Pilot Beach Resort

We spent a week at the Pilot Beach Resort on Crete while we were on our honeymoon in the Greek Islands. The resort was beautiful and the pools were fantastic. Our room was perfect--clean and cool with a private balcony. Be careful, the resort is located along a major road (though most of the beach resorts in that area of Crete are) so you want to make sure your room isn't near the road. The resort has at least five pools and beach access (with chairs and umbrellas along the beach). The food was good though a little repetitive after a week of breakfast and dinner at the site. However, it was a great place to relax on Crete.

We chose the Pilot Beach Hotel after reading some reviews of it and also because we felt that it sounded like a good quality hotel in the N.W. part of Crete where we wanted to be. The accommodation was excellent and, although a very large complex - it can take 1400 - the apartments were arranged round four different areas, each with its own sizeable pool, sunbeds and landscaping. The apartments were of a good size and had sliding doors to a generous balcony . The architecture was very attractive and varied and the apartment houses were either two or, occasionally, three storeys high. Meals were taken in a central building where there was also a bar and evening entertainment and there was a huge choice of food each day. The house wine was a decent quality so we didn't bother with the rest of the wine list. Staff were very friendly and extremely hard working. The whole hotel area was scrupulously clean at all times. The Pilot Beach is one of many hotels along the extensive Georgioupolis Beach. The village is a pleasant mile's walk along the beach from the hotel, along the margin of the sea, and has tourist shops, tavernas, cheap Internet cafe and a good supermarket. There is also plenty of car hire in the area. If you have booked in Chania though you can phone to ask them to deliver and pick up at the Pilot Beah. Be warned though, the mountain roads are hair-raising and it takes a long time to get anywhere as the distances are bigger than the map would suggest! There is an excellent local, air conditioned, bus service from just outside the hotel and it is advisable to take this to Chania and Rethymno as parking a car is impossible particularly in Chania. If driving to the south coast though, Damiana Beach is lovely and there are fewer waves down there. If you are a walker, avoid the Gorge of Samaria which is overflowing with tourists and try the Imbros Gorge instead which is a delight. The hotel barman, Manoussos, recommended this and he was right. The downsides to the hotel that we found are as follows: We thought it was cheeky to have to pay a daily rate for the use of the safe in our room. Sunbeds on the beach were charged for, but not those by the pools. The entertainment was awful apart from the magician who was fantastic and the Greek evening which was OK, the highlight being the wonderful bazouki player. Some of the rooms, as stated by a previous reviewer, are nosiy as a busy main road is nearby. Having read this on your website we asked for a room in the quietest area and we got it. The beach is reached by an underpass from the hotel under the road so you have to walk through the complex to get to it. This was not a problem for us but perhaps worth considering for families with young children. The food was always warm, not hot. This though we have found is a Greek thing and not specific to this hotel. It is a very big hotel complex so a bit impersonal. The vast majority of visitors are German with some Italians and a few French. We only heard three British voices but this did not bother us as we prefer a mixture of nationalities anyway. There were no water sports althought the hotel advertised these in its presentation. Despite some of the downsides we thought this hotel was very well-run, we liked the friendly staff - in particular, Manoussos the barman who was very kind, amusing and helpful - and we had a very relaxed holiday here. We would recommend it, particularly as we heard some very unhappy stories about other hotels in the area whilst we were there. We had none of the problems others seemed to suffer. After an absence of 30 years - our last visit to Crete as students! - we were also pleased to note that goats are no longer allowed to ride on the buses!

Went here for 1 week in august 2006. We asked for (after reading the other reviews) and got a room away from the noise of the road. (Room 3102 - near one of the smaller pools; never heard the noise of the road). The room was OK and properly cleaned daily. It's a nice hotel with lots of space, green gardens and our 7-year old boy (and we) loved the pool. Many German and Italian tourists when we stayed here. We stayed in Crete 2 times before, in other 5-star hotels. This one doesn't really deserve 5 stars. The staff in the restaurant (and the bar at the evening) wasn't friendly. They certainly weren't rude or anything, but 90 % of them are serving you with a face that obviously shows they would rather be somewhere else. No friendly greetings to the children, no smile while serving coffee,... What a difference with last year when we went to Kos Imperial on the island Kos, where the staff really makes you feel welcome. You don't deserve 5 stars only by having nice gardens and pools; friendly staff makes 50 % of your holiday. And this really disappointed us. Food was OK, but not realy hot, as stated in other reviews. Beach is nice and sandy. You do have to pay for the chairs. The beach is easily reachable by the underpass. PS : 4 km from the hotel is lake Kouna. Really beautifull lake where you can swim and not overcrowded by tourists. Worth the walk ! Wouldn't go again because of lack of friendlyness.

