Rinella Beach Hotel

Arrived at Rinella early hours of the morning desperate for some water however told we would have to wait for breakfast. Shown to our room and shocked that they could call this hotel a 5 star. Room very basic and dirty had better at Butlins! Ants nest developed through the week along with cockroaches trying to get under the huge gap under the door. Awoken very early each morning by the cockerel which was very annoying.
The food was disgusting, thinking we would be taking full advantage of the all inclusive we ate practically nothing in the main restaurant. The Tarvana was the same food, which would also be served in the evening. Tried for 5 days (early morning) to book the Chinese Restaurant but we were told this it was fully booked everyday. Ended up eating at a restaurant down the road Petros that was delicious. (Couldn’t wait to come home for some real food though).
Only plus side of the holiday were the Animation Team which done a great job keeping the children entertained through the day and the evening. However, would definitely not recommend this hotel to anyone and will certainly not be returning.

This hotel was a great disappointment to my husband and i. This is NOT a 5 star hotel 3 star at the most and directly under a flight path so you will hear planes 24 hours a day every half an hour! Although the rooms are not dirty they are extremely neglected with lumpy beds, peeling paint and 1 disintegrated pillow each.
If you’re lucky you get a shower that hooks up on to the wall! Even the luxury rooms are in desperate need of refurbishment. The food is alright. Same food is served every night in the main dining area where you sometimes have to queue up for 20 mins for a table. And if you’re a single couple you end up sharing a table with someone else.
Drinks are also not too bad although the local wines and beer leave a nasty taste in you mouth.
The entertainment in the evening was limited to watching the animation teams halfhearted efforts to put on some sort of a show. But that was it. No separate bar to go to! This place will be a big disappointment to you if you normally do 5 star holidays!

After booking with Sunstar we upgraded our rooms to VIP directly with the hotel and it was definitely worth it. Don't expect sun on your north facing balcony, all sea views. Staff were polite if you were.
The only rude people I met were British. Animation team were very good, friendly but not too pushy. Not 5* but a good 4* on 3* money. If you want to eat in the Chinese restaurant book early. Everyone else does. There is a reasonable selection of shops outside the hotel so don't buy anything in the hotel shop until you have looked outside.
The beach is lovely and we only had trouble finding a sunbed when others were greedy. We always got one after a search and there was 6 of us. We had a very relaxing holiday.
To sum it up I spoke with a man who complained that the place was terrible whilst ordering a cappuccino coffee with cinnamon on top!

I don’t mean to sound rude or patronising but anybody who has ever stayed in a 5 star hotel before or even a clean hotel before, could not possibly rate this hotel favourably.
There are many hotels on the island of Crete rated as 3 and 4 star which are of a much higher calibre than the Rinela beach. This is a cheap imitation of a 4 star hotel and any one who can rate this food, service and standard of accommodation as anything but poor cannot not have stayed in 4-5 star hotels before.
People are going to give it 9 and 10's if it is their first holiday or they are used to having bargain holidays! But I think it is highly unfair for anyone to recommend this hotel as anything but a 2-3 star run down joke!

Advertised as a five star hotel! More like a 2 star. The hotel is shabby, run down and dirty. The rooms are really run down with broken tiles on the floors and walls, the beds are uncomfortable and we had to move rooms because they were over run by ants and cockroaches. The food was disgusting and it didn’t help that there were a number of stray dogs and cats roaming around not just the hotel but the restaurants. The staff were rude and we were served tap water as if it was bottled water as we watched them fill up the bottle.
The towels in the rooms were very old and tatty often yellow when originally white. We were ill for a couple of days with food poisoning along with half the other guests staying there. It really is a disgrace and we both really wished we had stayed at home. The alcohol is filth, we were reassured that we could get branded drinks at an extra cost but they do not have any. We spent most of our time eating outside the hotel as we could not face the cold buffet food whilst dogs are rubbing up against us. We went to local bars as it was waiter service only and it took 40 minutes to get one drink the glasses were dirty and the drinks tasted like paint stripper. I have stayed in far nicer and cleaner hostels, A disgrace!
