The Island Hotel

Our experience was quite mixed, but mostly negative. We read similar reviews before going but we were hoping that maybe it’s not so bad? Well, it definitely feels like a 3 star hotel and not 5. 

We took breakfast only option with the intention to have a filling breakfast at the hotel, a light snack for lunch and dinner at one of the nearby restaurants (all very high rated). Well, the hotel breakfast was a compete joke. This was the worst breakfast we’ve ever seen, and the hotel claims to be 5 stars! The selection was pretty basic and identical every morning, which could be expected. But the food was just bad: fried eggs consistently undercooked, stale omelette, stale cucumbers (perhaps leftover from dinner), fruits old and unappealing. For 11 days of our stay we dreaded going to breakfast and had to eat same 3 foods that tasted okay every single day just so that we wouldn’t go hungry. The arrangement with waiters leading you to a free table was also ridiculous - there were always tons of free tables and there was absolutely no reason to waste our time waiting in a queue until a waiter would arrange all the guests. 
 The room was clean, a bit dated. There was only ONE socket in the room, so we had to take turns charging our phones, and had to make tea on the bedside table. The TV was very old and did not offer any modern convenience options. We brought our own chrome cast, but were not able to use it because there was no socket to plug it into. The territory was generally pleasant and clean. The only thing that made our experience somewhat positive were the pools. They were big, clean and very enjoyable. We spent most of our time there. People left their towels to book sun beds in the early morning which was really annoying and the staff did nothing about it. The game room was completely rundown with cigarette butts laying on a foosball table for days and ping pong table being broken in two. We tried having lunch at the Stone restaurant on the hotel territory and were equally disappointed. The food took half an hour to cook, the staff were rude and unprofessional. Food was very basic and unappealing. The beach is just across the road from the hotel and using sun beds was included for us. We were surprised to find children on a beach of the adults only hotel. We were explained on the reception that the beach does not belong to the hotel and they are just renting sun beds. The beach was so cramped all the time, that we only came to take a swim and headed back to our sun beds at the pool. 

Overall, we feel scammed and disappointed. Maybe the hotel was better some years ago, but now the experience is very far from 5 stars.

Great location quick transfer from the airport.On first glance the hotel is lovely,but there are a few things here and there that could be improved on it is a little tired in places ( cracked tiles pool side and some the furniture in the communal area's need attention) however we did enjoy our stay and the staff and food were really nice,but it isn't a five star experience.

Staff were amazing and very helpful and friendly. The lady in the gift shop was very lovely and looks after the hotel cats, she is one of life’s true gems! The rooms and areas were all kept clean and tidy, the food was lovely and plentiful. For us the amount of steps there were to reach almost any part of the hotel/ rooms was a challenge as my mum is not very mobile. The location by the sea is beautiful and the sunrises and sunsets stunning!

Our third visit to the Island Hotel, and possibly our last. In terms of location - excellent. Coastal road position, means cooling breezes off the sea. Short walk to a number of very good restaurants, and also supermarkets. Adults only, so no pesky kids. On this occasion, we had a room in the building above the main pool. Its a long walk through many corridors/levels. The entertainment at the pool/Tholos bar was quite noisy and instrusive, especially for us 'early to bed' folks - fortunately I'd thrown in a pack of earplugs from my mum before leaving! Room was spacious, and kept very clean by the housekeeping staff. The pool areas were fairly well maintained. The breakfast choice was pretty similar to previous visits, with an 'improvement' of making your own tea/coffee from the machines as you entered. Smaller choice of bread perhaps. None of these things bothered me. We didn't eat in the hotel, but did try to get a drink on our first evening - and didn't repeat the experience. Tholos bar service was pretty appalling, and the hotel has gone onto 'immediate payment' - no putting things onto your room to pay at the end. What a massive pain in the ..... Also missing was the fantastic shop at the centre of the complex - previously serving snacks and drinks. Now only selling toiletries and tourist tat. What a disappointment. We assumed the hotel took a percentage of the shop sales before, and the shop was very well patronised. Not any more - and no idea why this model changed. The atmosphere just didn't feel as welcoming - I don't know if they've had problems with non-payments, hence the changes. Staffing levels felt more stretched than previously, and some of the familiar faces just didn't engage with the guests like previously. So - great location, but perhaps just having a bad patch? Giving it 4* but some of that is based on our prior history there.

Arrived at the hotel late at night, checked in and was escorted to our room. The room was ridiculously far from the reception, pools, shop… We got in the room and it was not looking like a 5 star room at all, it was clean and generally nice but our balcony area was two chairs on a concrete slab that anyone could access, looking at a bush. We noticed that the balcony door did not lock at all and we called the reception. They were rude and asked “what do you expect me to do?” We said we wanted a room change as it wasn’t safe on the ground floor with an open door. They sent a security guard who was extremely rude, looking at us like we were idiots, huffing and puffing and wouldn’t speak to us. He slammed the door shut about 15 times every time we pulled it straight back open as it was clearly broken. He tried to pretend it was fixed and rushed out of our room so we asked where he was going and he put his thumb up as trying to leave. We rang the reception again and finally got the room change. The security guard came back, didn’t speak to us just stood at our door and pointed aggressively. We were moved from room 965 to 1000 (the furthest room of the hotel) even further away from the pools and hotel restaurant… In the new room the balcony was in a tree so there was spiders and insects everywhere and the room was clean and generally nice but not 5 star quality or justifying the near £2000 we spent for two people for a week! We slept the night and woke up feeling disappointed with the start of our holiday and couldn’t see how we were supposed to spend a week in this room. We were 5 minutes walk from everything, the pools, restaurant, beach, reception, shop… we were completely separated from the main part of the hotel, they were more like apartments. We decided to look at an upgrade to see if we could get closer to the main part of the hotel, it was an ridiculously expensive upgrade but we felt we had to do it to have a chance of enjoying our holiday. We felt like we were put into the furthest room of the hotel, with an awful balcony so we were forced into upgrading. The location of the hotel was rubbish, the beach was lovely but nightlife was flat. There was 7 restaurant/bars that were very very quiet and it was boring. We also had a power cut in which I’ve noticed through other reviews is a regular problem. Overall, I was gutted with the room, disgusted with the customer service, location was boring and I wouldn’t return!