Just got back after a week here. Booked this holiday with Olympic after seeing good reviews. However was not impressed at all with the island of Crete (first trip there) is very little of anything there.
Anyway on to the hotel,which is advertised as having air con.
However this is turned on on 15/06 (in small print). We were not told that this was only in the communal areas and that you always pay extra (6 euros a day) for air con in your room.
The private beech that is directly outside the hotel ( the sister hotel the HERMES has a private entrance to) is not private and is open to all, the sun loungers and parasols seen on the private beech( the exact same loungers that are by the pool) which as you are all inclusive and it is a private beech, you think should and will be included for your use are not. NO,to sit on the beech, if you get there in time is 7 euros a day! that is just under 50 euros a week! another expense we hadn't bargained on.
The pool on the roof of the first building is very very small and very very cold, nobody used it only as a splash pool to cool down.
There is a very small amount of sun loungers by the pool, nowhere near enough for all guests, and towels are placed early to keep loungers all day even though this is not aloud and causes arguments.
There are 2 lifts, one in each building (smallest lifts in the world) with one flight of stairs between the 2 and stairs to the pool area, no lift access (Not disabled friendly, this hotel).
The bedrooms were OK, basic and not finished to a good standard but kept clean, had an inland view (see pics) not good, our balcony was so small you could only use to dry clothes and we had a view of other rooms and locals homes! Some of the sea view rooms had blocked views, but the view from the hotel roof and front door was beautiful.
The food was up and down, at breakfast they try to cater for too many nationalities. There was lots of food, just not a lot that was edible to us,
Lunch was probably the best time to eat. There was a large selection of food, almost as much as dinner and although nothing was labeled you seem to get some good food here (most days),
Dinner was a bit disappointing, lots of foods on offer and some sort of idea of what they could be as there was a menu displayed as to what was for dinner (however this did not 99% of the time match what was served) and was not to our taste.
What ever time you where in the dining room you felt pressured to get out as soon as possible, they try to take your plate as soon as you put your knife and fork down if have finished or not!
Nothing at the hotel for children, saw one child there on our stay who seemed to be bored to tears.
The hotel seems to cater more for the Dutch than anyone else and the place was full of them, the staff seem to like them and chat to them a lot more than anyone else. The only really nice staff we met was one lady on reception (short black hair), the lady at the snack bar by the pool ( she is mad!) and the cleaners were very nice and polite.
Was not really impressed with the hotel or resort although this was one of the biggest town we saw on the island ,was not really anything here, would not go to Crete again and would not recommend it to anyone.
Olympic holidays have a unique idea of how to let you know of your return transfer time, you are left a questionnaire 3 days before you leave and see the rep the day before you leave to swap this questionnaire for a bit of paper with your pick up time on, so you cant organise anything for the last 2 days as you have to wait and see the rep and you don't know when you are leaving until the last possible moment!
Oh and one last thing. We were told by the Olympic rep at welcome meeting about a beautiful beech called Vai (where the Bounty add was filmed) only place in Europe where palm trees grow naturally, however they don't do trips there as you can only get there by car, She told us that nobody did trips there. But they will hire you a car for 30 euros a day plus fuel which didn't sound to bad ,until you see the small print and you have to hire for 3 days minimum which then becomes expensive. The day before we return home we see a shop next to the hotel that has a sign in the window for coach trips to Vai beach! I did have words with the rep as this was just a lot of lies she had told us!
