What a waste of money and time it was just like one of those holidays from hell you see on the telly. Unfortunately we were unable to get an earlier flight home as it was half term, so we put up with the entertainment bellowing out till the early hours and then the planes that flew right over the hotel every 20 minutes. This may sound harsh but if you go i am sure you would agree.

We have not long returned from a holiday booked through Sun Star leisure and would like to state that I have never been subjected to such gross misconduct and negligence before. The Holiday has to have been one of the worst experiences of my whole life. We booked to Kokini Hani, Crete, 12-19.08.05. Myself, my wife, my two 17 year old children and two of their friends travelled.
Prior to departure we suffered anxiety when we phoned Gatwick departures to check the departure time of the outward flight number AXN164, Alexandair. We were told that the flight was not flying as stated on the confirmation, Gatwick - Heraklion 12.08.05 at 20.45, but was actually flying to Kos the following day at 21.55. Sunstar’s operations manager assured us that Gatwick Departures information did not always have up to date information so we accepted this and left on 12.08.05 to hopefully board a plane leaving for Crete at 20.45, we were never the less still a little worried. On arriving at Gatwick the flight did appear on the departures screens eventually but stated the flight was leaving for Heraklion at 21.55. Sunstar’s operations manager had stated when we spoke to him the previous day that delays were the worst we could experience, never a flight going to a different destination to that booked, we felt he had known something more than he had told us.
We found the Service Air’s (Alexandair’s baggage handlers), baggage collection point and waited with other people going on the same flight for the collection point to open we were at first told the point would not open until 20.45 (no flight at 20.45 then) then at 20.45 the whole queue was suddenly poll axed with the news that there would be no flight that evening and that we would be spending the night in a hotel in Gatwick. There followed a very stressful period when no one seemed to be able to tell us what was going on, information gradually filtered through that the wonderful Alexandair had experienced a technical fault and was waiting in Milan for a spare part from the U.S.A. for its only, aging plane. We remained at the hotel in Gatwick until Sunday 14.08.05, 2 days of our almost 7 days (we were originally to fly out on 12 Aug 20.45 and return to Gatwick 20.00 19 Aug) holiday gone. At this point my family along with those other passengers stranded did not believe we were going to be going on holiday, indeed if another day had gone by there would have be little point in going. Alexandair paid to keep us in accommodation and food it is true, but we were not where we had paid to go and we were not all inclusive. My party consisted of 6 adults. We had to spend to keep ourselves from going insane. The hotels prices were not cheap and we spent far more than I had budgeted for, on top of which I was spending a small fortune on my mobile phone trying to find out what Sun Star were doing to resolve the problem.
On Saturday 13.08.05 we received via the hotel reception, a fax from Alexandair explaining the delay. It stated that on Thursday 11.08.05 the plane had experienced technical problems. On Thursday I had phone Sunstar’s office disputing flight details with their operations manager, he had mentioned delays hadn’t he, but nothing on this scale. Sun Star leisure had allowed people to go to Gatwick knowing they would all be delayed indefinitely, I call this callous at the very least. We received another fax from Alexandair on 14.08.05 it was the same fax sent again, we were not worthy of an update obviously. I would have thought if you were inconveniencing people like they were, the least Alexandair could have done is typed a new message, even if they had nothing new to say.
We did find out that the grounding of the Alexandair flight had caused a wider problem, with people stranded at Gatwick, Manchester, Crete and Kos.
12.30 midday on 14.08.05, just as my family were going beyond any depths of boredom and depression they had ever experienced before, we receive news that we are going to be collected and taken to the airport that evening at 6.00 p.m. to be flown out on the dreaded Alexandair flight AXN164 not a replacement plane we all now hoped for and had been told might be possible. The plane flew in from Manchester with people from delayed flights already on board. Take off was 12.10a.m. on 15.08.05 we arrived at The Rinela Beach Hotel, Kokini Hani 6.45 a.m. local time. 4 1/2 days left of our holiday.
