Arkadianos Apartments

i loved been at arkadianos,

erion the bar man is amazing and we got everything we wanted.
i worked behind the bar at arkadianos and helped out, so i think the selfish people saying the seervice was poor are pritty awful!the friends of eris are amazing, and really friendly, they do pay, at the end of the night!

i am going back next year for 2 months,

and i cannot wait!

i wud reccomend this to any of my friends, becuase i no they would have a good time, if your nice to people they are nice back,

and for the one cocktail, all inclusive has only one cocktail, if you want a cocktail other than that one, you will have to pay...

reccomend to everyone!

The Arkadianos Apartments are in the lovely resort of Aghios Sostis near Laganas in Zante. The apartments are directly on the beach and they have two swimming pools. Unfortunately I cannot recommend that anyone stay here on a self-catering or all inclusive basis. In my opinion the rooms are run down and in need of total refurbishment. Air conditioning in the rooms is available but the cost would equate to £40 per apartment per week.

We were all inclusive and were shocked when we entered the all inclusive dining room when we first arrived in time for lunch. The dining area was also run down, with dirty paper tablecloths and the choice of food was very limited. The plates were nearly all chipped and it was very difficult to pick cutlery out of the tray that was clean. The choice of food was cold buffet (lettuce, tomatoes, coleslaw (made from the previous day's veg) and a choice of ham or cheese) - I asked for olives on a number of occasions with my salad but was offered them only twice within a week, hot buffet (potatoes in olive oil, a pasta dish, unappetising veg and either un-named meat or fish), dessert every lunchtime and evening for the whole week was melon! Drinks in the restaurant were fizzy pop (only one flavour was drinkable (lemon/lime) and weird tasting water. Breakfast every day was scrambled eggs and baked beans with sausages offered only twice in the week. The chef this summer is English but I don't know whether he is on a small budget because the food in my opinion was poor. The hotel kitchen also served a beach side restaurant called Maestro where diners were given what looked like appetising and appealling food. As an all inclusive guest I felt like a second class citizen.

Drinks for all inclusive guests I felt were also poor. The service at the ONE bar by the pool was also poor. One some accasions when you asked for a lager and were given a dark horrible beer. You asked for the cocktail list and were met with an angry response about there being only ONE cocktail. I did not get to find out what this meant as I felt intimidated going to the bar. I felt that guests who did not have all inclusive wristbands were given preferential treatment (cocktail glasses, umbrellas, real beer glasses as opposed to half a plastic cup full for All inclusive guests). The children were similarly badly treated when they went to the bar - being asked to go to the restaurant for lemonade instead of being served it at the pool bar. One or two barmen kept saying "look at your contract" when you asked for a drink. The hotel must have previously had 2 pool bars including snack bar and one evening bar (the wild rose), but there was only one pool bar open. The wild rose was completely shut down and delapidated. The toilets at this bar in my opinion were appalling. Unfortunately the area to sit around the one open bar was limited which drive guests to sit near the unopen wild rose bar. There was no evening entertainment at all and no disco. There were four visible pool tables at the hotel but not one in working order.

I have read reviews such as this with mixed feelings as you cannot please all of the people all of the time. But please think carefully about booking this hotel as the negative aspects outweighed any positives. I was pleased to come home - I even had a few tears of relief when I got the the airport to come home.

I disagree with many of the reviews that have been left regarding this hotel. There were 3 girls aged 24 in my party and having just been for 1 week, all inclusive, I found that the hotel and its facilities were great.

The location was perfect, not too far from the airport, and not in the resort of Laganas, but close enough if you wanted to go on a night out. The beach is on the doorstep, with lots of facilities to keep you busy...pedaloes, speedboats, inflatable water play area, sunbeds, parasols, boat trips..allsorts, and being so close to 'turtle island' theres a good chance of spotting a few! The sea was warm, calm and shallow, and ideal for cooling down in the wonderful greek heat!

The rooms were clean and of a good size, with a fridge inside (with no extra charge). They were adequate for what we wanted from them...a secure place to keep our belongings, to wash and dress and somewhere to sleep at night. The only thing that we found was that the chlorine in the pools were a bit strong..although not to smell or sting your eyes, but turned our bikinis grean, but rinsing them with soap and water got rid of that! Air conditioning was available at an extra cost, but we found as our room was in the shade it was cool enough inside to not need it.

