Send me PM if you need more info.

fdemacar

Hi all,
Here is a trip report from a recent stay there.


Background information
Stay from 17 to 24 April (second week of Easter Holidays)
2 adults and 2 kids (12 and 10)
Purpose of stay was to relax (with kids playing on their own)
We rented a small car (see reason below in "tips" section)
Booked on points
Status: Plat


Reservation
Booked 7 days on points in September 2010 for stay in Easter 2011 through concierge as no family room was available on line (+ I needed to use the 25% reduction award).
Concierge contacted the property and confirmed the possibility of upgrade to family room.
I sent in Sept a nice email to reservation manager (Anna Zintila) of the hotel to get upgraded. Immediate email received confirming upgrade to Leisure suite (68 m2) in the main building. The reservation showed this till 3 days before check-in when it was moved to Royal Spa suite (77m2).


Hotel localisation
60 kms from Larnaca (around 55 EUR taxi) and 15 kms from Limassol in a sandy strech of beach. Environnement is quiet. Public bus in front of the hotel (1.5 EUR) to go to town. Shuttle to town available as well (once a day each way) but we did not use it. Good location to go the Troodos mountains.


Check-in
Nice welcome drink. Quick and efficient. I was upgraded to an Enalia suite (suite M3) facing the sea (93 m2). This suite seems a good candidate for plat upgrade as I am not the first one to get this suite following an upgrade.
Were brought with golf cart with our luggage to our room.
Plat amenity is an automatic 500 points credited to account (no instant award possible nor other welcome amenties available).


Room
The Enalia suite is a duplex suite in a small house with a private terrace facing the sea (closest room to the beach) in the "no kids area" fo the complex. It has the parental room on the 1st floor with direct view to the sea from the bed (reaalllly nice in the morning when waking-up). Jacuzzi near the bed overlooking the gardens. Big flat TV screen with a range of international channels. Bathroom with Italian shower and toilets. Good bath products (Elemis).
2 good quality rollaway beds were installed for the kids in the living room.
Downstairs living room and bathroom (shower and toilets) with also a big flat TV screen.
Wifi Internet connection of poor quality (but free for plat). Adequate for limited surfing but not for streaming video. 2 computers with printers and Internet available in the lobby.
Sunloungers available in terrace. Plenty of storage space.
Daily complimentary water and delicacies were part of the stay as well.
The hotel has 330 rooms and around 70 suites of all kinds (up to 3 bedrooms): Citrus gardens, Palm court (around a pool reserved for them – not heated) scattered in the gardens. The only suites with a sea view are the Enalia, Royal Spa suite (except the lowest level one!!), Leisure suite, Imperial suite and Presidential suites for those with a bottomless wallet.


Breakfast
I was told at check-in that breakfast was not included in my room rate (price 17 EUR and 9 EUR for kids)
The buffet breakfast was good (without being exceptional), indoor and terrace over the pool. As all rates normally include breakfast in the room rate and due to the sheer number of persons to install their procedures are not geared towards checking the full details of rates of everyone.


Kids club
Kids club is a real kids club with animator and daily activities program .Enough to keep them busy all day ^.
Be careful of extra's there (water, ice creams,..). It adds up quickly.
For teens and adults, there is Leisureland with 4 tennis courts, basketball, mini golf, 5 a side football pitch with daily matches organised (7-9, 9-13 and adults).
A very good quality 4 lane bowling is available with 3 times weekly happy hour at 17:00 (otherwise 7 EUR per adult and 4 per kid).
You can hire bikes at Leisureland (we did not do that however).


Restaurants
We preferred to have lunch outside although restaurants inside are correct although over priced for captive residents. Chesters is a good option 2 min per car but slightly too far away on foot.


Gardens and pools
Certainly an asset to the hotel, well maintained with 7 pools (the main big one heated year long 28 degrees (not including the indoor one). Plenty of sunloungers available everywhere so no morning races to "book" them. Gardens are big enough not to feel cramped. Ample space is available for the ones who want to hide a bit. The beach is nice (black sand) without being exceptional. It is perfectly adequate for young childrens.


Hotel residents
While we were there mainly Britons with kids together with Russians. The occasional French families were present. All of them well behaved.


Conclusions
If you are looking for a real palace where every detail is top luxury, this is not the place (even if 5 stars). But if you are looking for relaxing holidays with tons of activities for all, this is definitely the place. You can stay a week there without the need to move. It can accommodate singles, couples and families with equal happiness. Even more so if you get an upgrade to the Enalia by the reservation manager (Anna Zintila).


Tips
Here are a few tips:

• There is a free water fountain in the indoor pool area
• Hire a small car for the duration of the stay (it is marginally higher than two taxi rides from the airport
• Use the free bowling session 3 times a week at 17:00. Go to leisureland and ask to get your name on the list for free session
• It does not for plats to request an upgrade beforehand to Anna Zintila (Reservation supervisor)
• Try the Chesters restaurant (around 2.5 kms from the hotel towards the city). With rented car, it is easier
• Use the small supermarket 200m on the left when going out of the hotel (enough to stock basic snacks, juices and water).
• Use the lobby Internet connexion to print boarding card (there is a dedicated web check-in counter at the Larnaca airport – at least for Cyprus Airways).

Here are a few pictures from there
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=enal...ien%20limassol

UK Flyer 1

fdem,

I wanted to vote you thanks for this comprehensive report. I will be a guest in late July, and I enjoyed your informed review.

If anyone has any local restaurants to add, ( or a sensible way to get over that annoying internet charge, ) it would be good to hear.

