InterContinental Crete by IHG

Good Hotel, but NOT the Intercontinental Hotel experience one should expect for the price. Good location with rooms and pools. Some rooms with pools, take care what one might expect from a plunge pool - body or just feet ! Only one restaurant in hotel, but plenty close by. Gym is not aligned to expectation either. Hotels close by Mistral and Niko almost the same but better priced.

We have stayed in Ag Nik many many time but first time in this hotel. It was a lot cheaper than our usual hotel so we thought we would give it a try. The location is great it is close to plenty of good varied bars and restaurants. The rooms have everything you need and theres a daily supply of water and a comfortable bed. We had a room with a seaview and a plunge pool. This was lovely for the morning coffee in the sun. Other reviews suggested that non-sea view rooms have suspect views so we avoided. The breakfast is varied, there's always fizz and you can order from a menu as well. However I found the buffet offering fine for me. We had no issues getting sunbeds as it was early May but it was getting busier during the latter stages of the holiday and the 9th floor wasn't really open. The deal we had with BA included a "free" half board upgrade which we did try on a few occasions but it was a bit too cheffy and rich for us and for the price of a bottle of wine we could eat fresh fish and house wine in one of the local restaurants which we preferred. We had no problems that needed reception attention so they were fine, some were particularly good. I hope they have fixed the lifts, especially the middle one which we were stuck in a couple of times which was a bit unnerving.

The treatment at the spa was excellent. My therapist Maria had fantastic techniques and released lots of the old tension that I have held. The staff are all very friendly at this hotel. Special thanks to Viktor from reception and all the female staff from the restaurant that helped us with our travel with our young baby. I have taken a star off the review of this hotel because of the suite room design and size. We moved away from Marriot loyalty programme and been diamond elite with IHG for a few years now, and the junior suite/one bedroom suite is the smallest suite we have been at InterContinentals. We had used suite upgrade vouchers to upgrade to a junior suite beforehand and only to find out that the junior suite is only slightly bigger than the normal room, with no dining table and no partition between bedroom and living space (which is just a sofa seating area). This was quite difficult for us, as we were travelling with a young baby, so neither of us can relax or do work when our baby is asleep (hence why we booked a suite). Reception initially informed us that it is a junior suite room standard. Later, Viktor from reception very helpfully found us a suite room with partition. I believe the new room was a one bedroom suite, so it has a partition, but the size was actually smaller than the junior suite. We were grateful to have a room with partition, just wouldn't recommend this hotel if you're a family with young children and looking to stay in a suite for the space and convenience. The hotel also doesn't have a club lounge, which would be something good to have a beach destination InterContinental.

As an IHG Diamond Elite member, I specifically chose InterContinental Crete to celebrate my mother’s 60th birthday, expecting the level of service associated with the InterContinental brand. Unfortunately, the experience fell significantly below expectations. Prior to arrival, I exchanged multiple emails with the hotel regarding this special occasion. The hotel explicitly confirmed in writing that a birthday cake would be arranged for my mother’s arrival on the exact date of her birthday. Despite this confirmation, no cake or meaningful birthday arrangement was provided upon check-in. After I raised the issue, the hotel delivered a bottle of champagne, a few macarons, and only two glasses, despite the reservation being clearly updated and confirmed for 3 adults. In addition, the room was not properly prepared for three guests. Amenities were initially only set for two people, including only one pair of slippers, and this inconsistency required repeated reminders to staff during the stay. My mother also had to communicate issues at reception using Google Translate, as she is a French speaker and does not speak English well, which added unnecessary difficulty to what was meant to be a seamless stay. At times, it felt like more emphasis was placed on the additional charge for the third guest than on the purpose of the stay itself, which was a clearly communicated milestone birthday celebration. While some staff member attempted to address concerns after escalation, the overall experience reflected poor coordination, lack of attention to detail, and inconsistent execution of confirmed arrangements. For a property of this category, and particularly for a special occasion of this importance, the level of service was very disappointing.

Everything else was perfect but unfortunately the reception service did not meet the standard we would expect. We were given a room whose appearance did not match the photos shown at the time of booking. The balcony faced directly toward a construction site, and there was an unpleasant smell coming from the trash bins below. When we brought this up immediately after arrival, the reception staff explained that they were not responsible for the photos shown on third-party booking websites, and that they could not do anything about the construction opposite the hotel. They told us that it was high season but it was quiet at the hotel, we saw plenty of rooms free and for example rooftop pool bar was closed until next week. What disappointed us most was not the situation itself, but the quite defensive and explanatory attitude. We would simply have appreciated a response along the lines of: “Let’s see what we can do to improve your stay.” We explained that we hoped for either a room change or an upgrade, and we even offered to pay an additional €200 for this. The negotiation process then felt uncomfortable — first we were offered a room for €350, then it was €300, and finally €280. It gave us the impression that the hotel was mainly trying to get as much extra money from us as possible. At the same time, we had read a review posted the previous day where another guest had received a complimentary room upgrade for free. The entire process of arranging an alternative room took two hours, during which we were left waiting in our room. We remained polite throughout the situation, but eventually became frustrated enough to express how disappointed we were. Only a few minutes later, we received a phone call informing us that we would receive an upgrade for free for the remaining four nights of our stay. However, when the day of the room change finally arrived, we received another phone call saying that the upgrade would only apply to the last three nights instead of the four nights we had originally been promised. We were confused and disappointed, and had to call back ourselves to explain that this was not okay since we had specifically been told four nights. Suddenly after that conversation, it somehow became possible after all. During the week, we also noticed several other guests having tense discussions at the reception desk, and we spoke with another couple who had experienced problems as well. In particular, one slightly older blonde woman wearing black glasses consistently came across as argumentative and dismissive rather than solution-oriented. Even during check-out, she continued explaining why the hotel had acted correctly instead of simply acknowledging our experience as guests. We wouldn’t have brought the issue up again ourselves. Overall, while the upgraded room itself was nice in the end, the way the situation was handled left us disappointed. We would expect customer service that feels empathetic, professional and genuinely focused on solving problems rather than defending policies.