Mariana Aparthotel

before i arrived at the mariana studios i read loads off terrible reviews about this place and was dreading it but was happy to go in there with a open mind incase people was exaggerating because it was a 18 - 30 holiday and obviously its not going to be anything special . We first arrived on the 26th of september 2011 and went straight to check in we got a huge lecture about what we cant do , he took everyones passports and told us we could collect one the next day if we wanted , about the hotel "shop" and to tell him if there was anything wrong with the room to tell him . we opened the door to room 15 and the first thing was a beetle come out of the front door :/ . we looked around the room and checked everything including the wooden bed slabs underneath the beds , the "shower" , the toilet , taps everything because there was no way we was going to pay for anything we didnt break . i would also advise to take pictures as soon as you arrive in your rooms and to note down a list of everything wrong keep a copy for yourself and give one to the manager . we was in our room for 10 mins after arriving at 10am after a long flight and a rep walks in our room called Harrison Jones DO NOT JOIN UP TO ANYTHING ! we told him no straight away because we wanted to do our own thing and the price was 190 euros which was very expensive . He tries his best to get you to sign up and tells you that you will be the only people in the whole hotel not doing the 18 - 30 activites which we found out to be the biggest lie ever. When you first meet him hes your best mate when you tell him no he ignores you because he just wants your money off you . We met 4 girls staying at the same hotel and they told us they joined up to the 18 - 30 activites and it was the worst thing they did , they said they was took to a beach one day and the silent disco , they tried to get there money back from the hotel reps but they told them harrison went home two days later so they couldnt get it back . the other activites they was offered was cheap drinks at your hotel bar which never happened and a pool party at the hotel pool which also never happened . We spoke to everyone at the hotel and they all said they didnt sign up to do the activites so we wasnt the only people not to join to get ripped off .The beds are awful and i was thinking of sleeping on the lilo because they are so hard and you dont get a throw you get a thin sheet to put over you. The fridge is warm and the nife and forks they provided had dried up dirt on them it was filthy . The cleaner comes every day but we didnt understand what she actually did apart from drench the bathroom with water and give you a toilet roll . the shower is a joke you have to sit on the bottom of the shower and hold the hose over your head because the shower head holder isnt on properly . i read in reception that if you have a shower curtain you are classed as vip lol i went in 4 differnt rooms in the hotel and none of them had anything nice to say . The air con is 50 euros and the fan is 30 we didnt bother . The pool was filthy after 3 days and i saw it got cleaned once . The hotel supermarket is a disgrace and really over priced for a strawberry and lime kopperburg its 3 euros 80 and in the hotel bar its 5 euros which i think was a dsgrace . i recomend walking out of the hotel turning either left or right for 5 minutes and there are supermarkets there which are a lot cheaper than the hotel supermarket , we never got charged for bringing it back to our rooms either ,The hotel is like a farm it has two parrots ontop of the building of the supermarket and they screech so load all day its rediculous , the hotel also have chickens that never shut up and horses on the back of it , there was lots of stray dogs that kept hanging about at night barking there heads off and mo peds go up and down the road at the side of the hotel all day and night . If you wanted to bring anyone back to your room it will cost you 30 euros if they are not from the mariana hotel the owner will find out anything he has cctv everywhere and never sleeps because he keeps the bar open till 9am , one night on our way home we was sat around the pool at 7am drinking and the hotel bar was closed but then the owner just came out of no where and opened it he doesnt miss anything , if you go in the pool after 9pm it will cost 50 euros , if you break the pool table its 500 , sheets and pillow cases are 20/ 30 euros its a joke . You feel like you cant touch anything in the hotel because if you break it they will charge you a bomb . on the day of your departure you can keep your room on till 8pm for 35 euros or 12 midnight for 40 euros we kept it till midnight but if any other guests want to use your shower or keep there bag in your room after theyve checked our early it will cost 8 euros .We checked out on the closing day 3 october which was the last night of the season and we was made to keep our luggage in reception which was freezing especially as we didnt get picked up till 5am . One couple we spoke to paid to keep there room till midnight but was told they could only have it till 10pm even thought the hotel was empty after we left for end of season he didnt even tell them why they couldnt stay till midnight . when you check out he walks about your room with a checklist and makes you wait at recpetion while he does it and then tells you all your fines and then you get your passport back . we never got charged for anything because we was never in the room and was careful off what we did we even slept on beach towels . I would never ever stay here again Zante itself is amazing and one of the best places ever !!! We spoke to everyone who stayed at the hotel and not one of them would stay here again a couple actually left 3 days early because they couldnt stand it anymore . next year ill be staying at the majestic or olympia defo not the mariana

