Rimondi Grand Hotel And Spa Resort

Debbie Blackwell

Room was lovely with pool. Pool cleaned daily. All inclusive drinks monitored and did not contain any or much alcohol. Day 3 both myself and partner were stuck with I can only say is the worst food poisoning we have ever had. Which resulted in two whole days in bed. I could not go near the restaurant again. This is definitely no 5 star. All hot food was cold. Did mention this three times at reception.

Andrea Herbay

What can I say about this hotel besides that you should beware! The overall experience for myself, my boyfriend and my parents was shockingly bad. Food poisoned on Day 4 of our trip. When you arrive, they ask you to pay €10 (€5 per person) for each room, per day you stay for the city tax. So, we were down to stay for 7 days (7 x 20- two rooms €140) the only reason they can charge that high is because they are a '5* Hotel'- which they are not. Also, they want it in cash, even though they do have a card machine (if you know, you know). The smoke detectors in the restaurant beep so loudly every 30 seconds (to say out of battery) and when we asked if it could be fixed, they said it's been like that for months. So that is all you can hear whilst eating. The food is not hot, more kept lukewarm- cold by the time you reach your seat. My partner had the chicken on Day 4 for dinner and was violently ill for the whole night and the rest of our holiday. I talked to other guests who said that members of their party were also food poisoned having eaten the same thing. We went to reception but they refused to acknowledge it, and we were instead told to pay for a taxi to go to a pharmacy. How is it that a 5* Hotel is rated so high but is not able to follow food safety guidelines for such high-risk foods? It's clear that they wanted to keep it quiet about the amount of guests that had fallen ill but the lack of people who showed up to mealtimes the next day spoke for itself. The pools outside are freezing and even though we were under the impression that you could use the indoor 'heated pool', that isn't the case. You have to pay for a spa treatment (starting at €65 for a neck and back massage), and then you can use the indoor pool/jacuzzi for the whole of that day. Because we wanted to have a warm pool and a nice birthday for my dad, we paid for 4 of these treatments for the family on Day 3. Pools were freezing (heater broken). Jacuzzi broken. Showers cold. All the while you can still hear the sharp beeping of the smoke detectors from the restaurant upstairs. What was the point? We left the spa and came back for our massages later that day. When myself and my partner came back for our massages the reception staff were arguing/telling off the spa staff, we were told to 'relax' on the sunbeds whilst we waited to be called in, but had the ambience of the receptionist reprimanding the others in front of us in Greek. The massages themselves were good, but wouldn't say it's worth the money. Overall, the lobby staff (besides 1 member of the reception team with the short dark bob hair) were quite rude and unhelpful. When we needed help for my sick partner, they were so reluctant to provide any help or support- I couldn't even bring food from the buffet to the room for him (I had to smuggle bread rolls). In terms of our room, it was good and clean. Kudos to the housekeeping staff. But, you don't get to bath, only shower in your room (they took all the bathplugs from all the rooms). Also, if you want your room cleaned, you have to book it yourself 24 hours in advance on the hotel's website (it's not done daily). And dependent on the amount of requests, they don't always come at your requested time slot (not their fault but a stupid system). The one thing I'd say about our room was that we were next door to some flats that had a dog chained outside which was constantly barking throughout our stay (all through the night too). The hotel does have a small strip of private beach that they own and the minivan is free to take you. But there isn't anything there. There is a restaurant but was closed due to renovations. The beach itself has some sunbeds to use but it's not the best beach. It's meh. Overall, we won't be staying here again. If we came back to Crete, we would book a hotel in Rethymno and just eat out instead! Rimondi Grand Resort is not at all 5 Stars probably 2 (maybe 2.5 at a push).

