Grand Hotel Holiday Resort

3 readers found this review helpful

The Grand Hotel lives up to it's name 'GRAND'. It is defernately a 4* hotel.
In our room we had a queen sized bed and a full bathroom unfortunately the shower was a bit hot and cold.
The maid service was excellent and the rooms as well as the hotel was immaculate, absolutely spotless.
The staff were very friendly and helpfull and the animation staff were very good we looked forward to their shows.
The food was overall very good and I could always find something to eat as I am a fussy eater. My only critisism is that the chef used far to much salt in some of his meals.
For those who like to drink there is a bar called the Romantik not far away or you could always take walk into Stalis. We used to walk into Stalis and back then use the hotel lobby bar.

3 readers found this review helpful

It was our first trip to Crete and what a beautiful place it is, on booking our holiday we chose a hotel with good reviews and a short transfer, it stated 40 mins when booking, however we were on the coach for 1 hour 45 mins, luckily our 2 year old fell asleep on the journey, on arriving at our hotel it looked fantastic, the staff were very helpful and got us settled in our room quickly, the room was of a high standard and very comfortable, the maid service was excellent, they came in each day and cleaned top to bottom and replaced the towels. Our room was half way up the hill which i felt was more of an incline, however if you are very unsteady on your feet you may struggle, the hotel porter did take people to there rooms though in the little car if needed so you would be fine. The pools were great, we stayed round the fun pool during our holiday because of our young daughter, the food was excellent and there was a great choice for all, i had an upset stomach one evening after having sea food risotto, but the rest of the holiday was excellent, Manos in the restaurant was fantastic with our daughter, he made lots of her for the whole 2 weeks, as did all the staff. The only disappointment for our holiday was the beaches, they were very pebbly, we only went down one day, however with the excellent facilities at our hotel it was fine, our daughter did miss not making sandcastles though. I would recommend this holiday for other families, the evening entertainment was great, our daughter loved the mini disco, and the adult entertainment still allowed for families and couples so everyone was catered for. Overall our first taste of crete was excellent, we were very sorry to leave, but will definatley be going back in the future.

4 readers found this review helpful

I stayed at the Hotel Grand in June 2008 for 1 weeks holiday with my partner,the Hotel was very well presented in all aspects.On my second day my room was entered by key access no forced entry and all of our belongings was stolen,cash,passports,tickets,ect.A further attempt was made to withdraw money off my credit card in the local town the same day.Hotel management wanted to hush hush the incident,the police was not interested i even typed my own report.There was no support from the Hotel or my tour guide Thomas cook.REMEMBER ACCESS WAS WITH A KEY CCTV CAMERA CONFIRMED THIS NO FORCED ENTRY THIS POINTS TO A BAD APPLE WITHIN THE STAFF.

Had a good holiday at this hotel. Beautiful hotel with great rooms and facilities, and good selection of food. Unfortunately, the location is not ideal, only one bar close by, everything else a good 20-30 minute walk or bus ride away. Bus service here was excellent, so easy to travel to other areas, but not necessarily what you want to be doing in the evening after your meal.
The weather was, unfortunately, not very good, quite cold and rained often, but to be expected at the end of October - still better than back here in the UK! Greek islands not the best place to be headed at the end of October as their season is ending, and daily more and more places were shutting, giving the feel of a bit of a "ghost town".

What more can i say! Hotel beautiful, accomadation great, food wonderful, staff amazingly friendly and to top it all off weather was fantastic!!!
Reconmend it to any one and will definately return!!!

i stayed at the grand hotel in may.it was cleanest and most welcoming hotel i have ever steyed in staff were very friendly and helpful.our apartment was spotless and maids worked very hard keep up the good work.food was divine and well presented.area around hotel cleaned every morning.also felt very safe in crete.weather glorious.the only down side was the gypsy market it was rubbish and waste of time.

Me and my boyfriend have just come back from staying at the Grand hotel and what an amazing experiance it was.
The hotel is lovly and clean and all of the staff are brilliant, i noticed one of the reports about the head bar man Antonious thinking he is the man greek man, but having been there myself i do not see why they rated him so badly. most nights we were up the bar and he was so friendly so were all the other bar staff .
The pools were nice a clean too.
There are activitys durning the day at the main pool for everyone, and the eveing shows are worth watching.
overall i think this was a brillant holiday and i would consider going back in the near future.

