Elounda Bay Palace

Our initial experience at the hotel was somewhat mixed. The room itself was very nice and clean on arrival, and as we arrived late, we were kindly provided with sandwiches, which was a thoughtful and very welcome touch. The hotel itself has a very pleasant and relaxing atmosphere, and we have particularly enjoyed the food. Breakfast offers an excellent choice and has been consistently very good, while the dinners have also been of a very high standard with plenty of variety. The overall ambience, particularly in the evenings, makes dining at the hotel a very enjoyable experience. During the first few days, however, we experienced a couple of maintenance issues in the room, including a problem with the balcony door lock and a coffee machine that wasn’t working properly. I am very pleased to say that after these issues were brought to the attention of management, the response was excellent. Management acted very quickly and the maintenance problems were addressed. It was genuinely reassuring to see that our concerns were taken seriously rather than simply acknowledged. Problems can occur in any hotel; for us, the important thing is how they are dealt with, and in this case management responded quickly and effectively. Their response made a considerable difference to the remainder of our stay and deserves to be recognised. One criticism that does remain is the provision and pricing of drinking water. Free drinking water is available at breakfast, but at dinner a bottle of water costs €5, while a pint of lager is around €8. Considering that six 1.5-litre bottles of water can be bought locally for around €1.60, we still feel that complimentary drinking water should be readily available to guests at a hotel of this standard. Overall, we have enjoyed our stay. The excellent breakfasts and dinners, pleasant atmosphere and, importantly, the very responsive management have left us with a much more positive impression of the hotel.

This is my second visit to the Elounda Bay/Beach hotel. It was a very enjoyable stay. I would like to mention a member of staff Mora who is in my view a shining star for the guest relations team, nothing was too much trouble and was very helpful. The only issue we had was finding a sunbed as pretty much most of the guests were laying towels on beds very early in the morning. Not a good look.

We had a lovely stay at Elounda Bay Palace Hotel and overall really enjoyed our holiday. The hotel itself is beautiful, our room was lovely, the pool area was great and the staff were brilliant — friendly, helpful and always welcoming. The food was good, although we did find it became a little repetitive during our stay. One disappointment was that the Thalasa Restaurant was closed during our stay and we weren’t informed about this beforehand. We would have appreciated being made aware, as it was something we had been looking forward to. The biggest issue for us, however, was the reserving of sunbeds and the comfortable chairs around the pool. Every day, a couple would place towels on sunbeds and also reserve the comfortable chairs, despite not actually using them for most of the day. On one occasion, my husband was actually told by the lady to move because she had reserved the chair with her towels, even though she wasn’t using it. We contacted reception to make them aware of what was happening, but unfortunately felt that our concerns were not taken seriously and nothing appeared to be done about it. The comfortable chairs around the pool are there for guests to sit, relax and enjoy a drink from the pool bar — they shouldn’t be treated as reserved private spaces for hours at a time, especially when they are not being used. We feel the hotel should have a clear policy that prevents guests from reserving sunbeds and seating for long periods, as everyone should have a fair opportunity to enjoy the facilities. Despite this, we really did love the hotel and the staff and would happily return. We just feel that the issues above could be dealt with much better to make the experience even more enjoyable for everyone.

Hotel is in a lovely setting. Buffet restaurant is ok, reasonable selection. Food isn’t hot tho. Had a few issues on arrival, only got sorted when demanding to speak with manager. Staff are not that friendly. Too many things disappointing, doesn’t feel like 5 star. Additional restaurants are so expensive compared to the local restaurants, drinks are also very expensive !

Superb location with lovely beach area Lovely room albeit not a great view Hotel is tired on half board you eat in one restaurant it’s needing a refurb it’s ok for breakfast but it’s below where it needs to be for a 5* hotel. We didn’t eat dinner it would be totally depressing. Looking at the map you think the place is huge it’s actually 2 hotels and you are not allowed to venture between the two. Apart from our new refurb room the whole place needs updating it’s very tired and lunch is very expensive in the hotel for extremely average food The staff are amazing and very friendly indeed nothing is too much trouble I would come back if it got a total revamp but at £2500 for a week I’ve stayed in much nicer places in Crete Elounda itself is a joy, gorgeous town with bars and restaurants and shops - only €8 in a cab or a 20 min walk I’ve been to Crete many times and Elounda still my favourite - feel a bit cheated most hotels allow you to swap dinner for lunch it’s turned out an expensive and average week