Birais Beach Studios

The host really looks after people, and the service was great. They even cleaned the room thoroughly after just one night. The location is perfect. My only suggestion would be a screen for the air conditioning so it doesn’t blow straight onto the bed. Thank you!

The daily cleaning was the one consistently good part. The cleaners were polite and kept the rooms tidy. We booked “Birais Studios” through Love Holidays expecting a comfortable 3-star stay, but the experience badly affected our holiday. The listing and standard need to be reassessed, and the property needs major renovation. Most of the time we had no hot water, and sometimes no water at all. Basic washing became impossible, so we had cold or bucket showers, even late at night after days at the beach. We were told this was a “city-wide issue”, which should have been made clear before booking. The area also smelled of sewage, and because we couldn’t shower properly, we often stayed in instead of going out in the evenings. Our rooms were cramped and poorly maintained. One had faulty electrics and a broken freezer. A generator blew hot air right outside the balcony, making it too uncomfortable to sit there, so we unplugged everything to cool the room. The sea view we paid extra for was blocked by pillars. The bathroom layout was awful: the door hit the sink, the toilet was squeezed beside the wall or shower, and there was nowhere to hang towels or put toiletries. You could hit your head on the wall while sitting on the toilet. There was little wardrobe space, so we kept clothes in suitcases or removed shelves to hang anything. The kitchen barely had the basics. We had to buy cups, plates and cutlery ourselves, and there was no can opener, sharp knife or decent selection of utensils. Breakfast was the same oily food each day. It was edible but repetitive; only the omelettes were reliably decent, and the fruit and juice were sometimes not fresh. We brought up the problems several times, but were ignored or given vague answers. A few staff members seemed to care, though many didn’t seem interested in helping. On our last day, one staff member was abrupt when we asked for the Greek coffee we’d ordered every day, repeatedly asking, “What coffee you want?” as if they didn’t understand or weren’t listening, which had been a running issue in Greece. That person and another staff member kept reminding us about the tourist tax even though we said we’d pay when collecting our bags that evening. We had a late departure and had left our luggage after checkout, but the repeated reminders felt like harassment, so we paid early just to stop being asked. We were told the bags would be in a “secure” place out back, but they were left by a stairwell and lift that anyone could access. We saw no cameras or staff watching them and felt uneasy for the rest of the day. It wasn’t the service or care we expected. The location is good and beachfront, with various restaurants nearby, though we found the food disappointing and overpriced. There are different excursions too. “makitis” was inexpensive for what we got and really good, though one trip on our penultimate day was a letdown, and I wrote a separate review about that. The old town didn’t have much going on and places closed early, including the pharmacy. Honestly, it felt like being back home in london.

The location is ideal, and the hotel and rooms were lovely and clean. The staff were very friendly too. Just bring earplugs if you book a sea view room, because traffic on the main road below is loud at night.

The apartment was a good size for our family, and the location was excellent. The woman who welcomed us was lovely, and breakfast was a plus. The beds weren’t especially comfortable, though. One master bedroom’s air conditioner didn’t work properly. They told us it was blowing cold air after we reported it, but it wasn’t. I’m a refrigeration tech, and I know it wasn’t working right.