Castelli Hotel

A well run, pristinely clean ' all-inclusive' hotel. The food is diverse and very tasty. All dishes are well presented with each one's ingredients listed...invaluable for me, as I am coeliac. The hotel has added two additional accomodation blocks to the main building. Some rooms have swim up pools. Our room was decorated in soothing colours with a brilliant ( and totally indispensible) air conditioning system. There was also an in room safe and tea/coffee making facilities. This is the first Greek hotel where I haven't smelt the sewage system in the bathroom...no matter what star rating it was. This hotel is rated as 4*. It is well deserved, the pool area is lovely and staff go the extra mile to ensure each guest has an exceptional stay. There are free activities daily and a good standard of entertainment each night.

We had a fantastic stay and would highly recommend this hotel. The atmosphere is warm, friendly, and family-like, making you feel welcome from the moment you arrive.

The newer part of the hotel offers more modern rooms and bathrooms, while the main building is older and shows its age. However, this did not affect our experience at all.

The staff are absolutely wonderful, always smiling, helpful, and willing to do everything they can to make your stay enjoyable. The food is tasty, with enough variety to keep things interesting, and nobody will leave hungry.

We chose a room with direct pool access, and it was the best decision ever. Highly recommended! The hotel is adults-only, which creates a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. The town center is about a 10-minute walk away. The nearby beach wasn't particularly impressive, so we preferred spending our time by the pool.

Overall, a great hotel with amazing staff. We would happily come back again! ❤️

Catille Hotel, Laganas, Zakynthos – 7 Night Stay Review

Stay: 8–15 August 2026 | 7 nights

We stayed at the Catille Hotel in Laganas for seven nights in August, when temperatures were consistently above 30°C. The weather was extremely hot, although the lovely sea breeze each day was very welcome.

Overall, our experience was mixed. There were certainly some positives, but unfortunately there were also a number of issues that would prevent us from returning.

Our arrival and room

Our first night was not a good one. We were shown to a room in the hotel's "new wing", which involved walking up a number of steps. Unfortunately, the room had an extremely strong smell which we can only describe as sewage. The smell was so bad that we were unable to sleep properly that night.

However, I do want to be fair to the hotel here. When we raised the problem, they had no hesitation in moving us to another room the following afternoon, which we appreciated.

The second room was considerably better. It was in the main building, overlooking the gardens, and had a pleasant balcony with views towards the sea. Its location was also much more convenient, being closer to reception, the restaurant, bar and pool.

The bed was relatively comfortable and the pillows were just about OK. The cleanliness of the room was very good throughout our stay.

The bathroom, however, is extremely compact. When you shower, water goes everywhere – including over the toilet and towards the bathroom door – so a bath mat is essential.

The sewage smell – a bigger issue than just our first room

Unfortunately, we discovered that the sewage smell wasn't isolated to our original room.

During our stay in the second room, we would regularly get blasts of the same unpleasant sewage smell, particularly around the time people were getting ready to go for their evening meal. We noticed it when going to the bar and in other areas of the complex as well.

This gave us the impression that there is a wider drainage or sewage problem within the hotel rather than simply an issue with one particular room. It is something the hotel really needs to investigate because, particularly in temperatures of 30°C+, it is extremely unpleasant.

The staff

This was one of the biggest disappointments for us.

With the exception of Tania from Ukraine, who was lovely, we found the majority of the waiting staff to be rather miserable. On several occasions it appeared to us as though smiling, being friendly or simply using basic manners was too much trouble.

Tania was a real exception and deserves recognition for being friendly and welcoming.

Another thing that would improve the overall experience would be having waiting staff come around the pool and garden areas and check whether guests would like drinks, rather than guests having to leave their sunbeds, go to the bar and queue.

For an all-inclusive hotel, we feel this small change would make a considerable difference to the service and overall guest experience.

All-inclusive drinks

The all-inclusive drinks were, unfortunately, very poor.

The beer offered was Minoan, which we personally did not enjoy. The cocktails were extremely sweet and the choice was limited. We also found that some of the cocktails tasted almost identical – for example, the Sex on the Beach and another cocktail we tried seemed to be essentially the same drink.

The wine was particularly disappointing and, in our opinion, was almost undrinkable.

If you wanted something outside of the limited all-inclusive selection, you had to pay extra.

Food

This was one of the more positive aspects of the hotel.

Most of the lunch and evening meals were delicious and there was a surprisingly good variety of food considering this is a relatively small hotel.

However, some dishes were extremely salty.

We were also very disappointed with the desserts. We would have liked to see more traditional Greek pastries, such as baklava, rather than the selection that was available.

