Iberostar Mirabello Beach & Village

Through Booking.com in April we reserved two rooms in Iberostar Mirabello Hotel (Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece) for the period from 23 July to 6yj August 2011.
The reservation was for two double rooms, with “sea view”. It was very well confirmed on the confirmation mail we got from Booking.com.
When we arrived at the hotel, we got two rooms with “garden view” non “sea view”. They claimed that we had reserved such class of accommodation. After having shown the confrmation mail and after a few days of waiting, the hotel admitted the error and promised to reimburse the difference of costs (appr. 330 €, in total) when checking out.

All interactions have been made by email, so they have been tracked,
When checking out, the hotel completely changed behaviour, and stated that –in spite what was written on our confirmation dcouemnts- the reservation made by Booking.com was for “garden view” rooms, so they did not want to reimburse anything to us. The position was also –arrogantly and unpolitely- emphasised by the Director of the hotel.
(it must be also mentioned that we has paid approximately 6.000 Euros for the stay in the hotel, and that we were recurring clients for the third year).

Due to the limited time before departure of our flight, we did not have the possibility of calling the police and we had to pay.
Now, apart from strongly complaining against the behaviour of Iberostar Hotel, we also doubt on the reliability of Booking,com. Whom should we trust ?
In the future we will definitely avoid both.

2 readers found this review helpful

On August 26th this year we spent a wonderful week at the Iberostar Mirabello Hotel with our two sons and their girlfriends on an all inclusive basis. From the moment we arrived the staff were friendly and very helpful. We stayed on the 5th Floor of the hotel and had rooms with sea views. They were perfect and the view across the bay with the mountains in the background was very memorable. The food was excellent and the main bar area leading out onto a very large patio area was perfect for a pre dinner drink or after dinner drink.
You can choose the pool area to sun bathe or there are two small beaches as well (which you have to pay for). The only thing we did not like was the continually music being played around the pool area and the activities around there were quite noisy - however this really is a lovely hotel and well worth a visit. Enjoy.
The Birkby Family from Amersham, Bucks

1 reader found this review helpful

(Stayed in Hotel). Pleasant greeting on arrival & found staff curteous throughout entire stay. Food was plentiful and of good quality. Room was clean and tidy.Sunbeds free around pool area but expect to pay around 8 euros per day for 2 sunbeds & one parasol on beach. Drinks in bar expensive at 4.5 euro's for half litre of lager. Shop on site & across road reasonably priced.
We went for a relaxing break and would definately return

3 readers found this review helpful

This is the first time to crete and to this hotel. The food is amazing, and there is such a choice to choose from, there is food for all nationalities. The bedrooms are spotless and cleaned to a very high standard. The hotel staff are very friendly and make you feel welcome. The town is about a mile away and is small with lots of outdoor restaurant.

4 readers found this review helpful

We found this a perfectly acceptable 4 star hotel - which is how Holiday Watchdog rates it. But it was a disappointment to us because we'd booked (and paid for) it as 5 star. Presumably it somehow scrapes into the 5 star rating on its facilities, but if you book it as 5 star you also are likely to be disappointed. The main problem is the restaurant, which is just too big, too soullesss, and feeds too many people at once; a 5 star hotel of this large size needs two restaurants, one of them not a buffet. It feels like eating in a warehouse, and you have to be shown to a table but it usually took a long time to find someone to do this. The food itself was edible and filling, but little of it good: eg cooked vegetables were watery and puddings very sweet and/or cream-filled. This is definitely not 5 star.
Our room was not a prestigious room, on the top floor of a block at the top of the Village with a view over an uninteresting landscape, but it was west-facing and very quiet so we didn't seek to change it. Bathroom under-lit, warm fridge (this seems to be universal), granite-hard beds, and no chairs in the room.
If we'd booked it as 4 star we'd have been happy: an adequate hotel, if not one we'd go out of our way to return to. But 5 star it is not.

6 readers found this review helpful

attention all iberostar fans, superb location, superb food, rooms etc. but this is our 5th iberostar, and this has things missing from the usual iberostar quality. the super pool had broken tiles , not fixed for the whole duration of our 2wks hol . the drinks were that expensive, we had to drink at the local taverna , dyagnosis, as we would not pay £8 for a pint, or £6 for a glass of wine. the tables were empty of drinks, whilst the entertainment ? was on . then people would leave to go to the taverna. the manager decided their was a problem with the drink prices, and decided to cut them by half, this is not iberostar procedures, we guessed their was something wrong , and we were right , we found that this particular hotel the mirabello, is a franchise not the real genuine iberostar chain. otherwise the location is stunning, to go all inclusive from half board will cost you £1750 extra for 2ad + 1ch not a working mans holiday not a real iberostar

perfect destination for couples and children,never stayed at a iberostar hotel before, but would recommend iberostar to anyone, it was clean and very friendly...... Fresh water pool (excellent)..........FOOD was excellent...had a great time overall........ beach only a few steps from hotel.....the service was so good, our friend had a birthday while we were there and they automaticly presented him with a chorus of happy birthday cake and chamagne on ice.....which suprised us all............only a short taxi or bus journey to nearest town whitch was a lovely harbour town with more shops bars restaurants than you could shake a stick at.....................

