Tsamis Zante Hotel

4 readers found this review helpful

We spent an excellent two weeks at the Tsamis Hotel in Kypseli in September 2008 and were astounded by the previous reviewer's comments. Did she really stay at the same hotel as we did?
We cannot speak for all the rooms but ours was freshly decorated and very clean, and the maid visited daily to keep it that way. Likewise the public areas were always kept spotlessly clean. We found the hotel owner to be very friendly and helpful, and when we had a problem with the hot water he acted quickly to get it sorted out to ensure as little inconvenience to us as possible. The waiters, bar staff, receptionists and cleaners always had a friendly smile.
We were very happy with all the meals provided, both at breakfast and dinner. Breakfast offered a choice of full cooked breakfast, cold meats, cheese, fresh fruit, fruit in juice, yogurt, honey, fresh bread, toast, choice of jams and cake. Orange and grapefruit juice were available, plus tea and coffee. Yes, the coffee did come from a machine, as did the hot water for the tea, but teapots as we have at home are not so frequently found in Greece. "When in Rome"...!!!!!
There was sometimes a queue for the evening meal but the way round this was to adjust your arrival time. Many hotels operate buffet style meals nowadays and sometimes queues are inevitable. The food at dinner again was excellent and each evening included a good choice of meat, fish, pasta, vegetables, salad, cold meats, cheeses and fresh bread. There was also soup available, plus fresh fruit and dessert. The hot food was not always piping hot but we have found this to be normal in Greece and it has never bothered us in their warm climate.
We were looking for a quiet, restful holiday and the location of the Tsamis was ideal. There is no beach but nor did the brochure or hotel website claim that there was, and relaxing on the loungers on the terraces was fine for us. There are many quiet lanes for exploring on foot, or for a longer walk the village of Tsilivi is approx 2 miles away. The hotel minibus was available for taking guests into Tsilivi at 11.00am daily, although it did not make the return trip until 7pm which did seem somewhat bad planning!
The only slight downer for us on our holiday was the weather, which was cooler and cloudier than normal for the time of year, with some rain added in.
So there we have it, the Tsamis is a very pleasant place to stay if you;re looking for a quiet, relaxing holiday with comfortable rooms and good food. Think carefully before rejecting this hotel, especially as it is very reasonably priced compared with some others on the island.

STOP!!!! - Do not waste your hard earned money that you have saved all year for, on a holiday you will definetely not enjoy at the Hotel Tsamis in Kipseli Zante. It is NOTHING like it looks in the pictures and is not a 4* hotel. I would only rate it at 2* and here are the many reasons to avoid it:
1. The hotel was not FULLY RENOVATED in 2007 as advertised. Only a few of the rooms were decorated in 2007 and the disgusting room we had was last painted and up-dated in 2002 !!! It was grubby throughout especially the bathroom. There was scum in the bath, the tiles were black and the shower curtain was stained brown.
2. When I kindly asked if there was an alternative room, the owner was very rude, couldn't see what I was making all the fuss about and was very obnoxious.
3. The breakfast was cold and the staff were very slow at bringing out fresh supplies. Some mornings it was easier to just have yogurt as to fetch your own cooked breakfast took about 5mins as there was always one thing you had to wait for eg: eggs. The tea was luke warm from a machine (not even a teapot).
4. The evening meals were awful !! It again was cold!! Again you had to queue in a very noisy canteen setting. We tried the food the first night, looked at it the next and decided not to bother so for the rest of the week we enjoyed our meals in a fantastic restuarant in the town. The down side to this was that we spent a fortune on taxi fares and food, but there was no way we could have survived on the food at Hotel Tsamis for a week.
5. The location is awful. Although it is on the sea, there is no beach. There is nothing at all to do at the Hotel. Not that I am one for hotel entertainment, but the staff were not at all friendly either. There was no atmosphere at all. It was a 10 minute taxi ride to get to the nearest place with a bit of life.
6. The wine was like vinegar (and I mean vinegar)
7. When walking around the hotel, non of the staff acknowledged you, let alone smile.
8. The small area of grass or sand (we couldn't decide which it was supposed to be) was very untidy and the sunloungers were very dirty. The better looking loungers around the pool are very misleading as they are so uncomfortable.
9. Most of the interior and exterior paint work is grubby and chipped.
As you would have noticed, my overall rating was '1'. This is because I could not select '0'. Apart from the quite nice view (I have seen better) from parts of the pool area, there really is not anything nice I can say about this hotel, it truly is awful. I have never written a review before and will not hopefully be making a habit of it but I just really feel I need to warn you that this hotel is a NO NO. Please, DO NOT waste your money because that is exactly how I feel. NOW WITHOUT DELAY, START A NEW SEARCH FOR ALTERNATIVE ACCOMMODATION - Good Luck.

Very pleased with hotel and service overall ,not much variety with the food ,also not enough entertainment for children ,as we travelled into tsilivi most evenings for the night life ,.but we would visit again but stay a bit closer.

Having researched the area and stayed nearby in the past (in Tsilivi, about 1.5 miles away), we went to this tidy, friendly hotel in June this year and enjoyed a peaceful week with all we could ask for for a good value, comfortable hotel.
The hotel garden leads to the sea shore, but there is little sand on the small rocky beach area; however, walking in either direction finds you several small sandy beaches, or two more in Tsilivi itself. We hired a car from "Theos Car hire" in Tsilivi and used it for part of the week, and the buses which pass nearby on occasions. Walking to the nearest part of Tsilivi (called Planos) found us a couple of good bakeries and a supermarket 15 mins walk away, and another 5 mins walk down into the main town itsel, not an unpleasant walk.
Rooms were tidy, clean, and up to date. the staff were friendly and other guests were mostly couples. Children might need a little more going on unless they are content with a pool and garden, having a car for days out would be a perfect combination of a quiet unspolit country/seaside hotel combined with a lovely Greek isalnd.