Olympic Palace Resort Hotel and Convention Center

Unfortunately, this was one of the worst hotel experiences I’ve had, and as someone who travels regularly, I don’t say that lightly.

There were 12 of us staying for my mum’s 60th birthday, so this was meant to be a really special family trip. Unfortunately, my mum had also suffered a leg injury before travelling, so we were doing everything possible to make the holiday comfortable and enjoyable for her.

From the moment we arrived, the experience was poor. Due to some confusion with the booking, we were left waiting in reception for around an hour. There was no genuine apology, no offer of refreshments and very little effort made to make us comfortable while the issue was being sorted out. Considering the size of our group and my mum’s obvious mobility difficulties, I found the lack of care particularly disappointing.

The reception staff were incredibly unfriendly, unhelpful and, at times, their attitude towards us made some of us feel that there may have been an element of racial bias in the way we were treated. I do not make that statement lightly, but it was genuinely how the interaction left us feeling.

There was also very little willingness to accommodate my mum despite her leg injury. For a hotel presenting itself as five-star, I expected a much higher standard of customer service, compassion and hospitality.

The bedrooms were absolutely not what I would consider five-star quality. I have stayed in four-star hotels that were considerably nicer. We also paid for a “mountain view”, which was extremely disappointing — rather than a beautiful scenic view, it was essentially a wall/rock face with trees growing from it.

The food was also very poor. Even though we were on a half-board basis, we still had to pay extra for drinks at dinner, which felt unreasonable. The coffee was awful, the juices were of very low quality, and overall the food was not enjoyable. In fact, we ended up eating out most days despite having already paid for half-board, simply because the dining experience was so disappointing. The only consistently positive aspect of the hotel was the spa, which was genuinely the one part that felt closer to a five-star standard.

My mum had also rented a private room with a pool, which we had hoped would allow her to relax and enjoy her birthday despite her injury. However, even this experience was overshadowed by how we were treated by staff. From the very beginning, after we questioned why we had been left waiting in reception for over an hour with no communication or basic hospitality such as refreshments, the situation escalated. Instead of being met with understanding, we felt as though our concerns were dismissed and that our family was being treated unfairly. From that point onwards, the atmosphere felt hostile and uncomfortable, and it genuinely impacted our ability to relax or feel safe and welcome during our stay.

Even when leaving, the lack of hospitality continued. For guests with a late flight, luggage lockers cost €2, and once you open the locker, you have to pay again if you need to reopen it. It may sound like a small detail, but it summed up the overall experience ,everything felt unnecessarily inconvenient rather than guest-focused.

What made the experience particularly disappointing was that the local people we met outside the hotel were warm and friendly, so our negative experience was very much centred around the hotel and particularly its reception/customer service.

This was supposed to be a special trip celebrating my mum’s 60th birthday with 12 members of our family. Instead, the hotel made what should have been a memorable occasion stressful and uncomfortable.

I travel frequently and can honestly say I have never experienced hotel staff as unwelcoming and unhelpful as this. The service was nowhere near what I would expect from a five-star establishment.

Unfortunately, I would not recommend staying here and I certainly would not return.

This does not deserve a 5 star rating. There are so many issues with this hotel. It offers all inclusive options, which cause chaos, as everyone is crowded around the pool to have access to the bar. The pools are so crowded and ball games are allowed in them all, the lifeguard sits on his phone. My poor 12 year old got hit with a ball deliberately by these boys three times. Their parents were no where to be seen! We stopped going to the pool and started to go to the private part of the beach instead. This has no bar or food service, so we actually spent our holiday at a fabulous beach bar called Ixia beach bar- as the service and food was much better than our hotel. The reception staff were useless, even when we arrived, there was no warm welcome, just advising me I had to pay my hotel tax! Our keys kept not working, we would get to the seventh floor, only to have to come back to to get the keys reactivated literally every day! The rooms were on the seventh floor, which had a beautiful view of the sea, but the roof top bar was above us, so from 5pm until 1am in the morning it was really noisy, with staff dragging chairs across the floor when it closes at 12am- no thought for guests below! We had cigarette ends thrown several times down in our balcony whilst we sat on it! The air conditioning was another level of noise! Absolutely horrendous- we had maintenance out twice and they improved it slightly, but it was still really loud. I like to train on holiday in the gym and that was another disappointment- tiny and no air conditioning. The equipment was poor- I’ve got a better supply in my garage! The cleaning staff deserve credit and the breakfast team as they were very good. The reception team clearly lacks leadership and basic customer service skills. The problem with lots of 5 star hotels now that have introduced AI options, they have diluted the service I would expect at this level. I don’t want to be panicking about trying to get a bed in a ridiculously packed pool. I would also expect pool and beach bar service, not queue up at a bar with two staff on for a sub standard drink!