Guest reviews Porto Elounda Golf & Spa Resort

by PetriL634 Moscow, Russia

Five star it is not and even even four is a stretch

We arrived in mid August in one evening after quite an exhausting trip. We settled in the room and immediately felt a sort of damp air that goes together with poor (non existent) ventilation. We opened the patio door to our “private” swimming pool, that we noticed we happen to share with four other rooms and let the breeze take out the unpleasant aroma. Three stars, maximum. The room was spaceous, but has not been renovated, I am guessing for at least twenty years (apart from the very nice bathhroom). No keycards, basic metal key and what was funny, to lock the patio sliding door, one had to push a metal pin on a chain throgh a hole drilled through the window frame from inside. Three stars, maybe even two. We arranged with the guest services manager to have dinner at the fish restaurant, where one has to take the hotel buggy transfer, it is a good 10-15 minutes walk otherwise. The fish was fresh, other than that the food was pretty much nondescript. We were told that the restaurant would be full, but it was far from that. This script actually repeated more than once later on. The service was below average, after our mains we waited for half an hour waiving hands and trying to make noises to get the desert list. We finally got it and after it the surprisingly not modest bill. Three stars. After returning to the hotel we fast fell asleep for me to wake up at midnight to the fire alarm. As we had our own patio, I woke up my wife and we started to throw our stuff out and then went ourselves there. Notably, no one else in the hotel reacted at all, and lo and behold, after half an hour of alarm, it went off. We threw our stuff back into the room and fell asleep again. At two the alarm went off again and as there was no smoke anywhere, I ran to the reception where a security guy just said “sorry, sorry, I will switch it off”. Very strange. In the morning we went to the customer service manager and asked wtf it was and is is a thing that happens often (as nobody reacts)? She said “no, no, no, I do not know and will ask the hotel manager and then tell you”. She never came back with an explanation. One star, really low point of the stay, see the last comment. The breakfast was wholesome but unimaginative, certainly nowhere near five stars. The personnel there I would rank the best in the hotel complex, apart from the very talkative young man at the omelette station who consistently overcooked everything, every day. Four stars, a stretch. I do not know why, but most of the waiting stuff in the hotel complex restaurants seemed like they are doing it for the first time, not knowing much of the basics of the trade, coming from all around the Europe, mostly eastern. The beach is small, but nice, suitable for kids. There are areas, where adults w/o kids are separated, nice touch. The service of the beach bar was good. Also, the beach restaurant with the open water inside was in my opinion the best in the complex and the only one where the sommelier had good idea about the wines they sell. Four stars. In the evening we dined at the Italian restaurant that was personally recommended by the guest services manager. The evening was a complete disappointment. There were now lots of service personnel, but most did not seem to have a clue about what to do. The head waiter/manager was running around the place, barking orders to the staff to a degree it made us uncomfortable. About the wines, local ones here as almost everywhere, the “sommelier” only was able to point finger at the wine list saying “this is popular”. Probably the anticlimax of the dinner was when my wife ordered ossobuco that proved to be completely tasteless and to save the meal asked the waitress if she could bring gremolata (a mix of parsley, lemon grind and horseradish), she came back and said that the chef said that kitchen is too busy to do it. Five stars is very far away from this, I’ll give it three, maximum. After this we decided to try dining outside the complex and were very positively surprised to discover that both in Elounda and also fairly close to the hotel there are very nice family restaurants with food better that in the hotel and prices roughly a third of the hotel price. Also, as the waiting staff was local, they had much better understanding about local wines than in the hotel. We never looked back and were very happy to go out every evening. The only problem with going outside the hotel is that one needs a taxi. Taxi takes anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to come, if it is called at all. Altogether three times our taxi booking was “forgotten”, twice when we called in advance from the room and once right at the reception. We were wondering why our taxi is not coming while people coming to the desk behind us got their taxis already, I went back after waiting for more than half an hour. And the answer was “oh, I forgot”. Two stars. At breakfast right before we were leaving for the airport, the fire alarm went off again. When I asked the waiter, he answered “oh, it happens often, do not worry”. This confirmed my one star from the first day. We left the hotel and decided to not ever come back.

by JEBsussex Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Freezing main pool & only space for 10 in kids club

We’re here for this October half term break. It’s a lovely location, the staff are friendly, but the main swimming pool by the beach is absolutely freezing. The hotel advertises this as being heated to 27 degrees in cooler months, but none of the staff seem to know this! Also, the kids club only has had space for 10 kids this week!

by AndyR17 Weybridge, United Kingdom

Thank You

This hotel was our first choice, as part of a holiday for our family to celebrate my 70th birthday, due to the facilities on offer for differing age groups. The whole group enjoyed every aspect of our stay. We were impressed at how clean and cared for the whole hotel was, how attentive the staff were in every area. The flexibility of being able to choose differing restaurants each evening is a bonus, and the food provided was of good quality. Special thank you to the Reservations Team - several changes to booking due to the pandemic dealt with so well, and perfect rooms booked for us all - thank you. To the staff at breakfast who always managed a smile and great service and to the team at the pool bar who work so well and so hard together to ensure everyone has a good holiday. Well done to the management team for keeping things going so well in difficult times. A holiday I shall long remember .

by Carraditch

Not bad not the best

Location was ideal and excellent facilities. Beach/Pool- Facilities were superb which included a clean pool, and various activities. Although there were menu’s at each of the sun loungers there was no pool side service. Accomodation- Ours was located in the building above the golf course which had fantastic sea views. However the rooms were very dated (decor and fixtures appeared to be original ones from 1995) and the bed was not at all comfy. Food-I’d say the food was good but not great. One evening in the Italian Restaurant I had the Arancini which arrived frozen, this was replaced. On the final night in the Greek restaurant the Seabass we left entirely as this was served on a bed of stewed watery vegetables and had basically ruined the fish. Again we mentioned this to the staff but nothing was done, just an apology. One good thing was the extensive wine menu available. The breakfast restaurant although clean, again was very dated and needs a revamp. Service at the restaurants although very friendly was either too intrusive (constantly refilling your water after one sip) or non existent where we had to gain attention of waiting staff for bills. Overall did not hit the mark and was expecting more especially after reading the great reviews. These issues eg with staffing and restaurant restrictions were due to Covid so I think will improve over time.

by ADL79 London

Great staff, good food, beautiful location

First trip out of the country since the pandemic and neither Crete nor Porto elounda were our first choice holiday but it was lovely to get away. We feared the hotel would be international and lack charm, yet it is locally family owned and has a strong sense of place. being one of three sister hotels, all five star, can create a sense of ugly envy once you suss that this is the bottom of the pecking order of the three, but move along:. the pool, private beach and watersports are excellent. No shortage of sunloungers. The spa was good with grand treatments though the general steam room etc were shut due to the pandemic. There is golf, tennis and kids club with waterslides if that's what works for you. The food was great across the many restaurants. In the core buffet restaurant, the breakfast selection was great but so to be fair so was dinner, even if the atmosphere is a little less than special. Visiting the othe a la carte restaurants, you get an allowance for the buffet, but costs rack up quickly... Yet the food is uniformly great. Throughout the resort the staff were charming. Manolito the barman is a particular star ... a real ambassador for Greek tourism and his hotel. Brilliant guy.