Electra Palace Rhodes

As with all reviews what matters to some people are not relevant for others so list to follow. In summary the hotel is lovely but we wouldn't return as (unbelievably) the soft drinks are horrible/undrinkable. I'm 60 and in 40 odd years of holidays have never experienced this, bizarre. Perhaps it saves a significant amount off the bottom line but really. I had seen this mentioned in other reviews and didn't really take much notice but should have as we are not huge alcohol drinkers. But this of course also ruined gin/tonic, vodka/coke, cocktails etc Room: It was nice with good aircon. Shower wasn't great but usable. If you were 6'2 it might not be the case as mounted quite low. Always cleaned well with friendly maids Service: generally very good (especially restaurant staff) but we did have a problem with the room that took a while to fix. Arrived on Wednesday at 9pm and safe wasn't working. It took till Thursday pm and a few chases before fixed. Also the minibar was empty and no water bottles. I had given up asking about these but they eventually turned up Friday pm Beach: The reason we came here. Perfect and could go down at any time and get a sunbed with no problem (end of September). Its minutes to get back to hotel for food etc. You need beach shoes but unless you have kids with you sand is not an imperative (to us anyway). Location: we wanted somewhere without a long transfer and near to Rhodes town so very good as easy cab ride to both. Not much else around though so like a lot of AIs, dependent on hotel for entertainment etc Food: Buffet - It was OK. Had better in other AIs but maybe because they were bigger and had more choice. Italian was OK and Greek was very good. Planes: Novelty soon wore off and didnt think much about it Entertainment: Another area where I didnt look at previous reviews enough. Nothing to do with acts but just nowhere comfortable to sit, near it. We listened from a long way away. Music outside earlier in evening was very good when there was singer, not so great when just a guitarist. As the hotel is isolated this is quite important. Pool: we didnt use this but it looked pretty impressive and seemed to have sunbeds available at the times I walked through. If you want a good pool this may override other points I mentioned

About our trip: Couple in 30s- booked via Tui, 5 nights October break. The good: Our room was in the newer building with a great bathroom, double head shower, comfy large bed (two pushed together i think), large balcony with pool and sea view. Being able to book a shower on day of departure in the Spa (go to reception to ask for this a few days before you leave). Hotel style is very nice, feels very upmarket when you arrive in the reception area and all reception staff were very nice. Pool area- really nice ! Loads of chair choice, comfy, never over crowded. Beach- beautiful, I dont understand people saying they couldn't get in the sea as we went in most days- pebbles as you get to water but no issue for me in bare feet and husband wore flip flops. Food in buffet- always a fish option (swordfish/white fish fillets in sauce), always a meat option (chicken quarters, pork), always some kind of stew, always a pasta option , always chips, always vegetables such as delicious massive sprouts or med vege in olive oil, always amazing salad choice, other bits- a lot of choice. I'm not a pudding person but my husband was happy enough with them. The tweaks needed- Room wasn't properly cleaned, they swapped towels but during stay and made the bed on the day when we didnt but there was no actual 'cleaning'- the trolleys don't even have cleaning product on them for the staff to use so floors not mopped or hoovered and bathrooms not cleaned. The cleaner on our floor also had a really awful cold and we could hear her all morning sneezing in all the rooms around us so we declined it that day! Fridge in room- not stocked daily. Tv - one English news channel and a documentary channel- it rained when we were there so it would have been nice to have more. Drinks - awful. Non alcoholic fizzy often off with the syrup mix and the fruit juice from the machines was undrinkable , for every small glass of juice I was using a full pint of water to water it down. There is no fresh fruit juice and this isn't even concentrate, it's just syrup. They use this in the cocktails at times making them nasty. I didnt have a single drink I enjoyed apart from the hot chocolate from the machine in reception. For me this is a big thing as cocktails on holiday should be beautiful and tasty- these were neither. I asked for a hot chocolate at 9pm when watching the evening entertainment at the pool bar and was told they turn the machine off ? I feel like they don't want you to enjoy the drinks so they don't have good quality to reduce the quantity- we didn't want to get drunk - I'm pregnant so was trying mocktails on day 1 but a nice non alcoholic for me and a decent beer for husband would have been nice. Soon switched to hot chocolate only which was odd on the beach. On site 'a la carte' - Italian evening meal was a slab of hard and tasteless lasagne that was clearly microwaved and not a fresh make that day. Service so slow for any drinks- no check back to make sure everything was OK. Husbands wine poured from two already open bottles- odd. Most places would put a bottle of winr on table at arrival. Greek plate restaurant was a joke- only booking available 9.30pm even though we booked 4 days ahead. Starters nice, main course lamb tough, should be falling off bone but was like eating leather and barely warm. Clearly been sat around for hours. Puddings not my taste. At 10.20 pm they collected our glasses and then turned all the lights off so we were left sitting alone in the dark, they didnt say a word. We then had to walk back through the main buffet to the exit whilst they were mopping the floors etc. Not very good. They also clearly didn't read the booking notes to see it was a special occasion. Cleaning - not a big thing but sitting down at tables covered in greasy finger prints doesn't scream 5 star to me. Chaos as buffet - the dining area is very cramped, I have never been to a 5* where tables are set up so close to where the food is with little space between. I found other guests extremely rude like they thought food would run out (it didnt). Every day the staff would also drop something and there would be glass on the floor, plates broken etc, we started to wonder if they did it on purpose . No table service for drinks unless you specifically asked one of the women for a drink when she was clearing table- no alcohol self serve which also a bit odd for all inclusive. Very slow table reset and plate clearing. So loud all at times due to volume of people . Missing fresh juice- as already said. Icecream- nice to have this little ice cream parlour but not great choice and no self serve of the 'sprinkles' (2 choice and you get such a small amount its not worth it), also odd that ice cream only available by pool so if you are at beach you need to walk all through hotel and out the other side to get it whilst in beachwear and possibly wet. The airport icecream was better. Snack bar - two lads in there always on phones and miserable. Pastries tiny and burnt every day so we skipped them. The rolls in there very small and again portion control is a bit too much- 1 mini roll per person and they wouldn't give a second even when I said we missed lunch as were out. For me this was the nail on the head of why this isn't a true all inclusive- the buffet is self served so have what you want but this, along with the ice cream, lack of mini bar in room, lack of alcohol self serve for wine and beer, makes me feel as though this should be rebranded as a limited food and drink availability hotel. Access to beach - through main hotel reception meaning floors are wet and slippy. Dress code - i saw some really awful sights in the buffet dining area that put me off my food yet another couple told us they were refused entry because the husband hurt his foot so had a tidy pair of sandals on. Id rather see a foot in a sandal than some of the things i saw in there.. Entertainment - we went to Abba night, Disco night and saw the fire people from our balcony. Something of nothing really- you wouldn't miss much by not going. Overall we would say this is a nice hotel, great pool and beach and could be so nice. But for us we wont be returning when we know of 3* and 4* places on the Greek Islands which are a lot nicer in all aspects. It's lacking a personal touch and identity which makes it 3 star for me. Focus on target audience because I think this would be better adult only with tweaks to the drinks and food. I feel as though if you don't know any better this could be an ok choice for a first Greek Holiday to Rhodes but for anyone like us who already has experience in travel you would be better looking elsewhere to meet expectations of a 5*. Lastly- the planes do fly low, you can hear them and when at beach it does feel like they will land on you but this didn't bother me at all as you know what you are getting when you are this close to the airport.

