Geraniotis Hotel and Resort

On the face of it, the hotel was in a great location and had a decent buffet style restaurant. The restaurant bar was only for beer and wine while the restaurant was open with no other alcoholic drinks available. The restaurant closed at 9.30! All drinks were available in plastic glasses at the pool bar sitting on plastic chairs! This isn't acceptable when you have opted for the "all inclusive plus" package from Jet2! This was a really basic hotel trying to be something it was wasn't! Entertainment was sporadic and mainly dire!

Lovely hotel , a great selection of food throughout the day, very friendly staff, we stayed in may and the weather was ok but very windy. Be aware this hotel is mainly for Germans and Scandinavians, so as a British couple there was little to no interaction, before people say anything I have nothing bad to say about Germans or Scandinavians. Also the " all inclusive " ended at 10.30pm which was a first for us. All in all we enjoyed our stay, would we go back ? Probably not....

Overall, we had a pleasant stay at this hotel, but it falls short in several areas and ultimately doesn't quite exceed expectations.

Location

The hotel is approximately 35 minutes from Chania International Airport (CHQ), although ongoing roadworks can still slow traffic on the highway. Whether the location is ideal depends on your holiday goals. If you're looking for a quieter area, it's great. If you prefer being close to shops, restaurants, and nightlife, it's merely adequate. There are very few shops and restaurants within a moderate walking distance. You'll need to walk about 1 km to reach the center of Platanias, and several kilometers more to get to Agia Marina.

A bus stop is conveniently located directly in front of the hotel, with buses to Chania city center going frequently and taking around 40 minutes to get there mostly due to traffic. Getting into Chania is easy, as buses usually have plenty of space onboard when they stop at the hotel. Tickets can be purchased onboard, and credit cards are accepted. The fare was approximately €2.40 per person. The return journey is a different story. While the Chania bus station is conveniently located, it becomes extremely crowded, especially in the evenings. Expect long queues and don't count on getting a seat on the bus.

First Impressions

The first thing that surprised us was the size of the resort. It is significantly larger than it appears in the photos. The main entrance and reception area are somewhat inconspicuous, and we initially struggled to determine where the lobby was. We had to leave our luggage in the car while looking for the reception desk. That said, the lobby area is easily accessible and free of stairs.

Staff

I cannot praise the reception staff enough. Every woman of the reception team was incredibly helpful, professional, and genuinely pleasant to interact with. Whatever issue or question we had, they handled it perfectly. It was an enjoyable encounter every single time. The same recognition goes to the pool bar staff. Every one of them delivered exceptional customer service throughout our stay. Special thanks also to Jojef and Teo from the restaurant team for their excellent service.

The hotel's staff are undoubtedly one of its strongest assets.

Room

We stayed in a standard room, which was compact but perfectly adequate since we spent very little time there. The shower had excellent water pressure, hot water was always available, and complimentary shampoo and body wash were provided and refilled when needed. On the contrary to many hotels, they had liquid hand soap in the room.

I liked the design of the renovated rooms. The style is modern and attractive, although it's similar to many other recently refurbished hotels across Crete. There are, however, a few design flaws. Water from the shower inevitably floods the “bathroom” floor, and the small floor towel is insufficient to deal with it. The sink area lacks a proper barrier between the sink and the bed, making it easy to accidentally splash water onto the bedside area and your night table. Housekeeping requests still rely on traditional paper door signs. Since many room entrances are outdoors, windy conditions can easily blow the paper away. One should also note that rooms closest to the pool area offer very little to no privacy. If that's important to you, request a room farther away from the pool. For those wondering the Wi-Fi, the connection and reliability were phenomenal. Throughout the resort area the connection was reliable and fast. This has been one of the best connections I’ve ever had in Greece.

Cleanliness

Overall cleanliness was good, with some room for improvement. Our balcony/patio door was never cleaned during our stay, but otherwise the room was spotless. Housekeeping was impressively fast and efficient. The larger issue was the pool-area restrooms. They did not appear to be cleaned during the day, and by afternoon they were often in poor condition. Soap and paper supplies also ran out quickly when then hotel was fully booked.

Pool and Beach Area

If you don't bring your own pool towel, you can rent one from the hotel shop. The price felt a little excessive: €20 for the week for two people, plus a €20 refundable deposit. Many hotels only charge the deposit, some a small fee or 5€. Sunbeds around the pool are free. Sunbeds located on the beach cost €10 per set as the beach area is public space. Be aware that guests begin reserving beds as early as 6:00, and some leave towels on them all day without actually using them. While there were generally enough sunbeds overall, the area near the pool bar was often short on available seating. The area could benefit from additional sunbeds, as there appears to be plenty of unused space and many late comers wandering, looking for them.

