Rimondi Grand Resort and Spa

Absolutely fantastic stay at this hotel. Room and facilities were spotless and the all staff were friendly and helpful from start to finish. We really enjoyed the warm and welcoming nature of everyone linked to the hotel. The hotel features plenty of seating areas, sun beds and pools to enjoy the sun, and the views of the mountain and sea. The shuttle to the beach was really handy and allowed us to split our time between the pool and the beach front. The Paraplous restaurant at the beach was also incredible and had some of the tastiest seafood we’ve ever eaten, so well worth a visit. Although it is a little further away from some of the bigger towns, the hotel do offer a bus to Rethymno at a small cost, and we were able to hire a car which was delivered to the hotel, which allowed us to visit places like Chania, so being a little further away from things didn’t really bother us. We would definitely recommend a stay here and cannot wait to visit again!

This hotel is not a 5 star I would give it a 3 star if I was rating but having said that we did not pay 5 star prices so our expectations were lowered anyway and I’d advise anyone coming to just lower your expectations.

I want to give an honest review so I’ll start with the positives.

The grounds of the hotel are really pretty and well maintained.

The rooms are spacious, big balcony and we had a room with a beautiful view including the sea so I wasn’t expecting that and it was a nice surprise.

Plenty of sunbeds around the pools and never had to have sunbed wars. Not all sunbeds have shade so if you’re wanting some time out of the sun make sure you choose a sunbed wisely.

Read a lot of negative reviews about the food. Is it the best? No. But we always found things to eat and felt that elements were very well seasoned. Like I said we didn’t pay a lot to stay here and thought the food was fair for the price.

We got offered late check out when my husband went and asked and felt this was really lovely touch and made our last day much easier.

Rethymno town is beautiful we hired a car for a couple of days and we actually also paid for the mini bus to go back again it’s stunning and the people were nice and we ate gorgeous food and and had great cocktails.

So now for the negatives:

Service is pretty much non existent. In the restaurant they take so so long to remove your dirty plates and not many smiles and we found they don’t talk to you.

The grates around the pool are half brown instead of being white and need replacing.

The cocktails. Never been to a hotel where the cocktails are just syrups. The only one we could manage was a mojito the rest were way too sweet, I thought my teeth were going to decay there and then. Don’t expect fruit or pretty things in the cocktails.

We were in room 504 and the noise coming from the bar was insane. Some nights the shouting etc didn’t stop until 1:30am. Felt like I was at an 18-30s.

We arrived really late in the evening and found the whole welcome a bit weird if I’m honest, the resort is pretty big but they don’t give you a map just tell you something is either at the top or bottom of the resort I didn’t find it overly helpful.

Anyway we were shown to our room and when we went in it was fine but the tiles in the shower were brown in between like they needed an old toothbrush and bleach. Now I’m autistic and cleanliness is one thing I can’t look beyond it’s something I’ll play over and over in my head until it’s sorted.

So we made our way back to reception with photos to see what could be done. The receptionist sort of looked lost and was saying it could be cleaned again if we wanted. But then the manager was there anyway and came in half way through the conversation. Now this interaction is the main reason I’d never return to this hotel, I’ve never experienced such rudeness from a member of staff from a hotel never mind a manager. I think she misunderstood what we were saying and thought we were complaining about the room and she kept saying this is the process they have and we booked a standard room so that’s the room. She called us rude, accused my husband of calling the room silly but he never did. Very strange interaction.

There was nothing wrong with the room it was the shower tiles that were dirty. Anyway we didn’t get anywhere with this and she said if we didn’t like it we should leave. We’d only just got there and we were so shocked this is how they were dealing with it. They said we can ring our travel agent and get moved. Anyway we agreed to a further clean in the morning via the receptionist as the manager had stormed off.

In the meantime, I am the travel agent which I tried to explain on deaf ears so rang the supplier who attempted to contact the hotel and they informed us that they got the phone put down on them!! Anyway they couldn’t believe what had happened and paid us compensation which is why we agreed to stay.

The bathrooms did get cleaned but the tiles still need a thorough scrub.

Would I recommend to any of my clients booking a holiday? Absolutely not. I’d never put anyone in a situation to be spoken to like that on their first evening. If I was the hotel owner I’d maybe be looking into how staff talk to customers but that’s just my opinion.

It just meant if we had any questions or any other concerns like one of the days we booked a room clean and didn’t get it but we’d never dare go to reception and ask as we didn’t want to get shouted at.

It is a shame as on the whole we had a nice holiday but it was tainted within the first half an hour and it never really redeemed itself.