When booking our holiday we were told we were to stay in the Rinela Annex which was an overflow 3 star block of rooms, situated across the road from the main 5 star hotel. The Annex had its own restaurant and swimming pool, but was not air conditioned, it had fans instead, no TV.(don’t need a TV.). All the facilities in the main 5 star complex were available for our use. In reality The Annex was a number of very small rooms, situated above a small shop and bar. All owned by the same man and sub contracted in by The Rinela. The entrance to these rooms was to be found down a dirty alley littered with a number of old dented cars. The smell was wonderful. I had envisaged when booking, a more basic room to be sure but not what we found, the rooms were not much bigger than the beds in them. The mattresses on those beds were lumpy and hard. The tiny toilet and shower rooms were very primitive. We had 3 rooms 1 for myself and wife, 1 for my daughter and friend, 1 for my son and friend. The light in the toilet of my room didn’t work, none of the toilets would flush half of the time and my son got himself locked in his toilet on one occasion, the door stuck and he had to climb out of its window on to the balcony, which was a risky thing to do, as we were all 2 flights up. The balconies were all small and the washing line dirty. Lighting in the corridor outside the rooms was dim, you could not see to find the keyhole. Not what I would have expected from a 3 star hotel. On arriving we found the Rinela was actually a 4 star hotel not a 5 star as advertise. The Annex didn’t disserve a star at all as far as I was concerned.
The Rinela itself, we could find little fault with although the seawater filled swimming pool was not great and the kids had to wear goggles to avoid discomfort. We had been advised that the pool was seawater no complaint here. I feel we were misled when booking these rooms, there is basic and there is basic.
We were luck however, we found out later, some of our flight out had arrived to find their hotels had not kept their rooms. Others were staying in accommodation worse than ours. At least we could escape to the main hotel. Class organization and accommodation supplied by Sunstar Leisure.
Then there came the grand finale, Sun Star certainly know how to give people a good time. pick up time for departure back to U.K. was confirmed to be 4.30p.m. from Rinela reception. Sure enough the coach turned up, as usual no rep from Sun Stars local agents Aegean Leisure on board. We were expected to bungle through on our own, shouldn’t be a problem, but then we were flying Alexandair and we were going to Heraklion airport. On arriving at Heraklion airport we all left the coach and from then on it was chaos. Predictably flight AXN163 for Gatwick was not displayed on the departures board. All the passengers for the flight just collected in the baggage handling area, bags, and trolleys, people. Other coach loads of passengers arrived for other flights we were in the way, it was total confusion.
Eventually a rep from Aegean arrived and told us we should have waited outside, if he had been there and we had known he was going to be there perhaps we might have. He finally told us to check in through a collection point, our baggage was taken and we made our way through passport control. In departures we saw the first mention of AXN163 and the notice boards showed boarding at 18.50. We all queued up and some passengers started boarding the busses to the plane, our turn, no we couldn’t go down the ramp, we were stopped, something was wrong, we were told to go and sit down, those on the bus were recalled. Then suddenly all mention of AXN163 disappeared from above gate no 8 and the notice boards, nothing else was said we sat there and sat there. People started phoning Alexandair, rumours started to spread, Alexandair had been grounded, gone bust, our baggage was being kept, they couldn’t afford to pay to land at Heraklion, we were stranded. I Phoned Sun Star and they didn’t know anything, they said they would check and call me back, they didn’t. I spent at least £35 on my mobile trying to get some sense out of them or anyone, Others were doing like wise. I went through passport control and spoke to the two women in the Alexandair office. Luckily someone else on the flight had a Greek friend who worked in local government, he had called her and she had turned up, the 3 of us asked Alexandair what was going on. They told us that the Greek Civil Aviation Authority had delayed the flight but had nothing else they could tell us, they were waiting for an official to come out of a meeting to tell them why there was a delay. I was out of Euros I had to take more out on my credit card, more money we couldn’t really afford. I took out a reasonable amount. We had heard scary stories about the previous weekends passengers stranded at Heraklion, when we were held at Gatwick. Who knew how much we might need. My family were hungry, I had to feeding and buying them drinks. Eventually Sunstar told me that our baggage was coming off the plane and that we would be found accommodation, Alexandair had apparently said.
