Matilda Hotel

To start, I apologise to any of the staff members affected by this review, as they were a true highlight of the hotel and very friendly. However, I must give an honest review and reflection of the stay as I did feel robbed by the experience.

The hotel is nestled in a really lovely location, and the mountains are beautiful to wake up to and look at whilst lounging by the pool. I would advise anyone who is looking at staying here though to do their research on where the hotel is as this island is not walkable. There is a reliance on taxis which is 25€ each way to the nearest town, Argassi and more to any of the bigger towns. The reception staff, especially Billy, are very helpful and pleasant though in navigating the taxis and suggestions on things to do around the island. The remote location though does then accentuates the hotel’s short comings as popping out for different food and experiences becomes less attainable unless you have extra cash.

The room really needed work. The decor looked like it was from Temu and was out dated. There was flaky paint and a turtle poster that was peeling off the wall. The curtains and duvet looked like they had come from (and last washed in) 1970. The limescale, ants and non working lights in the hallway makes this hotel feel more like a pirate ship - just without the charm, treasure or basic cleaning standards. The cleaning people did come in each day, not sure what else they did aside from make the bed as the floor stayed filthy, fridge stayed stained and we had the same sheets and towels the entire week - but they were there! Participation points. A little money invested in some stronger bleach, nicer decor and some actual house work would go a long way as the actual structure of the room was not bad and the AC worked brilliantly the whole time we were there.

The pool was quite nice! Lots of room for a decent swim, and a little pool for children to paddle in. The lounge chairs were also good although if this hotel ever manages to become busy there may not be enough of them. Again, the views from around the pool area were fantastic and it made for a relaxing time. However, don’t get too distracted by the view as you can easily lose your footing on the surrounding area. There were lots of loose tiles on the wheelchair ramp and the stairs up to the bar are uneven. There were no caution signs during our stay about this nor was it fixed whilst we were there. The pool area also had a slight odour coming from the bins scattered around that were not taken out regularly.

The bar area was very nice and I have to say the bar staff were fully fantastic. Jenny and Palvo (sorry if spelt incorrectly) were chatty, helpful and took the time to get to know the guests which gave the experience more of a community feel. There were bottles of water available which was a pleasant surprise. The drinks however were limited. The soft drinks were unbranded, alcohol range limited and coffee machines which looked older than myself and rarely cleaned.

The food was not what you’d expect from a hotel and more what you’d expect from a “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” trial. They often re used the same food from breakfast, to lunch, to dinner. A lot of it was unflavoured, cold or just downright inedible. I am not a fussy eater whatsoever but I did struggle here. It really put a damper on the whole holiday. There would be around 5-8 options of food on trays that had seen better days. What was sold to us as an “all inclusive” seemed in reality to mean “inclusive, provided you’re willing to settle for very little”.

Just to end, telling your guests to only leave a review if it is positive is a joke you can only make in good faith if your hotel is to a good standard. Which I can’t imagine it comes across as a shock to you it is not. Please, listen to the negative reviews and give this hotel the care and attention it requires - the lovely work your staff do and the location deserves more.

Just returned from a week at this hotel. What a week it was!! Let's start with the positives. The staff, for the most part were very friendly especially Jenny at the pool bar. This hotel is very much out in the sticks so be prepared to get taxis everywhere and they're not cheap so factor that into holiday spending money!. Views were lovely and the weather we had was great despite a couple or rain showers. The pool was also nice with plenty of sun loungers and no need to get up at 5 and put towels down although it was end of season. Now the not so good. This hotel is very tired and in desperate need of a re-fit. Rooms are dated and were never really properly cleaned. Lighting in this hotel is also an issue with poorly lit hallways and inadequate lights in rooms. There was some entertainment in the evenings, a salsa demo and class, a Greek dancing evening and a talk on the turtles. Now for the bad and the ugly!! The food wins both of these categories. What can I say??? Mostly cold and random seems to best describe the culinary offering we received daily. You could guarantee anything left over from lunch would be refashioned into some sort of dish and served again for dinner. The fish always looked the same but with a different coloured sauce and a new label, one night the chef surpassed himself and went all out on the fish option and treated us to fish fingers, sadly no captain birds eye in sight! The random selection was also strange varying from warm sliced beetroot with Brussel sprouts , plain pasta with a watery red sauce and pork 8 ways!!. The salad offering was all that saved us and many other guests from malnutrition this week. I think we all ate every meal in around 4 minutes flat so speed eating was definitely the best form of attack. The cutlery was all placed in boxes for you to collect and never really looked clean and lack of coffee/tea cups for breakfast was an issue on several occasions. On one day a select few guest were treated to fried eggs for breakfast but sadly by the time we ventured into the culinary abyss they were a long distant memory and we could only dream of the egg euphoria we had missed out on. Joking aside I know this is Greece and all inclusive is not really there thing, this was very obvious. Had we paid much more for this holiday I would have been even more disappointed but our saving grace were the fabulous people we met there. We had an amazing time together and in a strange way it was the fact the food and hotel were so bad it brought us together. We were all marooned in a sea of food despair and it made it a little more bearable.. The drinks were also not the best, I don't normally drink much alcohol but found I could easily spend an evening drinking and didn't really feel any effect. All in all not a great hotel and we wouldn't return to this hotel or area but Zante is beautiful and worth a visit. Just chose where you stay wisely :)

Very relaxing. Staff very helpful and friendly. Beautiful scenery. Good beaches nearby.