Golden Mare Resort

Me and my husband booked this hotel for our anniversary, and we were very dissatisfied with our stay. This hotel is labelled as "luxury" however I would have to disagree. The first issue was on our 1st day and we had booked a sea view room, however there was a tree blocking the view, and no towels in our room. Reception staff Dmitry made us aware there were no other rooms available to move to, however after returning to reception at 1pm we were asked to return at 3pm on the same day and we were quickly taken to a new room. The second room appeared to be great, amazing sea view and spacious rooms, however there was a strong odour in the room that made my husband unwell and physically vomiting and started to have a bad cough. Upon trying to find where the smell was coming from we discovered black mould on the mattress of the bed and large damp patches on the walls with mould all covered in white paint, and also water leaking from behind the toilet, also 2 snails on the walls of the bathroom, which even after house keeping "cleaned the room" snails still on the wall. We decided to contact reception again, and were advised no management in to help with the situation, after a bit of back and forth with Dmitry eventually we seen George the F&B manager, he looked at the photos of the room and straight away went to reception to get this issue resolved, however we were asked not to post any negative reviews or photographs. We were moved to a 3rd superior room, again with views no one could fault, and finally this room was cleaned and well maintained. However, at 11.30pm that evening while we were in bed, our room door was unlocked from the outside and 2 guests walked into our room (absolutely not there fault) obviously this is unacceptable, and we went straight to reception, we were told by a different receptionist that his colleague Dmitry hadn't marked our new room as occupied and thats how the mishap happened. The next morning we asked to speak to the hotel manager and didn't take no as an answer this time ! The manager apologised for everything that had happened but overall was not too concerned. We left the hotel for the day and returned to our room in the evening to a bottle of wine in our room and a voucher for 2x free cocktails from the rooftop bar, for all the issues that happened in our first 3 days I feel that as compensation is completely ridiculous, considering we were in an all inclusive resort and can have wine and selected cocktails as part of our booking anyway. All these issues were a massive disappointment, the management of this hotel clearly don't care about the experience for there guests and are advertising this as a luxury resort. Absolutely nothing luxury about this hotel, poorly managed, and one very rude and inconsiderate receptionist. Its a shame as all other staff were really attentive to guests and honestly trying there best, just ashame about the poor management and lack of standards by house keeping.

Had an amazing experience here. The staff were really helpful and welcoming. The food and overall entertainment and service by the pool/bar area has been exquisite. The rooms are spacious, modern and clean. The area and surroundings are perfect for an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city life. I am looking forward to another trip back here in the future.

I want to start off by saying this hotel has great potential. (This is a long one. Sorry) We arrived 18th April for 5 nights. Check in isn’t until 3pm, not a problem as we didn’t get to the hotel until 3.30ish and had to wait 15mins until room was ready. Reception staff were friendly. Our room upon arrival wasn’t bad at all, we had a great view from our balcony. Rooms are not cleaned daily. And they’re not very attentive to making sure there’s enough toilet roll, or when taking dirty towels then leaving you with clean ones. The shower has a slightly poor design, as the shower screen is too short so doesn’t stop the water spraying onto the floor next to the toilet. The main area of the hotel- the pool and restaurant. The pool is well kept and clean, also the sun beds are so comfy. Much better than those horrible plastic ones at most hotels. The pool is freezing but it was April so in summer when it’s mega hot that would be lovely. The bar by the pool has nice staff on it, very basic drinks. I tried a cocktail but it’s the usual watered down vodka. I also tried an iced coffee 😆 I wouldn’t bother with that either. The restaurant- the food is quite basic. The usual chips, rice, salad, different meats. Nothing that special but was fine for us as we were only there for 5 nights. We are used to 5 star all inclusive so maybe that’s why we found the food so basic. One afternoon the chef was by the pool making fresh Tzatziki and handing out ouzo, I’m never trying that again 😆 I did think this was a nice touch. Entertainment was nice for this kind of hotel, had some Greek dancers and singers in most nights. One thing I would suggest which I think would have the nicest touch is the roof bar/terrace, if they were to have some entertainment up there of an evening as the views are seriously breathtaking. Even maybe a bbq one evening and some fairy lights. Honestly so stunning up there but no one uses it as you have to pay for the drinks (expensive) and there’s not much lighting up there. Make sure you visit the small cove just 2 minutes down the road as the water is crystal clear (pebble beach) and just overall beautiful little place to dip your toes. Hotel manager- George, is a really nice and friendly guy. He has only recently come to this hotel to help make things better. He had explained to us that they had staffing issues, being let down all the time. So I think he is trying really hard to make things better. He is there all day everyday over seeing things. We did witness a guest having a go at him about things they weren’t happy with in front of everyone by the pool (which was really not nice to see) and George took him to the side and calmly sorted out all his needs. A local bus arrives at the bottom of the hotel on the main road everyday and will take you to Corfu town for €2.70 each. Which is better than €55 each way on a taxi. Takes around 40 mins. Highly recommend as Corfu town is stunning. The best bit about this hotel is the view, honestly stunning. I couldn’t stop staring at it all day. Like I said this hotel has great potential it just needs more time to make those little things better. Overall we enjoyed our stay. 💜

Lovely hotel in a beautiful location, ideal fir exploring the island . If you don’t have a car you would need to rely on public transport if you wanted to explore further than Barbati village. As we went early the hotel was fairly quiet which we enjoyed. The rooms were fairly basic but a good standard and very clean, it was good to have a room located back from the restaurant and pool. Food was good, with a nice choice. Shout out to all of the staff who worked so hard to keep the place looking good and providing a wonderful service , particular mention to George the Food and Beverage Manager who was a star. Thank you everyone at the Golden Mare hotel