My family of 4 (one 1yo and one 5yo) booked a last minute holiday and were offered 3 hotels to chose from in Crete. My wife chose this hotel almost solely due to the fact it had freshwater pools - our 5 year old loves to swim and was disappointed last year when the main pool in Kos was salt water.
The reviews in English were poor to say the least but we did not let this spoil our expectations.
Overall the Hotel is great and would recomend it - especially after talking to other Brits who had terrible experiences with all inclusives elsewhere on the island!
Now for the facts - The hotel has been block booked by a German travel company who take up 80% of the hotel - the rest is mainly Russian and whilst we were there, there were only two 'British' rooms but, I have to say that the other family had been recomended by a friend and had booked the hotel directly!
Positives
The food was great and in the hot buffet there were always staples of pasta (different shapes each night) and a 'red' sauce and a 'white' sauce (always different). Additionally, there were always a couple of vegetables (e.g. garden peas, cauliflower, broccolli etc) and a couple of meat dishes (turkey, beef, chicken, lamb etc.) and a fish dish. We also had (not every night)langoustines, calamari and mussels and on two or three nights there was pizza, chips and burgers. The sald bar was huge and always had around 6-8 salads - pasta, vegetable etc and there were also big bowls of individual salad things like tomatos, cucumber, grated carrot, onions......it would challange any piza hut salad bar! The hotel also has a fantastic pastry chef as the puddings were great especially the chocolate eclairs! Our children always found somthing to eat!
The buildings were immaculately kept and always clean with cleaners on the go all the time and our room was cleaned and changed daily. The pool was one of the cleanest I have ever been in and it starts bout 90cm and slopes gradually to about 3m in the deep end. The childrens pool was equally clean. The beach was good 'sandcastle' sand but had a few stones but not enough to be a problem. The beach had a gradual slope from very shallow so it was waist deep about 50 feet out!
It was also the first hotel I have stayed in where (probably becasue of the children) that the told us to detach the card from the keys and leave it in the slot permanently so our room was always cool.
Beer and soft drinks (post-mix) were 'help yourself' at the restaurant and beach bar but served in the main bar. There were the main spirits included in the AI such as vodka, martini, gin brandy but all others were on sale if you wanted.
Outside the hotel across the main road were a selection of about 6-10 tavernas/bars and 6-10 gift/ tourist/clothing shops, one chemist and a 'proper' but small supermarket.
Negatives
Breakfast was always the same with fried eggs, some small bacon rashers, boiled eggs, omlette and NO toast - small complaint really as they did have coco pops and cold milk which was enough for the children!
We never saw the animation team once although there was a programme - maybe the Germans dont like that kind of thing? There was also no evening entertainment apart from 3 nights in the two weeks we were there there was a magician (okay) one night, a greek music night and an international music night - a man and woman with an electric piano singing very dodgily!!
During the day (outside meal times) the only bar serving was the beach bar so if you were around the pool it was a 2-300mtr walk to get drinks or ice cream.
The childrens pool was not very shallow (about 70cm) and unlike the adjoining big pool which had a water level side the side was about 10cm higher than the water level.
Overall we had a great holiday and would certainly recomend the hotel to any one who wants a quiet 'non-british' holiday.





Rooms
Location (e.g., convenience, views)
Cleanliness