The food was good, being a fussy person myself, I found there was always at least one if not more things that I liked, and all drinks were available during the all inclusive hours. (The wine was particularly good and for 3euro a bottle after the all inclusive was finished it was not expensive to stay and drink!)

The staff were very friendly, and were great to get a long with, and would help you if you had any problems/questions. They were happy to order taxis for you, give directions, and recommend places to visit.

All in all, I think you make your own holiday to be what it is, if you like to moan about things you could find anything to moan about wherever you stay, but i found this hotel ideal for what we wanted and would definitley return. (already looking to plan dates now!)

We stayed at the arkadianos hotel from the 8th august to the 22ndthe rooms werent up to much shower curtain fell down all the time the bathroom smelt ... the pool area was ok there was music from the pool bar which was good .... location was good right on the beach quite a long walk to the main street about 30 mins ..... if you are staying here beware of rowland rat who lives in the ceiling .......... overall good holiday hotel rating 5/10 of august

We recently stayed at The Arkadianos Beach Hotel in Agios Sostis, Zante Greece, the hotel is also locally known locally as The Dimis II, named I assume after Dimis Korfiatis, it's Greek owner, who is a very questionable character indeed, and did nothing to help us out.

On arrival at the hotel on Sunday August 3rd, our party of 6 were greeted in the vaguest of manners, no smile, no hello, no sort of acknowledgement at all, just an upward nod of the head as if to imply, what, I'm busy. All, by a young girl who:
1. Struggled to find our reservations and had to enlist my help to firstly, sort out the disorganised jumble of random faxes and miscellaneous paperwork scattered in front of her.
2. Misinterpreted our room request, completely and had no idea what we had booked, or required.
3. Failed to understand a simple request that we required separate rooms for both of our family’s children.
4. Failed to pass on, later, the fuses and remote controls for the air conditioning. (I had to go back down to reception later on in the evening to retrieve them, and even then, it was hard work having to re-explain what was required)
5. Gave no assistance in what to actually do with the fuses for the mains units outside of the apartments, or how to operate the air conditioning. I would question, the health & safety implications regarding this?
6. Failed to offer information regarding times of meals etc.
The first rooms we were shown to by another young lady were disgracefully unclean, not ready for guests, there was a cleaner still mopping the floors and making the beds. It was also next to the ground floor bar, which proved later to be very noisy until 5am on occasions. To add insult to injury, there was faeces in the toilet bowl, I assume left as a gesture by the previous occupant out of shear disgust.

These rooms were immediately rejected and we assembled our party, and cases back in reception awaiting some resolve. At this point, several other (staying) guests looked on in acknowledgement of our plight, smiling and nodding which we later discovered was as a consequence of having had experiences of their own. It was at this point that we realised what a serious error of judgment we had made in selecting this hotel. We were then escorted to alternative rooms; having been informed that they were superior to the first ones we were shown. We were shown to two studios to the rear of the complex? We specifically booked apartments and specifically requested separate rooms for the children? Why then were we being shown studios? The studios were untidy, unclean; the kitchen area was a disgrace. Once again we assembled our increasingly worried party in the reception area. We were then shown some additional rooms back in the main hotel block. Despite specifically requesting rooms away from the front of the hotel as it overlooked the bar, we were shown to a room with a balcony an arms reach from the roof of the bar. I was astonished. Once again we assembled in the reception area.

It was at this point that I called the local Med Hotels Rep, Kostas and explained our situation. I was forthright but polite and made my feelings known in the best way I could. Kostas said he would be there in 'a half hour'. It actually took him '3 half hours' When he arrived, a carnival of conversations broke out with shouting and arm waving, and even tears from the lady behind the reception counter. An absolutely disgusting way to handle any situation in front of the customer you are purporting to help. My confidence was very low at this point, but it proved that Kostas would only drag it down even lower over the coming days.

