Porto Bello Beach

We (family of 6 ranging from 4 -68) had a brilliant week at Porto Bello Beach hotel.

Fantastic location, very clean, great for access to the beach and the water park.

All the staff were friendly and helpful. First experienced at check in when the porter (who’s name I can’t remember) advised us that one of our rooms wouldn’t be suitable for my mum with mobility issues, the reception team got us moved without fuss to a downstairs room. This level of service didn’t end. The house keeping staff work tireless. Rooms were always clean, with fresh water and towels.

I have to mention Pearly and Jemsey in the dining team whose friendly smiles and high fives made the children’s day and also Genci and his amazing cocktails behind the bar. These people are a credit to the hotel.

We’ve just returned from the Porto Bello Beach hotel after our first visit to the hotel and our very first visit to Greece and Kos.

Firstly, let me start by saying that this is a very good hotel and it’s perfect for families. If though I was coming as a couple or as an older group, you may want to consider what’s important in your holiday.

Firstly the good points:

I thought the food was very good for an All Inclusive. My only complaint would be that the desserts aren’t great. They were all very similar and none of them made me want to leave room for a dessert!

The waterpark is an excellent facility to have next to the hotel and the convenience of being able to go in and out of the park as you please was welcome for my teenage boys.

The rooms are very pleasant and clean and the housekeeping staff did an excellent job in the 10 days we were there.

The beach was lovely to have so close to the hotel- no roads to cross, just straight out onto the beach!

So, some things I didn’t like, based on comparing it to other All Inclusives I’ve stayed at. I gave some of these issues back on the hotel’s own survey and the Customer Relations person met with me, which I appreciated.

Firstly, there really is no “quiet” part of the hotel for peace. There’s always music blaring, either from the pool bar or the beach bar and even in the main restaurant when you’re trying to eat. You can even hear the warbling of the entertainer from the hotel next door. You get used to the planes flying overhead. The only place I found peace was on the room balcony, which isn’t ideal.

Secondly, the only place you can get drinks during the day is the pool bar or the beach bar. Other hotels I’ve stayed at have had self-serve areas for soft drinks and beer. This alleviates queuing at bars. Additionally, there’s no ice available in the restaurants for the self- serve drinks stations, which is really strange. The only place you can get ice is at the bars, but not the restaurant.

The room gets a small water bottle per person per day, but these bottles aren’t available elsewhere. You are expected to refill at the bars or restaurants. I feel they would be better giving fewer larger bottles and having some available when needed. I’ve had this at every other hotel I’ve stayed at.

Add to this, the road from the hotel into Kardemena is littered with these empty water bottles from the hotels. I was shocked at how much plastic litter was on this quiet road, that was the same brand of water bottles the hotel uses. Surely the hotel could to a litter pick every so often as there was a plastic item every 6 feet along the road, all the way into town. Especially given the Tourist Tax everyone has to pay.

I’d call this hotel a Nearly Inclusive- from the charge for the safe to the premium cocktails, to trying to get kids to buy their t-shirts, and even charging for Bingo (yes, really), I always felt I was expected to pay more for my holiday.

But I’ll stop moaning now, it is a very good hotel with some really minor things I would hope they would focus on in the future.