Grand Blue Beach Hotel

Our stay at Grand Blue Beach Hotel didn't live up to our expectations of a five-star hotel. We have previously stayed at both four- and five-star hotels in Greece which, in our opinion, were of a significantly higher standard. I would like to highlight the three worst aspects, which are the main reasons why you should consider looking for another hotel:

1. The hotels misleading description of the Azure pool as an “adult pool” – it is nothing of the sort!

We booked this hotel specifically because it had an adult pool. On the hotel’s own website, it is described as “a quiet and refreshing adult corner”. There were also signs at both entrances stating 'adults only area', but nothing was done to enforce this. In reality, this pool, just like the other two pools, was full of children throughout the day. Most of them had footballs and other hard balls, which they played with in the pool all day, to great annoyance of everyone else here. We were hit by balls several times – both while we were in the pool and while we were lying on the sun loungers – and the hotel staff did nothing to ensure that we could enjoy our stay neither when we or Sunweb contacted them about this problem. We heard other guests complaining about the same issue in the reception. They were given the same excuses as us: “the adults have brought their children” and “you should speak to the bar staff”. The “bar staff” mostly consisted of one person who was expected to handle this on their own. As a result, there was naturally no noticeable change at the pool throughout the entire week. We were left to deal with these problems ourselves.

2. Dirty tableware and unhygienic practices among the kitchen staff

At almost every meal (three times a day) we encountered tableware that did not appear to be sufficiently clean. In addition, we found hair in our food on several occasions. Worst of all, the kitchen staff generally appeared to follow very unhygienic food-handling practices. For example, we saw a chef who had just been slicing meat at the buffet blow his very runny nose while still wearing the gloves that he subsequently used to handle the food hereafter.

3. The beach is presented with misleading photos on the hotel’s website – it looks very different in reality!

We expected to be able to use the beach in front of the hotel. The hotel’s own description “the beach is sandy and the seabed is a combination of sand and rocks with a safe sandy access point”, gave us the impression that there was a sandy beach – which is also what the photos on the website suggest. However, the beach in front of the hotel looked nothing like this in reality (see photos). It consists primarily of rocks and larger stones. We did not find anywhere with a sandy seabed at all. In addition, the number of sun loungers on the beach was very limited, and they were located immediately next to a heavily trafficked road. We did not see anyone using them.

After checking out of Evripides we were fortunate to have been able to reserve a room at Grand Blue. These two hotels are polarised in as much as Evripides a dump and Grand Blue beautiful. We loved the location and the resort itself. Our room was fabulous, the view out to sea incredible. The only downside was the shower head, it wasnt the best. Food could have been a bit more varied but it was very nice and tasty. The staff are just amazing and in particular Micaelis the bar man at the bar by the restaurant. They all work super hard and always smiling. We loved the quiet pool and the beds and the fact that we were so close to the town. All in all a fabulous place and highly recommed.