I just wanted to speak up for the Elounda Beach Hotel. On this website some of the pricier hotels get a bad rap. This hotel provided a blissful 5 days for my husband and I. We had gotten a package for 4nights for 3 night cost with a free room upgrade. We were in the Imperial Building. My husband called the front desk and asked for another upgrade to a room with a shared heated pool and because it was available we got it for an additional $100 a night. Okay so the whole thing was very expensive--$525+ per night but was well worth every penny. The room was beautiful with many amenities, including a whirlpool tub, magic fingered adjustable bed, automatic curtains and tv-dvd system . We had a beautiful terrace with the heated shared pool, which had a swim against the current function, that had a view of the infinity main hotel pool and the Aegean sea. The complimentary hotel breakfast was complete with a service attendant cooking eggs, crepes and waffles, as well as, a huge cheese, fruit, cereal, pastry selections. There was even champagne available at breakfast at the vine covered loggia seating area. They had dining options that overlooked the sea and all of the staff was exceedingly friendly and helpful. We even thought that the Kafenion (traditional Greek) restaurant was better than in the town of Plaka nearby. The landscaping was beyond beautiful and the grounds (and our room) were immaculately kept. We have stayed in five star resorts (such as Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton--which have similar costs) and found this hotel to be comparable and definitely a better stay than the Blue Palace which we passed through on the way to Plaka. I have to admit that we did very well with the room rate due to the time of year we stayed but it was an extrememly memorable stay and well worth the money. The hotel does have more expensive rooms that are not in the main building or the Imperial building but are stacked up along the Aegean Sea as individual units or coupled with a few others but we thought the Imperial building with pool was perfect for us and the preferable option. A warning there are not many Americans (they mostly stay at the Blue Palace) and we did not make any new friends but we did not hang at the main pool or beach area so there was not really any opportunity for conversation. There were plenty of staff that spoke english and the other clientele spoke english to the staff even though that was not their native language. If you can afford to spend the money, you will really experience a special stay. Good luck with your decisions.

The Elounda Beach Hotel is one of those hotels that polarises opinion. 'It's too expensive', 'it's had its day', 'it's magical', 'it's a timeless gem'. In reality, there's a truth in all of those observations. But location aside (and that really is difficult to beat), what really sets the EBH apart from other hotels is the quality of its staff, a melting pot of various nationalities who go out of their way to make your visit an absolutely joyous experience. From the opening welcome at the taxi door to the closing hug as the reality of a flooded homeland beckons, the EBH staff surpass themselves. Everything runs like clockwork and when something doesn't quite meet your expectations, solutions are hastily found. OK, some of the prices of wine can turn you teetotal and the current building project is a bit too much of a blot on the landscape (weather -affected delay) but there are choices and the Management Team will go overboard to accomodate you away from any disruption. IMHO, the Elounda Beach Hotel is still a haven of top class tranquility. Oh, apart from the odd unexpected firework display at midnight which can be utterly spectacular (it's not often you hear shouts of 'more' from hotel guests...especially when they're a mile away!) Mr Klonos, the Asst Gen Manager, listens very carefully to the views of his guests and is absolutely dedicated to their well-being which bodes well for the future of The EBH.

Extraordinarly expensive for such an average hotel. The rooms are out of date , the food is average at best and the wine is simply a rip off. This may have been a top end hotel 20 years ago , but today its nowhere.

Oh....and there is building work

We have just returned from 9 nights stay in a suite in the main Building.

The ground floor bedroom was well equiped with features such as Electric Beds which were adjustable to raise and lower the sleeping angle but they were so hard and squeaked and rattled every time you turned over. The electric curtains were a novelty but served little purpose..The steam maker in the shower could have been interesting but whether it didn't work or I failed to sort out the controls will remain a mystery. The bedroom itself was somewhat small and the clothes hanging arrangements were insufficient.

The lounge area was adequate from a size point of view but if you called for room service the room was too small to accomodate the usual Table on wheels with the folding side leaves so dinner was bought by three waiters with one carrying the main course, another the bread etc and the third the ice bucket and wine!

The suite included 4 TVs, being an LG Plasma in the bedroom, a Sony rear projection in the Lounge a Chinese plasma in the toilet area and finally an unidentified small TV above the bath. It is great fun trying to sort out how each remote works and when there are a couple of extra remotes floating around for the DVD player and MP3 player life gets complicated.

The light switching arrangements was also over complicated.There seemed to be three way switching at most positions for most of the lights and trying to work out how to turn the bathroom light on became a major exercise and it was more by elimination that you finally achieved the disired effect.The Air Conditioning was almost as complicated. There was a seperate system for the Bedroom wich was controlled by a digital LCD controller which seemed to have a mind of it's own and 20 was the lowest setting. In the lounge area there was an electro mechanical controller which was almost impossible to understand but at least the rooms kept cool.

All in all, the Management have made a good attempt at providing a High Tech room but sadly to my mind it was bit of a failure.

The Hotel ground were well kept and Club cars were available. It took a few days to sort out what was where and how best to walk to say the beach as there are many paths and routes some of which end up in a dead end at a Beach villa!

The hotel was undertaking a large refurbishment programme to the villas on the left hand side of the main beach. it would have been nice to have been advised before we booked but the noise or drilling and hammering steel girders into place plus the shouting of the workmen and the noise from the Readymix concrete trucks and the clatter of the Timber delivery to make the screening did not worry me too much but some people were quite upset by it all.

As has been said in previous reviews, the food is fine but somewhat expensive. The prices of the wines are so amazing that I bought a list home to show my friends as I feel sure they would think I was making them up.Here are a few examples ranging from the very very very expensive down to the Very very expensive.

1998 Burgundy 10,255.90,1990 Margaux 4,819.50, Californian Chardonnay 517.40 ,Greek Chardonay 212.40 . As for me, I was not too proud to drink the local wines from Crete and whilst it would not win any prizes, it was OK when chilled at 30.10 a bottle. The local wines sold in the Supermarkets for about 6 euros for an expensive bottle which would probably sell in the Hotel fo about 60 euros. My personal yardstick for gauging whether wine prices are fair is to look at a bottle of Veuve Cliquot NV Champagne. Usually I would expect to pay £60 to £80 a bottle in a good Hotel. At Elounda Beach it is 238 euros.

Did I enjoy Elounda Beach resort ? Yes.

Would I return ? No