The hotel has potential to be great in terms of location but..... It has a main road running through the middle of the resort. We booked a room big enough for 2 adults and 2 children and we got a room for 2 adults and 1 infant. We booked a room with a frontage to the sea and we got a room with frontage to a busy pool and then on changing with a frontage to a bush. The pools contained some chemical or other substance that coloured the swimwear green. The food was awful, same stuff over and over again, poor quality, served in heated trays which had the potential to remain there for hours, with flies a common feature. My daughters and I contracted food poisoning on the day before leaving, and from the tests in the UK it would appear that the poisoning originated from contaminated food (egg) whilst in Crete. We only ate food at the hotel. Outside the door of our room was an awful smelly drain. The staff in the main bar were just so poor and rude, very reluctant to serve you even if you were the only person in the bar. The manager needs to go on a "charm school" course. All the problems we raised had nothing to do with him or the hotel. A very rude person. A ridiculous dress code. Men cannot wear smart tailored shorts, BUT men can wear shorts if the shorts cover your carves, ladies and children can wear shorts no matter what length, and men can wear vests or ladies can wear swin wear!! So the dress code has nothing to do with smart, so what is the point of having a code in the first place? Private beach, which is nice, but you have to pay for the sun beds etc. One excellent member of staff - young lady on reception - who kindly drove me to nearest town so I could buy some trousers (so I could have the pleasure of eating at the hotel). I would never go back.

We stayed at the Pilot Beach for one week in a lovely bungalow with swimming pool view. Fortunately, it was on the back side so it was really quite. The bungalow was very clean and the furnitures decent. The only negative point was its business center: it was somehow outdated and the people at the reception were not so available. Beach access is not a problem (of course there are always "smart" residents who prefer to take their car instead of walking for 4 minutes) Animation was performed from an italian group (colombus): professional. There are activities for young children twice per day. Would go again, but would'nt take a room in the front near the road.

I just came back from a week at the Pilot Beach, and all in all we are pretty satisfied. After having read the reviews in this website, we asked for -- and got without any problem -- a room away from the road. This was definitely a good move, as the traffic on the road is very heavy, and we would have been driven crazy if our room was close to it. Why pay money for a room you can't even get any peace and quiet in? If you stay in this hotel, you really should be careful of this. Everything else was fine. The facilities are excellent, with more than enough pools and a great private beach. Of course the food was not great, but it was decent, and much better than some other of these kind of hotels we have stayed at in other countries. Yes, to get the beach you have to go through a subway, but it's really just a few minutes walk, and though we have two small children, it was no problem. What wasn't so brilliant was the service, which was often inept and even surrly. The waiters are constantly forgetting drink orders, the people at the shop try to shortchange you all the time -- it's like this. Obviously one doesn't expect first class service in a place like this, but they could definitely do better. Still, this wasn't such a big deal -- after all, at these kind of places you don't really deal with the staff that much.

Visited Pilot Beach Resort on 13th September for 2 weeks. Beautiful setting but main road runs through the resort and is very noisy. Public areas very nice but guest rooms average and not cleaned very well. Lacked the 'little touches' e.g. toiletries not replaced for whole of holiday. Food excellent with something for everyone. Staff on reception were very abrasive and unapproacable - service could have been a lot better. Wouldn't visit again due to road noise. Also, give the spa treatments a miss - had the worst massage of my life there.

Beautiful beach, but it's private, why did we have to pay for beach beds? Thought the layout and the hotel were excellent. Would definitely go back. It's a pity a few more Brits don't use it - it's mainly Germans who visit. Food was lovely, but main restaurant closes at 9pm - too early!

Beautiful setting, but would never visit again. Crowded rushed dining, my son contracted a stomach bug which lasted 2 weeks (no idea where from) and when I had an accident, the fault of the management, I was blamed and then threatened. Nightmare.

A lot to say about Pilot Beach Resort, it's rooms are perfectly clean with nice furniture, nice bathroom too, but problems start with the road that divides the two parts of the hotel, the sea side and mountain side, it's not a road but a highway. Very noisy for some rooms... There is a tunnel to go from one part to another, it's hard when you have children under 5. Animations are poor and food is always the same, and after 2 days you can expect what you will have for the rest of the next twelve days of your couple week vacation... Cooking is not the only worst part of this hotel, the restaurant manager is a kind of a crazy seargeant from a later government for sure... Relax beds at beach are at 5$ per day... Only half board... Well for that price, you can get a real 5 stars in Crete.