Aquila Porto Rethymno

Hotel is in a great location all staff we had encounters with during our stay were friendly and helpful! The restaurant area is small for the size of the hotel which we noticed more during our last few days here as more people arrived. Room was clean and spacious only thing I would say is the bathroom was dated and we found getting out of the bath/shower very awkward and slippery as so did other guests we spoke to during our stay could do with changing to just a large shower rather than a bath!! We didn’t spend a lot of time at the hotel during the daytime as the pools are in shade and not a lot of sun loungers around either pools so couldn’t really get one but the beach opposite was lovely and you can get sun beds and parasol for free on the hotel part and also order drinks Abbé who was working on the beach during our time was great he was friendly efficient and very good at his job especially in the heat!!

So its important to note that Im not going to give my thoughts on what I believe the true star rating of the hotel is, you will have to come yourself and check it out. Let's begin. We stayed in side sea view room 332, which was clean, spacious and had comfortable beds and a good shower area. No issues with the room, good amount of space for cloths etc. We arrived after midnight and no issues at check in, given a form to fill out, and told we could do it in our room and bring down next morning. It would've been nice to have been offered small snack etc, however not the case, its the little things! Staff do work incredibly hard, but not enough of them to go around especially in busy periods, this is very evident. Special mention to Maria, who I have to say had exceptional customer service skills. So, let's talk about food. Well in general its ok, I really can't add much more than that. You can always get something. I've read many reviews saying the buffet style is the best that they have had. Well I've had better and also had much worse. In my mind its an adequate all inclusive buffet trying to cater for different nationalities. Drinks, well there is no formal bar area, so manger please take take this advice. Open up the indoor bar area and give people what they want, a proper bar. You have to wait for staff to walk around and take your order, its not always ideal and this is the first all inclusive where guests can't pull a simple beer! Again its the small things. Again manager take note, its a good idea! Drinks are pricey if you're paying for them. You might want to consider the AI option. So the hotel is in the third biggest city, its a city hotel and as such its landlocked, you can't do anything to expand or modify and as such the major compromise is the main pool area. You see the dining room is not big enough to cater for busy periods so the sunbeds have had to go to make way for outdoor dining. In fairness there is about a dozen or so beds round one side. The pool is partially shaded. Then there is a what I would call plunge pool on the mezzanine terrace which has room for maybe 20 parasols and beds. Also some shaded areas. Then they have the indoor spa pool which is very small,so no one ever uses it. The one big plus is over the road you have full access to free hotel beds and there are plenty of them. Then straight down to the sea which has a lovely small gradient to walk out into. Location is also a huge advantage, 15 min walk to old town which is stunningly beautiful. In peak months is very busy. The A la Carte restaurant is superb, stunning food, huge portions, one might argue too much food, but truly world class. Service impeccable. You must visit. So i will conclude, more positives than negatives overall. Had a good holiday. I will be returning to Rethymno again because it is a beautiful resort. Oh one last thing, be careful around the plunge pool, floor is very slippy, go careful.

Arrived at 2 am. on Friday and was greeted by a lovely guy. Our room was awesome. The view at first light was spectacular. The breakfast was so good so much to choose from, as were the lunch time and evening meals, the staff here are exceptional. For the first couple of days, we stayed by the pool and had pool side service of beers and soft drinks. Like a clown on our first day, I slipped and smashed my head on the floor. The manager came running and couldn't do enough for me, my fault totally. The entertainment in the evening is all very good, the hotel is a 10 minute walk to the old town and boat harbour,loads of restaurants and shops. The beach is a 30-second walk across the road from the hotel. I'd highly recommend anyone coming here. We're booking when we get home for 2 weeks next year.