I had asked previously and asked again for Sunstar to get an Aegean rep down to assist us all. Around 12.30 all the AXN163 passengers were told to go and collect their luggage. The luggage came off with a Russian flights baggage, confusion, congestion and stress again. There was no information as to where we had to go after collecting our luggage, so eventually the AXN163 passengers made their way out of the airport to where the Aegean leisure’s Coach booth was in front of the airport. This was where it became quite frightening, someone was told that as we were out of the airport we were no ones problem and no one was going to do anything for us. There were 3 men in the Aegean booth none owned up to being anything to do with Aegean. One went of and said he would see if he could do something, the other two disappeared. In the airport the Alexandair office had closed, 2 passengers found the two women from Alexandair and asked them what they were going to do about the passengers, they said that we were al the rudest passengers they had ever met and they were doing nothing. I phoned Sunstar, but it was 1.30a.m. local time and there was no reply. There were children going to sleep on the pavement and an old lady in a wheel chair. The situation was abominable. I walked over to the coach booth of another company and asked what we could do, the rep said she didn’t know but that Aegean should have a rep turning up soon to collect arrivals, she didn’t seem surprised we were in difficulty. At this point an Aegean rep did turn up and after a further wait that seemed to go on forever coaches did arrive and passengers were taken to accommodation. We were taken back to the Rinela who provided rooms. arriving around 3.30a.m. 11 hours after we had left same place.
There followed a less stressful but none the less unsatisfactory period. We stayed at the Rinela all of 20.8.05 and were again given accommodation that evening eventually being collected from the Rinela 12.15 midday and taken to the airport on 21.08.05. During this return stay at the Rinela we could not really relax as we did not know when we were going to leave, and stayed close to the reception area in case information came in. We had to vacate accommodation each day and drag all our bags up to reception. News did not sound good the Alexandair plane was still being inspected by the Greek Aviation Authority, the word was we were going to be flown out on another plane chartered in. No such luck. Everyone waiting in the departure lounge to board the Alexandair plane was scared. The Helios plane crash was in everyone’s minds and on the flight out passengers had been asked to sit at the back of the plane to balance the plane, not something I have been asked to do before. The interior of the plane was not inspiring, things held together with tape, toilets not working and smelling terrible. The staff had attitude problems.
We found out that we were flying back via Kos, more delay and two take offs and landings to look forward too. As we were taken to the plane on busses a number of passengers in contact with relatives back home were told that the flight was not being given permission to land at Gatwick and shouldn’t fly, new panic. We all stood on the tarmac and refused to board. The captain said he would not fly an unsafe plane, we really had little choice if we wished to return to U.K. so we all got on. It was not the most relaxing flight I have taken. We took off around 3.00p.m. landed at Kos, took on fuel, more distressed passengers boarded, departed Kos 5.00p.m. landed Gatwick 6.30p.m. U.K. time. Luckily we were still able to get the taxi firm we had hired to pick us up.
I feel this series of events cannot realistically be called a holiday, a travesty being a better word. That people should be expected to pay for such treatment is laughable. We have approached Sunstar and requested compensation, nothing to report so far.
Suggest all affected by Sunstar/Alexandair network to assist each other and keep each other informed. My e-mail: lyrical@ntlworld.com.

Read comments on your pages after booking so was fully prepared for the worst!
Was therefore pleasantly surprised. Rating for Rooms: 8. We asked for, and got, 2 bungalows by the pool (which also meant they were near the sea). The bedrooms were a nice size, clean, with air con. Bathroom a bit small - kept bumping my elbow into the door handle! Who cares if they don’t give you sample toiletries. I find myself collecting these on my travels and never use them! Just bring bottles of shampoo, shower wash and a larger bar of soap if you can’t cope with guest size bars.
Food Rating: 9. Buffet food - fantastic choice. Couldn’t fault it. There was enough for even the pickiest eater - 5 choices of fresh fruit for all three meals, plus dried fruits at breakfast. Loads of salads, dressed and undressed.
BUT DON'T BOTHER WITH THE CHINESE RESTAURANT. ABSOLUTELY AWFUL FOOD! It was the only meal we ate when we actually felt hungry for more food afterwards! Their Satay Chicken was not skewers with a peanut dip but a dish of chicken and mushrooms in a thin sauce that had too much pepper - inedible.
