I Resort Beach Hotel and Spa

I used spa there it was my first time getting the massage done. It was best service would recommend to everybody everything was sorted and organised.

i visited this resort last week and their spa was amazing it was so relaxing.

This hotel grew on me the longer we stayed there. Here are all the positives. The hotel is immaculately maintained, the rooms and lobby, and restaurant were spotless. The wifi is the best we have ever encountered - it worked approx 600m up the beach from the hotel. Great air conditioning in the rooms. The hotel has a smaller selection of food than in other hotels we have visited - but of a better quality. Fantastic beds in the room! and finally the location is fantastic, right on the coast, centrally located in Stalis.

The moderates - The sunbeds are of very low quality, all new, but looking at all the other sunbeds along the beach we were one of the few that had no cushions. also no beach service for drinks. most of the other hotels on the beach offered this, even the small ones.

The salty bar - this really does need a rethink. it looks like a storage room. 1 member of staff serving. and the seats outside hold water. Lots of ladies complaining of wet backsides. This also doubles as the a la carte restaurant. using the same damp, sunscreen covered seats in the evening. The paint work outside was also looking very tired, I appreciate that the coastline can give hotels a hard time. but it could have been better maintained.

The rooms - We had a junior suite - a free upgrade - thank you! The room was set up in very odd way. You entered to a dressing/storage area with a small couch. you then entered the bathroom area. This had a great shower, it was however connected to the toilet with just a blue piece of glass separating the two. So there was no privacy. and the person who has already showered couldn't move around the room without possibly seeing people using the toilet/shower. and I agree with previous comments that the mirrors over the sink had minimal illumination. this then led to the bedroom, which was excellent.

The staff - This was a very mixed bag. We were greeted well on arriving, and the bell boy was great. We then went to the bar for a drink. and the reception was not what I would call welcoming . We were sat discussing whether this was just a Cretan thing? That was turned on its head that evening when we explored some local bars and restaurants, the locals were the friendliest people we have ever met on our travels. The exceptions to this were the restaurant staff, who were lovely and put up with me attempting to speak Greek. And in the bar Pascall and Antonio deserve a special mention. I want to be balanced here, the staff were not unfriendly, and they were working incredibly hard - maybe too hard, they didn't look like they were enjoying working there. A couple more would have helped. I appreciate again that we were approaching the end of season.

A la Carte night - This for my wife was a big disappointment. Lots of reviews here say this was excellent, maybe we picked a bad night? Waited ten minutes to be greeted on arrival. This again was at the salty bar. Only 8-10 people there. We were sat and asked for our drinks order. We requested just a beer and an Aperol Spritz to start. we were informed they don't do cocktails there - We had had one only 2hrs earlier there? We were not offered another drink for the rest of the 5 course meal. with all the waiters attention being given to a group of 8-10 people who arrived maybe 15 minutes after us.

Overall, we had a very good time. though we did spend lots of the evenings out in Stalis. For me a five star hotel is not just about the glitz of how nice the hotel looks, It is more on how you are made to feel when you are there. We visited 2 other 5 star hotels on the strip whilst on holiday, and the welcome we received on just asking whether we could have a quick look around was on a totally different level. If I was the manager at the I resort hotel I would recommend taking your staff for a night out to various venues on the road. from the expensive but fantastic "Beachcomber bar/restaurant", to the brilliant and cheap "rovers return" both these bars welcomed you by name from the second time you visited, and made you feel truly welcome.

Would we stay again? - Yes, I think we would. It just needs tweaking.