Tony Greener

After our holiday to Lanzarote was compromised 5 weeks before flying out we switched to a holiday in Crete at the Rimondi Grand Hotel & Spa Resort. It was the best thing that could have happened, it was the perfect family holiday. The resort is well staffed, well kept, super friendly and in a beautiful, peaceful, picturesque area of Rethymnon. The food and drink selection on site is exceptional and there is also a nice safe walking track from the back of the resort that leads to some very nice well stocked supermarkets and cafes. The resort offers shuttle bus rides to the local beach which is lovely and sandy but also has some rocky parts and you can also organise trips to the local town and sights for small fees. We have already booked a longer 10 night trip to the Rimondi for next year the day after we got back. We would also like to give a special thankyou to Nicky Sinclair of the Restaurant staff who we got to know well, she made the whole experience feel very special by making us feel so welcome and helping with any questions or queries we had, our daughter loved chatting to Nicky every lunchtime and dinner time and was very sad when we had to leave for home. Such a memorable and amazing holiday and we can't wait to visit again next April.

Jacques Holland

Warning - We were all unwell leaving the hotel and for our health we decided to book an air bnb instead leaving the Rimondi hotel early and I AM GLAD WE DID ! I will not recommend this hotel to anyone Booked with Loveholidays We are a sporty and energetic family , Love extreme sports and adventures! We want to write this review for families that want the most out of their holiday. This is NOT a 5 star hotel - the staff were all friendly and the food was OK. The drinks, we had to buy bottled water and proper ground coffee in our all inclusive stay? BUT we could drink as much alcohol as we desired? Doesn't make sense for a hotel that promotes Health and wellbeing!? (We don't drink alcohol) I'd rather have bottled water for free. The rooms/accommodation was in bad shape/poor standard need urgent maintenance the bathroom sink was leaking, the floors were falling apart looked like water damage, the windows had bad condensation inside the double glazing, A/C units had mould growing on the exterior vents and interior walls and unpleasant smells coming from the bathroom drains, had to wear silly wristbands to know what tier you're in. Felt like a cheap experience. Never again. This was all reported to the reception and they sent one maintenance person and the cleaners. The maintenance person fixed the leaking sink that's it and left, the cleaners missed the mould on the ceilings. Honestly nothing got done. They could have moved us to a better accommodation but didn't. Sent a complaint to loveholidays. Don't bother it's Laughable what they can't do to help. Apparently there's a process we're meant to complain to Loveholidays first then the hotel? Hope this helps all families that want the best and not expecting a 5 star experience because it's not.

sandra “Sandyb”

Went with jet 2. Nearly 3 hours on the transfer coach we called at nearly ever hotel because of late arrivals. Arrived at our hotel at 2.50 in the morning. Lift was posted as out of order/ broken so we had to trail our luggage down 4 flights of stairs. We had been travelling/in transit for nearly 10 hours because of flight delays. Reception refused assistance with luggage. Reception refused a drink or food. Reception then proceeded to inform us that after check in we had to go through the hotel rules /instruction that would last 10 to 15 minutes. I told them I was very tired could I please call and see them in the morning. The reply of 'No! Do you want to stay in this hotel? ' shocked me. I appreciated the fact that they were also tired due to having to wait for late arrivals but I would gladly have walked out of there was it not for the fact that the hotel was a good 30 minutes walk from the nearest hotel or town. In short the instructions detailed the use of the hotel app. If you want your room cleaned request this on the app. If you want toilet paper or bins emptied request this on the app. Three days of requesting on the app resulted in no cleaning, no bins being emptied, no clean towels. The food was hit and miss not 5 star quality barely 3 star. The cocktails came from large plastic and cardboard boxes the good quality drinks could be bought at the adults only bar. The endless flights of stairs from the bars to the pools to the restaurant to the reception and the rooms were exhausting. I can only guess that the 5 star rating was awarded to the separately run spa as this hotel did not, in my opinion, warrant 5 stars. I have stayed in better run 3 star hotels. I had booked a suite (bathroom was dirty on arrival)with a private pool and truthfully the only person who did his job with any enthusiasm was the pool guy. The best part of my holiday was leaving the hotel. The lift still had an out of order notice on it when we were leaving - then I saw the receptionist get in and use it! Truly awful hotel and reception staff.