Lindos Imperial Resort & Spa

Not a 5 star at all! Stay away. Unprofessional management and some of the staff. Poor experience. The only professionals is the reception staff. Very dirty pools and pool area. The restaurant management was horrible, the room cleaning was bad. Horrible gym. Will never go back. Not even more than a 3+* hotel. Worst 5 star hotel we've ever stayed in. Nothing "Imperial" about this hotel. Every other guests we talked to complained about the same and was truly disappointed 👎🏼

Absolutely shocking. Complete and utter scam, nothing like photos. Food inedible. We checked in at 11pm at night, not eaten for hours, was allowed any food other than ice cream as this “5 star” hotel has no room service. As soon as we got to our “suite” I immediately went online to find another hotel. We informed the reception of our dissatisfaction (amongst others complaining) they said we would not be refunded anything. Even though we had been in the hotel less than 8 hours. After hours of arguing we got about a third refunded to us. I would not stay here for a week if you paid me. Awful.

I’d read some bad reviews about the hotel before we went on holiday so had low expectations but was very pleasantly surprised. We had a lovely extended family holiday. I feel some of the reviews I'd read were unfair so wanted to share my experience. - Food: Food in the main buffet was excellent. Great choice and good quality. I have an allergy and everything was labelled. I was less impressed with the a la carte restaurants but they made a nice change from the buffet. It was a bit annoying to queue at 10am to book one of the a la carte restaurants but the woman taking the bookings was great and helped us because we were a large group. - Staff: Most of the staff were brilliant and so friendly especially the entertainment team and the bar staff. The ice-cream/crepe staff and the bar staff made a lot of effort with the children in our group. Some of the staff in the buffet restaurant were a bit grumpy but it was coming to the end of the season so maybe they were tired. - Pools: Pools are lovely but cold. They'd be so much nicer if they were even a little bit heated. The sea water was warmer. The pools in the activity pool were used lots by the children. We could always find a sun bed even if we arrived late morning. - Hotel: The hotel is very large so not ideal for anyone with accessibility issues. We hired a mobility scooter for our mother from Happy Days (who were excellent) and that worked well. You can also get a buggy to bring you around the hotel but we found we had to often wait a while for them. - Location: There isn’t much around the hotel within walking distance but the bus stop is right outside so it’s easy to visit Pefkos (10 mins away) or Lindos (20 mins away). A taxi to Lindos was approx €20. - Rooms: The rooms are fine and comfortable. We had a superior sea view room. The hotel is large so the sea is maybe 200m away just in case anyone is expecting to have a room very close to the sea. There are some rooms on the beach with private pools. I'm not sure the rooms with private pools are worth the money because a lot of them were in the shade in the afternoon. Our room was up by the activity pool so was about 4 min walk to the reception/restaurant and 5-10 min walk to the beach. Note that the superior sea views rooms do not have a walk in shower. Our parents had to move to a family room despite us being told the rooms had a walk in shower when booking. The only thing that could be improved is the quality of the pillows and bedding. - Weather: We went on holiday for the UK October half term and thought the weather was lovely. It was 25c every day. It got cooler in the afternoons after the clocks changed and you do need a light cardigan or jacket for the evenings if sitting outside. I thought going on holiday in October worked really well because the weather was lovely and it's a lot cheaper than going in the summer. I would definitely recommend this hotel if you don't mind being a bit isolated. I think it would be too busy in the summer holidays so October worked well.

Second time we’ve been there for the October half term, this time was marginally more disappointing than the last. The hotel is looking tired and needs lots of maintenance, the room was comfortable yet stuff just didn’t work (fly screen, internal doors, bedside plugs). Our main bugbear was that the animation team didn’t follow the published programme, I get they have to wind it up as the hotel empties, but then publish an amended programme, several times we went to go participate in activities that were on the app and the schedule and they were cancelled with no notice. Food and drink was great and the pools/beach situation was exactly as you would expect. We were also upgraded for free as we returned which was a nice surprise. I don’t think we will return again though. Time for a new experience.

The Lidos Imperial may not be a full international 5* hotel that you would find in Thailand or Dubai. What it is though is a wonderful resort to enjoy the all inclusive experience on the island of Rhodes. Mr Antonios Stamou, the general manager and his staff are the most professional and helpful hospitality staff that I have come across during my travels. This integrity with empathy was even more evident after we had to deal with a tragic incident. At all times the food was of the highest standard and, even in the very busy main dining room, most of the staff managed a cheery smile and efficient service. Replenishment was fast with no drop in quality. All the bars were staffed with the right type of employee for a 5* establishment. Everyone spoke English, to a degree, and many spoke multiple languages. The entertainment, considering we were getting to the end of the season, was also probably amongst the best on Rodos. Our rooms were clean, fresh and well decorated. We could have had fresh linen every day. We decided on every other day. Daily, housekeeping always checked if there was anything needed. There are 6 speciality restaurants on site. The food and service was of a high standard in The Grill. The same can't be said for the Seafood restaurant. When you are in a group of 5 it is impossible to book on the App so we had to queue most days to get a speciality table. In summary, the Lidos Imperial Hotel and Spa is brilliant value for a top of the range hotel on the beautiful island of Rhodes.