Iris Hotel

Where do I start with this hideous hostel! You only see the great rooms online, they don’t show the hostel rooms!! We arrived into room 207. Wow, no tv, no coffee making facilities, 1970’s radio (broken) in the headboard of the twin beds pushed together. No air conditioning, well unless you want to pay 70€ for the week!! I wake up in the morning to blood all over the tiles, my husband had severely sliced his toe open getting in the shower! Not only was the draining not fitted correctly but there was missing sealant which caused the very deep cut! Straight to reception and she did not seem that concerned. We managed to get plasters and I plastered him up. The hotel cleaning staff advised us to speak to manager, after showing him my husbands toe and the shower/grate he asked what I wanted, I said upgrade, he said no, eventually got changed of room, same hostel style and free aircon. On entering this room there was cracked floor tiles and again was same style as old room. Shower had no curtain, hence water all over floor, dangerous, tin roof in bathroom.

We decided to try breakfast… don’t! Bread, stale, breakfast cereal, stale, milk, warm.

The bar is outside in what appears to be a wooden shack!

Was definitely a two tier operating system, if you were in the hostel part you were treated as plebs, if you were in deluxe, you were royalty!

They even ran out of towels, so us hostel guests were given beach towels to use after our showers in our rooms, but you could see the deluxe customers were being given hotel towels.

Could not wait to leave, won’t be back! There was so many people around the pool complaining, one couple (sisters) paid to move to another hotel.

A Cautionary Tale: Our Week at Iris Hotel I booked Iris Hotel back in February, when only a handful of negative reviews were floating around. Nothing alarming, just the usual grumbles you see anywhere. As our holiday drew closer, I checked again — and that’s when the dread set in. The bad reviews had multiplied, all describing the same tumble‑down shambles. By then, it was too late to cancel, so we braced ourselves and hoped for the best.

Arrival: A Warm Welcome? Not Quite. When we finally arrived, any hope evaporated. The man checking us in didn’t bother with a greeting. No “hello,” no smile, not even eye contact. He looked genuinely annoyed to be there, especially at that hour. It was the kind of reception that makes you realise you’re in for a long week.

First Impressions of the Room The room looked passable at first glance — until we took our shoes off. Within minutes, our feet were covered in human hair. Not one or two strands, but a full collection. The bathroom was worse: exposed wires in the mirror lights, a shower that didn’t work, and a raised grate that sliced my foot open on the first night.

We asked to move rooms. We were told we could only choose from rooms of the same “standard,” because the deluxe rooms cost more. The replacement room was just as bad.

The Replacement Room: A Catalogue of Neglect The floors were still dirty. The bed linen was changed once in the entire week. The towels were changed once — and replaced with children’s lounger towels, while deluxe guests got proper ones.

The bathroom mirror was so corroded you could barely see your reflection. Stubble shavings from the previous occupant were still in the sink. The shower rail was broken, the toilet roll holder was broken, the shower head was broken — though at least the water came out this time.

My wife couldn’t turn the taps off because they were so stiff. The ceiling was made of flimsy corrugated panels that rattled whenever the balcony doors were open. Plastic hosing stuck out of the floor around the plumbing. Even the step into the bathroom was chipped.

The Bedroom: A Museum of Decay There were three sockets:

One powering a fridge with a broken freezer

One by the dressing table

One by the balcony doors that didn’t work at all

The headboard was a relic — a built‑in radio with knobs that fell off and a loud buzzing noise when you tried to switch it on. Shoe prints decorated the ceiling. Cracks and botched plaster jobs lined the walls, all stained and dirty. The curtains were so filthy we avoided touching them entirely.

The furniture was decrepit. We had to put our own dirty clothes on the chairs before sitting, because whatever caused those stains was not something we wanted to risk. Outside, the plastic furniture was covered in cigarette burns and the seats were broken.

Service: Only If You’re Spending Big The staff’s attitude matched the rooms. Unless you were spending serious money, they didn’t care. Air‑conditioning wasn’t listed as an extra charge when we booked — TUI clearly hasn’t updated anything — and they only gave it to us for free because of my injury on the first night. Otherwise it would have been €70 per week.

A quick Google search shows they’re making at least €30 per person from guests in the “standard” rooms alone.

I tried to speak to staff several times. I was ignored every time. Eventually, I stopped trying.

We had over €2,000 to spend during our stay. Because of the staff’s attitude, they got none of it. We spent everything elsewhere.

Breakfast: The Final Insult The “continental breakfast” was a tragedy.

Bread stale

Cereal stale

Milk sour

One type of cheese

Butter practically liquid

“Jam” that was absolutely not jam — we had proper Greek jam elsewhere, so we know the difference

Final Thoughts If you read this and still choose to book a stay at Iris Hotel, then truly — you deserve what’s coming. Calling it “Guest House Paradiso” would be kinder, and that’s saying something.

If you read the preceding reviews, I can only say that they are correct. I’ve done around 60 reviews over the years and it’s very rare that I give a 1-star rating. I take no pleasure in speaking ill of small, independent/family run businesses. That said, this is my honest opinion based on my experience. On arrival, we were shown to the room and instantly regretted booking here. We weren’t expecting the Ritz as this was a fairly cheap week with the girls (although still spent over £2k!!). My wife and I shared a room as did our daughters. Each room has a fridge (theirs didn’t work even after being reported), neither shower worked correctly and by that, I mean the shower heads were broken so we had a stream of water coming out from the side - not a proper shower. There was hot water on an evening (not the morning), I asked for a large towel to be changed and told they’d ran out and was given 2 small towels instead ??? Pool was freezing - sun loungers were old and dirty, broken tiles around the pool, our rooms were dated and nothing like the images shown on the website. Breakfast included yes, BUT not much choice. Wifi really poor. All in, not a pleasant experience. Waste of money. If you are thinking of staying then the location is decent - about a 20-minute walk to Kos, 5 mins from nearest beach, plenty of supermarkets to choose from, the food at the pool bar is fine/reasonably priced (although better & cheaper eats are short walking distance away). Rooms are cleaned regularly (at 9am!!!). My advice: go somewhere else - IF you do stay here, pay for a superior room to save disappointment. Even then, I would still advise going elsewhere. The only positive was we only stayed for a week. For me, one to put down to experience.