Utopia Blu

7 nights stay at Utopia with my Fiancée was average

Best part was our room with its own swimming pool that was a pleasure on afternoons

No irons in rooms so had to buy one from the supermarket (we all need an iron when travelling)

Couldn’t find a good Latte/ice latte’s around (Unless you pay extra at their own on site cafe which was average anyway)

Bars don’t allow bottled water (unless paying extra) was a 1st

Breakfast good, Dinners & tea poor (poor quality meats, on repeat

Ate in the first evening and out for the remaining 6

Pointless being an all inclusive unless you drink your weight it cheap alcohol & cheap fizzy drinks

Never struggled for a sunbed which is good

Had a mess up at reception on our 2nd to last day (reception called to say we should have been out of our room And needed to go to reception, only to admit they made a mistake. Then back to our room to find they had locked us out & delivered a desert & letter for the next guests ready for their arrival) I will say, after this mess up, Manos the guest relations manager gave us a small swim up room for our last day as a sorry (and had quite a few good conversations with the great guy he is, very knowledgeable about the area & business)

Best aesthetic hotel in tigaki but there isn’t much competition as it’s only a small strip tbh

Couple decent restaurants local we visited thankfully

Hired a buggy to visit Kos town & Zia which I recommend to everyone

The adults pool was good for couples(no staff going around offering drinks)

Looked to have plenty of entertainment for the young ones

Personally wouldn’t return & we was abit underwhelmed with Utopia blu unfortunately

Weather was outrageous though 😁

Thanks Utopia Blu for having us 👍🏼

One of my favourite holidays yet!

Entertainment was really good , the best I’ve come across so far.

Every activity was well coordinated , Aqua gym with Jaden was the best as he was always smiling during it with good energy.

Evening entertainment was so so good especially the shows on Saturday and Sunday which are the Michael Jackson show and the Gala night show.

Would definitely come back

Bare with me it’s a long one but thorough! Overall great review- just a couple of qualms.

Location- great. Only 30mins from the airport to the hotel. Tigaki is less of a party area so great for families. The hotel is 15 minute walk from the public beach and the road leading to it is full of restaurants, bars and shops. The hotel is directly opposite a fairly large supermarket which is really reasonably priced, so you can get all the essentials you may need. The hotel itself is lovely, modern, large footprint but individual buildings so never feels too busy, it’s clean and well kept. Never a problem getting sunbeds at any time and we spent a lot of time at the pool with the water slides with our two children so expected it to be. There is a bus stop directly opposite the hotel in-front of the supermarket also, where the bus runs to Kos town every hour during the day virtually. It’s €2.50 per person each way and takes about 20mins but the old town is pretty and my daughter got her hair braided there.

We also did a trip to Zia- watched the sunset and ate tea there. It’s absolutely beautiful and well worth the visit but I’d advise booking it as an excursion with either your holiday company or locally that facilitates a clach or minibus etc because the taxis are few and far between. We nearly missed our reservation as the taxi took an hour and afterwards waited another 2 hours for a taxi to get back and neither were very cheap for 20min journey.

Room- we stayed in a larger family room with a pool view. Not the largest of rooms (1211) some of them are a lot bigger but it was fine for us as pretty much just sleeping and showering in there. That being said the cleaning of the room isn’t the best. The maid does come daily and quickly makes the beds, replenishes toilet roll and changes towels of left on the floor but floors are not cleaned until changeover, so still had dirty shoe marks from returning from a venture out. Bed linen is only changed if you place a card on the bed to say you would like it doing due to sustainability. Our room is not the quietest either for getting kids to sleep as the adult evening entertainment takes place in the Meraki bar opposite and although meant to finish at 22.30 frequently runs beyond until 23.00 and then the bar itself is open until 1am. We haven’t bothered to mention this however as just see as we are on holiday and don’t have to get up early.

