Marilena Hotel

We were looking for a hotel with central location in Crete and Marilena in Amoudara did a great job for that, allowing us to see Heraklion and Knossos without much travel and also do three long distance trips – Santorini by Flying Cat-4 (great!), tour of East Crete and tour of West crete with our rented car. Liked: location, shape of the hotel(remodeled), size of the rooms, bathrooms. Disliked: service, quality, selection and freshness of food, balconies with our neighbors pumping cigarette smoke to our room, salt water swimming pool, lack of Internet support for laptops. Reception service – depending on who you talk to, but definitely some people were rude and did not make any effort in helping us with problems. We had a toilet that flushed whenever it felt like it and despite reporting it to the reception, it was not fixed. The staff also showed us no mercy when we were 20 minutes late for dinner and wanted something to eat after our delayed return from Santorini. We had to use restaurants. Food – if you need food options, go somewhere else. Selection, freshness and variety well below average and we found it not acceptable. If you think you find a piece of fresh bread in Marilena, you are terribly mistaken. Lucky for us we were on trips most of the time and absent for two days to see Santorini. We also found a big supermarket where breakfast components could be purchased at low cost and it was all fresh and tasty. Some local restaurants also impressed with quality and taste of food. Definitely if you need quality food in Greece, you need a 4-star hotel. We actually visited some and verified that the food there will satisfy 99% of travelers. Internet – checking email is possible for 1 euro (15 minutes) but if you need to connect your laptop because it has VPN, certificates or cookies for bank access, Marilena is not a place to be. Balconies – real treat unless you neighbors are constantly pumping cigarette smoke to your room sitting on the balcony…we had to forget the balcony, close patio door and use air-conditioning which was not our chosen option especially for the night. Swimming pool – we totally hated swimming pool with salty water and we did not use it, not a big item for us but some people can find that important. Overall, Marilena disappoints and we do not recommend it to anyone unless issues described above do not matter to you.