Keri Village & Spa by Zante Plaza

Second visit to this hotel, I have to start by saying some of the reviews I’ve seen recently are shocking, I personally feel untrue and very harsh. We have returned for our second holiday, and are currently booking again for next year. We love it here, it’s perfect, quiet, calm and gorgeous. Food is lovely, drinks, beers and cocktails are great. Pool is huge, plunge pool is stunning and great for a hot day. We have used the free transfer bus to visit the beach daily, where we have swam in the med, been snorkelling, hired a speed boat, had some great food and cocktails. We hired a car through the hotel (€38 great value) saw the island, visited villages and fell in love with the island more! The staff are faultless, always working from sunrise till close and always friendly. We are so happy to see staff still here a year on, who feel like friends. We are finishing our holiday tomorrow with a massage and steam bath. Thank you to the staff for making our anniversary with a bottle of fizz! The only thing that would be a slight improvement would be some olives or nuts at the bar…. But I can always buy those down Keri.

I've given two stars, which is the rating this place should have. The word to sum it up is 'begrudging' - every penny spent on the guests (or spent by the guests) is clearly heavily resented. For example, upon arrival you are given a plastic bottle each and told to refill these with water for meals. This isn't because they care about hydration but to discourage you from eating into their profits by taking something more expensive, like flat Pepsi. Even sparkling water is Not Allowed in your bottles. Pros: It is clean. Most of the staff are friendly and helpful. The gardens are kept nicely. Most of the food was tasty and well seasoned. Air-conditioning in your room is included in the price. I would usually count this as a given and not a pro, but I'm shocked this place doesn't charge for it. Cons: There is zero shade on any sunbeds throughout the day. No exaggeration. The only option for shade is to sit under the bar canopy on hard plastic chairs. The sunbeds are cheap mesh things, no comfort. Frequent smell of drains from all areas of the hotel. They're too cheap to put the aircon on in the dining room, and you can't sit outside because of the wasps, so you must sit and sweat when eating meals. Drinks are awful. Cocktails are syrupy, alcohol is cheap (even for AI), and soft drinks are served at room temperature from 2L bottles which quickly go flat. Nearly all the hot food is swimming in a thick layer of oil. Items are often over or undercooked, e.g. chalky rice or cremated meat. The pool barmaid is surly and rude. Pool towels and safes cost extra, which is further proof this place is nowhere near 4*. The standard rooms are tiny and dark. They have one small window which faces onto public areas at ground level, so the blind has to be kept down. You can pay extra for natural light in a room upgrade. There is no ventilation in the bathrooms. The showers are tiny and dark, since the bathrooms have no windows and the lights are poor. Towels are tiny and hard. Save your money.

Well where do I start? Probably with the good points and there are not many? The rooms are large and spacious. We’re clean. Regular towels changed daily. We had room 604. I believe some rooms did not have kettles for tea making facilities we did The views also are incredible and I’ve got to say is the best bacon I have ever had overseas but that’s where it ends. They say this is a four star hotel it is two star at best. The food Apart from the salad and fruit The meals were substandard sweet-and-sour chicken beef stiffado floating in oil. The tomato soup was the worst soup I have ever had. The snacks provided are just small triangular sandwiches. And there is only one tray of these There are no nibbles such as crisps or nuts. The eating area resembles more like a hostel with not enough tables inside there are tables outside, but these are not set up so you have to get your own serviettes Salt-N-Pepper The drinks are not well-known brands and probably local produce the lager was okay. Facilities. The food area is more like a canteen which goes through into the bar area the chairs in the bar area a low and uncomfortable and very difficult to get out of the room itself had no atmosphere in it Had two big tvs on the wall with greek football on but they didn’t put premiership football on if game was on however there was no sound. The area had one toilet which was for both sexes If you went down to the spa area, there were male and female toilets with two cubicles in each, these were the only toilet facilities on site apart from in your room There was no toilet facilities around the pool. The hotel has no safe room for storing your luggage when you are leaving it is left in the lobby where anyone could walk in and take it also I noticed there are no check sheets on the toilets. These sheets are there to say that the toilet has been inspected and should be signed by an employee say every two or three hours these were nonexistence. They say there are enough sunbeds for everyone I counted 70 The pool water was freezing and as stated by others the place was swarming with wasps but he was not just a hotel. It was also down in the I don’t know what you’d call it the strip.KIRI There is a mini bus that will run you down there from 10 o’clock till 10:20 does not run all day. As other people have suggested minibus can carry eight people however if there are more people wanting to go down the bush will take you takes about 10 minutes to get there. When you get there there is absolutely nothing there three supermarkets six or seven places to eat or drink in about 20 boat hires or trip places you can walk around the place in 20 minutes the beach reasonably long but narrow The bus will pick you up at 1 o’clock 3 o’clock and 5 o’clock The hotel is in the middle of nowhere surrounded by hills we were charged €10 a night Greek tax luckily for us we were only there five nights cause , I don’t think we could have lasted much longer. You have to be out of your room by 11 and our bus home was at 4 o’clock so my wife asked if there was a place where she could have a shower to freshen up before going home. My wife was charged €10 for a shower In all my years of going overseas. I have never ever heard of being charged to have a shower if you wish to keep your room for longer then yes But €10 for a shower is disgusting if you are ove 75 then this place is for you. I did have entertainment on two male singers who were quite good a male and female duo who were okay and the DJ who was ok This place is more like a retirement home than the holiday Villa And I must say I did feel sorry for the younger people there who had absolutely nothing to do. At least you could keep yourself fit by shooting away all the wasps Would we go back never? Would I recommend this place? Absolutely not? Is it a four star hotel? No

