Mark Warner used to be about family holidays, where you could put your kids in a club for most of the day if you wished, and do your own thing.
And once you'd paid, that was it.
Sadly, owing presumably to poor profits, some changes have been made - none positive from the customer's PoV.
Half-board is now the norm, although you can still go full sometimes.
Two of the 3 restaurants are not included in the price. And one (the pizzeria) was frankly terrible. In fact, all the food has dropped in quality compared to previous years.
Water is now NOT included in the price, apart from (warm) water in jugs at mealtimes. Not even at the tennis courts, where there used to be a water cooler. So it's 1.20 euro's a bottle. Or 1.50 for 6 at the village...
Younger kids now only get half-day childcare. And in the evenings, there is no listening service, kids of 6 and over can stay up, play games and watch videos, but they will be tired.
And the worst thing: staff numbers have been slashed, particularly on the seafront where they are down by half - and it shows.
So think carefully before using MW; the things which made them stand out are vanishing fast.

Family of 5, 2 adults and children 6,8,& 10. 2 weeks stay having paid a for premium rooms. Used Mark Warner (San Agostino) in 2007 and were generally very happy.

2008 was a different story. Considering how much these holidays cost we were very disappointed by the blatant profiteering for things that were standard last year but "extras" this year.

Hotel reception staff were often disinterested (I thought hotels' best practise was to put their best staff on reception?) e.g. basic requests had to be followed up three times.

The kids' mealtime experience was dreadful. Long and unnecessary queues in a noisy dining area with insufficient tables. The queues were easily avoidable if the hotel were prepared to set up more than one serving point. This was pointed out in a formal complaint to the customer services rep on our first day. Two weeks later when we left this simple remedy had not been implemented.

The standard of food and service at lunchtime in the trattoria was poor.

Other points:

There was no communal TV for the significant sports events.
Internet access was down for 5 days solid
Main restaurant was not kept clean to a high enough standard. e.g. we were shown to a table at the start of the evening meal sitting that had broken glass underneath it.
Staff let basic drinks run out particularly at breakfast and had to be prompted by guests to refill (e.g. milk and juices)

The standard of the rooms was high
The kids club staff were good and some very good.

Overall: I find it difficult to relax when I'm being mugged a few times a day and when I've paid for a decent standard that isn't being achieved.

The customer services rep had a very hard time due to the stream of unhappy customers. Much of the issues lay with Mark Warner Head Office but he was totally ineffective in getting any improvement from the hotel. His stock response to everyone was "I can only apologise", sadly this was literally true.

My boyfriend and I have just returned from a Mark Warner holiday at the Lakitira hotel and it was fabulous!

We stayed in the hotel (which is newly furbished) as opposed to the village area. Our room was a junior suite and it was very nice and kept clean. We also got to see the standard room and that was also of a good standard. Any issues at all with the room were sorted out pretty much immediately by reception i.e. we had no coat hangers on arrival in our room and a maid bought some round within minutes of us asking.

The facilities are excellent. Not only are there plenty of tennis and watersport facilities but there are a whole range of daily activities on offer from early morning runs to volleyball and various exercise classes. There are 2 beaches - one for the adults and one for the children/families. Its a child friendly resort so there were a fair number of young children around but it didn't really bother us too much. The only main issue was the parents that let their kids run riot in the restaurant - which is not the fault of Mark Warner! If you don't like kids at all then perhaps this is not the resort for you.

The food is of a high standard (I am quite fussy!) and there is a great selection - even for vegetarians. There is a themed night each evening. We were there for one week but I would imagine you might get a bit fed up of the food if you were staying a second week. There are 2 other restaurants (other than the main inclusive one) that you have to pay for but we didn't try them. The Greek looked nice but the Italian had a poor menu (pizzas) and we were put off as the kids meal took place there every evening! The only bad thing about the meals is that the selection of wine on offer is really awful (mostly Greek) and if you want anything vaguely nice you pay hideously expensive prices for it i.e. 50 euros for a Chianti Classico. Mark Warner used to offer free wine with dinner but have now stopped this. There were a lot of complaints about the quality/price of wine on offer during the week we stayed. Most of the guests tended to buy nice wine from the local town and take it into the restaurant with them. The staff didn't seem to mind!

During our week stay there were 3 nights of evening entertainment - 2 quiz evenings and a live music night. The focus is definitely on full-on day time programme and then evenings are more relaxed. However, its such a social and friendly resort that we made loads of friends during our stay and we had some lively evenings in the hotel bar. There is only really one main bar as the outside bars tend to shut at 7pm. I believe they stay open later during peak season.

There are some excursions to go on if you want to but as the facilities were so excellent we barely had time left to leave the resort we were so busy.

The Mark Warner staff were all really friendly and happy to help wherever they could. My boyfriend was particularly impressed with the attention given during the sailing/windsurfing tuition.

I noticed some complaints on Trip Advisor about aeroplane noise. You do get the odd plane flying quite low over the resort (as its near to the airport) but Kos is not a busy airport and it did not affect our enjoyment.

I would definitely go back again to this resort and cannot recommend it enough.

This is the second holiday I've had with Mark Warner and both have been great.

We were in a room which hadn't been refurbished and yes it did look old and tired but it was clean and everything worked. (I believe its all been refurbished now for the summer season 08). Plus we got a last min deal 2 weeks before - admittedly I would not have been happy to pay thousands per person!

All the staff were really helpful, I didn't go to windsurfing lessons this time but every time I was stuck someone would spend time with me explaining what I was doing wrong.

There is a kid free pool which is good (not that see children except at lunch- they tend to be shipped off to the nannies and kids clubs from dawn till dusk) and the beach had a lovely view. Only problem being you can't really swim from the beach because its too shallow and very rocky - bring water shoes!

The food was on the whole very good. Lots of fresh salads, wide selections of meats etc and the out door terrace was lovely on an evening. - BUT bring mosquito repellent!

The nearby town is AWFUL but there is one traditional Greek restaurant which was lovely and well worth a visit. We did have an evening out to a 'traditional greek village' in the mountains - having travelled widely in Greece I can honestly say this was NOT tradiational at all! - if you decide to take a trip book it from the nearby town as its lots cheaper.

If you want to go to enjoy relaxing/tennis/windsurfing and sailing in the hotel then go for it - for any chance to see real Greece - go elsewhere!