OK, start with a couple of negatives. Yes, it can smell a bit around the pool in the late evening, but that's not unusual for Greece of course - and you can sit in the outside bar area if you don't like the smell (didn't really bother any of us to be honest). And the hotel is about 8 km from the main Rethymnon town, but had bus stop outside - however, for us there was enough going on in the hotel itself and a few beach bars locally so this does not need to be an issue. Onto the positives; We travelled with another family with seven kids (10 to 18) between us and they all had a great time, and the hotel played a very big part in this. This of course meant the adults had a good holiday as well. So here's my run down:
ROOMS: Basic but very clean - clean daily, fresh towels. Basic air con facility but had fridge, TV etc. Can't really complain - it's 3+ Star in my mind, but very comfortable and spoltessly maintianed.
FOOD: Very good - great choice, lots of very nice local dishes as well as freshly prepared international standards. Great presentation, minimal or no queues, replenished promptly and varied daily. We all loved the food. Absolutely no complains.
DRINKS: Great bar, unlimited soft drinks, inclusive cocktails of the day, serve yourself Mythos lager on tap. Hard to beat.
ENTERTAINMENT: Friendly animation team, tried very hard - we didn't see many of their shows but we joined in with activities such as boules, table tennis, etc - which we all enjoyed. The animation team made a big effort but were not too 'over the top'.
CLIENTELE: Good variety - not too many Brits! German, Belgian, Dutch, French, Eastern European mix - all nice and friendly whilst we were there.
POOL/BEACH: Pool was salt water but not an issue for any of us - it wasn't like there was scampi swimming about in it, it was filtered and very clean. Chlorine pool undercover next to bar as well. Sun loungers were relatively scarce though - lots of ridiculously early 'towels on bed' reservation going on. But that's not unique to the Creta Star though. Any we always managed to get some beds if we were down for 09:00.
Beach beds were €3.50 each, which I did not think was a rip off but should be part of the all-inclusive deal I think.
LOCATION: Good central location - we visited Imbros Gorge, some lovely Beaches, Spinalonga Island, a fantastic lake and Rethymnon (which was a clean, cosmpolitan town with good shopping and bars/cafes around a marina). About 1 hour drive from airport (1.25 hours by shuttle bus).
VALUE: I think very good value given the cost, cleanliness, facilities, helpful and friendly and fantastic/plentiful food. Hard too beat at this price and star rating I think.

The good reviews are all correct. This is a decent 4 star ish hotel, with excellent food and excellent service.
The hotel is clean, clean rooms, bedding changed several times during the week, towels changed daily, though you couldnt take towels out of the room you could borrow a beach towel from the hotel at a kiosk near the beach. The previous guys posting about the smell is partly correct, id say musty rather than sewage, but it wasnt that bad. At night in a certain small section of garden there was a strong smell of Sulphor Dioxide ..rotten eggs...but it wasnt a problem..long way from hotel rooms.
We broke the shower when we arrived and told reception, maintainance guy was up within minutes to fix it.
animation team are amazing and work really hard, and are not too pushy at trying to get you to join in...lots to do during the day if your up for it.
Food was incredible. very very good choice of a wide range of foods. fresh cooked pizza every night as well as local delicacies, BBQ one night, loads of fresh meat, fish and vegetables..enough to keep even fussy eaters happy...we were there a week and there was no repetition...help yourself to beer and wine and soft drinks. the wine wasnt that good, but the beer was very drinkable...
ice cream available all day for the kids at no extra cost. excellent selection of drinks from the bars, never any queing, though must say not all of the drinks were listed on the menue, for example sparkling white wine wasnt listed but was available...so my advice is to ask at the bar anything you want and see if its there! rather than just look at the drinks menu..cocktails looked interesting if you knew what you were ordering but im not keen on sweet drinks so stuck to bourbon with sprite at most exotic! :)
Decor in the bars was ok..
We arrived late at 11.15pm, and the hotel had put food out for us, which was nice, as dinner finishes at 10pm.
pool is huge, the big pool outside is salt water, as are most in crete, but the indoor pool is freshwater...sunbeds were all taken before 6am by our European cousins..ahem..
Hotel is RIGHT on a small beach. the beach is about half a mile long, but only about 12 feet deep before the sea which rolls out over a rocky shore. good for snorkling but take swim shoes as i saw some sea urchins in cracks in the rocks.
The only (arguably) bad point about this hotel is its location. it is a 50 min bus journey away from rethymnon...tickets cost €1.50 each way from the hotel shop. buy return tickets rather than try to find a shop in rethymnon selling tickets! we asked where the return bus stop is before setting off as its not obvious. its worth a visit to rethymnon though as its a nice town. most people should be aware of the hotels location, so they really have no right to criticise it in a review, basically when you book a hotel you look where it is and if its not where you want to be dont go! This was fine for us as we dont mind being flung out a bit...we hired a car from the hotel for €70 for 2 days to see more of the island...driving felt safe, though no one seemed to stick to the speed limits!

finally, if youve booked it dont worry, if your thinking of booking it, you should be ok if your fairly easy going and are not expecting 5* luxury, but are realistic in expecting a relaxing holiday in an averagely decent hotel with fantastic food and friendly staff.

We recently stayed at the Creta Star hotel in Crete Rethymno. The hotel has been classifed as a 4 star. All as I can say is this must have been for the food and the entertainment team.

The catering and standard of food was excellent and the entertainment team were also excellent. There ends the positive points. The hotel was dated and old fashioned like a concrete junglee from the late 70's, the rooms were clean and tidy but definately needed an overhaul. The beds were not particularly comfortable either.

The pool was sea water and again old fashioned and plenty of concrete. although it was clean.

The 2 main faults of the hotel firstly it is miles away from the main resort with nothing in between. The second unless you were eating where the smell of food was excellent. The remainder of the hotel constantly smelt of sewage not particulary nice on a relaxing break. It smelt outside of your room by the pool in the bar. Terrible.

My suggestion for anybody going here excellent food not bad overall holiday. Take a peg for your nose.

it is avery good hotel with excellent service,food and room cleaning. we will come again