Mitsis Summer Palace

⭐☆☆☆☆ – Extremely disappointing – nowhere near the 5-star experience we paid for

This has honestly been the worst holiday we’ve ever had.

My partner and I saved for a long time for this trip and booked it expecting a luxury 5-star experience. Instead, we spent most of the holiday disappointed, stressed and counting down the days until we could go home.

If you’re a young couple looking for a lively holiday, this is definitely not the hotel for you. There was absolutely no atmosphere during the day. There was only entertainment in the nighttime, and even then it was very limited. During the day there was no music around the pools or beach, and everything was so quiet that guests seemed afraid to even splash in the pool or talk too loudly. It felt uncomfortable rather than relaxing.

The food was another huge disappointment. The main restaurant is advertised as a buffet, but it isn’t a buffet at all. Instead, you’re expected to order from a limited set menu. The food was bland, repetitive and nowhere near what we’d expect from a 5-star hotel.

The hygiene in the restaurants was also a major concern. There were flies around all of the restaurants, but they were particularly bad in the main restaurant. Much of the food was left uncovered, meaning flies were constantly landing on it. This was one of the main reasons we avoided eating there, as it did not feel hygienic or what we would expect from a hotel advertised as 5-star.

We were also getting a large number of insect bites during the evenings, particularly when sitting outside for meals and at night around the hotel. This became another source of discomfort throughout our stay and added to our overall disappointment with the holiday.

We only enjoyed the à la carte restaurants, and the only reason we were able to use them so often was because EasyJet Holidays stepped in after we repeatedly complained about the food. Unfortunately, I felt this caused some of the restaurant staff to become rude towards us because we were dining in the à la carte restaurants more frequently. However, this wasn’t our choice—it was the only solution offered after raising concerns about the main restaurant.

We also paid extra for the Premium Plus package expecting branded drinks, but the spirits available were not branded, which was another disappointment and did not reflect the upgraded package we had paid for.

The service throughout the hotel was extremely slow due to being understaffed. One evening we waited around 40 minutes just to get served at the bar.

The language barrier also made things very difficult. For example, at the Japanese restaurant I ordered a Malibu and pineapple juice twice and both times I was brought rum and pineapple juice instead. I didn’t even want to complain because communication was so difficult, and whenever there was a problem the staff often came across as rude or dismissive rather than helpful.

There were also several incidents that left us feeling very unwelcome.

On our last day, we booked the shower room ourselves the day before our departure because our EasyJet Holidays transfer was due to collect us at 7:30 p.m., and we had been advised to be ready at least 15 minutes beforehand. We had reserved the shower room for 6:00 p.m., but despite this, we were not given access until around 6:20 p.m. This left us with less than an hour to shower, finish packing, charge our phones, organise our belongings and make sure we were ready for our transfer. We explained that we were on a tight schedule, but the staff showed no sense of urgency, offered no apology and appeared completely unconcerned about the situation. Once again, I felt as though our concerns were not being taken seriously. The whole experience caused me a great deal of unnecessary stress and anxiety and was a very disappointing way to end what had already been an extremely disappointing holiday.

Another evening we were sitting in the lobby watching the football. There were no other guests around, yet we were told to be quiet. We weren’t being disruptive at all—we were simply trying to make the best of what had already become a disappointing holiday.

At the barbecue restaurant we were also rushed through our meal and told our time was up because they needed the table for someone else. We had been there for less than 40 minutes and hadn’t even been offered dessert. Considering you have to cook your own food at the table, it’s unreasonable to expect guests to finish their meal that quickly.

The attitude of many staff members was one of the biggest disappointments. Whilst there were a few friendly employees, the majority of our interactions with reception and some restaurant managers were rude, dismissive and lacked the level of customer service you would expect from a hotel claiming to be 5-star. Rather than feeling welcomed, we often felt like an inconvenience whenever we asked for assistance or raised a concern.

EasyJet Holidays did try to help by arranging access to the à la carte restaurants after our repeated complaints and later offering us the opportunity to use another Mitsis hotel. However, this would have required us to pay expensive taxi fares ourselves, making it an unrealistic solution. Although they offered a goodwill payment, it did not resolve the issues we experienced throughout the holiday.

Overall, this hotel simply does not deliver the 5-star experience it advertises. Between the lack of entertainment, poor food, concerns about uncovered food and flies in the restaurants, the number of insect bites we experienced, long waits for service, rude staff, the disappointing Premium Plus package and the overall lack of customer care, we left feeling that our hard-earned money had been wasted.

Sadly, we would not return and could not recommend this hotel to anyone expecting a genuine 5-star holiday.

We loved it. The hotel itself is very pretty with a perfect seaview from every spot. The room (sea front) was very big, clean and looked very good/comfy. We also enjoyed the three a la carte restaurants. Nice looking spots and good food variety. Extra point for the very comfy sunbeds.

Negatives: The sunbeds on the infinity pools are rare and all reserved at about 7:30/8:00 am without people using ist for a long time. So we could not sit there before late afternoon. The staff should look at this before the opening hours of the pool.