King Minos Retreat Resort and Spa

First of all we arrived late due to late flight we checked in to ants all over are room ! we paid extra for the whirlpool to find this was also dirty and didn’t look clean at all. we informed a member of staff straight away to be told we will have to stay in this room until the following morning and he can give us fly and ant spray !! I told him no as I have asthma. The Following morning we did change rooms this was much better! Second problem we was all inclusive plus what is normally everything for this board basis! This is false information, you have to pay extra for snacks and food around the pool, they do yoghurt pots for free and soggy sandwiches this is all! all branded alcohol drinks was not included only a few. stocked mini bar doesn’t get refilled every day!! we had it filled once in the 7 days. I booked here as I seen reviews saying food is nice, are family was shocked the food is 3/5 Same food served everyday, and I have never seen a hotel with having a restaurant as small as this with serving so little choice of food maybe 6 small choices. There is 1 la carter restaurant but is full upto 4/5 days waiting time to book also. You get one day free here. We did pay for late check out as are flight was a late flight home, this was £130GBP , we then go to get a drink to be told this is for the room only and not for food and drinks, we have to pay extra now for drinks and food 🫨 so we paid extra £130 for late check out and this wasn’t even with a drink or lunch included Feel absolutely robbed here not worth the stay at all.

We almost changed hotels due to the recent negative reviews but I am very glad that we didn’t as we had a great stay at King Minos, the hotel is absolutely gorgeous, very clean and the staff were amazing from start to finish.

We were concerned about the negative reviews around “sunbed wars” but didn’t have an issue getting a sunbed any day we were here and were up for 10am. We had also seen a few comments around not being a lot of choice of all inclusive cocktails but there are heaps to choose from.

It is also clear that the hotel management is taking all the feedback into consideration as a lot of the negative feedback had been changed.

The only small negative thing I have to say about the hotel is the repetitive music by the pool in the morning. Other than that I would highly recommend staying here!

Lastly I would like to give a special shout out to George, Nico and all the bar staff they are a true asset to the hotel and I hope the management appreciate how much of a difference this makes to their customers stay.

We have just returned from a ten day break. We booked a Santuary Suite which was in a good location, lots sunshine, pool was fab always lovely and warm. Given the size we could lie in sunshine or shade without having to reposition sun loungers. However, we do feel the extra cost of suite wasn’t justified as unlike other hotels where you pay a high premium for a suite there were no additional perks. Usually when you book a suite you get free room service or a minibar topped up. Wasn’t case here, the mini bar was filled on arrival as is case with all rooms. It has a few cheap beers, small bottle Prosecco and few fizzy drinks. You could get it topped up but at ridiculous cost. Tbh cheaper walking a short distance to the local Spar and buying some yourself. Room service is €15 each time you use it plus the cost of your drinks/food.

The Food was okay, definitely not 5 star quality. Much of the same throughout be it lunch or dinner. There is a good selection at breakfast. I enjoyed the continental selection, lots fresh fruit, pastries, yogurt etc. my husband enjoyed the hot breakfast a few times but described it as okay, although the hot breakfast appeared to be enjoyed by many gue sts. Overall some of the food was pretty bland, although whoever makes the deserts deserves a mention as they are fab. The À la cart restaurant was nothing special which may explain why it was only open every second or third night. On the night we booked, it took three attempts before they actually had a bottle of wine we had chose from their wine list, with our third choice being €59 a bottle - It was lovely though. My husband had the sirloin steak (no filet available) said it was overcooked despite asking for medium rare. I had pasta it was as okay, starts ok and didn’t have desert. In main restaurant they had a better selection of wines and food be it typical buffet food which was bizarre tbh.

No discount is given on premium drinks bought even if you’ve paid for all inclusive, again in our experience in other hotels or cruises if you choose to purchase a premium wine or cocktail they give you 10/15% off the cost if you are all inclusive. There was a reasonable range cocktails and spirits available if all Inclusive but not all premium brands as we had been lead to believe when we booked it.

The staff are amazing and made the holiday for us. They can’t do enough for you. A Big shout out to Eleni, Dionise and Tristan at the bar what an amazing bunch. They work their socks off and are always polite and smiling. They ensured guests were served and not left waiting long. Not forgetting the guys behind bar sorry didn’t get their names. Within the restaurant, again staff fantastic.

We do think It would be nice if they had two bars as would imagine in cooler months the outdoor bar may not be to everyone’s liking as I believe it can get quite windy in the evening.

Sadly the behaviour of a small group of guests put a damper on our holiday. Their behaviour was awful, staff had to put up with their arrogance and behaviour with a smile. This group of guest were from the travelling community and to be honest it created an uneasy atmosphere for 4/5 days of our holiday. They walked about like they owned the place, spoke to staff and guest like they were dirt, tensions built up over period and eventually escalated, resulting in guests and staff witnessing a violent domestic incident, leaving children and adults a like traumatised. Our boy and other children witnessed this and if some guests had not intervene to stop one of the guys who had his female partner on ground I dread to think what would have happened . I will not go into the details but was horrendous. The HOTEL should have a ZERO TOLERANCE policy be it Domestic violence or any aggressive or violent behaviour. Whilst Management eventually intervened and took appropriate action it was too late. Guests and staff had saw it coming for days and many of us felt something should have been done sooner.

The way these individuals were allowed to treat staff was shocking and management need to protect their staff better from such behaviour. Whilst we understand this situation was not the hotels doing, they still have a duty of care to guests and staff. The police should have been called at the time of incident. I believe they were eventually called as a further incident occurred in reception area but can’t say for sure if this is accurate. Nevertheless the group remained in the hotel that evening with only two of them being evicted the next morning. Our Jet 2 rep only became aware of the incident when we informed them. On investigation she said the hotel confirmed the incident had occurred and that others from the party were allowed to stay for a few days to allow them to find alternative accommodation or flights home. Hopefully management/owners have learned from this situation as I’m sure they will not want the good reputation of their hotel damaged by such behaviour. Zero tolerance is a must and they should Act before situations escalate!

Overall despite the above we did enjoy the majority of our stay, again I wish to highlight this was down to the amazing staff. Would we come back again not sure but if we did we definitely would not pay the high premium we paid for the sanctuary suite. As most definitely not worth the premium price. We had initially booked room with pool and sea view and on seeing them they looked just as good and in fact many were in better locations.

I had contemplated giving three stars in my review as opposed to the four but due to the amazing staff who made our stay we believe they deserve recognition. A big thank you to each and everyone one of you. To the Owners/Management team I hope you appreciate the great work your staff do because without them your hotel would not receive the great reviews it does.