Dimitra Beach Hotel and Suites

If everything went fine, this would be a 3 maybe 4 rated hotel from me, but the management was so disappointing that they don’t deserve more than a 1, more about that in the end. First off the general hotel is clean, looks decently nice and the staff is nice. But only nice not up to the standard of a 5* hotel. There feels like there is a lack of functionality in the design. The rooms feel so odd, no dedicated closet, it feels a bit cramped, specially the toilet, which is jammed between the wall and the shower, to an extent of if you have wide shoulders you will barely fit. And the drying rack which on a hotel with it’s own beach is simply unacceptable. And everything in the rooms feels a bit tired and old like it hasn’t been changed in 10-15 years. The rooms also don’t seem to be fully properly sound dampened, specially the front door, through which you can easily hear the outside. And the “blackout” curtains don’t actually do their job well, they dampen the light coming though but not enough for a person that has trouble sleeping in not perfect darkness. And for some reason the breaker box has a breaker that has a bright red light on it and a semi transparent door meaning it makes a lot of light making good sleep hard. And the placements of the light switches make no sense, just at the front door and nowhere else meaning you have to get up, turn on the bedside lamp, turn off the main light at the entrance and turn off the bedside lamp, like how was this designed? Then we come to the food which was ok, ok vegetarian selection but nothing amazing. Another big gripe was the lack of proper shade anywhere in the facility. During mid day when you want to avoid the sin, literally the only place where you can do that is the reception or your room, everywhere else no shadow or not proper shadow. Why? Who designed it this way, in Greece on Kos where there is a lot of sun all year round! The hotel also seems to be understaffed, like the employees are working double effort. And lastly the problem that made it a 1*. My first full day in the afternoon on the beach I was just laying there and then I got hit in the head with the neighbors sun umbrella, that was provided by the hotel and was supposed to be safely butried and placed on the beach, which is the hotels property and their responsibility hit me in the head giving me a huge bump and cut me some. I was lucky to escape without any internal head injuries. The hotel did call a doctor but that was about it. No apology, just an are you ok and some basic human decency. You’d think they’d take responsibility for what happened, offered at least some basic compensation a massage, room upgrade or even a taxi for a night, not even an apology. For this reason I highly recommend avoiding this hotel. As if anything happens they don’t do the right thing.

Would give it a 3.5. I would rate this hotel higher if they had been honest about their star rating. This is categorically not a 5 star as described. Things that mark it down from being a 5 star experience:

• Small paper cups and plates by the pool. (I would expect plastic tumblers like you would get at a beach club).
• Alcohol options very limited. I understand no big brands but was surprised there was just one option for wine.
• No body wash provided in rooms. (Shampoo, hand wash and lotion are provided).
• Below par hospitality. Had our cutlery chucked on our table one night instead of being nicely placed at each setting. Bottles of wine are just plonked on the table for you open and pour yourself. Some individual staff are wonderful but majority are surly and under trained for a 5 star experience. They can make you feel like an inconvenience when you ask for something.
• À la carte restaurant is appalling. It’s some tables set up in the evening at the pool bar I was shocked. Zero ambience, worse food than the buffet and again service was awful. I asked twice if we could order and both times the staff looked surprised, said they would be back then never returned.
• Some areas look tired; the swim up pool bar really needs some maintenance.
• Kids club is literally a tiny shed where some paints are brought out to play with. The ladies running it are lovely but they have extremely limited facilities to work with.
• Pools are freezing! Never known anything like it, we travelled in July and it took me 3 days to work up the courage to get in, it’s like a cold plunge!

Positives:

• lovely modern and spacious rooms with very big, comfy beds.
• Incredible views you can see from everywhere in the hotel, they are spectacular.
• Great selection at the buffet.
• Great quality evening entertainment.
• Plush sun beds.

I didn’t like the segregation of adult only areas. Pick a lane: family friendly or adult only hotel; not both. Would have loved to use the pool with the jacuzzi or the beautiful wooden veranda overlooking the sea but couldn’t as we travelled as a family. That reduces value for money for families I think.

We had a lovely holiday and enjoyed our stay but I really think the hotel needs to be honest about their rating to manage customer expectations. If I had booked expecting a 3-4 star experience I would have come away very happy.