There are many excellent reviews of the hotel and the town here and on the whole I agree with most of them. I therefore propose to concentrate on other points.
We spent a fortnight in Room 306 overlooking the pool at the end of August. Front of the hotel has lovely sea views but not much sun on the balconies. It was not noisy and AC/fridge worked well.
The lid of the safe is extremely heavy and I often thought quite dangerous should it slip and fall onto your hand. Please be careful. Balconies in Rooms 01 to 05 face the back of a building and a blank wall and should be avoided. We like having breakfast outdoor by the pool. The fruit juice was more squash rather than juice but it was no great hardship to get Peach Nectar from the nearest supermarket for €1.50. The breakfast was cereals (no British Cornflakes – bring your own if you must have Kelloggs), Greek Yoghurt (thick but they claimed only with 2% fat), tinned and fresh fruit, six hot dishes which varied daily, cheese and ham, toast making facility, various kinds of bread, numerous jams and Cretan honey and some Greek specialities which were tasty and enjoyable. The staff kept refilling the trays all morning with fresh supplies. Excellent food.
The Breakfast was however totally ruined by the number of visitors smoking nearby, some without a break. Even when we sat away from others by the side of the pool, the smoke was smelly and sickening. Why people have to smoke right first thing in the morning and why non smokers have to put up with so much selfishness I have no idea. Ever since smoking was banned indoors, we have been plagued by this problem every time we go away on holiday. I can only dream of having smoke free al fresco meals abroad now a days.
There was an amazing show every night – with what seemed like hundreds of thousands of birds – swallows? – swarming all over the town trying to find suitable resting places on overhead cables.
We went on B and B basis. Evening meals in the hotel looked good value for money for the choice on offer. However, we ate out every night. Cost roughly €40 for the meal including a bottle of wine €15. I recommend Loggia, To Pigadi (The Well), Agira (in Panoramo), Taverna Castelo, Taverna Sokaki (Lemon Garden), Alana, and Othonas. I regret I don’t remember some other names but for lunches especially, I highly recommend a Restaurant called Fanari just across the road from the hotel by the sea wall. The view of the sea in the warm sunshine was lovely and so was the food and the service. Dimetri, the waiter, is friendly and attentive and brought us a complimentary half carafe of wine when we became regulars! If you go to have a meal or a drink say Hello and wish him the best from us.
We had to pay €20 to keep the room until 6pm on the day of the departure. It was worth it and allowed us to take advantage of the whole day in the resort. There are large lockable storage cupboards for the cases and the hotel supplied the towels for a shower before dinner! We enjoyed our stay and we may visit again. However, Crete is a large island and to see it properly, we may have to stay in different locations over a number of visits.