Labranda Sandy Beach Resort

Beautiful restaurant with lovely food the people around are also super nice and helpful when trying to see new locations. Definitely recommend to others and would definitely come to corfu again. Huge thanks to Nadia and the manger they were super nice and helpful through out our whole experience.

We were three and have booked three rooms next to each other. We got three rooms each in different buildings. In addition, it is completely overcrowded. Worst hotel I've ever been to. Please do me a favor and don't go there. It ruined our vacation

I am writing this on our final morning of ten whilst on the beach at Sandy Beach resort. There are an awful lot of things that are great about this hotel. The staff, without exception, are superb. Warm, professional and efficient in ensuring they do all they can to ensure your stay is as enjoyable as possible. Secondly, the two bedroom apartments are vast. Alongside the two bedrooms is an enormous middle room that could (and should) be furnished with chairs and a TV. Instead, it has two superfluous beds and no other furniture. Still, you can’t fault the size of the place. Whilst simple, it is very comfortable, not least the beds, which Lenny Henry would be proud of. Also, having two bathrooms reduced queuing time dramatically for a family of four. Thirdly, the pools are fantastic. There are three large pools with different vibes, and if you wake up before 8:30, you should have no problem finding sunbeds. Anytime after that and you’re pushing your luck. Finally, the beach. My words won’t do it justice, so just take a look at the photos. It’s the closest beach on the Med to a Caribbean beach that we have come to on our varied travels. If I was rating the beach, I would give it five stars. We spent 6/10 days lazing there all day. So why only a four star I hear you ask? Well, despite all the positives, there are some grave issues at this hotel, largely down to size. The hotel is enormous with nearly 700 rooms and well over 2000 guests. This makes managing the food and beverage operation a challenge. Sadly, those in charge have prioritised profit over guest experience. For instance, they operate a token system for your drinks whereby you exchange a token for a cup and return that cup to the bar every time you need a drink. All very environmentally friendly I hear you say. The issue is, this eco friendly approach is more about economizing than environmental protection. The cups are about 25cl, which means that you could conceivably finish your drinks whilst half way back to your sunbed and then have to return to the queue for another within five minutes as you are only allowed one drink. This becomes a particular issue at night as there are only two bars open trying to serve 2000 people. The queues stretch to 25 mins (see photo). This is a shame as people end up snaking around tables in some giant conga whilst guests are trying to watch some pretty decent musical acts. Btw, the entertainment is split between the Aperitivo bar (two bar staff only) and the amphitheater (four bar staff only for a theatre that holds 800). This meant we have up on the hotel in the evening and went for a few drinks in the small resort. (As another aside, Stamatis bar, Billy’s Taverna, Panorama restaurant are all worth a look.) This problem extends to the buffet dining hall. Although the staff are amazing and make it work, the queues are often horrendous e.g for fried eggs. Likewise, they keep it focused and minimal on choice due to the sheer number of guests. This works from an organisation and efficiency point of view and I salute the way the team manage the room, but from an enjoyable experience POV, it isn’t great. This could be a five star rating with some simple changes. If they added some water and soft drinks dispensers next to the bar so that guests could serve themselves, as I have experienced at various other hotels, the queues would half. If they opened up two more bars in the evening, the queues would half. However, I don’t think they will do that as it’s not very eco for their profit margins and I suspect they like it how it is. Fair enough, the place is packed so I can’t fault it as a business model. As a customer, I am just glad that I can escape the crowds and chill out on the beach.

Makes me wonder if we stayed at a different hotel when I read some of the other reviews. We stayed (family of 5, three kids 17, 13 and 7) at the end of July. It was average at best. Impossible to get a sunlounger unless you're up and reserving beds at 7am and frustratingly half of them are left unused until midday. Its a shame nothing is done about this. My youngest did enjoy the kids club, and the staff there were great with them. However my two teenagers had very little to do. The entertainment in the pools down towards the beach seemed aimed at the French tourists. The food was pretty poor in my opinion. We have stayed in all inclusives for many years now and this was by far the worst. Yes it varied but its just not very appetizing and you have to shoo flies off most of the dishes which is off putting to say the least. The drinks were ok, its a shame that the bars seemed very short staffed for the number of guests and the queues could be very long. Evening entertainment was hit and miss. Some good live music down by at the lobby bar but the beach bar was always way too busy. We found 90% of the bar staff to be quite surly and rude too. We ended up walking into along the beach front to the main resort several times to eat and for decent drinks. Mondos is great and the cocktails in Sunset Bar are amazing, as are the views. Shame really as it had the potential to be amazing. Looks like the villa rooms with their own pool are the ones to go for!

We had a mixed experience so I’ll focus on the positives first: the animation team and entertainment around the pool area was good with lots of activities. The main reception area and bar behind this is very nice. Staff are friendly and helpful. There is an area containing a shop and spa. The little road train into town is a great idea and the lady who sells the tickets was lovely. Our children loved the slides and the pool. Rooms were cleaned daily and we were given a large amount of towels for the room each day. There are little golf buggies to take luggage and guests around the resort and the staff driving these are friendly and helpful. The parts of the complex away from the main reception where we stayed seemed tired and needing TLC. Whilst the rooms were cleaned, the toilet wasn’t cleaned throughly each day. Food is satisfactory but not amazing compared to other all inclusives we have visited. Good selection though. Poolside toilets are horrible so we used the toilets in the main reception or in our rooms. Considering we paid nearly £5000, not all drinks are all inclusive and ice creams have to be paid for. The basic cocktails are not good. At one point, the bar behind reception ran out of red wine and instead of replacing it, they gave us a watery mix of the dregs of the red mixed with white. It was a lovely idea to give guests two free meals at any of the three a la carte restaurants but we could only get in on the last night to one of them. Maybe a voucher for extra drinks or ice creams could have been given instead to guests if this happens? However, I heard another guest say they got in earlier because they were paying. Sun beds are reserved by guests so early that it is hard to get one later on- despite signs saying do not reserve- no one is reinforcing this rule. The communal corridor areas outside rooms are filthy and the same rubbish was outside for the whole week, including someone’s false nail for 4 days so clearly the corridors are not swept. Umbrellas by the pool are tired and do not offer much shade from the sun. Overall, this resort is basic and there are good points but I do not believe it represented value for money. We would not return.