Didn’t read the reviews first!

[beetrootsalad]

We have booked a late deal and I’m sooooo annoyed with myself that we didn’t read the reviews first. It’s a hotel for a week on a Greek island, but it has terrible reviews - dirty, ants in the room and on the beds, hard beds, food disgusting. We go in a few days so it’s too late to change hotels. What can I pack to make the whole thing more bearable?? I have ant powder. I want to enjoy it as much as possible and don’t want to spend all week in a queue to complain to the rep (although I am preparing myself for that) :(

Ask to change? I’ve no idea what you can do and who wants to spend a holiday cleaning? Are all platforms showing consistent reviews? I guess this is why it has space!

Take anti bac wipes.

can u link the hotel here?

It’s kipriotis village in Kos

I had ants in my room in Rhodes it's not uncommon in hot countries. Powder is not great as mine were on the walls but the local ant spray worked a treat. You can go out for food if it's that bad, remember not everyone has the same taste. Finger 🤞

Trip advisor is 4 star rating and the summary isn’t great but not horrific. See below.

Did you get a good deal?

Have lowish expectations and make the most of it.

trip advisor - summary
Kipriotis Village Resort garners a spectrum of feedback. While the hotel's proximity to Kos Town and beaches is a highlight for many guests, opinions on other aspects vary. Some commend the resort for its friendly staff and enjoyable pools, particularly fun for children. However, others express disappointment with the outdated and sometimes unclean rooms and facilities. Service can be a hit or miss, occasionally marred by slow response times, and guests often feel the resort does not provide good value, citing additional costs and underwhelming food quality.

What's wrong with ants in your room? Are they the biting ones? Ordinary ones and you'll be fine.

Oh come off it, bugs crawling around everywhere is unpleasant at best, upsetting to many.

Honestly, take the reviews with a pinch of salt. Almost every holiday I’ve been on (including the one I’ve just returned from) had some/a lot of rubbish reviews. And each time I’ve come home and the reviews have been inaccurate. I’m not saying people are lying, but I do think people enhance their reviews. Either that or I’m easily pleased.

Reviews aren’t universally bad, and every review agrees there are good things about the hotel.

I’d go expecting the worst & I’m sure you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Ants are hardly upsetting!

Perhaps to you, but I expect trying to sleep with the little bastards crawling everywhere would be.
I had to have pest control in my house a couple of years ago to get rid of them, I'm not a fan.
I expect most people would prefer holiday accommodation without them is my point

@beetrootsalad have you been to the Greek islands before? Have been many times and often it does depend on expectations. Our last holiday was very last minute and the reviews not as good as I’d have liked. But the worst reviews were all older and often related to having to walk back from town uphill. We were really pleased in the end - I think our tour operator was allocated a different (better) accommodation block. So it can really vary.

If you end up going, take a bottle of lemon juice with you. Ants hate it, and it will kill them - but more importantly, it destroys the scent trails that attract them.

I’m in a couple of Facebook groups for Kos because we’re going in a few weeks, not to that hotel, but I have seen it mentioned. Some people are saying it’s not as bad as the reviews make out and they had a good time.

To answer your question, I’d take these for the ants, some anti bacterial wipes, and plan to eat out if the food is really bad.

Yes I’ve been many times and I’m well travelled - (and have stayed in some grotty places in my time) so I know the standards aren’t always the same as say Spain, Italy. I’m ok with spending time out of the resort, eating out etc. I think what’s bothering me most (and that’s probably coz I’m taking kids) is dirty pools and ants in beds

The recent reviews on most sites are poor. 2/10 this summer on hotels.com. So no, it’s not getting better.

I went to Cos in the 70s. Places like this have utterly spoilt the island. Such a shame. It’s obviously not remotely 4 or 5 stars. They get this rating because of pools and a spa! There is a lot of praise for the Animation team for DC. So not all gloom but can you not alter the hotel booking? Or is that not possible?

Alanna on Agoda has written an essay. Not a fun read. Drunk Brits would have me running for the hills.

@beetrootsalad I agree. There’s a few who like it but they probably got lucky. I agree, it’s a worry.

Don't have any food left around in your room, the reason some people are getting ants may be because they've got sweet food or drinks left around. Ants can smell sugar from a mile away (literally). Put any food away in fridge or cupboards wrapped up as much as possible and you probably won't have a problem at all.
We once left a cake out in a hot country and had loads of ants, got rid of the cake out the room and the ants didn't come back.

The reviews are very mixed, you're going with very low expectations now so might find that it's actually not as bad as you're expecting.

Well I wish I had read the reviews for our resort on Brac island Croatia, DH booked it and I left it up to him, never again.. We lasted 48 hours, and then I rented an apartment elsewhere and we moved out

Peppermint oil to clear the ants, wipes to clean up and go to the beach - if you can't change accommodation

Just back from a holiday where I was panicking after a flurry of recent bad reviews.
We didn't encounter any of the problems that other reviewers had. A few things weren't quite perfect but Im talking things like glasses not being collected quickly enough, and wonky tables on the bar....I was expecting a dated,.dirty room with horrible food and drink after reading some reviews.
I couldn't cope with ants in the room though and always request a higher floor so they should be less of an issue.

thanks for your help everyone! It was fine in the end. I think I had such low expectations I couldn’t have been disappointed! There were no ants (we did have a top floor) I put ant powder done just in case. The food wasn’t amazing but it was ok. I would say it was more like a Eurocamp than a luxury hotel. I expect the issue is with the prices people have to pay. If I had paid around 4k then I wouldn’t have been too happy but we got it cheaper as a late deal so I was happy with the price.

@beetrootsalad My issue is what people believe to be luxury! This place obviously is not. Few places are and they are very very expensive! Most people never stay at somewhere brilliant. They seem to rely on a dodgy star rating where 4 stars would be 2 at best in the uk! They get a star for a pool and a beach! People just book any old place believing it to be luxury. We have some very odd standards!