- Greece Holidays
- Gouves
- The Island Hotel
This luxurious hotel boasts a prime location right in front of the beach and in Goúves area in Crete island, where guests can enjoy a relaxing bath at the long sandy beaches and discover some interesting archeological sites and traditional villages if they want to learn more about the ancient Greek culture. This wonderful establishment is only located 19 kilometres from the capital city of Heraklion, very near Knossos' palace ruins, and 17 kilometres from Heraklion's international airport. Guests can very easily escape from their everyday troubles at the beautiful and airy guest rooms that await for them with plush features such as a terrace with fantastic sea views, a signature bed and silk and velvet textiles. Business travellers can make use of the well-appointed meeting facilities and everyone will enjoy the dining options available at the hotel and the gym and spectacular bathhouse.
Pamper yourself with a visit to the spa, which offers massages, body treatments and facials. You're sure to appreciate the recreational amenities, which include 3 outdoor swimming pools, an outdoor tennis court and a sauna. This hotel also features complimentary wireless Internet access, concierge services and an arcade/games room.
Due to the surrounding area and the number of steps around the hotel, it may not be suitable for those with mobility difficulties.
We stayed at The Island Hotel for 7 nights in September for my 50th birthday, having booked through TUI. We chose a swim-up room on half board and paid considerably more than we normally would because this was a special holiday.
There are some nice aspects to this hotel. The grounds are relatively attractive, the atmosphere is peaceful, the staff we met were very pleasant and our shared swim-up pool was nice. We really enjoyed the tranquillity around our room.
Unfortunately, the overall experience simply did not feel 5 star to us.
The food was probably our biggest disappointment. We found it cold and the choice extremely limited, to the extent that despite paying for half board we stopped eating dinner at the hotel after our first two dinners and ate elsewhere. I only had breakfast in the hotel once and my husband twice.
Housekeeping and general presentation were also disappointing. We photographed dust and debris beside and underneath our bed which remained despite the room being serviced. A number of the cabana-style day beds around the pool were extremely worn, stained and deteriorating, and we simply didn’t want to use them.
Most disappointing was finding what appeared to be a discarded used condom and wrapper in the hotel grounds. I emailed reception with photographs and the location on Friday afternoon. It was still there when we checked out on Monday morning.
We had also paid extra for a swim-up room. The pool itself was lovely, but access to our ladder was restricted by loungers and a large parasol base, that was too heavy to move.
None of these things individually would necessarily have ruined our holiday. It was the accumulation of them that was disappointing, particularly at a hotel being sold as five-star and with our particular room described by TUI in terms of “luxury”.
I turned 50 during our stay and had deliberately chosen this hotel because I wanted the holiday to feel special. We still made the best of our week and there were genuinely enjoyable parts, but I came home feeling that the premium 5 star experience we thought we had booked simply wasn’t what we received.
2 power outages in our room and adjoining rooms. Reported to reception who said everything was ok in reception! I had to demand maintenance attend he reset main fuse box to get electricity back on. Also reported blocked drain in bath never fully resolved and only 4 tv channels none in English.
This hotel was excellent with plenty of swimming pools, spa and outdoor hydra pool. It’s facing a beach and you can access the beach very easily from hotel. Breakfast was great with plenty of choice for food. Staff were very helpful and friendly.
We ate in a few local restaurants, which were very nice. There’s a super market across the main entrance of the hotel with more small cafes beside it. Or if you exit the hotel at beach frothy entrance and turn left there’s more restaurants and another supermarket there. We enjoyed our stay there
So myself and my daughter stayed from 12/17 August, in room 924, kind of near the back of the resort! Lovely and quiet, room was kind of small, but there was everything that we needed, couldn’t really use the balcony as there was a massive berry tree outside but the room was great and we even got a bottle of water every day as well, bed was lovely and firm and water was always hot! I kind of lost my inhaler, not sure how and the absolutely lovely lady who cleaned our room found it in the rubbish bag, she is an absolute star, Mira I think her name was! The pools were lovely, filled with towels pretty early and by lunchtime, no sunbeds left! The Stone lunch restaurant was nice, this is my only gripe, it took like 1.5 hours to order, eat and pay! The Breakfast room is where you eat breakfast and dinner and since we were full board we obviously ate there, breakfast was nice, cereal, toast, yogurts, pastries, fruit, some cooked bits as well, hot drinks, coffee wasn’t great to be fair, water and juice! Wasn’t too hot everyday but it is what it is! Dinner was nice, different food every night, but ice cream, fresh pizza, fruit and mini cakes every night! You pay for your drinks throughout the day, only free at breakfast time! We didn’t go to the beach across the road, it was soooooo windy! Lovely restaurant up the road called The Island and a big supermarket opposite it, very cheap! On the whole a great holiday, I will definitely be back as a solo traveller there!
For anyone wondering if they should book this hotel, you should, it’s definitely a choice you won’t regret. My girlfriend and I booked a casual room with bed and breakfast and we have definitely enjoyed our stay here. The hotel is quiet and clean, breakfast was delicious, yet repetitive, the rooms are spacious and very well sound proofed. Yet there are a few things that could be improved:
