The Island Hotel

I booked with Thomsons 2 adults for 11 nights half board swim up pool shared garden view, with extra leg room on the plane it came too £3,700 ,so I was expecting a fabulous 5* hotel but how disappointed we was!! We had a private taxi with Thomson which didnot drop us off at the entrance we had to push our suitcases to the entrance from the road outside , Reception was very polite and explained everything we arrived at 9pm so they lets us have suppa in the restaurant and then we was shown to our room ,we had room number 961 the walk to our room felt like it was miles away and it was exhausting, THE ROOM was clean and a nice large double bed it was high up off the floor so I had to jump up onto it because I’m quite small , please be aware if your elderly the bath had no grab rails and it was slippery so I ended up putting a small towel in the bath so I didn’t slip ,the room was average size and cleaned everyday ,the kettle got very hot once boiled and quiet dangerously to lift if you wasn’t careful,the swim up pool was lovely and the sun was on the it most of the day

THE SURROUNDING AREAS This is were the 5* was at its best beautiful walkways the clean and tidy .good lighting and plenty of sun beds and lovely pools

The Church / lighthouse There a lovely little church to go into on the grounds and a lighthouse to go and see

The Shop Only sold trinkets no food or drinks but there is plenty of supermarket right by the hotel

THE RESTAURANT was disappointed 3* food which in some case cold and not appetising very bland cakes I seen many people heating their food in the microwave which amazed me in a 5* hotel , there many cats in and around the tables and many people were feeding them which from their plates which I thought was disgusting .The sunsets in the evening where spectacular and a must see

THE STAFF Were very polite and greeted you with a smile and a hello but the organisation in the restaurant needed a manager , one staff member had his mobile on by his station and was looking at it all the time we asked for a spoon and we was told they are over there he never even looked up from his phone .

THE BEACH the beach and sea was lovely free sun beds for us in our hotel but it’s not a private and other people had to pay 20 euros for 2 bed and a umbrella The beds are hard so we bought 2 blowup beds to put on them ,theses was clear and not too deep

OVERALL
Sadly definitely not a 5* there lots of things needed to change to get it up too a standard of a 5* hotel Disappointly We will not be a returning guest

This is our second year at the Island Hotel. Last year we opted for half board and the food nd service was acceptable. This year we decided to do bed and breakfast as there are many places to eat in Gouves offering better meal options.

This year the quality of the food at breakfast was very poor and not very hot. The cheese and cold meats selection was very cheap processed and tasteless. The section s cooking pancakes and omlettes have been removed this year limiting choice. The quality was that bad we chose to eat at the small Cretan shop just next to the hotel.

Last year all the staff were Greek and very friendly and attentive. This year they all seem to be from Nepal presumably as they are cheaper to hire. There is little interaction with the staff at all. We met two of the staff from last year and they confirmed that the Greek staff had quit over working conditions.

The on site shop last yeat sold gifts, drinks and snacks that you could have by the pools. This year the management has made this shop only sell gifts so we hardly saw anyone in there. The lady that ran the shop was disappointed at this. This was obviously done to set you to buy drinks in the bar which no one did.

Overall I wouldn't stay there again as the owner seems to prioritise profit over guest satisfaction.

TUI need to have a serious look at this hotel as it is never a 5* and is really a 3*. It should also not be part of the Platinum collectio.

No where near a 5*. The pool and garden areas are lovely.We didnt have much contact witj the staff but have to say the guy who cleaned our room was fab.

We booked a casual double swim up room. The pool was shared with another 2 rooms which was fine. So many trees that the pool was constantly full of leaves and all sorts of bugs although cleaned every morning.

Room was cleaned every day but was very basic, not much storage, bathroom was grubby and needs updating. Shower over bath which was deep so hard to get in and out of and no rails to hold onto. No vanity mirror... The robes in the room were awful, gone off colour and well used, I might be fussy but they were so grubby I didnt use them

We did bed and breakast and it was cold every morning. The machine to make a cuppa was giving out luke warm water so never had a hot cup of tea... So glad we didnt book half board.

Nice beach with free sunbeds and umberella if you took the blue hotel towells. There was no toilet facilities or beach bar.

The pool towells were shabby and wasnt big enough to fit the sunbed.

Plenty of nice tavernas outside the hotel.

I would not stay here again and would advise Tui to change the rating of this hotel