Labranda Marine Aquapark Resort

Good hotel, but unfortunately not ideal for couples

There are definitely positive things to say about this hotel. Our check-in was friendly, welcoming and well organised, which gave us a good first impression. The staff are generally very friendly and helpful, the rooms are spacious and very clean, and housekeeping does an excellent job. The restaurant offers plenty of choice, although the food is more standard all-inclusive quality than something special.

Our main disappointment is the strong focus on families with children. The hotel is clearly designed around families, and as a couple travelling without children, we often felt that we were not really the target guests. There is an adults-only area, but it feels rather isolated and lacks atmosphere. As a couple, you can actually feel quite lonely there. We would have appreciated more attention to couples as well.

One person who really made a difference was Panos, the bartender in the adults-only section. He was extremely friendly, attentive and welcoming and made us feel comfortable. His service and personality genuinely helped make our holiday more enjoyable and relaxed. A big thank you to Panos!

The buffet was another issue. We regularly saw children taking food with their hands and putting it back, while parents did not always intervene. Of course, this is partly the responsibility of the parents, but we feel the hotel could do more to maintain hygiene and proper behaviour at the buffet.

The checkout experience was also disappointing. This was a big contrast to the friendly welcome we received. After a week at the hotel, nobody asked how our stay had been or whether we had enjoyed ourselves. The checkout felt very impersonal and transactional, leaving us with the feeling that once everything was settled, it was simply: here is your refund, now it is time to leave. This was actually one of the reasons we decided to write this review.

The late checkout policy also feels excessive, with a charge of up to €100 for staying until 18:00. Of course, it is optional, but it does not give the best impression of guest service.

Overall, a clean and well-maintained hotel with friendly staff, but in our opinion much more suitable for families than couples. Panos was a real highlight for us and made our stay considerably more enjoyable. If you are travelling as a couple without children, however, we would probably choose another hotel next time.

⭐ Would not return — definitely NOT a 4-star hotel

Unfortunately, what should have been a lovely 9-night family holiday has been completely ruined by the standard of this hotel. I genuinely do not understand how this place is classed as a 4-star hotel, because based on our experience, I simply cannot see where the 4 stars come from.

The cleanliness is one of the biggest issues. The hotel is dirty and clearly not being maintained to anything close to an acceptable standard. Our room has certainly not felt properly cleaned during our stay, and despite being here for 9 nights, our bed sheets have not been changed once. Nine nights! I find that completely unacceptable for any hotel, never mind one advertised as 4-star.

The general cleanliness around the hotel also leaves a lot to be desired. When you’re paying a significant amount of money for an all-inclusive family holiday, you expect the basics to be done properly — clean rooms, fresh bedding and decent housekeeping. Unfortunately, that has not been our experience whatsoever.

Then there is the food — and honestly, I don’t know how else to describe it other than inedible. We have stayed all-inclusive before and completely understand that not every meal will suit everyone’s taste, but this is on another level. The food is repetitive, bland and often either cold or overcooked, and there have been very few things that we’ve actually wanted to eat.

We’ve ended up having to find other things to eat because we simply couldn’t face what was being served. When you’re staying all-inclusive, one of the main things you’re paying for is the food, so having to look elsewhere for something edible is incredibly disappointing.

And unfortunately, the staff attitude has made the experience even worse. We have encountered some lovely members of staff, but the attitude from others — particularly some of the reception staff — has been absolutely shocking.

The reception staff have been incredibly rude, dismissive and unhelpful. You shouldn’t feel like you’re an inconvenience for asking a perfectly reasonable question when you’ve paid to stay at the hotel. There is a huge difference between staff being busy and staff simply having no interest in helping guests.

We have tried to just get on with things because we’re here on holiday with our children and didn’t want to spend the entire trip complaining. But after 9 nights of poor cleanliness, unchanged bedding, awful food and rude customer service, it has become impossible to ignore.

Most importantly, I genuinely do not believe this hotel deserves a 4-star rating based on our experience. Perhaps we have just been extremely unlucky, but when you add everything together — the cleanliness, housekeeping, food and attitude of staff — it falls a long way short of what I would expect from a 4-star property.

For the amount of money a family holiday here costs, I expect the basics: a clean room, fresh bedding, edible food and staff who treat guests with basic courtesy and respect. Those really aren’t unreasonable expectations.

Sadly, this hotel has fallen massively short on all of them.

We absolutely would not return, and I would strongly recommend anyone considering booking to look carefully at the more critical reviews before making a decision. Our experience has been incredibly disappointing, and this is certainly not the standard I would expect from a 4-star all-inclusive hotel.

9 nights here has been more than enough — definitely not somewhere we would choose to stay again.

I booked this holiday two weeks before flying.

All inclusive isn’t really! Would be easier for them to tell what is included than isn’t! Ice cream around the pool area you pay for and milkshakes, sweet waffles etc, popcorn on evening you pay for, packets of crisps and boxes of nuts from the bar you pay for. The cocktails are not nice the only one that wasn’t too sweet or tasted like syrup cough medicine was the gin fizz. I paid for the nicer cocktails a few times but they range from €4.50-€8. They still come in plastic glasses, if I’m paying for a cocktail at a 4*hotel I expect a proper glass! The beer was ok, the wine very sweet I made it into wine spritzer to be able to drink it.

The food is ok. I’ve had better all inclusive in lower star hotels. Chinese night i didn’t see much Chinese food other than prawn crackers. ! Food was repetitive and hot boring. Themed nights didn’t seem really themed. The ala carte restaurant experience was poor. Same type of food served it would be better to have a themed restaurant like Italian or Chinese etc. ours was cold. The view from the roof top is amazing.

The rooms are ok, air con good. We had a superior room garden view, we could still see the sea which was lovely. Rooms are small, we were one adult and two children 15&9. Not a lot of storage space. Bathroom is small and no storage space to leave shampoos etc. round the bathroom sink wasn’t cleaned during our stay. The shower floods the floor. There is a hair dryer and attachments in the room and tea and coffee facilities. Hairdryer is good a powerful one with different settings.

Safe is €10 deposit and is a key on a key ring, upgrading to digital safes would be a better security option.

Tourist tax was €70 euros for a week for me and two kids, you can pay that in cash or card

There is a local bus that goes into Kos town approx €2 per person one way. If you plan on getting the last bus back be at the stop early as it is busy and we just about got on!

Kids are allowed inflatables in pools, the pools are big so can cope with the amount. The animation team work hard. The evening entertainments needs some work, the kids were more entertained running around the complex playing with their friends. Greek night on Monday night was boring. The restaurant food was boring, no beef stifado, gyros, kleftiko Greek classics!

Pool areas clean and tidy. There were Broken parasols, they are static can’t move or tilt them. SunBeds not comfy, adult only pool has comfy beds and not busy, we’ve all paid similar prices but have substandard beds and brollies! Kids loved the wave pool and slides.

Would I come back, no. I got this holiday at a good price as I booked two weeks before flying, would I have paid £4k - £5 for a week, no I wouldn’t there are better all inclusive hotels in Greece for the same money.