Pilot Beach Resort

My family and I stayed at Pilot Beach from 18th - 27th August. We had a junior suite where the kids had their own area with two single beds and my wife and I had the main area with a decent size bed. The room was clean and spacious and was cleaned daily. Pool We used the main pool as it was closest to our room. No issues with sunbeds with usually some still available at 10am!! Amazing!! No idea on the other pools as we didn’t use them. Pool was lovely with no loud music, except during pool aerobics which was every other day. No problems with that!! Food Loads to choose from at breakfast and dinner. Dinner was varied each night with no lack of choice. My wife has a gluten allergy and there was loads she could eat which was clearly labelled. The dining room was always fairly busy but nowhere near the chaos I’ve experienced at other places, which made it a very pleasant experience. Staff worked tirelessly to clear tables and I never had to wait long to get a table. They do a Cretian night and a lobster night, both at extra cost and must be booked. Can’t comment as we didn’t do either. We went half-board so didn’t have the buffet lunch. However, the hotel beach bar did decent toasties, burgers, gyros etc… at reasonable prices. Drinks As mentioned, we went half-board, so paid as we went. However on looking at what was available for all-inclusive, it was pretty impressive: Gordon’s gin, hanava rum, absolut vodka, and mythos beer. All decent brands in my opinion. Obviously, there are many other named brands you can buy. Payment is made by presenting your room card and then signing the screen. You then settle the bill at the end of the holiday. Word of advice… CHECK YOUR BILL!! We decided to settle our bill halfway through as, let’s face it, you can get carried away when not spending ‘actual money’. Our bill showed that my wife and I had consumed three bottles of wine one night during dinner. Now… my wife and I quite like a drink, but three bottles between two of us over a period of about 45 minutes is pretty ambitious!!! The helpful chap on reception quickly acknowledged that this was clearly an error and swiftly removed them from the bill. Other stuff Had a day out in Chania. Easy to do. Just jump on bus at stop outside nearby Mare Monte supermarket. It’s more of a coach than a bus so no standing room. Once it’s full, it’s full, so you may have to wait for next one. Easy to get return bus as it goes straight from bus station in Chania where you’re dropped off. Loads to do at hotel: gym (not bad for a hotel one), games (darts, footie, water polo, tennis…), exercise class (HIIT class, yoga etc) Beach Lovely soft sand, clear water and warm. Loads of sunbeds for hotel guests. Visit one of the beach bars (not affiliated to the hotel). Mikes oasis was quaint with straw roofing and furniture directly on the sand. Staff aren’t shy of handing out a free rakki or ouzo after you get the bill :) Overall, a fantastic holiday was had by all. The one question… would I stay at pilot beach again… ABSOLUTELY YES!!!!

10 day stay family of 4 After a terrible arrival and check in (being moved to another hotel at 3am) The hotel team were fantastic with an upgrade to a beach suite which was lovely and peaceful Lots of pools, plenty of beds and space, fantastic beach and great variety of food each day (we were full board and didn’t get bored of the menu) Evening entertainment was not great and the resort goes to bed after the nightly show at 10/10.30pm Hired a car and recommend visiting Chanai and Rethymno along with the water park, nearby freshwater lake and Kourtalitiko gorge Great stay - recommended

Location was amazing, right on the beach also near the swimming pool and bar. Very clean hotel never saw rubbish anywhere. Atmosphere was great all staff were happy to help always happy. Rooms were cleaned everyday fresh towels for room and pool daily, new bottled water everyday. Beds made daily too. Everything about the holiday was great my son is very active and there was something for him to do most of everyday. We will definitely go back .

We had a wonderful two-week holiday at Pilot Beach. Staying in a seafront villa made a huge difference for us, so it was definitely worth paying extra. The location is gorgeous - an absolutely stunning sandy beach with crystal-clear water, a secluded setting surrounded by dunes, mountains and hotel grounds that are green and immaculate. During our two weeks, we had one week of yellow (big waves) and red (no swimming) flags and one week of green flags. When it’s a green flag, it’s absolute heaven. Beware of mosquitoes! We got bitten severely and couldn’t even sit on the balcony in the evenings. I’d strongly recommend bringing insect repellent and something to treat the bites - I can highly recommend Anthisan. The swimming pool offering is really strong. The pool on the beach was lovely as was the largest one near the main building and we could always find a sun lounger. We did wish there was a better menu at the beach bar. They had wraps and desserts but our child lives on chicken nuggets and French fries and we would have loved to see something like a Greek salad on the menu! Also, quite a few drinks aren’t included in the AI package such as smoothies and fresh orange juice. I’ve attached a sample menu. There are lots of tavernas if you walk along the beach in either direction so food was never a problem. I’d highly recommend the smoothies and snacks at Paradise Cafe. There’s also a lovely mini-market at the hotel. We absolutely loved the food and service at the main restaurant, Kronos. Everything was really tasty and we didn’t get tired of it even after two weeks. The set menu at the Asian restaurant was nice but we didn’t find it particularly filling and there was an additional charge of 20euro per person. Beach towels are changed in the room which is very efficient. The toiletries are good quality but bring your own hair conditioner or you can buy some at the mini-market. One thing we found annoying was that the shower pressure went down and the water became cold around 7–8 pm, just when most people (including us!) were getting ready for dinner. I never thought I’d pay much attention to the quality of evening entertainment but on some days when the hotel’s own animation team were reenacting famous musicals it was more like a primary school show. The live music at the beach bar on the other hand was always lovely. We also really liked the hotel app where you could easily find all the information and schedules. Car rental at the hotel is about twice as expensive as in Georgioupolis. As some people have already commented there are a few things that let the hotel’s 5-star status down. The hot water issue mentioned above was one of them. The condition of some facilities was another - my son got stuck in the toilet twice, the departure showers and beach toilets are pretty awful and smell of sewage. The tunnel between the main building and the beach could also do with a bit of TLC. The kid’s bed is only a small folding bed. The further grounds where the football and volleyball fields are located don’t have a proper fence and overlook fields with abandoned buildings and construction machinery, which was spooky after dark. And cherry on the cake, they wouldn’t let us have dinner on our check-out day even though we hadn’t had dinner on our check-in day. After a two-week stay we thought this was rather mean. For all of these reasons I’m taking one star off my rating. Overall, though, we had a really good and much-needed rest and we might consider coming back again in the future.

A life time experience! A wonderful dream everyone has to live! Pilot beach hotel is a unique holiday destination! Thank you so much for your hospitality, Pilot beach hotel!