Grecotel Casa Paradiso

A nice hotel but lots of kids when we went in early October. My daughter has a nut allergy and the staff were all very attentive to this from reception to maitre d’ to chefs. They showed her what to eat at every meal if she required that. Hadn’t really done an all inclusive recently with her and made eating so much easier than having to negotiate local restaurants. Room was a bit tight for the 3 of us but had everything we needed really. Entertainment was ok too but again more kids oriented.

First of all the positives, great relaxed vibe to the hotel, gorgeous pools (although freezing!), and slides, comfy sunbeds, pretty surroundings, light and bright lobby area, grounds well kept and clean, short transfer from airport, beautiful beach, nice playground areas for children, decent size room and balcony with a good amount of storage, safe, fridge and drinks facilities in the room, self service soft drinks, beer and wine, nice crepes and waffles from the beach bar. Now on to the negatives we experienced, pool bar - inconsisent measures and always in wrong style glass and was served mucky glasses quite a few times, asked for it to be changed for them to just transfer the drink into another ‘clean’ glass rather than make from scratch, pool bar men on an evening were quite rude and cocky, kept saying drinks had run out when they just couldn’t be bothered to go get another bottle, would put the gin in your glass then tell you to go to self serve for your own Fanta lemon mixer, possibly acceptable during the day but not on an evening. Bottom pool / beach snack bar - luke warm / cold food, no reason why the food cannot be made and served fresh but instead it is sat in a ‘heated’ cabinet for hours on end! Restaurant - again barely warm food, no show cooking whatsoever, limited choice and same food regurgitated from breakfast to lunch to dinner, I mean literally who wants garden peas and chips at breakfast which had been served the evening before! No themed nights so very random and difficult to plate up a proper varied meal. Few proper Greek food, only one lunchtime had dolmades which in my opinion should have been on everyday. No cheese selection or crackers and poor choice of breads. Only knew about the a la carte restaurant after reading a tripadvisor review and when we asked it had actually closed on 30th October, never told on check in. No real evening entertainment which was fine as we were happy to chill and play games with our children but I do think a better programme of entertainment should have been offered both during the day and night. If it wasn’t for the aesthetics of this hotel it would definitely only be a 3*. All this being said, we had a lovely holiday with fantastic weather, it is such a shame as this hotel could be amazing, we knew it was the last week of the season but I do not think customers should be able to sense that, it felt like the hotel was shutting down around us.

On arrival we had a fast & friendly check in, was given a drink as they talk us through some of the hotels information eg where the restaurant, pools are & opening times. We was shown to our room as he pointed out the mini market and other locations. Our luggage was already in our room before we got there. They left ham & cheese sandwiches with apple juice in the fridge, it was a nice touch. We did have ants in our room all over the floor, I just thought it’s a hot climate with fruit & veg growing it’s going to attract ants. I bought a can of ant spray from the mini market, this did stop the ants from coming in but I had to spray every two days, as when the cleaner mopped the floor obviously it removed the spray. It wouldn’t put me off returning I will definitely come back. I would pack some ant spray if your arriving late evening. The rooms are dated personally I would remove the wicker headboard and replace with a wooden headboard. We put a bed sheet over the wicker headboard. The bathrooms needs refurbishing and the rooms furniture eg wardrobes and chest of drawers needs updating. Good points are the rooms are very spacious with comfy mattresses. Main restaurant the food is amazing the breakfast is continental & cooked breakfast, fresh fruit with different yogurts & cereal, fresh bread with every meal. There’s not much else they could have provided. The soup was nice they make a different one for lunch & dinner, I don’t think I had a repeated soup. The meat is nothing like the uk, not much fat on the lamb or steak very tender I was very impressed. They did repeat some dishes but this didn’t bother us we thought they tasted lovely was happy to have it again. They do a children’s section with freshly made pizzas, spaghetti pasta with sauce only or meat & sauce. They also do street food at the bottom pool area. They do crapes & waffles on alternate days, freshly made sandwiches & wraps, salads, fresh fruit, yogurts & ice cream they are open from 11-1730. Street food open 12/1530 also located at the bottom pool they do hotdogs, chicken gyros, chips, they also have pizza here but its not as good as the main restaurant it’s more of a cheap shop bought pizza. The fizzy drinks & coffee are nice, we don’t drink alcohol so we can’t comment on that. The pools are very cold but very clean and well maintained. My children loved the slides spent most of the time on these. Both my boys slipped on the first day at the pool, but I did read on another review that the floor was slippy, I made sure they wore the swim shoes after that. The beach is very nice it has plenty of sun loungers, my boys spent most of the time in the sea which was very warm. There are showers to rinse the sand off. The bus to Kos town is €2.30 we got the 11.00 bus it was very busy. We returned on the 1500 bus, luckily we got there at 1435 as they opened the doors at 1440, the bus was full and set off at 1445 leaving behind half the queue as they couldn’t fit anyone else on. I’m unsure if another bus was provided but just in case I’d arrive in plenty of time. Kos town was amazing with plenty of shops and restaurants, We loved the ruins and managed to find a Greek Orthodox Church it was stunning inside worth a visit. On our second visit to Kos we got a taxi back to the hotel for a family of four it cost us €26. The staff at this hotel are very friendly always smiling and very welcoming. The hotel complex is very clean it’s a shame the bungalows just let it down. The bungalows wouldn’t put me off I would definitely return here again we had a fantastic time.

Lovely hotel, right next to the beach at Marmari on the beautiful island of Kos. We chose this hotel as it is next to a windsurfing, kitesurfing and foiling centre on the beach which also has a swimming section. The beach is literally across a short road/track from one of the hotel swimming pools. From the pool and the beach you can see across the water to other little islands and it is a stunning location. This pool has water slides and a bar serving street food almost all day. There’s a quieter swimming pool at the main hotel building where the buffet restaurant is located. This brings me into the food which we thought was pretty high quality for an all-inclusive buffet-lots of food cooking in front of you and you can see the fresh produce growing in the hotel gardens around the accommodation blocks. I enjoyed the aqua aerobics in the mornings and the full body workout in the afternoons next to the outdoor gym. It was great that the local buses stop just by the beach and we were able to easily explore lots of different parts of the island. We had a fantastic fortnight and have to say that the staff at this hotel are amazing.

Arrived after midnight and taken to bungalow promptly. Sandwiches in fridge a nice touch. Room was a little dated but the large balcony and beautiful view of the sea more than made up for this. All areas very clean.The hotel has a lovely calm escapism feeling. The beach is beautiful and even late in the season we enjoyed swimming. The hotel has well kept grounds with vegetables lovingly cared for. Staff in restaurant very good and food was vast and catered well to every one’s taste. I really enjoyed my stay and felt very well looked after. After reading some of the other reviews I was a little worried about what to expect but for me this hotel was great I guess you can’t please everybody but I would definitely recommend it.