The pool bar opens at 10:00 and serves drinks and snacks. There is also a pizza station where fresh pizzas are prepared daily. Three varieties are available, one of them being Margherita. Pizzas are included in the all-inclusive package between 11:00 and 14:30 only but you can buy them until 18:00. Serving drinks in plastic cups during the day makes sense around the pool. However, continuing to use plastic cups in the evening feels cheap and offers a poor experience. The pool area provides direct access to the sea. Keep in mind that this is a pebble beach rather than a sandy one, and the water becomes deep quite quickly. If you seek a shallow sandy beaches, you should walk a bit towards Platanias.

Restaurant

The restaurant was arguably the most disappointing aspect of the hotel. To be fair, the selection was extensive at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The issue was variety. Breakfast remained virtually identical every day, which became too repetitive after a few mornings. On several occasions, certain items ran out more than an hour before breakfast ended and were never replenished. Lunch and dinner offered more variety, with daily themes and rotating hot dishes. Unfortunately, the salad and dessert sections changed very little. Food quality was generally good, though hardly exceptional. One notable highlight was any variation of beef stew whenever it appeared on the menu. The meat was incredibly tender and absolutely delicious every single time.

The biggest frustration in the restaurant was the lack of food labels. Many dishes had no descriptions, making it difficult to know what it was and what they contained. I raised this issue multiple times during the week, but nothing changed. While guests can theoretically ask staff, language barriers sometimes made this challenging and time consuming. The service also left much to be desired. During our one-week stay, our drink order was delivered correctly only once. That is a pretty low success rate considering we ate both lunch and dinner there in the restaurant, and the only job waiters have there is to clean up tables and bring drinks to you.

Management Problems

Unfortunately, my biggest criticism is directed toward the hotel's management. The hotel clearly caters to a large number of all-inclusive guests, and most evenings feature entertainment around the pool area. Naturally, this means the pool bar becomes extremely busy. Despite this, management scheduled only a single bartender to work the pool bar in the evenings. The resulting queues were often ridiculous, sometimes stretching around the pool. Waiting 10 to 15 minutes for a drink largely defeats the purpose of an all-inclusive package and creates unnecessary stress for both guests and the bartender who tries to do their best.

On our first evening, I reported the issue to reception. Teo came from the restaurant to help, and the queue disappeared in no time. The following evening, the situation repeated itself. When I raised the issue again, I encountered a dismissive attitude from other staff members rather than meaningful action. I found it particularly frustrating to be asked whether the bartender had requested that I complain, when I was clearly raising the concern as a customer. I have paid for my stay there, I have every reason to complain on insufficient staff. I also submitted a complaint directly to management, but nothing changed for the remainder of our stay.

This was especially disappointing because the solution seemed obvious: allocate staff more effectively. Throughout our stay, the restaurant often appeared heavily staffed, particularly during the first two hours of breakfast time when guest numbers were relatively low. Meanwhile, the pool bar, which served as the primary gathering point in the evenings, consistently struggled due to inadequate staffing. In my opinion, the hotel does not necessarily need more employees, merely better management and staff allocation.

Improvements

A few relatively simple changes would significantly improve the overall experience:

• The hotel offers both a pool bar and a lobby bar, yet the lobby bar was frequently closed or inactive. It seems reasonable that staff resources should be redistributed to better meet guest demand.

Mainly, to have two bartenders at the pool bar in the evenings.

• Extend all-inclusive drinks service until at least 23:00, preferably midnight.
• Clearly explain the different all-inclusive package tiers on the hotel website and through travel agencies. As it is right now, the hotel offers packages they don’t even recognize on their website, nor explain them when checking-in effectively removing options from their guests.
• Label all food items in the restaurant.
• Redistribute movable pool tables in the evenings to reduce unnecessary disputes between guests.
• Improve cleaning frequency of pool-area restrooms during busy periods.

Final Verdict

Overall, I enjoyed my holiday and had a genuinely good stay. The reception staff and pool bar team were exceptional and deserve significant recognition for their professionalism and friendliness. Unfortunately, what could have been an excellent hotel experience is held back by management that seem overly focused on cost-saving rather than guest satisfaction. The recurring issues at the pool bar, poor handling of feedback, and lack of responsiveness to concerns left a very negative impression.

Would I return? I'm honestly not sure. The staff at the pool bar and the reception plus the overall quality of the facilities gave me plenty of reasons to come back. The management and plain rude response at the restaurant gave me reasons to hesitate. Do I really want to support that kind of management with my money?