Went to Zante this year with 3 other girls and we stayed at the Mariana. We were quite scared after reading the reviews but once we got there it seemed okay. The reps were really nice and our rooms were decent enough.
Then we saw the owners were being mugs and it all changed!
They only let you buy food and drink from their on site market which doesn't even have much in it and isn't that cheap. You can't eat or drink around the pool unless you buy it from their pool bar which is ridiculously over-priced and they even made up that there was some law saying people couldn't eat around the pool!
We never had any problems with the owners or anything until we were leaving and he excused us of breaking the front door of one of the rooms! He asked us for 50 euros and said "you're lucky I'm not charging you 600"! The worst part was he actually said "I can open and close the door fine and it locks fine" so how were we supposed to know it was "broken"?!! I refused to pay and told him I had no money anyway so he actually asked if we had cigarettes to pay with! Our transfer was waiting and in the end he gave up trying to make us pay for something we hadn't done and had no idea about!
Would definitely advise going to Zante but not stay at the Mariana. It's also quite a walk from the best part of the strip, so another hotel might be better.

1 reader found this review helpful

nervous beforw we arrived as we had heard the stories but first couple of days were fine then it turned horrible. we got fined for bringin in our own food from another supermarket that was not part of the hotel.as we were also part of a big group they stopped us all drinkin in the 1 room so that severely ****** us off. not a very clean place either cause i have phontos of rats runnin about luckily i was on the first floor though but the gitls underneath us were living in fear. we got charged that much that by the end of the holiday we phoned the 18-30 main office and get the main manager on the island 2 come up before a couple of us just drowned the 2 aussies in the pool.we managed 2 sort out some stuff was ridiculous. the last charge we got was the bed sheet stinked of sweat. i could not believe what i was hearin as they do not change the sheets all week and all u do is sweat cause the air con is far 2 expensive 2 put on!!!!!!! then at the end of ur holiday u have 2 be out ur room 18 hours before you leave the hotel so effectively if you go for a week you only get 6 days!!!! oh and the parrots r a complete nightmare.doesnt matter how much of a deepsleeper you r these parrots will wake u up!! but Zante is amazin and u will love ur holiday just dont ruin it by goin to this hotel and bein treated like vermon!

1 reader found this review helpful

Despite reading the reviews, we thought that it would still be alright. However, the hotel had basically set us up and at the end of the holiday we were charged 470 euros and ended up paying 440. They did this buy spraying some chemical on our beds when we were out and claimed we pissed ourselves, having to pay 200 each for the 2 mattresses. We knew they had done it 100% because there was another case which was exactly the same and piss did not smell that bad imediately. This is one of many cases and you cant do anything about it because they have your passports. It is basically daylight robbery, if you want to risk avoiding this then go ahead but it is very likely you will get fined a stupid amount of money by the end of the holiday. I dont know how john and pete can be so grim to do this to so many people every week. As one of the reps claimed it was the worst thing about there job but they just have to go along with it, as their job is at risk if they say anything.

