Grecotel Costa Botanica

We are currently staying at Grecotel LUXME Costa Botanica as an extended family, having booked what is marketed as a 5-star LUXME – “Luxury Made Easy” experience. We still have 9 days of our holiday remaining.

Unfortunately, our experience has left us wondering where either the luxury or the “easy” is.

The rooms are basic, wherever you are situated. The food has been very disappointing — repetitive, often highly processed and simply not what we expected at this level of resort. Snacks are extremely limited. Around the beach and what is described as the water-park area, the only snacks we have found available are crêpes and ice cream.

One of our biggest disappointments is the lack of service. Self-service appears to be the theme throughout the resort.

There is only one pool where we have found an actual drinks bar. At the other pool areas, guests are reliant on self-service drinks machines, which in our experience frequently do not work properly. Even obtaining basic food and drinks included in the package can mean leaving the area and walking some distance to find them.

The drinks provision itself is another example of where the reality falls short of what we expected. The self-service drinks machines around the resort are regularly surrounded by wasps, making something as simple as getting a drink unpleasant.

The coffee is, in our opinion, comparable to something you would expect from a basic petrol-station machine rather than a 5-star LUXME resort. Even at breakfast, you cannot simply sit down and order a freshly prepared coffee — you are expected to use self-service coffee machines which we have found to be poorly maintained and unclean.

For something marketed as “Luxury Made Easy”, very little actually feels easy.

We have also had a concerning experience with the swimming pools. After using them, swimwear has developed a green discolouration and hair has also turned green. Whatever is causing this, we believe it warrants investigation.

There are maintenance issues throughout parts of the resort and areas where we have concerns about hygiene. Some of what we have reported has been described as “wear and tear”, but in our opinion the overall condition simply does not reflect what we reasonably expected from a resort marketed and sold as 5-star LUXME.

Mosquitoes are a significant problem, as are wasps. We have been told that spraying is not undertaken for environmental reasons, but the reality is that many guests appear extremely uncomfortable.

What is particularly frustrating is that we are guests here on a family holiday, not the hotel’s quality-control team. We should not be spending our holiday identifying, photographing and repeatedly reporting problems with maintenance, hygiene, facilities, food, drinks and service. These are standards that should already be monitored and maintained by a resort marketed and sold as a 5-star LUXME experience.

Our experience with the staff has been very mixed. We have met some exceptionally kind, friendly and hardworking people, while unfortunately some other interactions have felt rude and patronising.

I do want to specifically mention the Operations Manager and Food & Beverage Manager, both of whom have genuinely tried their very best to make us more comfortable. This review is not a criticism of those individuals. The problem is that individual managers can only do so much when our concerns relate to the overall product and experience.

We booked this as a special family holiday based upon the way this resort was marketed. We have raised our concerns while we are still here and have asked EasyJet Holidays to relocate us, but they have declined.

We still have 9 days remaining, which is precisely why we tried to resolve this now rather than simply complain when we return home.

I have travelled extensively and have never previously found myself wanting to leave a resort during my holiday.

We are not expecting perfection. We simply expected to receive the experience that was advertised and for which we paid. The saddest part is that no compensation can give us these family days back.

“LUXME – Luxury Made Easy.”

After experiencing Costa Botanica ourselves, my question to Grecotel is very simple:

What does “Luxury Made Easy” actually mean to you?

We frequently come to Greece as we are of Greek descent and Kerkira is one of our stops as we have enjoyed staying in the past at various properties accross the country, some Grecotel some with other brands such as Marriott. Costa Botanica offers the best of multiple world as the LuxMe concept is unique. We understand it doesnt mean a "luxury" resort but to be honest the treatment by the staff at the front desk offering us fresh lemonade as we waited for check-in shows the true meaning of greek hospitality...and getting escorted to our suite by Mrs. Eva ( i believe she is the operations manager) was especially a great touch! Once escorted to our suite, we were shown all the amenities in the room and all the facilities in the resort were thoroughly explained to us, the Whatsapp concierge is a great touch if you have any immediate questions ( they answered within 5-10 min, which is very reasonable). Overall we felt that we were well taken care of. The food was excellent, and being someone that dines at high end Michelin rated establishments when i conduct business travel across the globe, the food experience was diverse but always pleasing and of great quality. Maria the F&B manager was always greeting us with a smile and her staff always willing to help and go the extra mile to bring my daughter a fresh squeezed orange juice, even though that specific outlet we were at did not serve it. The bottom line is that they CARE for us and they made our stay a very pleasant one and we will definitely make Costa Botanica one of our next choices once again when we are back in Greece as we love the island and the location, but more importantly the staff, they treat us with respect and like family. Thank you to everyone and Mrs. Eva and Mrs. Maria especially! You made our holiday this year memorable!

We had a wonderful stay at Grecotel LUXME Costa Botanica. The hotel is of a very high standard, with beautiful surroundings, excellent facilities, great food, and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. What really stood out was the exceptional service. The entire team was professional, friendly, attentive, and always ready to help. A very special thank you to Aourelio, who truly went above and beyond to make our stay perfect. His kindness, professionalism, and genuine care made us feel very welcome and added so much to our experience. The hotel is also a fantastic choice for families, with plenty to do while still maintaining a high level of comfort and quality. Everything was handled with great attention to detail, and we felt very well taken care of throughout our stay. We left with such a positive impression and wonderful memories. Highly recommended, and we would definitely love to return!