5 readers found this review helpful

Just returned from a two week half board break to the Grand Hotel in Crete.
The vast majority of guests here were German followed by the French, English guests were in the minority.
This hotel is immaculatly clean. It is kept to a very high standard the rooms are attended by maids every day and do a fantastic job. We stayed in the superior rooms and they were very nice, we saw the difference of the standard rooms and to be honest apart from the decoration there is no real difference, they both have A/C, large balcony, hair dryers, TV with only 3 English channels sky news, bbc news and bbc prime the rest is French and German. The beds are comfortable if you prefer very firm matresses. There are no tea or coffe making facilities in the room, we wish we had known this as we would have brought a travel kettle with us, it took us days to find a shop in the town that sold them. There is a small fridge in the room which will hold 6 cans of cola and two bottles of 1.5ltr drinks.
We arrived needing two rooms one for myself and my wife the other for our teenage girls 13, 13 and 15. We did ask for adjoining rooms or rooms as close as possible when we booked, but our flight was delayed 4 hours and we arrived at the hotel in the early hours of the morning, we were put in rooms the furthest point away from each other, we spoke to the reception staff and they were very understanding and managed to get the girls in the same block after 3 days once the French had a change over day. We were lucky to get rooms as there were guests who were placed in hotels nearby because the hotel had been over booked, some had to wait 3 days to get allocated a room although they were permitted to use the resturant and facilities in the meantime.
The resturant is self service buffet style, The breakfast session has a massive choice from cereals to full english fry up, there are a lot of fruits, pancakes, waffles,continental, basically anything you could think of they had it.
The evening session again there is a lot of choice but it did not get changed much over the two weeks, but there is a lot of variety of German dishes. The resturant staff are friendly and attentive when you arrive in the resturant, they sit you at the table promptly, although if you want to sit outside you need to get there early, and quickly serve you your drinks. Once you have had your meal it is difficult to get the waiters to return to you so you can pay for your drinks and leave, although the staff are attentive they are heavily under manned and getting more than one drink at a sitting is not easy.
Gents need to wear trousers that cover the knee during the evening meal session, they were very strict about this and did send numourous men out to get changed, they are not fussy about the ladies attire, shorts, mini skirts or dresses were commonplace, they were totally relaxed about the childrens evening wear although they did ask a family once to go back to their room to change the children out of their swimwear. It is totally different during breakfast, swimming shorts and t-shirts are permitted.
The hotel is very pleasing to the eye and is built on a hill, if you have any walking difficulties then this is not a hotel for you, it gets very steep in parts and there are a lot of steps to negotiate. If you are unlucky to get a room at the top of the hill, it is fine coming down but a real workout getting back up again, we fortunatly were near the bottom but the main topic of complaint was from the poor folk at the top of the complex.
The pool areas are very well kept and the pools themselves are very clean, there are 3 pools outside. The main pool area which is at the bottom, where the main hotel is, has a large amount of sun beds which you will have to get up early to get one as they were usually all covered in towels by 7.30am, there are signs asking not to resrve beds but I suppose it would be difficullt for the hotel to enforce. There is a pool bar and snack cafe at this level.
The second pool is slightly further up the hill in the centre of the complex, it was easier for us to get sunbeds here as most of the guests prefered the main pool where the childrens activities take place. Sunbeds here usually were all taken by 9.30am. This pool has signs saying 16yrs and over only, but as the main pool beds had gone so early in the morning a lot of families like us used this pool, nobody seemed to mind and to be honest it was'nt a great issue for anyone.
The tots pool is at the top of the complex and it was too much of a climb for us to investigate but we could see they had a bouncy castle up there.
The girls were a bit old to get involved in the animation or kids day club, but it seemed very popular with the younger children and they seemed to be having a whale of a time, probably suited to 5 - 11 yr olds.
The hotel does not really have any evening entertainment to speak of, there are nightly shows in the amphitheatre, but they were either in Greek or German, the evenings at the hotel were mainly spent sipping a few drinks on the patio after dinner. The hotel does have a bar, it is A/C but ineffective as the large patio doors remain open, the head barman is very friendly and works hard to be an ice breaker getting guests to mingle usually with the aid of Raki.
The hotel gets strict about ordering from the bar, if you order from the bar you have to stay at the bar, if you wish to sit on the outside patio, then you order from the waiters. Seems a petty point to raise but there were quite a few raised voices in the bar during the few evenings we were there as the barman enforces it with an iron fist even though again the waiters are heavily under manned and it can be a long wait for the opportunity to order a refil. The beers are Heineken, which was the only one on tap throughout the hotel, or you can get bottled beer, German only, both are served cool, I never managed to get an ice cold beer during our stay. The pool bar will serve German white beer in a chilled frosted glass. Both bars have a range of coktails and spirits available. Draft Heinekem 0.4ltr for 3.20 euros, white beer 0.5lt 4.60 euros coktails for around 6 euros.
We spent the evenings up in one of the villages away from the resort areas which was called Koutoulafari, not sure on the spelling, but very restful evenings up there lots of fantastic genuine Greek resturants, and pleasent bars with nice atmospheres to relax in. Ideal for families or romantic couples of all ages, there are no club type bars here. It cost us 8 euros there and back each night in a taxi but worth every cent.
There are bus stops outside the hotel where you can get to Herrsonnisos or Stalis, both are lively resorts in the evening if you fancy a party night, the resturants there are not a patch on the ones in Koutoulafari and are a little dearer. Plenty of lively bars and clubs in both resorts, we gave it a miss as its not our cup of tea.
The beach outside the hotel is rubbish, unless you enjoy a small dirty very rocky surface, Hersonnissos has a small shingle beach but gets over crowded as it is quite small. Stalis beach is much better, golden sand beach not massive but not too busy either, nice water, easy to get a sunbed before noon. Plenty of bars and resturants for refreshment. They have the usual water sport activities here water bikes, banana boat tow etc... again good family area we did not see any rowdy gangs of lads or girls here, they tended to be further up the coast in Malia.
To sum up we had a really great holiday, the hotel was immaculate and we would consider returning although we would only book for the breakfast and spend every evening up in the village.