Free drinks flowed freely. The local vodkas and spirits were fine with the mixers. Evening drinks service was not slow.
Animation Team Rating: 10. Their Animation Team were superb. If you have children, they’ll keep them entertained and allow you to get on with a bit of peace and quiet - though you won’t achieve the latter if you stay by the big pool as there are organized fun and games at certain hours throughout the day, including a twice daily Pool Gym, which I loved. If you prefer quiet, go to the second, smaller pool or down by the beach.
Staff Rating: 7. Because of the comments on your pages, I made sure I always smiled when asking for anything and thanked the staff. Imagine, they’ve had a season starting in Feb, coping with 800 people a day. Treat them with respect and the service is fine.
My only moans:
1. The dining room needs more ventilation. The hotel terrace has a lovely sea breeze but the windows don’t open in restaurant and because of the food burners, it just gets too muggy in there and not comfy for eating. But you can eat on the small terrace, although this can sometimes involve a wait. BEFORE THE NEXT SEASON, THEY SHOULD INSTAL A FEW STRATEGIC WINDOWS THAT OPEN, ALLOWING THE BREEZE TO VENTILATE THE RESTAURANT.
2. Unfortunately, if you go outside to eat the cats will be all around! Some of the guests are feeding them, hence they’re there bothering everyone. BAN THE FEEDING OF CATS!
3. Only a couple of rules from Rinela. One is that men should wear long trousers to dinner. STUPID RULE. ARCHAIC. Everyone’s chilling out on holiday and nowadays people dress down. Most nights it wasn’t enforced but every now and again, some men were politely asked to wear long trousers on their next visit - which I’m sure they forgot to do. SO GET RID OF THAT RULE.
4. Another rule was asking guests not to reserve sun beds. Of course, nobody checked and by the pool and on the beach half the sun beds were always 'bagged' with towels. Sometimes you’d never see the owners, even if you lay out all day! SUPPLY MORE SUNBEDS?
5. The Rinela Beach is private but there’s no fence. In principle, non-hotel guests could easily use the free sun beds, which cost 5Euros a day on the next strip. Didn’t see a single one of these in use! Does that mean there’s nobody else staying locally? Or that non-guests are using the sun beds? Did see persons without the armbands (issued by hotel) using the free bar.
Can’t fault the holiday. Would go again, but maybe off-season.

What a BRILL holiday!!
I have just returned from a week’s holiday at Rinela Beach in Crete and honestly cannot fault a thing!! I went with my boyfriend and it was our first time abroad on our own and it couldn’t have been better!
Hotel was beautiful with stunning views, right on the beach and with 2 main pools plus separate kids pools and slides. We did upgrade our room after reading negative reports on standard rooms but judging on the rest of the hotel I cannot imagine them to be anything but immaculate and hence no-one else I spoke to while there complained about them.
We were right by the quieter pool, which was nice as the bigger pool always had activities on and around it, which I suppose, would be great for kids.
There were sunbeds round both pools and on the beach- all free and a wide variety of watersports were available. We took advantage of a free pedalo( part of AI package) and also paid 35 euros for the two of us to go on a jet ski and 35 euros each for parasailing- highly recommended, very peaceful and relaxing!!
The biggest mistake we made was to hire a car, the roads in heraklion town are a total death trap, no road markings at all and basically just a free for all!! So we decided to go back to Hotel and get the bus in. At 1.30 euros each way with only a 15min journey on a fully air conditioned coach it couldn’t be faulted. The bus also goes the opposite direction towards Malia.
The food was brilliant, very wide choice and we ate at the Chinese 3 nights but you do need to get up quite early to book this at reception for the following day.
Water city, a water park about 10mins drive from hotel up a mountain is a must and was great fun. We booked through rep at 22 euros each but if you’d rather make your own way then it is 18 euros return taxi and 16 euros entrance. You can order a lunch basket from reception if you are going out for the day(sandwiches, hard boiled egg, apple, orange juice and water).
