Xeno Eftalia Resort Hotel

Xeno Eftalia Resort – An Honest Family Review

We’ve just returned from Xeno Eftalia and overall I’d describe it as just OK. There are some positives, but also quite a few things worth knowing before you book, particularly if you’re travelling as an English family.

First up: the sunbed wars are REAL. 😂 If you manage to find sunbeds, honestly, leave your own towels on them overnight because otherwise you have very little chance the next morning. Definitely use your own towels rather than the hotel ones — hotel towels do get swiped and you can then be charged for the missing towel.

The pool area is also VERY busy. It can feel absolutely packed at peak times, which combined with the sunbed situation doesn’t exactly make for the most relaxing start to the day.

There also weren’t many English guests staying when we visited. Obviously there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but from a social point of view it did mean we sometimes felt a little lonely. If you’re the sort of family who enjoys chatting to other families around the pool or the kids making holiday friends, it’s something worth being aware of.

The food was probably our biggest disappointment. It seems much more geared towards Russian and Turkish guests, with very limited options for English families and children. We weren’t expecting British food every night, but the choice was difficult — there weren’t even basic things like chicken nuggets at dinner.

The snack bar is better, although it becomes very repetitive. One big positive is the pizza at the beach bar, which is genuinely very good.

The drinks are OK. Nothing particularly special, but perfectly drinkable and about what you’d expect from an all-inclusive.

Entertainment is another area that seems predominantly geared towards non-English guests. We didn’t find there was much aimed at British families, so again I’d describe it as just OK rather than a highlight of the holiday.

The arcade isn’t worth bothering with in our experience.

On the positive side, we had a family room for five and it was absolutely massive. It was definitely dated and could do with modernising, but importantly it was clean and we had loads of space, which makes a huge difference when you’re travelling as a family of five.

The beach is shingle rather than sand, so that’s worth knowing beforehand if you’re expecting a sandy beach.

If you want to get away from the hotel for a meal, there are restaurants around the big shopping outlet nearby. We paid around 600 lira for a taxi from the hotel. The food we had there was good, although don’t expect eating out to necessarily be ridiculously cheap — we found it cost roughly the same as we’d expect to pay for a family meal in England.

Overall, Xeno Eftalia isn’t terrible, but I wouldn’t rush back. The massive family room, cleanliness and beach-bar pizza were definite positives, but the poor main restaurant food, incredibly busy pool, sunbed situation and lack of entertainment/options aimed at English guests really let it down for us.

We still had a fantastic family holiday, but that was more because we made the most of it than because of the hotel itself.

If you’re getting a really good deal and know what to expect, you can absolutely have a good holiday here. But if good food, a more relaxed pool experience, evening entertainment and being somewhere with other English-speaking families are important to you, I’d probably look elsewhere.

If I could give this Hotel 0 stars I would..

My stay at Xeno Eftalia Resort Hotel was extremely disappointing, and I would not return or recommend this hotel to other British holidaymakers.

From the moment I arrived, it felt as though the hotel was not interested in catering for British guests. The food was one of the worst aspects of the stay.

The choice was poor, the quality was disappointing, and much of the food appeared to be aimed at Russian and Turkish guests.

For British guests, the options were extremely limited — basically chips/fries, boiled eggs or burgers and Nuggets, very little else that felt suitable or appealing.

If you fancied an ice cream you had to walk all the way to the hotels beach as this is the only hotel I've stayed in that doesn't serve it at its hotel where most children are Cheap Skates to say the least...

When you're paying for an all-inclusive holiday, you expect a reasonable choice of food, not to struggle to find something decent to eat.

The drinks were not much better in small plastic cups you had the choice of whiskey, Vodka, Gin or Beer all cheap you could drink all night and feel nothing.

I ended eating and getting a drink out which defeats the all inclusive experience but it was much better.

The room was also very basic and disappointing. I wasn't expecting luxury, but I certainly expected a proper double bed. Instead, I was given a single bed, which was extremely uncomfortable, particularly as I am tall.

There was mould on the wall which was disgusting. All i was expecting was a clean room and a comfortable bed should be the absolute minimum expectation when staying in a hotel.

The entertainment was another major failure. The evening entertainment was extremely poor and felt like an afterthought no English entertainment very boring.

The children's entertainment was particularly disappointing, starting at around 9pm far too late for young children, who are already tired by that time. For a family resort, this is simply unacceptable.

To be fair, the only genuinely nice things about the hotel were the pool area and the reception.

The pool area was pleasant and well presented, and the reception area gave a much better first impression of the hotel than it really is.

Unfortunately, these positives were nowhere near enough to make up for everything else.

Overall, I felt that the hotel offered very poor value for money. The food, accommodation and entertainment all fell well below what I would expect from a holiday resort. British guests should think very carefully before booking this hotel, as I certainly would not book it again.

A very disappointing holiday and, in my opinion, a hotel that needs to make significant improvements and take a look how it treats its British Guests.