His suggestion was to try an alternative room, which we had clearly already done. My suggestion was that he find another hotel very very quickly as I could not see our party standing in the reception of a place claiming to be a hotel for 14 nights. After a lot of hoo-haring between him and the hotel staff, (we had no idea what was going on), we finally agreed to stay for a couple of nights, very begrudgingly, on the very clear understanding that he would have us out of the place in a couple of days. Kostas told me that it probably wouldn't be the next day, but promised that our stay would not extend past Wednesday at the very latest. This caused a lot of upset to my family and my friends who were travelling with us. My belief that Kostas would do anything to help us, was already beginning to diminish, I had a sickly feeling that we were about to start 14 days of misery.

Firstly, the showers did not work, and continued not to work for a whole 10 days. A party for the locals raged in the bar until 5am which strangely was just 20 yards from, and in full view of our balcony. The sanitation was abysmal, the kitchenette was a health hazard, and the water did not come out of the taps for 2 days. It was just awful. Our friends travelling with us had to have part of the stair access to their room, re-carpeted as what was there initially, was a serious trip hazard and the other staircase to their room was awash with loose tiles (since fixed) and broken ceramic tiles with a face edge that could have sliced bread let alone a child's shins.

I called Kostas the very next morning. 'I have nothing for you Mr. Alan'? I called him that evening, same reply. I called him the morning after 'We are very busy, I have the girls looking for you' He then called me and offered me 2 rooms in the centre of Laganas??? Have you been to Laganas? By his own admission it is a riotous, noisy resort. We had a look. There were condoms on the beach, bottles everywhere and people being ejected from puke ridden clubs at 7.30 in the morning? What on earth was he thinking? I then tried to call Darryl Bailey who we originally booked with through Travel Councillors. He suggested speaking to the hotel first and then the rep, which of course I had done. Admittedly at that point he was under the impression that it was just a simple room complaint.

I called Kostas every day for the next week, nothing, he was also rude and quite condescending to my wife on two occasions. I gave up with Kostas and tried Darryl again who contacted Med Hotels and his own head office, a lady called Kim who is CC'd above. Darryl told me that the senior rep would call me that evening to sort things out. No Call. I contacted Darryl again the next morning to tell him this and he brought Kim into the frame. I then spoke to Kim who said that she would do her utmost to find us alternative accommodation, which she did, and then it was given away to somebody else. I was told it was the hotels doing. At this point we were understandably becoming quite irate but somehow managed to keep quite calm all things considered. I further contacted Darryl to ask if he could secure flights to just get us home because it was that bad, but the cost was prohibitive and he could not give me a guarantee that he would pick up the cost, so we were stuck.

Whilst all of this was going on, we had to stay in a filthy hotel, with dreadful food, no showers for 70% of the stay. The chef did make an effort (when he didn’t have a gun to his head) once we told him how bad it was, so for three days the evening meal wasn't too bad. I would also like to bring a few additional points to your attention:

1. Ice cream as part of the all inclusive arrangement was only available between 5pm and 5.30pm. The queue was horrendous.
2. Electrical fittings were hanging off the wall in the apartments.
3. Bar staff were not employed by the hotel and were extremely ignorant.
4. The all inclusive bar closed at 11am (fine, we knew this) but the noise carried on until 5 am for the whole of the first week. The bar was mostly full of locals, some of whom occasionally paid for their drinks, but most were simply friends of the barman.
5. The bed lined was not changed for 5 consecutive days, we had to find sheets on a trolley and do it ourselves.
6. Most door and window locks did not work and offered little or no security.
7. The hotel was nearly closed last year.
8. One of the bar staff thought it was hilarious to fool my 12 year old daughter that he had given her a cup of lemonade when in fact it was a Gin & Tonic, which the nightly collection of locals thought was most amusing.
9. All inclusive cocktails were actually whatever the barman felt like making, or had in stock. There was no menu, no choice and they were served in plastic cups.
10. Everything we ordered was in plastic cups. When I queried why locals were drinking out of glass, I was told that it was not part of our contract. The owner of the bar, Dennis then swore at me and said something derogatory about the English. Again, much to the amusement of the locals.
11. One of the senior staff, who treated the reception area like a crèche, hissed at my wife as she walked passed her.
12. The maintenance man punched the wall in frustration in front of my friend’s son because we were on day 9 of 'No showers' and he couldn't fix the problem.
13. Children were completely ignored at the bar, constantly.
14. If an all inclusive green band was in evidence at the bar, you were more often than not, ignored in favour of somebody flashing a Euro or two.
15. We witnessed Kostas talking to two other families in tears in reception.
16. There were 15 complaints in the two weeks we were there, plus what you would have received direct.
17. Other families were moved to alternative accommodation by the companies they were with. I have their details.
18. The main television did not work for the first 7 days, nor did the internet connection.
19. The supposed snack in the afternoon consisted of bread and an attempt at Tzatsiki, every day.

