Zante Imperial Beach Hotel

We were a family of four on holiday, and this place was a waste of money and time. The hotel wasn't like the adverts, and the room smelled damp and musty. The bath was literally peeling away. We complained and asked to move, but were ignored. For two days we were told we'd get another room, but nothing happened. Some facilities didn't work. If you go to the beach, bring money because sunbeds cost €8. The pool area wasn't cleaned in the morning or evening, and wasps were all around. The food was disappointing too: lunch dishes came back at dinner with sauce poured over them. There are loads of stairs to climb, and the hotel smelled of sewage, with what looked like excrement lying around. The staff were very rude and couldn't handle complaints. We were meant to get fresh towels every day, but when I asked a cleaner, she aggressively said, "No, I don't have any," then called reception and complained about me for asking for what I'd paid for. She grabbed the dirty towels from my hands, shouted at me in Greek, and later returned with new ones, dumped them on the bed and slammed the door. I didn't expect that treatment for such a basic request. I also tried to sort things out with the manager, but he wouldn't even meet face to face and insisted on a phone call. No result there either. The customer service was awful, and I'll never return. Four stars? No way. Don't waste your money, there are so many better hotels around.

For the price, it was acceptable overall. The complex has been renovated and you can see the improvements, though it's not top level. There's a small, nice beach reached by stairs or a lift. The lift is limited in capacity, so expect a wait at busy times. The bar is small and the restaurant was quite OK, but the cups weren't really clean when we visited. Maybe there were too many guests or not enough dishwasher time. The room's air conditioning was just about adequate.

We spent a week here on a family holiday. Our room was dated but clean, and the food was nothing special, with no Greek dishes that I could see on the menu. The advertised water park turned out to be two slides, which was very misleading. The beach bar wasn't included in all-inclusive and seemed expensive. A warning about the pedal boat operators: we hired two boats, and one broke, so we had to take it back. They were the only two being used, but when we returned, they said we had to pay more because we'd been out longer. That's never happened to me before.

The beach is close by, which is good, but we had several problems with the room. It smelled bad when we arrived, though an air freshener from a local shop solved that easily. The fridge door wouldn't stay shut, and we had to turn it off at night because its constant noise made sleep impossible. The safe wasn't screwed down at all, so anyone could have carried it away. After I mentioned that to the receptionist, a fitter came and secured it so it couldn't be easily removed :))) I might have given the kitchen three stars, but after my child got food poisoning, I can only give it one.