Guest User
October 18, 2024
We previously stayed at Aquila Elounda Village Hotel in June 2017. We decided to return to Crete this year and did not hesitate in our choice of hotel. We were sceptical that the hotel could be quite as good as we’d remembered in view of the 7 year gap since our last visit, and with the aftermath of the pandemic. We need not have doubted!! This hotel and all its staff were as splendid, if not better, than we remembered. We chose a better room this time, treating ourselves to a shared pool. My husband does not like too much sun and does not swim, preferring to read in the shade, soak up the views and watch me frolicking in and out of the pool. Having a pool in front of the room therefore seemed the perfect compromise for us to both have a fantastic holiday. Unfortunately, because of the time of the year, the sun did not reach our patio or pool, making it much less inviting to be room-based. I explained this to the guest relations staff at reception (namely Haridimos, Thomas and Alexandra). The hotel was at full capacity at the time, but it was clear from the offset that the staff genuinely wanted to help us and we were told that they would try moving us to a room with a bit more sun as soon as one became available. True to their word, we were moved to such a room two days into our holiday; the new room not only gave us the sun we’d hoped for, but the staff were delighted to inform us that it also meant an upgrade. We now had our very own pool and a much bigger suite! We really cannot give enough praise to the way in which these 3 staff members rallied round to help resolve our problem and to ensure our holiday was everything we had hoped for and more. They are truly a credit to this hotel! We were also very pleasantly surprised to find out that because we had paid for one of the more expensive rooms, that made us Mythica guests, and meant we could eat at our preferred A La Carte restaurant (Mirabella) every night. The setting and food at this restaurant was sublime, and as for the waiting staff, namely Sofia, beautiful Natalya and Dimitris, nothing was too much. These same staff were there evening after evening of our stay, but never failed to be anything other than delightful – friendly, informative and funny. We felt we had become more than customers by the end of our week there - we had become friends. The one other member of staff that I must mention is Sofia in the main restaurant. I recognised this lovely lady from when we visited 7 years ago, and she has apparently been working at the hotel for 20 years. All I can say is that her ability to continue to show such enthusiasm and desire to ensure each guest is happy after 20 years in the job is commendable. All in all, we LOVED everything about our holiday at this wonderful hotel - the STUNNING hilltop setting, clean sea, gorgeous architecture of the hotel, beautifully maintained and established gardens, and ABOVE ALL ELSE………the splendid staff! Needless to say, we will definitely NOT be wa