If you miss breakfast, the options are very limited. There is a tea and coffee machine, which is fine, and some leftover breakfast pastries are kept in warmers. There were also ham rolls available around the pool bar.

The problem is that these items appeared to sit there for much of the day, and there weren't really any other snacks available unless you paid for crisps or nuts at the pool bar.

The à la carte experience

We were pleased to discover that the hotel offers an à la carte dining option, but unfortunately we felt that the current location doesn't allow it to feel like the special experience it could potentially be.

The à la carte tables are positioned around the pool, and at times it felt a little bit like being a fish in a bowl.

Once guests had finished their evening meal in the main restaurant, many would sit around the pool waiting for the evening entertainment. This meant that people were effectively sitting watching those of us having our à la carte meal, which made the experience feel rather exposed and actually dampened what should have been a more intimate and enjoyable meal.

We think this could be transformed into something really special.

There is a lovely decked section in the garden which, in our opinion, would be a much better location for the à la carte dining experience. With some soft lighting, perhaps a canopy, some romantic background music and dedicated waiting staff, this could become a genuinely lovely and exclusive experience for hotel guests.

Having designated staff looking after the à la carte diners, rather than one person trying to wait on all of the guests – as Tania appeared to be doing during our visit – would also make a huge difference.

The hotel has the potential to make this into something memorable. It just needs to be separated from the main pool environment and given the attention it deserves.

Entertainment

The entertainment was poor, although to be fair, this is something we have experienced at many all-inclusive package holiday hotels, so it wasn't a huge surprise.

The music around the pool was also played on what seemed to be a constant loop throughout the day, which became rather irritating after a while.

Mosquitoes – be prepared!

The mosquitoes were absolutely horrendous.

If you are staying here, bring a strong DEET-based mosquito repellent and use it during both the day and night.

Pretty much everyone we spoke to had multiple mosquito bites. I currently have around 20 bites myself and, quite honestly, I'm very glad to be leaving today before they get the opportunity to attack me any further!

This isn't something the hotel can necessarily control completely, but it is definitely something future guests should be prepared for.

Reception and the welcome

There were some genuinely lovely aspects to the hotel.

Our welcome at reception was excellent. Martina was extremely helpful and personally showed us to our room, which was a lovely touch after arriving.

Spiros, the owner, was also very pleasant and friendly. You could often find him sitting in his usual corner of the hotel, apart from when he moved to his designated/reserved table for meals. We found him to be a lovely gentleman.

Information for guests

One thing I think the hotel could improve considerably is the information provided when guests arrive.

There was no welcome pack in the room explaining what is included in the all-inclusive package, restaurant opening times, entertainment schedules, facilities, etc.

Instead, we were advised to take photographs of the information displayed on the notice board.

We also had no idea that there was an à la carte dining option until we saw other guests eating at the tables around the pool and asked about it ourselves.

There is apparently now a small sign at reception explaining this, but when you arrive late at night, the last thing you want to do is stand around reading hotel information.

It would be much better to have a simple welcome booklet or information sheet in each room.

We also would have appreciated some information about the location of the hotel and what is available in the surrounding area. Even a simple local map provided at check-in would have been useful.

The gardens and outdoor furniture

The hotel gardens are pleasant, but some of the garden furniture definitely needs attention.

Several of the sunbeds appear to be broken. In some cases, they look as though they could be repaired relatively simply, while others are beyond repair and should probably be replaced.

Given that the outdoor areas are such an important part of the holiday experience, particularly in a hot destination like Zakynthos, maintaining the garden furniture would make a noticeable difference.

So, would we return?

No, unfortunately we wouldn't.

There were definitely positives: the hotel was generally clean, the food was mostly very good, our second room was pleasant, the staff at reception were helpful, and the owner and Tania were particularly friendly.

The hotel also has some good potential. We particularly feel that the à la carte dining could be transformed into something genuinely special with the right setting and service.

However, the sewage smell, poor all-inclusive drinks, lack of information for guests, limited snacks, repetitive pool music, mosquitoes and the generally unwelcoming attitude of most of the waiting staff all contributed to an experience that wasn't what we had hoped for.

We have stayed in hotels where we have paid less and had a better overall experience.

My advice would therefore be:

If you choose the Catille Hotel, don't arrive with particularly high expectations and you probably won't be disappointed.

For us, however, there are too many things that would need to improve before we would consider returning.

That said, I hope the hotel takes these comments in the constructive spirit in which they are intended. There is clearly potential here, and some relatively small changes to service, guest information, outdoor facilities and the à la carte experience could elevate the hotel considerably.