Our fortnight was destroyed. We are all unquestionably more stressed than before going. It is the first time we have felt like going away was a chore. I strongly advise you to contact me to view the video footage, as it is very damming indeed for this hotel

We would not recommend the Arkadianos Hotel Apartments to anyone especially families with children. Please see below a copy of the Formal Letter of Complaint that we have sent to Med Hotels:

I am writing to you following our recent family holiday to Zante in particular the Arkadianos Hotel Apartments as outlined in the attached booking summary. The reason for this complaint is to make you aware that we do not believe the hotel to be suitable for families with young children; our reasons are as follows:

• On arrival the lack of customer service was unwelcoming and appeared lacking of interest i.e. no information given regarding location of restaurant, timings of meals, swimming pools, what was available within the all inclusive package etc

• The food was so poor and lacking in choice we felt we had no choice but to eat out. No advertising of children’s menu however, if you held your child whilst selecting your food plates were shoved under your nose which consisted most evenings of chicken nuggets and chips. Notices around the restaurant advertised a variety of fruits with the word variety crossed out and usually alternated between half oranges one evening and watermelon the next. If a particular food ran out early this was not replenished. All those eating under the All Inclusive banner were directed by another sign to the seating area upstairs away from paying customers who had a separate and more inviting menu. It was witnessed that the chef had visited the toilet leaving the door ajar and did not wash his hands afterwards.

• Snacks consisted of bread and a spread of some description; to a 2-year-old child this was totally uninviting.

• Ice cream was only available at 5-5.30pm every evening.

• The bar staff were unfriendly and made you feel as though you were putting them out. All inclusive meant again a different service was given i.e. no chilled glasses, a different beer compared to a paying customer who received a chilled glass from the fridge and draught beer. On Thursday 28th August 2008 the bar actually ran out of beer until the next day, an alternative beer was not offered but instead vodka or gin.

• The beach was dirty and covered in cigarette ends etc. A broken beer bottle was handed to us from one our children, which I found absolutely disturbing. A very large and busy rat was seen scurrying across the beach.

• On an evening it very soon became apparent that this was a resort that had a busy nightlife. The very loud music could be heard until from 11pm to 3am, this was very uncomfortable and resulted in our entire party not sleeping.

• The children’s pool had an unsecured bridge, which was cornered off by bungee rope; there were no safety rails in and out of the pool however you could see that they had been there previously. The smaller baby pool again had safety rails removed and meant that small children had to climb a number of concrete steps in order to access the pool, the steps were covered in a felt that had worn away and were dirty to the point where our children did not want to climb up the steps. Once inside the small pool an overflow into the larger pool existed and our children genuinely believed that this was a slide.

• The Tereza bar next to the children’s pool was never open throughout our entire stay. Therefore pool tables were not accessible.

• Children’s playground – this was a derelict plot of land that was overgrown, covered in faeces and an open drain was left which could have resulted in a child falling and causing injury to themselves.

• Having arrived on the Friday our rooms were cleaned the following Wednesday including clean towels and sheets.

Enclosed are some pictures that we have taken to show you how unsafe we feel this hotel is for families with young children. This holiday cost a lot of money and to be treated in such a way was unacceptable and the level of accommodation meant that we did not have a relaxing holiday as had first hoped.

Please accept this letter as a formal letter of complaint; I expect at the very least that this matter be investigated in order to ensure that no other families with young children are offered this resort in the future.

my husband and i booked this hotel as a last minute break and were not disappointed. although when we arrived early morning we had to wait for a room, once we got allocatd it was fine. we did have a noisy family above us who kept us up one night throwing plates off balcony etc. but in general it was fine. staff in bar were very polite and friendly and in general i would say it's a good central location and fairly laid back. village is nice and plenty of tavernas with excellant food.

