Avra Beach Resort Hotel – Ixia – Rhodes

This was our third (annual) visit to the Avra Beach hotel. The first time we visited, we enjoyed it enough to return. It was not “A1″ wonderful, but for the cost was a good bargain & always clean & tidy and in a great location.

The second visit saw vast improvements & modernisation, so this made us decide to return for a third time. Alas, this was a disappointment to say the very least. The further ‘improvements’ we had been told about had not happened, yet the cost had risen considerably. The rating has gone up to 4 star but don’t be decieved, this is not a 4star hotel.

The standard of the food has deteriorated badly. Breakfast was not worth looking at, let alone bothering with. Only thing worth a mention is a warm cup of coffee (from a machine of course. ) The lunch was unappetising & very repetitive. The only thing worth eating was the kebabs. Dinner faired no better either. Also, one visit’s Greece to be amongst Greeks, who are indeed charming & friendly people, but the owner has ‘got rid’ of all his Greek staff & instead we have restaurtant staff all Indonesian, bar staff Bulgarian etc. Etc. Not that we have anything against these people at all, just that it wasn’t “Greece” any more.

The entertainment was abysmal, as was the daytime animation team, who tended to try & be very ‘pushy’ by trying to get us to take part in activities when we just didn’t want. On a positive note (about the only one) the cleanliness could not be faulted.

The rental of the safe was exccessive, as was the cost of the air-conditioning, especially when we hit a “heatwave” (even by Rhodes standards). Many people were ill with the heat, yet the owner just refused to make allowances.

All in all, not a really good experience, especially when one of our party ‘lost’ some stuff (inc. his flight tickets) from his luggage whilst it was being kept “safe” in reception after our 12 noon checkout.
We will certainly never be going back to Avra Beach again (this had been decided long before the loss incidentally. That didn’t sway our decisions at all).

Such a shame as the Avra Beach hotel enjoys such a fine location in Ixia & the gardens are well kept, pool area is spacious too. It is delightful & peaceful (well, unitl the animtaion team get going with their shouting & very loud music, all totally unneccesary).