Domes Aulus Elounda

Review

Arrival We arrived at the hotel at around 3 am, we did not expect much of a reception but it would have been nice to have been offered some water. The reception itself has a leak. The staff were friendly and always happy to help when approached.

Room The room was very spacious and modern with good air conditioning. We opted for the Cool living shared swim up pool. The pool was unclean and was very shallow and was not cleaned during our stay. The pool was in the sun all day (July 2026). The room is sold as a sea view room but should really be partial sea view (see image).

Food The food was not bad but any means but it was very repetitive. We visited all of the A La carte restaurants one being a pizza and Gyros van. However, we felt none of them had really amounted to anything special, the food was often bits of the main buffet throughout the week onto which the menu.

Buggy’s The hotel is situated on the top of a hill. We stayed in the cool living which is the highest part of the hill. It is not possible to walk up and down the hill so you have to use the shuttle bus or the buggy. However, even after calling ahead for a buggy we waited over 30 minutes and this made us late for the À la carte booking. The shuttle bus timing does not always match up and often is full.

Service Unfortunately for us this is where to hotel would fall to a 4 star. There was no table service in the hotel. You have to go up and queue at the bar for a drink. The cocktails are all pre-made and did not contain any fresh ingredients including the smoothies which is disappointing for a “5 Star” hotel. Additionally, any drinks outside the immediate bar area are put into cardboard cups, this is not really what you expect for a 5 star hotel:

Room service Times on the website for room service do not match up to the actual timings. However, when we eventually order it the food was good. Note that this was additional.

Housekeeping Is poor, floors not cleaned, outside area not touched. Throughout our stay none of the glasses used were cleaned either. Towels and beach towels were replaced each day and 4 waters given.

Amenities The room had good amenities however we struggled to get the Soap replaced and ended up having to use shampoo. However, the room did have a good mini bar that was well stocked each day. It would have been nice to have the snacks restocked too. Towels were replaced daily.

Night out Feedback - not told any information, given the bar name and told to just find it. Pickup time was also unclear.

As part of our stay we had a night out in Agios included. This included a free drink and transport (19:30 departure and 22:30).

Jet2 More specific detail to Jet2 (not impacting the review) Drop off is on the main road. This area is not lit up and didn’t leave a great departure.

Overall, we would not return to the hotel.

The hotel is located on a very steep hill, which wasn’t mentioned on Sunweb (where we booked) or on the hotel’s own website. I was pregnant during our vacation, and it was very difficult to climb the many stairs and/or the very steep hill(s) every time we needed to go somewhere. The hotel provides staff with golf carts to transport guests, but although they urge you to use them as much as necessary at the beginning of your stay, after a few days they become less helpful and tell you that you can walk. We had to point out several times that I was pregnant and that the distance was too much for me. You have a panoramic view of the sea from the buffet, your room, and the pool, and it’s absolutely stunning. The private beach was also nice, although the lounge chairs were almost always all taken. This was also the case by the pool, by the way. They don’t have enough lounge chairs for the number of guests staying there.

The buffet was disappointing. We had read many reviews on TripAdvisor, and most were glowing. During our stay, there was little variety, and halfway through our stay we even went out to eat elsewhere because we were tired of it. The hotel clearly has a focus on very healthy eating. Fruits and vegetables make up a very large part of the buffet, but they’re always the same. We often filled up on the dessert buffet because the hot dishes were monotonous and certainly not always fresh and/or flavorful. Midnight snacks are awful. Snacks by the pool were the best things they served overall.We had nothing but issues at the three à la carte restaurants. At Yellow Sea, our waitress judged me for asking if they had non-alcoholic wine (since I was pregnant). I emphasized the non-alcoholic part again, but she kept repeating that I should drink mocktails and that wine was bad for the baby. Our second reservation was at the Meze lunch restaurant, and although we feared the food would be the same as the buffet, it turned out to be quite good. Halfway through the meal, however, I found a 20-centimeter-long hair in my moussaka. There were 3 chefs cooking in the open kitchen without hairnets. I reported this to the waitress and showed her the hair on my plate. She was surprised and said she would pass it on to the kitchen, but didn't even apologize. Our final experience was most disappoining. The concierge had made a mistake while booking, and although she had said we had a reservation at the Amfiteatro, it turned out to be at Greco Lavante in the Cool Living area. We found out when we showed up to Amfiteatro for our reservation and weren't let in. We asked to speak to the manager to ask if there was any way we could get food there but eat it in our room (since there were no tables available). This wasn’t possible, and since it was the last day of our stay, making a new reservation wasn’t an option. The manager told us with a friendly face that we could either take the Greco Lavante reservation, or nothing at all. She pressed us that Greco Lavante was a special experience (since you normally don't have access unless you book their expensive Cool Living suites), but it truly was nothing special whatsoever. In general, all but Greco Lavante restaurants wanted you to eat and leave as soon as possible, and they weren't subtle about it.

We had a room with a shared pool (Tropical Nest with Shared Pool). The bed was very comfortable. The bathroom was very small: two people couldn’t brush their teeth at the same time. There was some mold in the shower, water from the rain shower was leaking into the bathroom, and our bathroom lights stopped working on the second day. We reported this, and they said they’d send a technician; upon check-out, we found out that the technician had indeed been there, but the lights still weren’t working. The shared pool was nice, though they aren't being cleaned regularly. Our neighbors on the corner had lounge chairs, we didn’t, just a tiny patio that fit 2 chairs.