Porto Bello Royal

Sorry this is a long read, but I hope helpful! We had looked forward to this holiday as a family group for a long time, so to say we were disappointed is an understatement. Unfortunately, this is not a 5* hotel in our opinion, more 3* (perhaps 4* with full facilities) when compared with other 5* hotels we’ve stayed at across Greece. Firstly, we feel completely misled by TUI regarding facilities and ongoing construction work. While some of this is not directly the hotel’s fault and we do mostly blame TUI, there was also very little communication from the hotel itself on arrival, it very much felt like a “find out for yourself” approach. Restaurants and the beach bar were unavailable, and there was disruptive construction near the beach, accommodation and children’s pool throughout our stay. We were initially told construction would finish at the end of May, but other guests who asked workers directly were told the end of June, so if you are travelling soon please be mindful of this. Check-in also fell far below what we’d expect from a premium 5* resort. It was slow, understaffed (for the volume of guests who arrived) and lacked any proper welcome or useful information after a long day of travelling. I particularly want to warn families with young children, especially under 5s, that this hotel is not especially suited to them. Facilities for babies and young toddlers are extremely limited. There are little to no baby changing facilities, no plastic plates, bowls or cutlery for young children, and navigating the resort with a pram is difficult due to steep steps and poor lighting in the evenings. Some areas genuinely did not feel particularly safe with small children. Sadly, my daughter became unwell with gastroenteritis on our first day which made the experience even harder. However, I do want to highly praise the hotel doctor, who was excellent throughout and provided fantastic follow-up care the next day. Another family member also saw him and he was brilliant with them too. The à la carte restaurant experience was disappointing. Two members of our group felt their pasta dish had been microwaved due to hot and cold spots in the food. We also found it strange that although house wine is included in the buffet, you cannot have it in the Italian restaurant and instead have to purchase wine separately, leaving you limited to beer or juices unless paying extra. We also felt extremely rushed throughout the meal, with staff attempting to clear plates before people had finished eating, which completely ruined any “restaurant experience” feel. In fairness, the buffet food itself was generally good and the pizzas were particularly lovely, but the atmosphere often felt chaotic and service inconsistent. Some staff were excellent, while others made you feel ignored. We were rarely greeted properly or offered water at the table, and often had to flag staff down ourselves for drinks. It lacked the level of service we’d expect from a 5* hotel. The chill-out bar staff were genuinely one of the highlights of the holiday and deserve real recognition, especially Karina, who was absolutely fantastic throughout our stay. She’s a credit to the hotel and deserves huge recognition. The entertainment team were also lovely! Jess, Izzy and Kat were all incredibly warm, genuine and engaging with my daughter, who really enjoyed the mini disco and us the aqua aerobics classes. Their efforts genuinely made a positive difference to the holiday. The spa was another positive. My husband and I had the Cretan massage and body scrub, and as someone who regularly visits spas, it was genuinely one of my favourite massage experiences. Unfortunately, the drinks overall were also disappointing for a premium 5* resort. They were acceptable but nothing special, and some tasted genuinely strange. One evening I couldn’t even drink the water from the bar due to the taste and instead went searching for bottled water that the hotel offered. Another huge issue for us was the smell of cannabis around the hotel. At some points we could smell it on and off throughout the entire day for around five days. Around children and family areas this simply isn’t acceptable, and we felt the hotel lacked urgency in dealing with it, which gave the impression they simply didn’t care enough. It went on for a few days before it stopped. The most serious incident of the holiday involved a pool umbrella lifting completely out of the ground during windy weather and nearly hitting my mother-in-law and nephew, then landing in the pool and my husband avoided a near miss too. It genuinely could have caused a serious injury had it happened seconds earlier with other family members nearby. We immediately went inside afterwards because we no longer felt safe staying around the pool area with children present. What made this worse was that a nearby staff member witnessed the commotion and simply drove away on a buggy. I reported the incident immediately by email and received no reply. Safety checks didn’t appear to happen until the following day, which felt incredibly concerning given how dangerous the situation was. My nephew was frightened every time the wind picked up afterwards and kept trying to hold onto umbrella poles. Towards the end of our stay, a bottle of wine was delivered to one of our rooms which we really did appreciate, but after the number of issues experienced across our whole family group, it unfortunately felt a little insincere arriving on the final full day. For us, the best part of the holiday was honestly leaving the resort and heading in to Kardamena, which is absolutely lovely. We’d highly recommend Avli for a sit down meal, and also Tasty Corner for proper gyros. Excellent places to go! One final thing worth mentioning, many of the 5* reviews appear heavily linked to the spa experience, where guests are encouraged to leave immediate feedback, but this feedback is actually for the entire hotel rather than just the spa itself, which felt slightly misleading to us. I appreciate every holiday experience is subjective and some guests may have a lovely time here, particularly once construction work is complete. However, for our family group, especially travelling with young children, this hotel did not meet expectations of a premium 5* resort. If you are travelling soon or with younger children, I would recommend looking very carefully at alternatives before booking and also contacting your booking provider regarding the construction and facilities timescales.

We had a fabulous time at Portobello Royal. Wonderful location, excellent facilities and great entertainment - the evening shows and kids club kept all the family happy.

Lovely time, the kids had such a good time with Kat in the kids club! She was so patient and caring with our cheeky chaps

I came to the spa at the hotel Portobello I had a back issue, Helena gave me a back and neck massage and it helped to relive the issue with my lower back

Had a lovely stay at Porto Bello Royal. Beautiful views and friendly staff! The animation team in particular were amazing, especially Kat who ran the kids club was an absolute gem! She was the loveliest person and my kids adored her and had such a great time they never wanted to leave!