Elissa Adults-Only Lifestyle Beach Resort

“The Elissa far exceeded our expectations!”

From the moment we arrived at the hotel we were being welcomed by friendly and helpful staff at the Elissa hotel. That theme continued throughout our 7 day stay. The food was excellent, the site layout was extremely spacious, the pools were many and beautifully relaxing, the bar was great with some… more

From the moment we arrived at the hotel we were being welcomed by friendly and helpful staff at the Elissa hotel. That theme continued throughout our 7 day stay. The food was excellent, the site layout was extremely spacious, the pools were many and beautifully relaxing, the bar was great with some tasty cocktails (some additional seating for bar visitors would be useful). Our room with a sea view was just that - a 180 degree view of the sea. Overall, the Elissa was all I hoped for and then some.

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“Tranquility”

If you’re wondering if this place is right for you, let me reassure you—it absolutely is! From the moment we arrived, the experience was wonderful. The team is so warm and welcoming. We went with the all-inclusive option, and every meal felt like a treat. The staff at the restaurant were always so … more

If you’re wondering if this place is right for you, let me reassure you—it absolutely is! From the moment we arrived, the experience was wonderful. The team is so warm and welcoming. We went with the all-inclusive option, and every meal felt like a treat. The staff at the restaurant were always so happy to see us, from the friendly ladies greeting us at the entrance and guiding us to our table, to the attentive servers and the dedicated kitchen crew. They’re just lovely people all around! Starting the day with a sunrise walk was a delight, too. We were greeted by the cheerful pool cleaners and friendly hosts, making every morning special. And, because it was our 10th anniversary, we were surprised with a lovely welcome of champagne and fresh fruits waiting in our room—it was such a thoughtful touch. I can’t recommend this place enough. If you’re considering it, go for it! You’ll be in great hands. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I truly enjoyed our stay, but I feel there’s an area that could be improved to make the experience even better. At the poolside bar, the service didn’t quite meet the high standard we felt in other parts of the resort. It seemed like there were only a few staff members available to take orders, which sometimes left us waiting longer than expected. This felt a bit out of sync with the all-inclusive experience, and I found myself going to the bar directly, even though there were staff around. If this approach is part of the all-inclusive setup, it may be worth reconsidering, as it could impact the overall guest experience. I know this resort prides itself on hospitality, so perhaps a slight adjustment here would bring the bar service in line with the fantastic experience we had elsewhere. Thank you for your consideration—I believe this change could make a big difference! ⭐️⭐️

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“Excellent spacious room, peaceful, relaxing setting. Wonderful food and drink.”

Facilities, location and staff were all first class. But we had a couple of niggles. Our porch light did not work and this severely limited our use. And, although we were fully inclusive, certain bars and restaurants closed days before the end of our stay.

“Helpful review ...”

We (couple in our early 30s) enjoyed our 10 night stay at Elissa overall, and we LOVE Rhodes - but there are a few things that stopped this from being a 5 star experience, and this is not a cheap hotel by any means so I think it’s important to give this feedback. To manage expectations, you shoul… more

We (couple in our early 30s) enjoyed our 10 night stay at Elissa overall, and we LOVE Rhodes - but there are a few things that stopped this from being a 5 star experience, and this is not a cheap hotel by any means so I think it’s important to give this feedback. To manage expectations, you should know this hotel is part of a resort - you have the Elissa, which is *advertised* as adults only, and the Helea, which is the family resort right next door. They are separate but they sit within one resort complex. In my opinion the hotel is best catered to the all inclusive package ... if you view this as a 5 star inclusive, it’s really good! But it misses the mark with it's presentation as a 5 star *luxury* lifestyle hotel. I’ll start with the cons then do positives - as I always like to end on a good note! : 1. Half Board only included the buffet for breakfast and dinner, not the a la carte restaurants. This was a shame, felt like we had spent a lot of money for something very basic (didn't anticipate coming to a 5* luxury lifestyle hotel and eating at a buffet 10 days straight). All Inclusive is the only package that includes all the restaurants (buffet and a la carte restaurants). GOOD TO KNOW - You can upgrade to All Inclusive and select specific days you want to do this for. It costed 75 euro per person to do, for the day. 2. Children at the hotel - there were at least 4 children in our block, varying ages from toddlers to about 10/11? They didn’t do anything wrong they were just being kids - by that I mean, noisy. Jumping in and out the pools below our room, shouting and screaming, running up and down the hallways etc. Have absolutely nothing against children, but we paid good money to come to an adults only hotel for a reason. Ultimately the fault lies with the hotel, don’t advertise as adults only if you are going to let people book and bring young children, especially when there is a family hotel literally next door??? Really poor form. 3. The beach was not great - shared with the Helea so very busy, boats and jet skis all day long, not very pretty. You could hear the insanely loud entertainment from the Helea all day long (you could also hear this at most of the pools in Elissa too). I LOVE the beach so this was a big shame for us, we didn’t use it and instead ventured out to spend beach days elsewhere. 4. The male Lifeguard at the main pool was a bit disruptive and rude. He was on a phone call or face time a lot, and would SHOUT instead of speak, you could hear him from the other side of the pool and over the music. He lacked customer interaction skills, quite bluntly telling people off/what to do without really explaining why (he appeared to have a couple of arguments with customers around putting umbrellas down on a mildly windy day?). You can also only swim in the pool when there is a lifeguard, between 10am-6pm, and he would arrive slightly late and leave early most days and tell people they had to get out of the pool before he left - before 6pm. Also told 2 people off for being on a lilo together? It was overkill, and did start to feel a bit like you were being treated like children. 5. Fridges in the room were completely empty - this is a good example of it being an all inclusive suited hotel, as I would expect that at an all inclusive... but at a hotel marketed as 5* luxury lifestyle hotel, I was quite shocked to not even have things in there you could pay for? Now the good & great bits : 1. Aesthetically it’s a gorgeous hotel! The design is lovely, very Instagram worthy ;) We thought it was clean and maintained well. We loved our room (Deluxe Room with Sea View). 2. Buffet was fairly good , typical of a GOOD all inclusive hotel. Breakfast had a good selection. They had gluten free bread upon request. There was no omelette station or anything which was a shame, but there were fresh fried eggs and pancakes etc. coming out frequently and placed under the heat lamps all morning. Dinner options changed daily, and they always had a variety of meat, fish and veggie/vegan dishes on offer, cold and hot options - dinner we found to be hit and miss, but this is not unusual at all inclusive resorts. 3. Great cocktails!! They had a huge range of good branded spirits, all soft drinks, ice tea, fresh juices etc. Frozen cocktails by the pool were good. But drinks are expensive (4 euro for a coke, 11-12 euro for cocktails). The All Inclusive package includes any drinks under 15 euros, and this included the cocktails so all inclusive is definitely a good option if you can afford it. 4. Some of the staff were really lovely and made a big difference to the day to day - shout out to Makella (i think thats how you spelt it! Blonde hair and wore glasses) at the Istrio pool bar, she was so lovely and kind every single day. The staff at the Siana bar were also lovely. 5. There's a 'supermarket' store within the resort, it's a short walk from the Elissa and can be found just outside the Helea. It had most things you could need! Right outside the resort theres also a small town, pharmacy, some restaurants etc. We didn't eat there as we had a car and spent our time exploring the island, but anyone staying at the Elissa could easily walk there if they wanted.

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