We were dreading going to stay at the Mariana after reading all the bad reviews but it is fine! The owners are a bit grumpy but if your nice to them and make effort then your fine! Prepare for a lecture on the rules as soon as you arrive and then the reps come round trying to sell you the trips.. we did the silent disco, we had a great time but it only lasted 2 hours! Definitely not worth the 55 euros! I wouldn't recommend doing them, you can have a better night going out on your own, they are very persuasive though, don't fall for it!
The rooms are basic but what do you expect for an 18-30 hotel, we were lucky enough to be in the new block which is apparently nicer! The pool is fine, the odd sun bed is broken and they only allow you to have food and drink from the pool bar, but its not too expensive 1 euro for a bottle of water and cocktails etc from 3-5 euros! There are a lot of wasps around the pool and pool bar! My friend got stung so be careful! The hotel is in the perfect location, 15mins to the beach, 5 to the start of the strip! One downside is the parrots on top of the shop, they screech all the time!
We got no charges on our rooms and we had cracked a glass i one and had dirty marks on the sheets, their not fussed about marks unless it's neon paint or excessive amounts of makeup etc.. We noticed it only seems to be large groups of guys that seemed to get all the charges, as long as you respect the place its fine. There is CCTV EVERYWHERE so you won't get away with a thing! Bringing people back who aren't guests is like 30 euros and there is no way you can deny it, they will print off the evidence.
It says all around the hotel that you will get evicted for making noise after 12 etc but they never bothered while we were there. Take towels because they are not provided!
When you check out they don't give you your passport back until they have checked your rooms. Our flight was an early morning flight so we extended our room, it cost 35 euros and an extra 8 per person over, even if your in the same group!
We had an amazing time and would stay again!

I don't have a clue what these awful reviews are about! I just got back from a week holiday with four other girls and we found the hotel perfectly nice... You do get a five minute talk before you can go to your rooms about damages etc but then you can go straight to your room. The rooms are basic but clean and tidy with nice furniture, as is the pool area. The parrots do squawk during the day but I didn't hear anything from them past the evening time. I even broke our door handle off on the first day and didn't get charged which was so nice of them! The only one piece of advice i would give is stay on their good side, smile at the owners and make conversation and they will be lovely back, I really liked them! Also, don't buy into the 1830 rep package, it's a big rip off all they do is scam you out of money! I would definitely go back to this hotel!!!!!

2 readers found this review helpful

TRUST ME DO NOT GO TO HOTEL MARIANA!!
I am joining the many reviewers of the Mariana and would advise NO-ONE TO STAY AT THE HOTEL MARIANA:
Initial impressions of arriving at the hotel weren’t great with a unclean pool, small bar and outdated well everything; these aren’t the worst of the Mariana! The biggest revenue the Mariana has is the fines it puts on the people staying there.
There is a €30 fine for bringing girls back from the strip to your room (if your single there isn’t much more you’d rather do on a holiday other than this!). They tried to fine us for having an extra knife in the draw in our room. A FINE FOR HAVING AN EXTRA KNIFE! They pinned a €50 fine on us for a broken table after they had said the room was ok and given us back our passports (they had other passports from other rooms to hold against us). Pinned a €60 fine for damages that were already in the very low budget room.
The hotel bar is VERY over-priced. Reps are annoying and try to get with girls than help us out with our troubles with fines, do yourself a massive favour and just get shirts for nights out at the clubs in the day time! Or just go out with your mates rather than give reps money. We got off lightly but all of this cropped up on the last night and left a massive sour note on the holiday.
I am currently trying to get this hotel off Thomas Cook because even more of this kind of thing happened to people who were also staying there including accusations of flipping beds to hide stains. By the end of our holiday we were really paranoid not to damage anything in fear of fines! Not a holiday, more a concentration camp!
GO TO ZANTE, DON’T GO TO HOTEL MARIANA :)