2 readers found this review helpful

My boyfriend and I have just returned from a week's holiday in Crete at the Mirabello Beach Hotel and have had a fantastic time.
I must say, after reading reviews on various websites, I was dubious about booking the hotel as many people had experienced problems upon arrival with their rooms not being available / being offered poor alternatives etc. Surprise surprise - we also had this problem! Despite paying for what I believed was quite an expensive holiday, and also having paid an extra £100 or so to be upgraded to a "sea view" room for the entire week, we were told upon arrival that they had no sea view rooms left, they were all in use and that we would be put in an alternative room in the "village" for one night only and they would be moved. We are not unreasonable people, and said that provided it was for one night only we would not kick up a fuss - especially as they gave us free sunbeds for the week (4 euros per person per day normally which I think is extortionate!)
We were then showed to our "alternative room" in the village and it was absolutely horrific - basically a dungeon. No windows, two single beds one of which was a camp bed and looked like it would collapse if a mouse so much as sat on it. No shower in the bathroom or bath (just a sink and toilet) no telephone, no TV and it smelt and the sheets looked dirty. I couldn't believe it was the same hotel. To cut a long story short we marched straight back to the hotel lobby and politely informed the reception that we would not stay there and they would have to provide us with a more adequate room. They continued to say they had nothing available, and in fact didn't even have "sea view rooms" in the hotel at which point I brought out my travel documents with written proof that we had booked a sea view room. After almost 3/4 of an hour deliberating with them and me becoming visably upset at the thought of a night in the dungeon (costing me £200 on average per night) they eventually came up with a bay view room (overlooking the sea) which in my opinion should have been offered in the first place given that they had been the ones to overbook.
In any event, after this was all cleared up we did continue to enjoy the rest of our holiday. On the whole staff were polite (reception staff not particularly so) but waiters etc were very friendly. The food is excellent and despite some people saying it was very "samey" I have to say in a whole week niether myself nor my boyfriend got bored of what was on offer. The rooms and communal areas were clean, and on the whole prices (either in the hotel shop, or at the bar) weren't too expensive. The watersports are very pricey though (£50 for 15 minutes of jet skiing) but the diving instructor Andy was great and we are hoping to meet up with him next year in Thailand!
The resort of Ag Nik is fantastic - Spinalonga is a must although make sure you don't book through a tour operator (they were going to charge us 40 euros whereas we had a great tour with english speaking guides booked at the harbour for 10 euros!) They are some gorgeous bars on the harbour including one called Gold which had live jazz music. It is a pleasant half hour walk into Ag Nik which I would recommend doing in the evenings although perhaps not during the day as it is very hot.
All in all I would definitely recommend the hotel - it was modern, clean, had everything we wanted and wasn't too pricey although I would definitely say to everyone that goes here to be prepared for problems checking in as almost everyone seems to experience them.

3 readers found this review helpful

We stayed in the Mirabello Beach Hotel - on the opposite side of the road to the Village complex. Staff were very friendly and helpful in all areas of the hotel. A freshwater pool and a few steps down to an artificial beach kept everyone happy. A dive centre on site with expert staff. Snorkelling in the bay was great for kids aged 10 and 12 and inexperienced adults! We saw lots of fish, crabs and even an octopus. Food was very good and beautifully displayed, though not with as much choice as at another Iberostar we've stayed at. Restaurant furtniture needs updating - it looks very 1970's. Waiter service for drinks in restaurant was very slow. We had the option of an 'a la carte' meal - but it was from a very restricted list and not for kids. The road in between the two complexes has buses going along it - people can look down from their coach on you sunbathing by the pool. The room was fine - take pegs and a line to put stuff on the balcony as it is VERY windy. The air con was pathetic - we set it to 16 degrees and the readout on our alarm clock said it was actually 26! However the shower had real power - perhaps being on the 5th floor helped? There is a lovely hill side garden to walk round and a kind of turkish seating area with billowing curtains and sofas - nice to get out of the hot sun. Day time entertainment involved a silly dance, shuffleboard and darts. The evening entertainment is at a small stage area behind the hotel so very few people would ever hear the noise from that - however the thump thump thump from the beach bar across the little beach area did keep us awake a bit - it was usually over by midnight or just after. Would we go back? Yes.

The hotel was very good. Always clean and our room always cleaned to an exemplerary standard. The communal areas are as stunning as the views from the bar. Whatever your choice of board make sure you eat on the restaurant balcony at least once.
Bad stuff ? Not really but a couple of things. The food was superb but very 'sameish' to the extent that one could predict what would be where every night !! The Animation Team gave their all but were still an Animation Team.
I was accompanied by a 15 year old daughter and we had a great time - she went to the Paradise Bar on the beach a few times with her new found 'Crew' of similar aged friends and I had no need to worry. All very safe as was the beach. ( I hasten to add that I'm very protective ! ).
Practical stuff ? A taxi to the centre is 5 Euro ( and a better investment than waiting for the dubious bus to arrive ! ). The hotel has a mini market and there's another, literally across the road, so compare prices before you buy.
All in all we had a lovely week, were very well looked after and I'd recommend staying there.
Return visit ? Maybe not ( as we've been totally spoiled by a Menorcan Hotel that we'll visit again !! ). That apart I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.