“Blissful winter retreat in a luxury hotel with impeccable management and service standards.”
My husband and I had searched high and wide for a luxury hotel to stay in on our spur of the moment leisure holiday booking to Cyprus. Amathus Beach Hotel in Limassol had better reviews on a wide variety of websites, better room specifications, a quiet but not completely closed off peak season, good rates and being recommended by the Luxury Hotels of the World brand is certainly no mean feat, and therefore won us over.
The tripadvisor reviews highlighted the fact that not all the rooms are renovated to the new, modern layout and we were keen to make sure this was established at check in. We had also read that the food quality was second to none, but both my husband and I prefer to graze over the course of a day rather than stuff ourselves three times a day on buffet food or three course meals. This meant we booked the b&b option with the junior suite with a sea view, rather than a superior room with full board (both priced very similarly). We contacted the hotel by email twice before arriving; firstly to request the spa brochure and book treatments and secondly to make sure we were appointed to an appropriate room. The spa email request was responded to, and this was directed to the general contact email on the website. The room request was not responded to, though the same method was used.
The hotel is situated towards the end of the seemingly endless stretch of beach front shops, clubs and restaurants and therefore very close to amenities, and almost opposite the Amathus archaeological site (hence the name I guess!). We arrived on Saturday the 14th of January 2012 at roughly 3PM. The hotel is concrete fronted and expansive, with tennis courts in front of the car park and taxi drop off point which at the purple fronted entrance doors. We departed the taxi and collected our luggage and walked into the entrance. The door man came round with a luggage trolley and asked if we wanted help, but we were happy to carry on.
We approached the check in desk and were impressed with the interior of the entrance, reception, lobby and bar which all looked onto the palm tree laden beach. The interiors have clearly been designed to reflect a concept, modern design, with a striking Zaha Hadid sofa and black granite flooring. I appreciate this may not be to everyone's taste, but is certainly the standard of top flight hotels.
We were checked in with no hassle, though not welcomed. My husband asked if the junior suites with their own pools were available, and we were told that they were at a cost of 500 Euros extra on top of the rate we had paid. We knew the weather forecast had predicted rain for a few days of our stay, and with temperatures averaging 15-20 degrees celcius, this offer did not seem particularly enticing. The reception staff member showed us to our room, which was certainly a nice touch. When she opened the door to the suite, I asked twice if these were the newly renovated rooms as I was struck by the 1970's style wooden furnishings and wall paper. The carpets were clearly modern, as was the furniture in the sitting area. The reception staff member reiterated twice that these room had indeed been renovated. The suite was well proportioned, with a wonderful sea view balcony, plenty of shelving and wardrobe space but clearly outdated. We were pointed towards the complimentary sparkling wine and fruit platter, which we did not expect to receive and was welcoming gesture. The room did get quite warm despite the lower than average temperatures, but there is a operating fan during winter and air conditioning during summer. The bathroom was well stocked with Bulgari products, with a bath and shower, though also out dated in style. We decided to stay put in the room on balance, and to ask further questions later in our stay.
We asked for some recommendations of eating places outside of the hotel, but the reception staff member struggled to do this, but did suggest a restaurant next to the hotel. We headed down for lunch in hotel instead, and had a simple meze and salad meal. The quality of the food and portion sizes was excellent. This was reflected in the rest of our stay in both the wonderful breakfast (wide choice of buffet items, continental and cooked, and an 'egg station'), room service (efficient, fast, good sized portions, well cooked, and even though one portion of fries that came with one meal we had ordered was undercooked a quick phone call meant this rectified immediately) and food in the Nu Bar. There are more restaurants in the hotel, but during off peak season the only other place that was open was Asia Chi. We found the menu a little too pricey, so did not frequent this restaurant.
The bed, which can be set up as two singles or a King size, was extremely comfortable, so much so it was often difficult to leave the room! The cleaning staff were so meticulous and our suite was always spotless once we had returned from a day out, and we never had to prompt for anything to be done. A moot point was the television – the reception is poor for Sky News and there is a limited array of channels. However, there are pay per view movies, etc, and of course not everyone is keen to watch television on holiday.
We given a 15% discount token for the spa, but did not manage to use this during our stay as we were content frequenting the well equipped gym, using free classes (including Zumba and yoga), the beautiful swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna, as well the tennis court. One of the obvious perks of this hotel is being on the beach front, and there are well appointed sun loungers on the grassy verge for those wanting to sun bath. The wind factor was a little too high for this time round, but would certainly be ideal later on in the year. There was also entertainment in the bar area, and a table tennis competition. There are plethora of other activities during peak season.
Staff members in the restaurants and bar were so vigilant, patient and on the ball. They knew exactly what to say and when, and always went out of their way to make sure we had everything we wanted without being intrusive. Particular praise needs to be directed to Hassan and Melanie.
There were all manner of little touches that the hotel offer as standard to guests that stay in the suites, including champagne and canapés (on a rotational basis depending on the floor you are occupying), little gifts (we had a bottle of extra virgin olive oil) on departure.
We were thoroughly enjoying our stay, but were overjoyed by some of the responses from management staff. I had tweeted about our stay before arriving, and received a reply a few nights in asking for further details. A few exchanged tweets later, I was keen to highlight the only issue we had with the misinformation about the room renovation. We were swiftly offered an opportunity to discuss any concerns with a member of management staff over coffee the next morning. Few hotels are capable of 'damage limitation' - it's so much easier to listen to your guests and to turn small grumbles into happy smiles rather than to let guests resent and complain. I did not receive a further response, so the next morning we checked with reception. They told us to take a seat outside to make the most of the sunshine and would have someone with us as soon as possible.
Within 20 minutes, Stelios the Assistant Manager, had greeted us and was keen to hear some feedback about our stay. He seemed prepared for bad news, and encouraged open and honest comments. Coffees, orange juice, cakes accompanied this open meeting style of feedback and we couldn't have been happier with how our comments were dealt with. We had learnt that the hotel had opened in 1970, had then undergone staged renovation over recent years to suit the burgeoning change in clients and growing number of business customers. Not all of the clients who have been frequenting the hotel since then have been pleased with the sweeping changes, and therefore the rooms that have yet to be renovated suit their preferences. Stelios acknowledged that we could have been given an option to see other rooms as a comparator during check in and that better information could be made available for future guests. He arranged to show us around the renovated rooms and suites personally. He also made suggestion for a sight seeing activity (the Kourion amphitheatre), and in fact ended up arranging everything for us, including bartering with the taxi driver!
Later that afternoon, we arrived back to our room to find a bottle of wine personally from Stelios as a thank you for the feedback. In the evening, he showed us around the renovated floors, which certainly are worth returning for. This was a perfect treat for our final night.
We checked at 11:30 on the 19th of January 2012 and had such an effortless stay we were at pains to leave! Stelios was present and checked us out efficiently. He insisted we have a complimentary drink whilst waiting for our taxi, walked us to our taxi door handing over bottled water for the journey and waived us goodbye. Of all the 5* and luxury hotels my husband and I have stayed in, this was some of the best, most customer focussed and genuine management we have ever come across. I would encourage any other future customer to ensure they voice their frustrations and concerns early on as the hotel are keen on making a swift resolution to ensure your stay is not affected/as perfect as possible.
We cannot wait to return and will ensure we recommend this hotel to everyone we know.
Room Tip: If you want a modern room, make sure you make this clear before arriving/on check in. The rooms are...
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