3 readers found this review helpful

A very nice place. Three pools: one for all, one for the kids and one for no kids so everyone catered for. Steep in places and I can imagine it's a fair walk if staying at the top although on the first day a fella takes you and your cases up in a minibus. There is a tennis court, a games room with table tennis, pool and some arcade machines, an outdoor theatre thing for nightime entertainment, a shop in the basement area, a bar, the main restaurant, a la carte restaurant, outdoor chess game, indoor pool, small indoor gym, snack bar etc. Plenty of sunbeds around the place. Daily entertainment around the main pool aside from one day off. Seemed very clean everywhere. Weekly BBQ outdoors with food, dancing and plate smashing for a supplement of E17.
Food was very good and waiters for drinks were efficient as was the clearing of plates. You pay for the evening drinks you have with your meal before you leave the table by getting the waiter over. Bar prices steepish but expected really and a lot cheaper in Stalis. Even if you are a fussy eater you will find more than enough different food types to keep you happy. Always a queue around the ice cream freezer in the evening. Put the bread into the toast machine four times to get it toasted! Want a British banger for brekky? Forget it!
Rooms all well furnished with good beds, good air con, good balcony most with sea views and very good showers and bathrooms. TV's have a few English channels and a load of German ones. Be prepared to be out-numbered by German visitors by the way. Cleaning of the rooms was very good.
About 10 minutes from a beach across a busy road although there is an underpass. The long beach in Stalis is better and worth the walk. Costs around E4 for two sunbeds and a brolly.
Local buses pass by every half an hour or so and we got to Hersonissos (E2.80 return) and Ag Nik (E7.00 return) this way which was good value. Also pass through Malia on the way to Ag Nik. Most of the buses are like coaches so are comfortable although may be busy at times and some have temperamental conductors although they do speak adequate English. Get on and off at the middle doors.
Stalis is about 15 minutes walk away (turn right out of the hotel) and is a big resort with loads of shops, bars and restaurants. Ideal place if you were self catering. It would probably take another 15 minutes to walk to the far end of Stalis. Cost us around E7 or E8 to get back in a taxi but agree the fare first. Bar prices vary but several places offering a large local beer for E1.50 and cocktails starting at E3 so not at all bad considering the weak sterling exchange rate of around 1.22 at present.
Hersonnisos is further away and might take 40 to 45 minutes to walk there (turn left out of the hotel, cross over and take the coast road). Not sure how much a taxi costs. Buses available - see above. There is also a mini train thing that runs past the hotel that goes on a round trip for E8. Hersonnisos is more based around the main road whereas Stalis is set back from the main road although it still has a reaonable amount of traffic on the road in the form of bikes and taxis etc. Overall we liked Stalis a lot more than Hersonissos and given its location relative to the hotel we gave Hersonissos a miss in the evening.
All in all a very good hotel in a reasonable location and well recommended.

I will echo the comments of the previous author of writings, particularly with regard to the barman - he was very rude and when i went to the bar to ask for some drinks and was then served by another member of the bar staff he came up to me and gave a speech stating that i couldn't get drinks at the bar as it 'was not self service'.I pointed out that i had been served and was taking my drinks to a seat which i hadn't yet found.He said i could not and that a waiter would bring the drinks - i then waited for 20 minutes for the drinks i had already been served to be delivered to the seats that i was at with my familiy!! What on earth??
With regard to the 'noisy children', i have a three year old and ten month old who thoroughly enjoyed themselves - and played with many other kids too, if the last author didn't like children, maybe they should have used the 'over 16's' pool??
The hotel was very good in every aspect though and the entertainment staff work very hard long days and have to give them an A for effort??