The resort of ahgios sostis is great. Fabulous beach that doesn't get too busy and excellent restaurants within walking distance. If you fancy a night out in Laganas a taxi costs 8 euros, but if you dare to walk along the beach (wear sensible shoes) then it takes approx 20 mins.

The rating of 2/10 is for the Arkadianos appts. I have stayed in Greece numerous times but these are by far the worst apartments i have stayed in.
The first night they put 4 of us (all adults) in one room (we had booked 2) directly over the kitchen. The kitchen was busy nearly 24 hrs from 5am to 2am, so no sleep for us.
When we asked to be moved, they realised we should have been in 2 apartments and moved us. We managed to make up 2 barely decent appartments from 3 rooms and had very limited cutlery, plates, cups and glasses and furniture!! There was no cooking facilities or pans. The sheets were changed every 2-3 days - however I wish they didn't bother as the 'clean' ones were usually stained. The rooms were never swept or cleaned.

We were still above the kitchen so not only did we have the constant noise of clattering pots but we also had the delight of the smell of rancid burning fat most of the day and night (thank goodness we were not full board!)

I would go back to the resort, but would definitiely never return to these apartments.

Personally, I Loved It, The Food Wasnt So Good, But A Nice Stroll Down The Beach You Could Get A Jacket Potato With Beens And Cheese For 3euro! The People Treat Myself And My Family, As Well Like A Family. Going Back In August And Cannot Wait! The Rooms Were Clean And We Had A Beach View, The Nightlife Was Great But The Only Problems We Had Was Walls That Were Thin and Food Wasnt The Best, Food Was Cheap Enough In Laganas.

It has just been our misfortune to spend 2 weeks, supposedly all inclusive, at this hotel. There is no way that this hotel should be classified as a 3 star plus in UK brochures, the food is of low quality, with practically the same poor quality menu repeated daily over the fortnight we were there.

Daily snacks were not of any substance or quality and drinks, both soft and 'locally produced' spirits were not available for supply on a number of days. Regardless of time of day or location in the hotel cheap plastic cups were used for service and the hotel simply paid lip service to their All Inclusive clients.

Of further note regarding the food, several families were complaining of illness and required medical attention, whilst the rooms allocated to us were in desperate need of repair and redecoration.

The maid service and cleaning were inadequate and, having not received such service for over a week, the response to our complaint was to just hand over sufficient clean sheets at reception that evening.

Air con at 'a small local charge' is exactly what it says on the tin, 'a con'. It cost the equivalent of £140 for a fortnight, necessary though with children. Noise from paper thin walls was also a problem.

I found the location and resort to be extremely pleasant. Given the prime location this hotel has, the level and quality of service supplied does much damage to its environment. It is certainly no encouragement to extol the virtues of an otherwise pleasant resort.

I have just arrived back from staying at these apartments for a week; thank goodness it wasn't two weeks! The resort is lovely and very peaceful.

Theses apartments are in no way 3 star, I would put them at no star at all.

The food was inedible for the vast majority of the time there, there are no snacks on offer unless you call a dry biscuit snacks, paid nearly three hundred pounds per person for the apartment on an AI basis as we paid separately for the flight.

Most evenings one look at what was on offer for dinner was enough to go without, dishes of meat fat it what it looked like the rinds of lamb chops kind of thing.
No glasses for any drink at all what a con. Plus another 49 euro for the air con which at 38 degrees you had little choice as to pay for it.

A loo that you could not use for anything but a number one! Enough said.

The room was in bad need of repair of electrics and decor 50/50 on cleanliness
Never ever go there on an all inclusive basis.

The very best you could do is go self catering here and eat elsewhere. The all inclusive guests have to line up like at Butlins for their slops, yet the folk who ate off the menu food looked at lot more appetising than ours, and you are also completely ignored by the waiters.