I would recommend this hotel to everyone and we already said we would go back on our first day! Having just got our photos developed I want to go back now!!! to anyone having doubts after reading negative reports then don’t, there’s always going to be someone moaning but if you decide not to go you will be missing out on a great deal!

First and foremost - Sunstar are absolutely rubbish! Do not book with them .
5 star lobby 3 star rooms
Check in over 2 hours and a free for all.
Surly reception staff although I suppose having to deal with so many tired and unhappy people makes them like that.
Our room smelt of raw sewage so bad that we could not even sit in it let alone sleep there.
Waited another 7 hours for another room, and this only after very nearly losing my temper - Reception staff said it was the paint smell - as if we didn’t know the difference between **** and emulsion!!!!
No facilities for refreshments when you arrive at 2/3 in the morning - can’t even get a drink of water, which is disgusting!!
We did note however as we were waiting to depart that they opened the restaurant for French guests who arrived an hour before the English.
Rooms were basic but ok. Our replacement room had a 5 star view of the ocean which was fantastic.
Thank goodness for air con / heating because it was Very Cold at night.
Water was not very warm - best to go back to room early to get a hottish shower. Cleaner very thorough, no complaints.
Food very good restaurant managers very good. Taverna ok, although same food served in main restaurant at night.
Staff very polite
Bar - long queues and evening is waiter/ress only. Tip on first night to get good service. I agree with other reviewers - Maria was the only one on the ball and gave very good, prompt service.
Check out- be warned this is NOT a 14-night stay as one night is taken up with transfers. Check out is 12 noons and our flight was not till gone 5 the NEXT morning. If you wanted to extend you stay in your room you had to pay through the nose.
Reception and lobby was a free for all day with suitcases EVERYWHERE and people camped on the sofas all day, sprawled out taking up all the room.
Other guests that evening had nowhere to sit and some ended up outside on the terrace and it was freezing. People were cross that they could not sit inside in the warm because of all the departing guests.
Summary
The hotel was ok, staff friendly (except receptionists)
Thank goodness the weather was good though because if it had been bad I don’t know how we would have amused ourselves. Trips probably.
One week was enough though.
Our main gripe though was with Sunstar who sold us a poor holiday and left the hotel to sort out everyone’s gripes.

Before I booked this holiday I read the reviews here. Most seemed pleased with this hotel, but some mentioned that refurbishment was not finished but the last review was august 2004, so I booked.
"DONT GO THERE"......I HAVE JUST FINISH WRITING UP MY LETTER OF COMPLAINT TO FORWARD ON TO MY TOUR COMPANY AND IT WAS 5 PAGES LONG!!!
I will condense this here just giving you a list of problems and experiences but feel free to e mail me if you want any more information at cuckoo2255@yahoo.co.uk
1.check in a joke can take up to 2 hours
2. the room we were given was full of paint fumes as the walls were still wet. it was small ugly and definitely not 5*
3. had to wait in reception for 9 hours (that was until the afternoon" to get another room.
4. reception was full of other guests demanding other rooms too.
5.got another room...very dangerous, it had a broken balcony that could of killed my 3 year old son.
6. reported the balcony to the manager who promised to get it fixed.
7 could not use the balcony or open the doors for the whole of the stay because of my small son. reported this every day but no one came.
8.no room service or mini bar although we paid for It. Broken showerhead and shower hook, bath room flooded every time you used the bath or sink because of an open drain on the floor. Luke warm water at best even from the cold tap, broken glass soap dish covered up with complimentary soap. Lots of uneven concrete steps and broken drains in the middle of the walkways.
Long walk to the bar to get drinks from your hotel room and they would not lend a tray to carry them back so I had to make 2 trips .
I saw children as young as 10 being served with alcohol and drinking it.
the play area was full of broken climbing frames etc, rough wood with 3" nail sticking out. Stray cats and dogs all around the hotel inside and out.
the reception staff are rude and unhelpful.
this is just a few things I could go on and on, I have many pictures that I will send to anyone who is interested
to sum it up this is a very shabby hotel and very dangerous. it is not fit for young children, anyone with mobility problems or a dislike of cats or dogs.