Firstly, ignore the negative comments about Keri Hotel & Spa. This is the first holiday my wife has not wanted to return home from (which is high praise indeed!). This is a remote location for those looking to fly and flop for a while. Saying that, there are options to go further afield if you choose such as car/quad/motorcycle hire, taxis etc The best option is the free regular shuttle bus to Keri beach 10 minutes from the hotel. Beautiful clear warm seas, panoramic views, boat hire and sea trips along with a multitude of restaurants. The rooms are cleaned spotlessly every day with clean towels and linen. Although dated interiors the accommodation is more than comfortable with air conditioning. There is always a wide selection of freshly prepared food to cover every taste and the food areas are kept very clean at all times. No limits on drinks but are local branded spirits so we’d suggest perhaps bringing something from duty free if you have a favourite tipple. The clientele is 80% in excess of 60 years of age. Mostly British with some Germans mixed in. Staff are incredibly hard working but remain polite, cheerful, friendly and helpful. The pool area is spotless and cleaned at the end of every day. Sun loungers are as you’d expect with each pair having a parasol. There is also an outside bar so never too far to travel for refreshments. There are wasps as others have mentioned but that is everywhere including the beach so don’t blame the hotel. Entertainment was ok for a small hotel but don’t expect Coldplay to turn up any time soon. Think more pub singers and you’d be close, but still entertaining. We will be back!

Let me start by saying we really enjoyed our stay and the staff were all fabulous. Here’s why I only awarded 3 stars. Our room was spotlessly clean but the advertised garden view is a bit generous - it overlooked the side of the hotel which is just scrubland, one flower bush does not constitute a garden. The safe was an optional extra which is ridiculous. My personal feeling was that the bed was rock hard but my wife liked it. I always prefer a bath too so having to make do with a shower was disappointing. The food was ok but most of the meat dishes were very dry and sometimes overcooked or burnt. Breakfast was ok. Coffee was good. Sweets were dangerously moreish. Snacks were good too, always something to try. The drinks were fine, definitely have a try of the cocktails. The beer was good but the wines took a little getting used to. Plastic refillable bottles are used for water each day. A great idea that should be law for all hotels worldwide. The lounge area with the evening bar needs all the chairs and sofas replacing. They are shabby and very uncomfortable, past their best. The pool area was lovely although a little more shade would have been nice. The pool bar was great. The pool itself is very deep at one end and quite chilly to get into but nice enough after the initial shock. The wasps were terrible, stinging lots of people. Apparently this year was a bad year for them. Personally I think the hotel could have done better in controlling them but it’s a tricky call. Get the free shuttle to town and have a trip out to the turtles, beach and caves. Well worth it. The spa was overpriced and the treatments sub-standard. I wouldn’t bother. No late checkout available which is a mark against the hotel.