The Island Hotel

This feels very harsh as we had a great holiday with the saving grace being the location of the hotel, the cleanliness & the pools, gardens and outdoor areas. We had breakfast only and were really glad this was the case as nothing apart from ‘the Kitchen’ buffet restaurant was open. Breakfast was good, apart from the slow and constantly failing coffee machines! Tea and coffee table service would have been welcomed. Our major gripe was the lack of advertised facilities - nothing was open on the complex apart from the Kitchen buffet restaurant and one pool bar in the day which closed and Theo’s opened in the evening. No sign of the Yacht club, Taverna or Veranda opening. We complained at reception and were told they would open ‘in the summer’. The evening bar can only be described as atrocious…at any standard, never mind a 5 star hotel! Service was terrible, barman was unhappy and aired his gripes freely, drinks were a poor quality, cocktails were poor and unattractive with no garnish, many were unavailable, dirty glass (wine tasted of Bacardi or lip balm?!) or glasses not available for your drink choice, no ice at times and even closes at times when it should have been open with no alternative venues in site. Added to this, the entertainment was really lacking- a DJ only practically every night we were there. Live music vocalists only once and didn’t appear when scheduled. As said, we were B&B only so ate out every evening and the local tavernas were fabulous and a good choice very near the hotel. The staff were really friendly and tried their best to help, but were overstretched and appeared out of their depth in the bar. Service at breakfast was good. Reception staff logged our concerns, but were unable to act on them unfortunately. The hotel generally had the vibe of one struggling, with a change of management whilst we were there. I hoped this may improve things, but reviews since our holiday unfortunately cite the same issues. We returned in 9th June. The beach was just across the relatively quiet road, and was lovely. Plenty of sun beds available. Sandy beach with lovely shallow sea. We would return because of the location, but this would be cost dependent and we would need to be properly sold the holiday by TUI with facilities as advertised. This would need to be reflected in the price. As others have said, this is definitely not a 5 star hotel.

Visited this hotel with friends, two had a special birthday so really looking forward to staying in what had been described to us as a fabulous hotel. Sadly our experience was not great. The hotel grounds and pools are lovely, although the sun loungers leave a lot to be desired. The rooms are cramped with little drawer space and the bathroom was tiny. The staff tried their best but sadly they appeared to have been drafted in as what appeared to be cheap labour and most didn’t seem to have a clue. The dining room staff tried their best but we were lucky if someone came around to offer us water let alone take our wine. There was a distinct lack of alcohol choice only plain gin nothing else although the lovely bar tender Nico did order pink gin in for us. He was extremely helpful. We chose to eat at what was described as the à la carte restaurant on our last night. The meal I’m sad to say was absolutely dire. We were served cold soup, a concoction that looked like something my dog might spew up, which actually was a plate of boiled potatoes covered in mayonnaise, fish that was dry and overcooked and the piece de la resistance was the dessert - a dollop of yoghurt surrounded by glacé cherries! I couldn’t in all honesty recommend this hotel and 5 star it certainly is not.

3 stars feels a little harsh because we had a fantastic stay at the island hotel. But while I really wanted to give 5 stars some things really let the hotel down… first the positives, the hotel is incredible, the 3 pools are great with plenty of beds & loungers, 2 pools are very quiet & relaxing and the main pool area is a bit livelier but apart from a DJ playing music on Saturday afternoon there were no pool activities, it’s an adult only resort but there were plenty of young people who would enjoy some pool games, aqua aerobics etc… We went to the gym, Pilates classes & yoga & the facilities were good & the Pilates/yoga instructor was excellent. Everywhere was extremely clean & the staff were very friendly all around the hotel. The room was cleaned every day with new towels for both the room & the pool/beach. It is truly a 5 star resort. However, here are the drawbacks….. Some of the things advertised are not open (at least in June while we were there) the taverna restaurant was closed, the beach bar was closed. We only ate breakfast & the selection was adequate but it wasn’t 5 star quality & they didn’t have a proper coffee service, the machine was fine but not brilliant. The toilet in our room was faulty & was making a weird noise, the receptionist was helpful and said someone would come & fix it but they weren’t on duty until the following morning ( in a 5 star resort there should be 24hr maintenance available I think). And lastly the wait time for food at lunch by the pool restaurant was approximately 40minutes for a club sandwich & a wrap ( too long in my opinion) Again not to be too critical, we really enjoyed our stay as the hotel is really beautiful, they just need to offer better entertainment & higher standard of food

The hotel has the makings of being excellent. Lovely comfy beds to sleep at night. Not so comfy sun beds. Lovely pools and a beach across the road. Food was good BUT do not book the Taverna À la carte. We booked it for our last night and it was really awful and I mean awful! Everybody complained. Absolutely the worst I’ve ever had in my life! No choice of starters or desserts and only lamb or fish for main. The fish was like rubber. A couple alongside us had the lamb which they said was disgusting. Our room unfortunately was the furthermost point away from reception. It was a shared pool but there were hundreds of bees in the trees dive bombing in our pool! We went to our friends pool next door. Most of the staff are Malaysian. They are lovely but paid a pittance and don’t understand English very well. We tried to order drinks for dinner but failed miserably on more than one occasion. The shop, well they no longer sell water, ice creams, snacks etc so you have to walk outside to the supermarket if you want these. Overall, this hotel left us all very disappointed. We certainly will not be going back!

Excellent hotel with beautiful rooms! We really enjoyed our stay here, the staff was super friendly and accommodating, the rooms are beautiful designed and well kept, everything was clean and every detail was taken care of. The food was very good, we loved having our dinner with the sunset every evening. The beach is right in front of the hotel, making it super easy to enjoy. Great value for money, will definitely coming back here soon!