1 reader found this review helpful

Upon reading the reviews for the Mariana I was so nervous about my stay and even more nervous of meeting John and Paul aka smiler. We first met John at the bar where he took all of our passports off us, I wish we had known that if you provide him with photocopies of your passports he would have given them back. He said we had to leave one passport with him but we left the three with him as we obviously weren't prepared to leave one person behind anyway!
What you read about the wasps is very true they are everywhere around the pool and bar area and just don't spill anything sweet on your balcony because there will be an army of them in your room!
The rooms are very basic my advice is as soon as you go in there take pictures of anything you can see that looks damaged, broken, stained etc. One group of boys got fined for a handle that was 'almost broken' and we were extremely worried we would be charged for a crack in the shower door that was already there when we got there and we didn't notice until 2 days into our stay and were too scared to report it after that as we thought we may get blamed for it!
The self catering facilities are basic you are provided with a set of cuttlery each, 1 glass each, mixing bowl and a saucepan with two hob rings but no kettle and if you want hot water its 1 euro! We brought our own kettle and it was not taken off us suprisingly as it says in reception that you cannot use your own kettle, straighteners, hair driers etc. but you can rent them! The cleaners never took our appliances but keep them in your suitcase when you go out just incase! You are also not provided with any towels, luckily I brought my own but it costs 15 euros to rent a towel for the week if you want.
Keep your stuff locked away as I heard a few things went missing with other groups! We didn't get a safe just locked our valuables in one of the suitcases and I kept the keys on me. A safe was 50 euros. There were some mornings where the cleaners hadn't even been in our rooms to change the bins and I had to ask one morning if they could wash our floors. The bed sheets do not get changed throughout your stay so keep them clean and there is a fine for staining the sheets even if you know it will wash out! If you treat your room like a palace then you should be fine. A soiled matress is worth 200 euros at least, a broken door handle and your looking at a 200-300 euro fine. Lost cuttlery, glasses etc. - 10 euro fine. Jumping in the pool after closing - 50 euro fine. Bringing someone who isn't a guest back to your room - 30 euro fine - they have cameras along the corridors and if you deny it which one guy tried, they then whip out the footage! They will fine you for anything!

I didn't have any issues with the pool it looked clean however you cannot purchase food or drink from the shop owned by the hotel to consume around the pool you must only buy from the bar they will offer to take it off you if you do!
There is no internet access in the hotel but internet cafes are not far away. The location of the hotel is great 15 minute walk from the beach and 10 minutes from the strip. It's out of the crazieness down a little quite lane. The parrots are a bit of a nightmare as they are very loud and just kept in a barren cage all day - incredibly cruel!
Do not purcahse activities from the reps as they charge extortionate prices! Only to find when you go to the activity its really cheap! They will get you to sign up to these activities as soon as you arrive at the hotel so be warned!
At the end of your stay the rooms are inspected by John himself to check for damages, we were so worried for getting fines of things we never did that our friend went with John to watch him inspect the room. Be extra nice to him while your there if he likes you then you may get off lighter! Treat your room like a palace and you'll have nothing to worry about!

If you're still undecided, deffo come to laganas, its absolutely mental!!
A couple of our group had read the reviews on here about the mariana and we were dreading it. As we pulled up at the hotel we were a little dissappointed (but we were expecting that from the reviews). Yes the owner then preaches about rules and damage costs. We then go to the rooms which are basic, but thats all you pay for with 18-30 so its fine. We wrote a list of a couple of faulty things in our room like doorhandles and stuff so they couldnt charge us at the end, he was fine with it, made a little joke aout it with us.
then the reps try and sell us all their trips, we didn't go on them cus they're quite expensive. EVERYONE we spoke to who went on them said they're a complete rip off and all the nights out finish at like 12. So you've pre-paid like €40 for it and it finishes so early. SO DONT DO THE 18-30 TRIPS! The reps were really grumpy with us after that!!!!
The pool area is great, really nice atmosphere by the pool, with great music!! The bar staff are pretty boring so we just got our drinks and didnt stick around. We LOVED the food at the pool bar it was great (especially the cheeseburger!!)
After a couple of days we began to like the rooms cus it was nice to be able to chill on the balcony in the evening before you go out. They're really not strict about noise around the hotel either, cus we'd invite people over to our room for pre drinks and pump the music right up and no-one ever said anything. And when we'd get in at 7ish, we'd all still be running around, laughing, screaming and nothing would be done.
On our last day we had an early morning flight and we had to check out midday, the day before we left, if we wanted a shower we had to pay the owners €8 to use our friends room OR €30 to keep our room on. So we decided not to shower :p
If you respect the room you wont get charged. simple. We had an amazing holiday and would consider going back to the mariana!

OMGGGGG had the most amazing time the hotel was great for what we had all expected i just wanted to write on this because after reading it all i was dreading it but i can not tell you in words how good the hotel and Zante is overall im sad to be home and would do anything to go back right now!!!!!! the best first girls holiday you could ask for ZANTEEEEE!!!!!!