We went to the Aquagrand in early October. We booked this adult only hotel through Thomas Cook. The hotel is situated on a quiet, pebbly beach, with a rocky shore line, so beach shoes were essential. We were warned of this before we left the UK, so were well prepared. Loungers and sun shades were plentiful. We had a junior suite with its own deck and pool. The deck was well fitted out with a double sun bed, table and chairs and a sofa. Our room was very well equipped and kept very clean. The maids worked hard, but on a couple of days our room was not serviced until late in the afternoon. Beach towels were supplied and changed daily.
The public areas of the hotel are beautifully decorated with many artefacts and paintings. The Zen bar was delightful, with live music four nights a week. the bar staff were excellent.
The two pools are unheated, but again, lots of loungers and umbrellas.
The buffet breakfasts were excellent, meeting all tastes, and the egg chef was a delight. He willingly re-cooked the rather raw bacon on the griddle. We had booked half board - BIG mistake. Unfortunately, the dinner buffet did not live up to the same standard. The starters were alright and desserts were suburb, but the main courses left a lot to be desired; poorly cooked and presented and not very hot. On occasion, the containers were empty, all the food being taken and not topped up. Eventually, we decided to eat a main course in Lindos and return for dessert and coffee!
There are three restaurants on site. The beach restaurant becomes an al a carte fish restaurant during the evenings. Half board guest are given 20 per cent discount here, but it must be booked 24 hours in advance. The pool restaurant closes at 5 pm. Food in both restaurants at lunch time was excellent. The portions are huge and so we ordered one portion between the two of us.
the main restaurant was closed at lunch time and opened at 7.00 pm.
Restaurant waiting staff were very good and willing, but staff morale was poor. The hotel,was closing on 31st October, as it does every year, so staff were being laid off. So many in fact, that after the 12th October, service deteriorated right across all three restaurants. In fact it was so bad on our last day at breakfast, there was only ONE waiter on duty and tables were not being cleared. Staff were telling guests about the problems they were having.
We felt that the Maitre d'hotel was the problem. He was unsmiling and just walked around, ordering staff about, but not helping at all, not even taking orders for drinks. On our penultimate day, we witnessed an awful situation in the Beach bar. The duty waitress had served us at breakfast and she had be very good and smiley. We went to the bar to buy water. The Maitre was really shouting at the poor girl in front of four other employees, she looked shocked. Nor did he stop when guests arrived for service; he carried on as if they were alone. We indicated we were not amused by his behaviour, so he started to walk back to the main building, but continuing to shout at the waitress as he walked up the hill! she was the left to carry on waiting on highly embarrassed guests.
We did report the incident to the hotel manager, and earlier we had voiced our concern to him, about the deterioration in the levels of restaurant service. In fact we wrote a formal letter before leaving the hotel, asking for an explanation, but to date no reply has been received.
WiFi worked well throughout the hotel buildings, but dropped out on the beach, but who needs an Internet connection on the beach?
Room Tip: south facing rooms have sun all day, so decks and balconies get very hot.
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
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