Dedalos Hotel

Hotel itself was lovely however the worker working the night shift ruined our holiday and made me and my friends feel unsafe. If you are a group of young girls DO NOT STAY HERE. On our first night we were threatened to be kicked out because my friend was getting something from my room. On our second night we were threatened to be kicked out for sitting on our balcony- at no point were we given warnings and we were being very careful to be quiet because we were already scared of the night shift man. The balcony next to us were full of boys (we were a group of 6 girls) and they were doing the same as us- talking on the balcony. They were simply told to be quiet whereas the night shift man came up to our room and shouted at us. It was clearly an abuse of power taken out on the young women staying at the hotel. This persisted throughout the whole holiday. We spoke to other groups of girls and they had the exact same problem however the boys we spoke to seemed to not have been picked on by him. As young women we should not have been made to feel scared at any point during our stay, especially not at our hotel where we should be safest at. I stayed in Malia in another hotel and the group I was with were behaving exactly the same as when I went to Dedalos. We had 1 loudness warning and were immediately quiet. The night shift man was so lovely and made us feel incredibly safe. If I only had the Dedalos experience I would have thought that the rudeness was normal, however my experience with the other hotel shows me exactly how young women should be treated and that it is possible to treat guests with respect even when asking them to quiet down. I felt more unsafe in Dedalos at night than on the strip which is absolutely mental and very telling about the standards of this hotel.

Overall it was a very nice hotell with the near location too the strip, restaurants and beach. The rooms were fresh and pretty such as the pool area. It also was cheap. The only thing that was bad was the night guard which was being very rude to us when we checked in late at night. For example he asked us if we were drunk when we didn’t know the way to the reception, and if we were dumb when we didn’t understand an English word, which didn’t made us a good first impression. The rest of the staff was nice. The breakfast wasn’t so nice.

My friends and I chose this hotel because it’s right next to the Malia strip, and we were going on a party holiday. We arrived late at night after a long day of travelling, so we were already exhausted. Instead of being welcomed, the security guard immediately had a go at us. From the moment we arrived, he seemed to judge us purely because we were a group of young people, assuming we were there to cause trouble.

Before we’d even had a chance to check in properly, he told us that if he caught us in the same room after midnight, he would “throw us out” and we’d “sleep outside.” While we completely understand that hotels have rules and expect guests to follow them, there are far more respectful ways to explain them. He also implied that we would be bringing strangers back to our rooms, which we found quite insulting considering he’d only just met us.

He described the hotel as a family hotel, yet we didn’t see any children during our stay, and the majority of guests appeared to be around our age (18–20).

He then showed us to our room, where he watched me (an 18-year-old girl) struggle to carry a 20kg suitcase up two flights of stairs. I nearly fell several times, yet instead of offering to help, he repeatedly told me to “hurry up.”

His attitude made us feel uncomfortable from the moment we arrived, and we spent the first night feeling anxious that we’d be told off for no reason. The frustrating part is that throughout the rest of our holiday he never had to speak to us again because we were respectful, followed the rules, and caused no issues whatsoever. It felt unfair that he had judged us before giving us a chance.

Aside from the security guard, the hotel itself was lovely. The rooms were clean and comfortable, the pool was relaxing, and all of the other staff members we interacted with were friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately, our first impression was so negative that the security guard really overshadowed what was otherwise an enjoyable stay.