Lovely resort, dreadful apartments.

sorry to see so many bad reviews of this hotel i have stayed here many times and have not had any problems i am hoping to go back next year with my family so keeping my fingers crossed that it improves

As a mid-20's couple we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Arkadianos Apartments, we could chill out in the daytime and when we wanted to we could party in Laganas. Our room was excellent, we had a fridge and cooking facilities, it was very clean and bright, although we did see other apartments that were in need of repair, I think it's the luck of the draw which apartment you get!

All the tavernas were brilliant and the service we got was very good, a good choice on the menu.

At the Arkadianos Apartments bar, the staff, Eric and Christina were brilliant, they were thoroughly welcoming and pleasant. The location was beautiful with the beach being right on the doorstep. Laganas is excellent if you want to have a crazy enjoyable night out although we could stay closer to home if we just wanted to relax.

One tip would be to buy a torch from the local shop because when walking back from Laganas it can be very dark!

The only negative thing is that in the hotel was the hotel's pub/club ''The Wild Rose'' where they had karaoke every night which on our stay only seemed to attract the kids! Other than that, my partner and I would recommend this place to anyone.

We all really enjoyed our time in these apartments and the resort. As a bunch of 18 year old girls, it was nice to have the quieter resort of Aghios Sostis in the daytime, and the lively Laganas in evening. The sea there is great for a swim and mess around, and some of the scenery around the island is really nice. Despite the reps advising against it, we hired mopeds rather cheaply (10 euros a day, with about 4 to fill it up and we didn't even use half a tank, 24 hours possession too), and it is definitely the best thing to do as you can see all the bits of the island off the beaten track.

I had never ridden a moped before, and it was easy. I would definitely recommend it, it is a great way to see places Zante Town too, and the mountains and places like Keri Beach. We also went on an all day cruise, which was actually a bit long but quite relaxing. In hindsight though, a half day cruise may have been more suitable. Also get to turtle island on a motorboat if you can, there is some great snorkeling to be done there! Oh, and in an evening go to Kui for a few quiet drinks (above one of the supermarkets). It's a little expensive, but really nice with great drinks and views.

The apartments themselves, for the price, were really good. They were clean, spacious (we had 5 of us in one) and the facilities were perfectly adequate. The balcony was nice, and although the cooking facilities were basic, they were fine for what you need in hot weather. Basically, the place was typically Greek. Simple, yet adequate. The pools and bars on site were also very nice, and nearby there was a fair choice of supermarkets. It could be loud at times, the walls were fairly thin, but we got little trouble and managed to sleep in most days!

Laganas is good for a young persons night out if you want some hustle and bustle. We walked there and back each time we went, going on the road for some of it. It took a max of 30 mins and was fairly easy. We enjoyed the brilliant deals on cocktails, and also particularly recommend La Bamba and Bad Boys which are located on the strip, near the beach.

I would say the Arkadianos Apartments themselves are great value for money, and really good in terms of accommodation and location for young groups of people who like going out as well as a quiet environment in the daytime. I would definitely recommend it for groups of young people, but for others I'm not so sure. Depends what kind of thing your family likes though.

As nice as Aghios Sostis was - my partner and I (aged 26) were very disappointed with the apartments.

We were constantly kept awake at night by the loud teens going out and coming home from Laganas. We were also woken up early in the mornings by the little kiddies screaming and banging on the walls while making their way down to the pool. All in all we got hardly any sleep! The walls are paper thin.

On the plus side, the apartments were cleaned regularly and we had a lovely sea view. The rep Sam seemed very competent too. The local restaurants are lovely and the beach is gorgeous.

We recommend avoiding Laganas Town (if you are in a couple like us) and getting a taxi (12 Euros) to Zakynthos Town. There are some lovely restaurants, shops and bars here that the English louts didn’t go to! Very pretty and everyone is so friendly.

Zakynthos airport is a nightmare - so be prepared! My boyfriends luggage got sent to Bristol (when we were traveling to Gatwick) so make sure you label your luggage with your address in case anything goes wrong.

I’m not sure I would travel back to Zante as I felt we saw everything that was there. However, I recommend the Aghios Sostis restaurants (try the chicken souvlaki!) and the Aghios Sostis beach (sun beds are 6 Euros).

If you are staying at the Arkadianos - take some earplugs ;-)