Apple Hotel

The pool area turned into a makeshift party late at night, with loud music and shouting that made sleep nearly impossible. There was no one to find and complain to at night, since the pool bar doubled as the kitchen and reception. The owner also worked as the pool bar cook, so complaints and requests weren’t handled quickly or well. Food and drinks at the bar were overpriced. A 330ml bottle of beer cost 5 EUR, while the same bottle at the supermarket across the street was 2 EUR. Their Caesar salad came with mayonnaise and ordinary lettuce instead of Caesar sauce and Iceberg lettuce. Some dishes weren’t available because they’d run out of ingredients, such as pizza when they had no dough. The hotel looked nothing like its bright, clean pictures. The entrance hall sofas and armchairs were worn and dirty, the pool table couldn’t be used because it had no balls or cues, and the reception desk was actually at the pool bar. Around noon, plastic laundry bags sat on the desk and floor, some torn or full of holes, with nobody putting the laundry away. The hallways and rooms were dark and depressing. The room fridge was dirty, the bath had mold in the grout and corners, and limescale was everywhere. The shower cabin doors were broken and wouldn’t close, and the shower head holder was broken too, so I had to hold the shower head. There was just one bath towel and an upper sheet, no blankets. Towels were changed only once in our 7-day stay, and the sheets weren’t changed at all. We got extra toilet paper once. There’s no piped water supply at the hotel, which is common on the island, and tank trucks deliver both hot and cold water. We had no hot water on three evenings and no water at all, hot or cold, on another evening. Management said it ran out because lots of new guests checked in that day. The water tasted salty, though not as salty as seawater. The bathrooms had no ventilation ducts, only windows opening onto the hallway. In the mornings and evenings, the hallway stank of feces so badly it could make you throw up. Maybe that’s why reception had moved to the pool bar. Nobody told us in advance that using the room air conditioner cost 10 EUR per day. One unit didn’t blow cold air because it needed a freon refill. Management took 3 days to fix it, and we didn’t get 30 EUR back. All three rooms we stayed in also lost air conditioning for a day after someone in management tripped the main circuit breakers. It was only fixed after we complained separately for each room.

The reception was empty all the time, with nobody around to help. The bartender even told us to check the rooms when he handed over the keys, in case we wanted to go somewhere else. It was the worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Our rooms were dirty and disgusting, and the place smelled like garbage. The shower was rusty, didn’t work properly, and its support kept falling down. One pool was empty, while the other was dirty and full of sand. Nobody cleaned our room during the stay, apart from coming once to leave more toilet paper and small towels. The mattress was hard as a brick and had cigarette burns. Mosquitoes and lizards kept getting in, so we couldn’t rest. I even checked the mattress for bed bugs because everything was so disgusting. Air conditioning was €10/day and sometimes didn’t work. One morning there was no running water at all.

Do not book this hotel. My daughter was covered in bed bug bites, and at one point she and her roommates had to clean her room themselves. There was no fridge on arrival, despite it being promised. I had to arrange for her to move to another hotel for two nights before bringing her home. The boss acted like a bully and spoke to the girls in a way he wouldn’t dare speak to a man. I hope to visit Zante soon and pay him a visit to discuss it further.

I met the love of my life on this trip, and this hotel made the holiday feel like the best one I've ever had. The owners and their son are so kind, and the place has a really friendly atmosphere. It's close to the centre, and the rooms are very clean. Xoxo Klaudia&Klaudia