Grecotel Plaza Beach House

“Friendly and Welcoming”

This is a lovely hotel, conveniently situated for access to Rethymno Old Town (40 minutes' walk, if you're that way inclined) or about 5 minutes and 7 Euros in a taxi. We arrived well after midnight due to a delayed flight from Stansted but were met by very cheerful and welcoming staff, who comp... more

This is a lovely hotel, conveniently situated for access to Rethymno Old Town (40 minutes' walk, if you're that way inclined) or about 5 minutes and 7 Euros in a taxi. We arrived well after midnight due to a delayed flight from Stansted but were met by very cheerful and welcoming staff, who completed the check-in quickly and efficiently. Throughout our stay in the hotel, everyone we came into contact with was unfailingly, cheerful, helpful and friendly, particularly the two young lads patrolling the sunbeds on the beach. The room itself was OK (we were in room 128). I believe all of the rooms in the hotel are apartments and the one we had consisted of two rooms. One containing a large double be and the other bunk beds and a kitchenette. The bed was very comfortable and the aircon more than adequate - we only ever had the unit in the second room on despite being in the middle of a heatwave. The only criticisms I would have of the room are that, as the main bedroom is quite small, the door had to be closed to access the far side of the bed. Also, because the entrance door has a closer fitted, the wardrobe door immediately behind it could not be fully opened, meaning that the drawers in that space couldn't be accessed. This wasn't really a problem as there were only two of us. This is a problem which could easily be solved by modifying the wardrobe door to allow it to open fully. Both rooms have a small balcony and the one from the second bedroom/kitchen area was furnished with two chairs and a small table. The room overooks the courtyard but as we only used it for sleeping, that wasn't an issue. We were not disturbed by an kind of noise at any point in our stay. The hotel has a small pool at the front, which we didn't use as we preferred to be on the beach. I believe there are also a couple of small pools to the rear of the hotel but I didn't go to look at them. We were booked on a B&B basis as we like to have the freedom to try local tavernas, so really only used the hotel restaurant for breakfast. We didn't use the bar facilities as we used the service provided on the beach during the day, and then went elsewhere for dinner. Breakfast is pretty good, having a selection of hot options, although the sausages and bacon are not quite what we are used to in the UK - not bad, just not to our taste. However, the made-to-order omelettes were really good. As you would expect, there was a plentifuly supply of cold options, including cold meat, cheese, yogurt, fruit, nuts, bread and pastries. The only downside - and this is a personal thing - was the music, but seating furthest from the speakers (ie, not close to the road) rendered it quiet enough to be bearable! The hotel had a first floor terrace overlooking the beach but, for some reason which wasn't explained to us, it was closed, so I've no idea what's up there. One process which I found a bit odd concerns the in-room safe. We were told on check-in that, if we wanted to have a key from the safe, we would need to request on from reception. Thinking that this would involve a security deposit, I didn't get a key until the following morning. I was very surprised when I was just cheerfully handed a key to take away. I couldn't understand why, if there is no charge, they don't just leave the key in the room, or hand it over at check-in. One thing worthy of note is that it was my wife's birthday whilst we were staying there (one reason for booking when we did) and I gave her a card. When we returned to the room later that day to shower and change before going out, we found a lovely (and tasty) birthday cake in the fridge! What a lovely, thoughtful, totally unexpected gesture! All-in-all a very pleasant and stress-free stay in a lovely, friendly, welcoming hotel.

less