Stonewell

The rooms are a bit basic, but good value, and everywhere is super clean. The staff are all friendly, and the pool gets sun all day. There's a bar on site with beer for 3e and happy hour from 7 until 10. The strip is two minutes away on foot, and there's a Spar next door. I'm staying here now.

The devoted cleaner deserves a medal, and more pay before she works herself into the ground. But this place is dirty, mosquito-ridden, and badly run. Stonewell Apartments is one of the worst hotels in Crete and should be avoided. If you're young, drunk, and into vomiting everywhere and smashing up hotels, it might be your Nirvana. Otherwise, it needs new management and should be demolished and rebuilt as a proper hotel. The photos may make you want to vomit. There was no receptionist at all, no soap, no hair dryer, no small rubbish bin, and only a minimum of small towels. The internet was poor, with no streaming Wi-Fi. Corridors were full of mosquitoes, forming clouds around the lights, and management could easily kill them but doesn't care. There were no lights in the dark corridors during the day. The entrance stairs were cleaned just once in three weeks. The walls and doors were paper thin, so every footstep, conversation, and slammed door carried throughout the building. There was no soundproofing, apparently because of the design and poor construction. Furniture was old and dirty, covered in mold. Fungus had grown on the fridge door, black mold covered the cheap plastic chairs, and there was damp in the room despite being in Crete. Washed clothes took ages to dry, and the sheets and bedding felt damp. Outside the front of the hotel, there was a strong sewer smell. The shower had no hot water, the hand basin was cracked, and the sink overflowed onto the floor and was ringed with black slime. It had no plug, so the cleaner had to ask the owner, who went out and bought one. The shower base was cracked too. A dangerous pipe end stuck up through the floor. The cooking ring stayed burning hot for half an hour after being unplugged. A night porter, a bouncer hired to deal with young drunken louts, shouted at guests, forced their doors shut, and told them to sleep. In the reception male lavatory, the lock on a small cubicle was faulty and trapped guests inside. I was left pounding on the door for help, but nobody came. It gave me a claustrophobic panic attack. I asked for a receipt after paying Hotel Tax and never got one. I was told, "I will ask the manager and he will poke one under your door". I could go on about the view of the rubbish tip, but space is limited.

I'd read mixed reviews, but I prefer to make up my own mind. This was my experience. I arrived by transfer bus at about 2:30 pm on Saturday. A lovely lady greeted me and said to go to reception, where someone would come. A young man took me to a third-floor room. It was old, grubby, smelled stale, and had no air conditioning on. He said air conditioning cost extra and, since there was no receptionist that day, I had to come to reception at 9 the next morning to pay. I agreed and asked if he could switch it on then, but he said he was busy working as the barman and would do it later. When I checked the fridge, there was old food left by the previous guests. The garbage can also had rubbish in it, including what looked like their old underwear. I took my things downstairs and said I wasn't willing to stay. I booked another hotel and had a fantastic time in Malia.

The bar and restaurant owner was lovely, and the food was good. Our shower wasn't working at first, but the nice woman at reception had it fixed within a few hours.