I am surprised nobody has started a thread on here sharing lobby access codes.

fdemacar

Hi,
The two PC with Internet connection in the lobby are free of charge (with a printer).
The wifi connection in the room was of very poor quality (at least the Enalia suite which is a little remote from the main building). I would not have liked to pay for it.

UK Flyer 1

On my stay this started out gratis then they imposed software making everyone purchase the codes/ Euros 5 for 1 hour.

truequant

Unlimited wifi is free for plats.

If u like sushi, try zen which is next to chesters

PanGalactic

I just thought I'd post some of my feelings about my recent experience here. I may come back and update in the next few days as more thoughts come to mind

We booked this hotel in Jan and stayed during March for 8 nights, There was a triple starpoints promo going on so we should get a nice bunch of points in a few days too I chose to go for the pay BB get HB rate as it said it would include a buffet dinner each night in Le Fleurie restaurant ONLY.

This was attractive to us as my wife and I were travelling with our 2 year old daughter and buffet sounded great especially as my wife is currently in a super healthy eating phase and my daughter is actually quite fussy and hard to please, therefore we figured buffet would offer plenty of choice and keep us all happy.

When we got there, check in went smoothly, we got upgraded 2 categories from what we originally paid for, inland view (the cheapest room) to a family room with sea view which was really spacious and had a lovely view.
We were offered a welcome drink and also the new gold goodies. We chose the free internet as we would be there for 8 nights and didn't want to pay the daily 10 euros per device, for 4 devices (would have been 320 euros) in order to use the internet.

Unfortunately, we discovered that Le Fleurie restaurant wasn't open during our stay and instead we could only eat at La Nautille (fine dining restaurant). Most people would probably say, "whats wrong with you, I'd choose fine dining over buffet every time, are you crazy? why are you complaining?", but if your wife won't eat anything with fat on it, butter, sauces etc and you had a 2yo who didn't like sitting through 2 hour meals every night, you would understand.
The cost of the set menu at this restaurant was 42 euros per head and we had only paid 120 per night for the 3 of us so they probably thought they were doing us a huge favour

I bought this up with the manager who pointed out to me that the buffet at Le Fleurie in the t+c's was "subject to the discretion of the management" and that the reason we were being served in the fine dining restaurant was because there were not enough people staying there to justify a buffet each night and they were doing it to avoid waste. I understand this policy now and of course I didn't expect them to make a whole buffet just for us each night. He did have a word with the restaurant manager and arranged for my wife to be able to order off the a la carte menu within reason, ie: not order the most expensive dishes all the time, she usually just ordered chicken skewers and Cyprus Village salad and skipped dessert which was fine and they never charged us anything extra for that.

I must admit, I personally thought the menus at La Nautille were excellent, especially the desserts, however even for me it started to get a bit "heavy" after the 4th or 5th night, sometimes you just want a spaghetti bolognese with chips and salad, you know
The quality of the food served was excellent, something different every night, My favourites were the pan fried duck and angus steak with fois gras. Unfortunately, they insisted on bringing everything out at the same time which usually meant my plate had sat under a heat lamp for a while making the rare cooked meat I asked for turn out medium to well done most of the time, but I still enjoyed it none the less. they were also happy to serve us in the room on a couple of occasions when my daughter had fallen asleep and we couldn't make it down to the restaurant.
My daughter even got used to the 2 hour meals so we considered this as good training for her, since we will be visiting Dubai later this year and want to try some of the nicer restaurants there too.

The hotel was undergoing some construction work during the time we stayed there, although nothing major, just a lick of paint in some of the rooms, we did hear a little banging but this was during the day so it did not wake us up or anything like that.

I think this hotel building has seen better days personally, also the art work on display is a bit dodgy and furniture was a bit "odd", ie: lots of different style sofas all over the place and no real sense of order. The side entrance you needed to drive to and put your room card in to open the rusty door to the under ground car park was a bit off putting and seemed a bit "prison like". The under ground car park (yes I know its only a car park) also seemed a bit dirty, dark and smelly. There was also no lift from the under ground car park to the lobby meaning I had to carry my 15kg daughter up 2 flights of stairs while she was asleep a few times.

However what the building lacked in charm was made up for by the fantastic attitudes of the staff who were all really nice to us and especially our daughter, they really made us feel welcome there and could not do enough for us. I think it's one of those places where the staff are trained to never give "no" as an answer and it really showed ^

The spa was also really good, my wife and I both had a massage there during our stay and although a bit on the pricey side the facilities were really clean and treatments didn't feel at all rushed, they didn't try to sell us any products either which was a surprise

The kids club also looked excellent although there was only 1 thing missing from it during the time we stayed there.....Other kids!!
I bet it's a mad house (in a good way) during the summer. The facilities there looked really good.

I'd like to go there again one day, maybe after it's had a full refurb.

We went to Paphos during our time in Cyprus and had dinner one night at the Elysium hotel which really has the "wow" factor so we have promised ourselvs we will stay there next year (even though you don't get any sort of points there, which is a big deal for me if you know what I'm like!), sorry Le Meridien

236Dakota

At checkin last week I was told twice that we would not get free Internet as SPG Gold, even when reminding this was now a Gold benefit. After sternly requesting it for the third time it was granted and our room was upgraded to a sea view. The stay has been OK since then.

PanGalactic

Speak to Angela if you have any problems, she seems to know what's going on.

How many devices have they allowed you to log on with?

We were allowed 4 although we were told that was done as a favour as we were only supposed to be allowed 1 device.

Is the Le Fleuri buffet restaurant open yet?

truequant

I believe that each PIN code allows access for 2 devices.

I agree with the above poster that the front desk staff are quite excellent.

My only quibble with the property is that the gym is only open from 7AM-8PM.