Just returned from a very chilled week at Electra Palace. This hotel is very clean, modern & the staff are always friendly & polite. We spent most of our time at the Pool, although the receptionist said the hotel was fully booked, there was always plenty of space & sun loungers available. The pool bar was open the Majority of our stay, but was closed on 2 days that storms were due / weather wasn't great - which is understandable. We used the QR codes to order our drinks, only 1 order wrong & that was user error 🤣 We spent 2 afternoons at the beach, again always space & sun loungers available. Again Bar was good, but closed a couple times due to weather. We paid extra to have a Seaview, our room 1542 was on the side of the hotel, although you had more view of the hotel entrance & shops opposite, the Sunsets were incredible & even got to watch 2 thunder storms over the sea. Room was clean, tidy & could opt have it cleaned daily or not. Mini Bar wasn't stocked up during the week. Air-conditioning worked well, it did flick on and off when thunder storms going on & electric tripping but worked 99.8% of time. Food & Drinks - There was a wide range of drinks, cocktails & cocktails. The bar tenders will happily make anything you suggest if they can. I opted most for a "Shirley" Mocktail with Vodka added too it. We ate at the main restaurant mostly, although it was on the smaller side of All Inclusive Buffet we were used to, there was always something different & quality made up for quantity - food & desserts were delicious. We ate at the Italian for lunch, was lovely! Ice creams were delicious, and a variety of flavours available. Hotel is about 20 minutes from town, can walk via beach or road, the only downside as didn't feel it was very accessible at night due to road not being lit etc. Yes hotel is in the main flight path to Rhodes Airport, it was quite interesting seeing all the low planes & I couldn't believe how busy the airport was. Didn't hear the planes at night once doors shut. Opposite the hotel is a Cocktial Bar / Restaurant called Rainbow Bar ... THIS IS A MUST, BOTH STAFF AND OWNER ARE LOVELY & COCKTAILS ARE INCREDIBLE!! Overall had a lovely relaxing stay, just wished we had slightly better weather haha!

This is our second time back to this hotel ,staff and food was amazing , the manager jhon marc was great such a amazimg and lovely guy ,very helpfull ,thankyou very much electra we will be back

Every aspect of this all-inclusive hotel exceeded expectations, but the outstanding service and heartfelt care from the staff truly made my stay unforgettable. Warm smiles and genuine attention to guests create a welcoming atmosphere that sets this hotel apart for a memorable Rhodes holiday.