Pools- there are plenty of pools at Utopia Blu. Adult only rooms tend to have their own adult only pools so coming as a family we did not utilise these, but there are still 3 to choose from. The main pool where the entertainment/ activities takes place and more of a vibrant atmosphere with louder music. The quieter pool with no activities and calmer music and atmosphere. The children’s splash pool with no music but filled with kids laughter and screaming from the slides. Each has its own pool bar but the children’s pool one is limited on what drinks it serves. It is where you can find the really tasty crepes and ice cream all day though. I do feel sorry for the staff member who works on there however though as on their own and once the main snack bar closes at 3pm they are absolutely swarmed between 3-5.30 for the crepes and ice cream so could really do with another member of staff helping both that staff member and for us as residents waiting up to 45 mins for a drink during that time. Apparently this was raised with hotel management but ignored. We found also that staff don’t tend to move areas e.g the children’s pool bar staff member, the towel staff member so they must be so bored and not good for morale.

Food and drinks- food is fine but lunch is very “samey” daily in the Meraki bar. We have struggled a bit for the children but ours are fussy eaters. The actual evening themed menu in the main restaurant repeats weekly so not the best variation. Our second week we started to eat out more. Plus it could get really busy and struggle to move giving a proper canteen vibe but they were pretty good at replenishing food quickly. You are allowed to book and attend the Mediterranean and Italian once each weekly. We did not have opportunity for the Mediterranean as adult only so can’t comment on that as with the meal under the stars. The Italian food was lovely with bread basket followed by 3 courses but considering that is the one that allows children they could do with a children’s menu. Our children didn’t find any starters they’d eat and had carbonara/ pizza for main but must admit the portions were so big a lot was wasted on them. Drinks- alcoholic are fine. Most fall under all inclusive, just the odd ones don’t and after midnight all chargeable. The soft drinks are definitely not branded so it’s rolla cola etc I understand this is due to cost and mass request but the amount of money paid to come here I’d have expected branded. I have settled for other drinks however the shop does sell it if need be 🤣 The breakfast juice and milk isn’t fresh either- both is long life so the juice is sickly sweet and we’ve had to water it down.

Reception team- We had an issue with our air con initially as the room would not go below 28 degrees. Initially reception staff were trying to tell us we mustn’t have it set low enough - we explained we did it was set to 16 but would not drop. They then told us all the rooms were like that and we said they weren’t as had spoken to other guests which had said theirs were much cooler. They then agreed to ask maintenance to look at it and the following day it was cooler and been fine since. We also weren’t told upon check in you needed to refill the water bottles provided in your room yourself so binned the 4 bottles once empty and then ended up asking at reception as to why they hadn’t been replenished. They did give us one more which we then knew to refill. We just feel communication isn’t great and they couldn’t really be bothered when we did have minor issues.

The entertainment team- we really can’t fault the entertainment team in the slightest! They’re very energetic! Do such long days but always a smile on their faces and absolutely great with everyone including all the children of different languages and abilities. They try to include and involve everyone with activities at the main pool. I must admit I didn’t take part but so many people did from morning stretches, aqua Zumba, water polo and quizzes, volleyball, to football, darts and bowls on the garden etc. We sent our children (age 8 and 4) to kids club (located next to the children’s pool) once each day either morning session 11-12.30 or afternoon 16.00-17.30 to give them a bit of shade and us an hour to have an adult conversation 🤣 and they enjoyed all the activities on offer such as superhero masks, pool disco, rock painting, face painting and of course playing on the park. They also really enjoyed the mini disco at night taking part in the singing and dancing for 30 mins. Only thing I’d change is it being a bit longer but sometimes they also cover adult evening entertainment so have to rush to the other bar which is just as good. They hold cinema evenings in the theatre a few times a week too and last week our two were the only children there so they let them pick what they wanted to watch which was a nice touch. The whole team honestly goes above and beyond and so welcoming and friendly but our children certainly took a shine to Ryan and Kiki.

The hotel beach- nice looking beach with free shuttle bus but honestly wouldn’t bother- shuttle bus timings aren’t great and we preferred the public. The sunbeds and parasols are basic. The only drink available there is water and no provision for food. There are shower and toilet facilities and they do provide towels but that’s all.

On the whole I would come back. Nowhere is perfect and I think with a couple of little changes it really could be even more amazing!