The Royal Senses Resort & Spa Crete, Curio Collection by Hilton

We had an amazing stay at this hotel. The hotel is absolutely beautiful, with a very high standard and excellent service. We were kindly upgraded to a luxurious suite with a private pool, which made our stay even more special. The private pool was not heated, but it was still wonderful. The hotel also has two outdoor pools. One is not heated, while the other is wonderfully warm — we absolutely loved the warm pool! The breakfast was delicious, with a great variety and very high quality. We truly enjoyed every moment of our stay and would definitely come back again. Highly recommended!

There was nothing we didn’t like. We loved everything about our stay and had a wonderful experience.

We saw this hotel being built on previous trips to Crete so were keen to finally stay and explore the Royal Senses. We spent five night there and it was would be best described as a holiday of two halves. We booked a family king room with a sea view (I think every room has a sea view). When we checked in we were given an accessible room very close to reception. While the room itself was nicely furnished and spacious, it had a very small balcony and all four of us were very much in one room. This wasn’t quite what I’d envisaged on booking and we had hoped to spend time on our balcony with a drink watching beautiful sunsets and playing cards. Similarly while I’m happy to share with my children, the partition of the Family King room would have given us more space. I spoke to reception on day 1. They were helpful and responded relatively quickly, looking for alternative options. Although there wasn’t anything they could do immediately due to the hotel being very full, they offered to move us to an Elite Suite the following day. The Elite Suites are beautiful. The room had a gorgeous terrace with a private pool and the most beautiful views of the sea. They were spacious, private and luxurious. The room change allowed us to see the hotel from a very different perspective. Another huge positive was the food. Having eaten at lots of hotel buffet restaurants, and often found them repetitive and lacking in quality, and having lived in Dubai, famous for its extensive brunches, I’ve got high standards. Gea, the main hotel restaurant did not disappoint. Breakfast and dinner were varied with a huge array of options. There was something for everyone and a lot of the food was cooked in front of you - beef wellington, fresh fish, prawns, mussels, fresh cookies, cinnamon buns - the list goes on. I was very impressed! Well done to the catering team! We also took part in the Cretan night, which was an à la carte event and cost extra, however it was worth it.

We experienced an unfortunate sun-bed situation which was a shame. Having sunbathed, read and gone for a swim around 9:15, we went for breakfast leaving our things on our sun-beds. When we returned 30 minutes later all our stuff had been removed by the hotel pool staff and put to one side. They said it was their policy to move towels and belonging off beds if they’d been empty for more than half an hour. In principle I don’t have an issue with this type of policy as long as it is consistent. What frustrated us was that when we arrived at the pool there were loads of towels left on beds in order to save spots and these hadn’t been removed. The member of staff who removed our things also had no system - it was mainly on gut feeling. When we raised this with her, and pointed at towels that were clearly not being used and had been there for a while, she said fine and went and took their stuff off too. If you are going to operate a system, ensure it is fair and consistent. Another bit of feedback relates to the Cretan Night. We loved it as adults but I think they need to rethink their kids menu. I really object to paying 15 euro for spaghetti with butter! A kids menu never needs to be more than 10 euro including pudding. In hindsight I should have taken my daughters to the main restaurant and fed them there, included in our stay, beforehand.

Beautiful location, exceptional personnel.

Le design de l’hôtel, le buffet

Les chambres qui ne comportent pas de salle de bain mais de deux lavabo dans l’entrée., d’une vue mer annoncée mais en réalité en fonction des chambres plutôt une vue supermarket et toit de l’hôtel