Amara Hotel

We had a fantastic time at the Amara. Truly excellent facilities including several world class restaurants. Paulina in guest services went above and beyond to make our stay magical, And the pool team are superb - especially Elio, Ali M and Chaadi the manager - attentive, friendly and nothing is too much trouble. Would very strongly recommend

⭐ Disappointing decline in standards — we won’t be returning

We stayed at AMARA last year and had a much better experience. Unfortunately, this year was a completely different story and, for a hotel positioning itself at this level and price point, the overall experience left a lot to be desired.

Breakfast was probably the clearest example. I have never seen a hotel breakfast area so overcrowded. Almost every section had a queue, the atmosphere felt chaotic, and the food itself was mediocre for a five-star hotel. Rather than a relaxed breakfast, it felt like a food dispensary: get your food, eat quickly and move on. The only seating we could find was outside in the scorching Cyprus heat. In the end, despite breakfast already being included in our stay, we resorted to paying for room service just so we could have breakfast somewhere cool and comfortable.

The pool and beach experience was similarly frustrating. Sunbeds are effectively occupied far in advance, often sitting empty for long periods while supposedly being reserved for guests who have either left or have not yet arrived. Whatever the arrangement behind this is, the result for other paying hotel guests is the same: you cannot actually use the facilities. We found ourselves unable to properly enjoy several of the hotel’s amenities for this reason.

Service was also surprisingly inconsistent. Room service and beach service repeatedly forgot parts of orders — for example, ordering a pizza and a club sandwich and receiving only the pizza. The hotel also charges €7 simply to bring ice to the room, which feels excessive at a property of this calibre.

That became particularly disappointing when my wife injured her finger after it became trapped in the sliding door at the patisserie. The response from staff was underwhelming. We were given a leaking cup of ice and, more concerningly, nobody followed up afterwards to check whether she was alright. For a five-star hotel, I would have expected considerably more care after a guest was injured on the property.

Dining was another disappointment. A restaurant we had specifically looked forward to revisiting because of a fish dish we loved during our previous stay served us a Dover sole that arrived badly charred.

Finally, our flight was at 6pm, so we asked whether we could have a late checkout until 3pm. Instead of trying to accommodate us, there was considerable back-and-forth, and we were told that extending the room would cost 50% of the nightly room rate. Eventually they allowed us to stay until 2pm. We appreciated the extra hour, but another hour would have made a significant difference to us and, given the circumstances, would have been a relatively small gesture from the hotel.

Taken individually, some of these issues might seem minor. Taken together, they completely changed the experience. Compared with our stay last year, AMARA now feels far more focused on maximising revenue from guests than on providing the exceptional hospitality and service its pricing and five-star positioning should imply.

We had previously liked this hotel enough to return. After this stay, we will not be coming back.