Domes Aulus Elounda

“Perfect short break”

What can we say? Wonderful 5 night break at this delightful hotel. Even though this is the last week of the season, nothing is too much trouble for this wonderful staff team. Fabulous suite with amazing views, easy, laid back styling and entertainment offerings, and superb food at all of the restau… more

What can we say? Wonderful 5 night break at this delightful hotel. Even though this is the last week of the season, nothing is too much trouble for this wonderful staff team. Fabulous suite with amazing views, easy, laid back styling and entertainment offerings, and superb food at all of the restaurants. Special mention to Christina and all of the team at the Island buffet restaurant and the amazing chef and his team at the sushi meze restaurant. Thank you Vicky and all of your team...and definitely see you again next season!

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“Great Experience”

All around a great experience. The staff was friendly, helpful, and professional. The resort was clean, well-maintained, with beautiful plants and foliage, which all made for a great atmosphere. The food overall was good with the Yellow Sea restaurant being our favorite dining experience.

“Mixed experience”

This is advertised as a 5 star hotel which it most definitely isn’t, more like a low 4 high 3. Good points are the staff they are lovely, and the a la carte restaurant that serves lunch. It’s a strange concept with 2 levels of service, 1 with people walking round with beach bags saying VIP and then… more

This is advertised as a 5 star hotel which it most definitely isn’t, more like a low 4 high 3. Good points are the staff they are lovely, and the a la carte restaurant that serves lunch. It’s a strange concept with 2 levels of service, 1 with people walking round with beach bags saying VIP and then others not given the same curtesy, surely everyone in a hotel is a VIP or am I missing the point. Anyway we were not, we stayed in a cozy room, which to be fair was small and compact but served us just fine, it was clean and completely functional. Every room sea view and it’s a lovely outlook The drinks area in the bar remind of a Premier inn, glasses not collected, un cleared tables, one staff plus barman for a full bar. Chairs hard and uncomfortable, the outside bar area upstairs a lot better. The beach is self service apart from doughnuts a 4. They also let outsider in to use the beach which is not really acceptable. The dinners are very repetitive and dry though the salad selection was good, however the food is not covered. The staff are overworked, and their uniforms might be practical but are completely unflattering, looking like there are in green khaki hospital scrubs, some were stained. There is no freshly cooked food at breakfast such as eggs or pancakes which you would expect at a 5 star hotel. The entertainment is limited. Activity not sure if there is anything as nothing was advertised though seen a yoga class one morning by the pool but only 2 attended probably due to the above comment. Service can be incredibly slow in the specialist restaurants up to 20 minutes to clear plates, longer for a glass of wine, just under staffed. On 1 day our room was not cleaned and we made 2 calls over quite a long time in the end we had to go on a trip to source and track down the housekeeper ourselves to get some towels. One point to note is that on checking out there is a 10 euro a day tax towards the climate . Would I stay again, no, but you couldn’t wish for more welcoming people who run the hotel. Extra info not hotel related There is a small village near by named Plakia which is really lovely and accessible by taxi for 10 euros. You can all get transfers from the airport with a local company for around £68 and takes an hour. There were lots of complaints from people who were saying the transfer took nearly 3 hours with the travel companies they had to wait for people and then drop off at many hotels

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“Fabulous staff with 5 stars but the resort isn’t. A resort of two halves and you don’t always get the half you paid for.”

So we are just back from a short break (4 nights) at the Domes Aulus and I have very mixed reviews. Firstly the staff are fabulous, and absolutely 5 star but the resort is not. We booked a Sapphire Cozy Suite with private pool and private terrace, comes with Cool Living but the description and room… more

So we are just back from a short break (4 nights) at the Domes Aulus and I have very mixed reviews. Firstly the staff are fabulous, and absolutely 5 star but the resort is not. We booked a Sapphire Cozy Suite with private pool and private terrace, comes with Cool Living but the description and room layout given by Hilton is not the reality. As we had booked Cool Living we expected to be at the top of the very steep hill as that is where Cool Living is situated but we were not as it appears that they have not built any Sapphire Cozy Suites up there…instead they have renovated a few of the old hotel suites at the bottom so anytime we wanted to use the facilities we paid for we had to either walk up the very steep hill (its half a mile)or get a golf cart from reception and that is for breakfast, lunch, dinner or to sunbathe, so a bit of a pain. We were in block 1, next to the normal restaurants, just above reception and the car park. So noisy, overlooked and not private. Our deck and pool were not private, they were on a public walkway, surrounded and overlooked. If we had been staying longer I would have complained but the alternative, as I found out, would have been a move to block 5 which is neither near the beach or cool living, instead stuck half way up the hill. All the new Cool Living blocks are stunning, relatively private with fabulous views. The original hotel at the bottom of the hill (non cool living) is quite rough in places, like the pool needs an overhaul, the loungers are not great and there is broken tiles and decking and generally not that clean. The new cool living part is beautiful, stunning pools, great loungers, lovely bar area and good food but that all comes at quite a premium and even if you’ve paid for cool living you may not be roomed there. However its not all good because the hotel appears to upgrade anyone who complains about the normal facilities to cool living as compensation but that means those who have paid for cool living don’t always get what they have paid for. We couldn’t get a restaurant booking for a couple of the nights and couldn’t get a lounger one of the days. It sounds petty but when you’ve paid just under $4K for 4 nights and been promised 5star it’s not really that great. The food in the Griglia is lovely but I wasn’t impressed by the food in the Island restaurant (very basic buffet). So would I go back, no, not 5 star and definitely not value for money which is a shame as Crete is beautiful and the staff are fabulous.

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