The hotel rooms were lovely, we had a beautiful sea view from our balcony (room 826) and the buildings were typical Greek white and blue with bourganvilla everywhere.. Could not fault the staff and the night reception man was particularly helpful when we needed him. The food was buffet style with quite a wide range and was ok. The pools and pool bar were great, except that the Germans put their towels on the sunbeds so you had no chance. However, from the minute we arrived we realised that we were the only English staying there, and we were made to feel it. We said 'good morning' to several guests on our first morning but found that they never smiled and were quite off, to the point of being rude. The day of the England/Germany game the hotel played the German national anthem at around 11.00 in the morning, very loudly, and the entertainments organiser was shouting a lot about Deutschland and put up a German flag - no mention about England at all (as far as I could understand - probably a good thing) He then said that he would do the same for Holland the next day - still no mention of England - You can imagine how we felt after England's appalling display!!! I would certainly recommend this hotel if you don't mind being surrounded by Germans - probably better than a load of English larger louts - at least they were quiet apart from the day of the England/Germany game, and we did get used to it eventually. The hotel is only a short walk from the restaurants and bars, and there are regular buses to Kos, Kardemena and Kefalos. We also took boat rides to Turkey (from Kos) and Kalymnos (from Mastichari). We had to go to the Tourist Information in Kos to find out anything about the island though, as anything in the hotel was in German. Will probably go back to the hotel again - but will learn to speak German first.

On arrival in our sea view room, the first thing we did was to open the curtains and sliding door to admire the view....which was trees and no sea! I mentioned this to reception who said that it would be a sea view room if the trees werent there and that they didnt have any other rooms without trees in front of them. The rooms are basic with pretty drab decorations and to say we were self catering we didnt get a kettle, chopping board, sharp knife, teaspoon and a whole host of other things that you might need to make a sandwich or a cuppa. Anyway, it was a very warm evening so we switched on the air con and went out into the village for our evening meal. On our return we discovered that the room was not the cool haven we expected, and that the aircon was not working. I went to reception to tell them about the fault. The receptionist advised me that the aircon only worked from 3pm until midnight and given that it was 1.30am the room had probably just 'warmed up' and that we should just open a window. I explained that we'd paid for it and that it should be turned on. She explained that it couldnt be just turned on for us and that they would have to make the change for the whole complex. When I eventually spoke to the manager four days into the 7 day holiday he said that he would be able to turn it on for our studios and apologised for the lack of sleep we might have had. The rest of the stay was pretty uneventful with the repitition of 'agadoo' and 'I am the music man' each and every night. Surely English and German children have more up to date taste in music? I know I've gone on a bit but this last bit was the final insult....
When we came to pay for the rooms on the last night, I handed the receptionist my Amex card. He also asked for a card to pay for the other room, so another member of our party handed him their card too. He gave me the slip to sign which I did. He then bought the second slip for my friend to sign and I noticed my card details we on the slip. I pointed out the mistake and the man on reception started to ask 'why I mess him about'. I explained that he'd simply swiped the wrong card twice and that he should just refund my card and the drama would be over. Anyway, he tried the refund which he did incorrectly and debited my card for the third time. He couldnt get the machine to work with refunds so I said I would go to bed and that we would sort in the morning when reception were back. I was woken up at 2am with him knocking on the door asking me to come to reception to 'enter my PIN'. I explained that we'd sort it in the morning. After lots of shouting and trying to reason with the staff the day after, we still didnt get anywhere and to this day I don't have my money back. The hotel promised that they would transfer the money into my account on my return to the UK however once I called them on my return they explained that they werent willing to do this. I've had to leave this with Amex to try and resolve on my behalf. So.....long story I know but all I can say is there are lots and lots of apartments in the village many with sea views and many that are of nicer quality than this hotel so please don't waste your money.

In many ways staying at the Mastichari is a bit like trying to buy a BMW. You kind of know what you're going to get before you drive it; you are surprised by how little you get in the base package without shelling out on some options and you have to put up with an awful lot of German standards. The good points for me were the service at the restaurant, where the food was of generally good quality and easily available via the buffet service, and the extremely helpful staff. The bad points were all around the blatant penny pinching by the management. We stayed half board which was a good deal - but although the food was free we had to pay for our drinks separately. Want internet access or the key to your rooms security safe ? More money required. But by far the worse offender was the A/C system. Despite being the height of the summer, the Air Con was only available between 15:00 and Midnight. In addition it switched off when you were out of the room or if the balcony doors weren't securely shut. if you came back a bit late from the bar then you often had less than half an hour of cool air before you found yourself waking up in an oven in the early hours.

In general the other guests were mostly German and the Kids club is basically for them only (unless your child is fluent in the language). But to be honest the other guests were very polite and the anticipated stereotypical fight for sun-beds around the pool did not occur.

The location of the hotel near the village (and more importantly the village public beach) is excellent which was just as well since the hotels beach again was done on the cheap with the sand stabilised by a screen of rocks and seaweed.

We booked this holiday indepedently and had plenty of worries as we turned up at reception, this being our first holiday as a couple we wanted everything to be perfect!! And it was!
We turned up very late at night and although there were some initial problems with the room booking (all my fault!) the night manager Antonios did everything he could to make us feel welcome and found us a room anyway.
The only thing I would say is that we were a bit concerned about the smell in the bathroom, but it seemed to dissappear after a day or two anyway! The room was very clean, although I wouldnt count it as four star; there wasn't a kettle with any tea or coffee and our bed was two singles pushed together, they kept coming apart which was annoying! Also the air-con only works a very odd hours of the day, when you are least likely to be in the room, and will only work when the electric is on...
We have no other complaints about this resort! The rest of the Hotel is definatly Four Star!
Our little balcony had a great view, I think it would be difficult to not have a good view at this hotel, it is surrounded by beautiful gardens! The whole place is very well kept and clean clean clean!
The beach is right on your doorstep and is very quiet which is lovely. There are rocks going into the sea but this did not bother us as they had a long jetty to jump off during the day for a dip in the sea and makes for a lovely night-time wander aswell.
The food at the Hotel is good, although there could have been a few more labels explaining the food, as I am vegetarian I had trouble deciding!
Now onto the staff. They were one of the main parts to our brilliant holiday! Everybody was extremly friendly, we were worried that, being a mainly German Hotel there would be a bit of a language barriar problem or that staff would favour them when problems arrive ect. But not so! All the staff knew some English and we learnt some Greek/German aswell. We made plenty of friends and often spent the evenings having drinks with the staff after their shifts.
The entertainment at the Hotel was very cheesy but so lighthearted and extremley funny! Big cheers for the Childrens Club entertainers, especially Andre and Uri (have a drink with those guys!) they seemed to keep going all day, never getting tired or looking fed up!
Cocktails wernt too expensive although spirits wern't as cheap, when we go back we will go all inclusive!
The village is just across the road and is just as good as the Hotel, the beach isnt busy at all and the sea is blue. All the taverns serve traditional greek food which was brilliant. We especially enjoyed eating at the little tavern right at the other end of the village, poking out onto the sand.
Also worth a try is a place called The Bar which is the first bar you get to as you cross the road out of the Hotel. Its has lovely friendly english owners, but they have live music from greek locals a few nights a week, and also themed nights, Reggea night was fabulous! You can easily drink far too many cocktails there, as they are very good value for money!
This is not a place to go if you love Clubbing every night as there are no close clubs, but we found making friends with the staff helped as the could show us the closest parties/ clubs to go to with them!
This was the best holiday we have been on and we will definatly go back again. The whole area is so picturesque and very relaxed and out of the way. Beautiful!