Mitsis Rodos Maris Resort and Spa

Good animation in this hotel best team ever

We stayed at the Rodos Maris for 12 nights a week or so ago and the overall experience of our holiday was an enjoyable one.

• Location The hotel has a great location right on the beach. Our room was a sea front bungalow which was a very short walk to the beach. There is a row of shops, bars, restaurants, pharmacies and a doctor's across the road which is useful. Lindos is close by and worth a visit, we caught the boat there which you board from the hotel beach.

• Rooms We were more than happy with our room, it was spacious for a family of 4, we didn't feel on top of each other. We had a sea front bungalow, and although it wasn't wall to wall views of the sea, this was because it was so close to the beach, some bushes blocked some of the view. The close proximity to the beach more than made up for this. If you want an uninterrupted sew view, perhaps go for a sea view room instead of sea front. The bathroom was clean and modern with water pressure from the shower that could knock your head off!

• Pool Really big pool with a shallow end where they do aquagym, waterpolo etc. We tended to sit at the deep end which is seriously deep (3m+) which is great for diving in. It is separated from the other end by a bridge so it's a bit more quiet and laid back. On first glance it seems like it could do with more sun loungers but the majority are around the other end of the pool, we didn't really have much of problem finding sun loungers, still plenty selection after 8am. If you turn up mid-morning you would struggle. In the afternoon after a trip to the beach there were plenty to chose from. The pool does shut a bit early at 6pm which was a shame. The lifeguards are pretty laid back and aren't militant about having a drink by the poolside.

• Beach The beach area has recently been upgraded and was a real highlight of the hotel. They have 2 beach bars, along with pizza, noodles and healthy snacks during the afternoon (12-5pm). The bars shut at 6pm which we felt was a bit too early as we find that's the nicest part of the day to sit on the beach. There are plenty of sunbeds and an abundance of comfortable bean bags. There's also lots of speakers playing chilled tunes to go with the vibe. The watersports place is reasonably priced (20-25€/ride) and they give you a generous amount of time for your rides.

• Bars The staff that run the bars are brilliant, they are really friendly and will make you pretty much any cocktail you request (ingredients permitting). Despite the staff being excellent, I feel they are overworked and understaffed. The queues can be long, the pool bar all day takes at least 5/10 mins to get served. I found myself heading to the lobby bar during the day as I couldn't cope with the length of the pool bar queue. Only downside to this was that I couldn't take my drink to the pool as it was in a glass instead of plastic. Despite the queues, Chris and Stephanos at the pool bar were great, really friendly and made me drinks that weren't on the menu! They would remember my regular order so I wouldn't even have to ask! We found a little hidden bar called the Gelateria which opens at 6pm. This was perfect for when the pool bar shuts early! The staff in this bar were nothing short of amazing (Despina and Vanggelis). We became friends with them and they would bring us drinks to our seat, often 2 at a time even when not asked for! Despina even brought in a bottle of Limoncello for us from her home! Unfortunately the hotel shut this bar towards the end of our stay which was really disappointing. I think they did this as the main lobby bar was short staffed, but it didn't solve the queues there in the evening, a common theme which is a shame as the cocktails were fantastic.

• Restaurants The food in the main restaurant was good, but could get a bit repetitive. However, there was a good selection to choose from each night so you could vary your plate. It could also get very busy at peak times but this is to be expected during school holidays. We would go later in the service to avoid this (after 8:30pm) and the food was still coming out fresh right until the end of dinner service. The Al a carte restaurants were excellent and helped break up the repetition of the main buffet. They have Mexican and Asian restaurants at the main hotel which were fantastic and had really well thought through menus. Down by the beach is another restaurant which is a greek brunch in the morning, American at lunch and Greek in the evening. These are really popular and get booked up quickly so we booked them on the app before we arrived. The highlight for me was the Greek dinner, octopus starter and lamb shank main! One of the waiters in these restaurants, George, was an absolute delight to be served by - Friendly, smiley, attentive and very easy on the eye!

• Evening Entertainment Probably the most disappointing aspect of the hotel. The entertainment itself was reasonable, it's the amphitheatre area itself which lets the whole thing down. It's in urgent need of a refurb and some money spent on it. There were dozens of broken chairs just left out, 2 of which myself and my brother-in-law fell through, luckily avoiding serious injury, other than some cuts and bruises. To be fair to the hotel, when we complained, they offered to pay for our boat trip to Lindos for 12 of us! Approx €200 value. The chairs then disappeared the next day! The queues at this bar were the worst in the whole hotel. Only 2 staff serving, who I felt very sorry for, and long queues of 20mins+ to get a drink. They need to employ more staff in these peak holidays months. The tennis court in this area was also in serious need of refurbishment. I played once with my son and decided not to bother again.

All in all we had a great holiday at the Mitsis Rodos Maris. Once you learn to work around some of the shortcomings, the overall experience was positive. The hotel is very good, with a bit more attention to detail it could be excellent!