Olympic Palace Resort Hotel and Convention Center

My boyfriend and I stayed at this hotel in July. We have stayed in 5* hotels before so know the type of accommodation, food, and service we should expect to receive. This hotel, however, did not live up to these expectations.

Environment - this hotel is not suitable for anyone travelling without children or in a couple. We are aware it is the summer holidays and peak season, and accept full responsibility for booking during the busiest time. However, we did not expect it to be this kid-orientated or there to be so many little kids. It feels as though we are at a nursery or school, not on holiday. We have taken this on board and will be booking adults only for our next holiday.

Food - we were half board which included breakfast and dinner. Drinks are not included in this package. The breakfast selection was good with a variety of foods to choose from. However, the cooked food was freezing cold every day. We even waited for fresh eggs and beans to be replenished, but again were still stone cold. Dinner was absolutely awful. Extremely repetitive and not a great selection. If your child is a fussy eater, I would not recommend eating at this hotel as there is no burgers/chips/pizza, etc. This resulted in us eating out for dinner every night, which is not something we wanted to do, nor could afford, having had spent £3000 on this holiday. The drinks/cocktail selection was good, however the cocktails were extremely watered down. You also had to queue for ages to get a drink as there was only one barmaid at the pool bar during peak season. There is three al-a-caste restaurants within the hotel. We tried to eat at La Tonda but we told that the restaurant was fully booked. We decided to eat at another restaurant on the Ixia strip instead. On our return to the hotel (approx. 7:30pm), we noticed that there were several free tables at La Tonda so do not understand why we were turned away. The only positive is that we did not go all inclusive.

Room - the room was spacious and had everything we needed. The bed was large and very comfortable. We also had a decent sized balcony with a good view. The room was restocked each day with fresh water, tea, and coffee which was a nice touch. Huge props to the maids who worked tirelessly every single day to ensure our room was clean and tidy. However, due to our late flight we requested a late check out four days before our departure, giving them plenty of notice. We were told to come back on the day of our departure and the receptionist would tell us if our request had been approved or not. The receptionist explained that there was no availability and we had to check out at 11am. We understand that it is a popular hotel with a quick turn-around, however we have never experienced this even at much larger hotels.

Service - staff are very welcoming and friendly. An extra special thanks to the blonde lady at the front of the Elea Restaurant. She was so polite and always had a smile on her face when greeting us :)

Pool/sunbeds - The sunbed wars are no joke. The sunbed-guest ratio is not good, as there is far too many guests for the amount of sunbeds available. That being said, you need to be up extra early to secure a sunbed. We noticed that people would claim sunbeds with towels/bags and then go out for the entire day. This is unfair and resulted in people having to sunbathe on the floor - not really what you expect from a 5* hotel. There are three good-sized pools in this hotel. However, they are absolutely full of children. Good luck going for a dip in the poor without being splashed repeatedly or having balls thrown at your face/head. Also, please bear in mind that the surrounding area is extremely slippy.

Location - the hotel is situated on Ixia strip. This is a good location, with supermarkets/shops, beaches, restaurants/bars all nearby. Rhodes Old Town is a 10 min taxi drive from the hotel. DO NOT attempt to flag down a taxi as they will drive straight past you. Ask reception to book a taxi and wait outside for it to arrive.

Facilities - the hotel has some great facilities. The Vito Spa in particular is very good. We booked a Swedish massage and had access to the spa (indoor pool, jacuzzi, steam room, sauna) included with the treatment at no additional cost. This was definitely worth the money and would recommend to anyone staying here. There was plenty of activities to do, including an escape room. Dimitrius (the activities co-ordinator) had exceptional English and explained each step in detail. There were other activities including mini golf, paddle, and chess, but we did not play these games so unable to comment.

Overall, I would not recommend this hotel for the price that we paid. We came on holiday to relax, eat good food, and have a well-deserved break, but did not feel this was the hotel for this and will not be returning.

This was, without a doubt, the worst hotel stay I’ve ever experienced. Calling yourselves a five-star hotel is an absolute joke.

From the moment we arrived, the customer service was appalling. We weren’t greeted with a simple “hello” or “welcome”—the first thing we heard was, “Passports.” The staff were incredibly rude and unwelcoming. My pregnant girlfriend was left in tears after the way we were treated.

The following morning, we were asked to come down to reception, where we hoped we would receive an apology. Instead, we were met by the rudest manager I’ve ever encountered. Rather than acknowledging our concerns or apologising for the behaviour of the staff, they seemed far more interested in defending them than ensuring their guests were treated with respect.

Breakfast was equally disappointing. The food was barely edible—I genuinely wouldn’t have fed it to my dog.

To make matters even worse, the cleanliness of the room was unacceptable. There was rubbish scattered underneath the bed, and, incredibly, we found a dirty, blood-stained pair of underwear behind the curtain. We took this down to reception expecting at the very least a sincere apology, but once again, we received none.

This experience fell so far below the standards expected of a five-star hotel that I would strongly advise others to stay elsewhere.