Travelled with saga 39 people in group, my stay at this hotel was horrendous, didn't eat for 3 days as the food was so bad, Base of bed had hole in it covered by board. neither hotel staff or Saga tour manager would do anything about it. The health suite was cclosed till end of month all those was advertised in sagas brochure, the swimming pool was dirty and cleaning commenced on our second day.
Gald to leave the place although the scenery was beautiful.
Shame

There are a real variety of reviews on here about the King's Residence and we worried about booking but eventually did due to the location. We went for 5 days in mid June this year, arrived from Pompeii by train and got the bus to Palinuro where we were picked up by King's Residence staff (we were charged for the pickup) and taken the 1km up the hill to the hotel. The location was spectacular - stunning views. The hotel itself gives the impression that it was certainly luxurious and expensively fitted out when built (in the 70s - white grand piano, white leather sofas etc.) but could do with a wee bit of modernisation. What you can't argue with is the setting and space of the hotel - lovely pool area, terrace overlooking the sea for breakfast and large communal areas. The rooms are not luxurious but not bad at all, good space and absolutely amazing views over the bay. Air con not turned on until July and August and being from Scotland t was hot but fan supplied when asked. Staff friendly enough but not great English. Restaurant choice VERY limited and expensive relative to places nearby and down in Palinuro. However, lovely restaurant nearby (turn left out of hotel and walk up the hill, past the pizzeria) and only a 15 minute walk down hill to Palinuro itself. Shuttle service hotel provides did not run often and no pickup in evening so unless you like hiking a taxi back up the hill from town the best choice. The real beauty of the King's Residence is the setting and space - the 'private' beach is a long way down (about 400 steps!) but stunning and quiet for the first few days we were there (mid June). However, it's a boat trip stopping point and was very busy by the Friday we were there and is so small that it was overpowered by the people from the boats. Either get down early if there is high season or prepare to be inundated with boat trip people. Pool area (and hotel in general) was very quiet while we were there. Overall we had a lovely time, the hotel is fine, plenty of places to eat out of hotel so you don't have to pay there prices and get no choice, the facilities are good (pool and beach) and the setting of the hotel is phenomenal and overrides any niggles you may have. Would go again at the same time but probably not in higher season when the beach would be too crowded for my liking. I think the setting and views alone makes the hotel worth staying in.

we stayed at this hotel last year and I felt I had to write to put the record straight. We had a lovely time, the rooms are not anything special, but its clean and had everything needed for a good time. The hotel staff do not speak a lot of English, but they are helpful and very good natured. We were given a lift by the head waiter as we were walking up the hill after a couple of days of holiday - we wouldn't have recognised him! The food was well cooked and nicely presented, the choice was not large, but there was always three choices of each course and a veggie option, along with a salad bar. The beach restaurant and lunchtime eatery were equally good. The seafood spaghetti was marvellous!

The staff were verypersonable and we thought the head waiter and head barman to be brilliant. We have advised loads of folks to go here and will definately return ourselves - and we usually don't go anywhere twice.

We have booked this hotel through a German agent with DERTOUR and thought we had booked a 4 star hotel.
Minutes after we arrived I doubted that this hotel ever had more than 2 stars as I had to use the bathroom in the lobby which was a rather unpleasent experience since it was not very clean, the toilets had no toilet seats (which might have been better!) and especially all doorknobs were filthy. The smell in the lobby and the bath room reminded me of the smell you find in hospitals.
We got a huge room with two bedrooms, a small wardobe, a very small bathroom but no kind of sitting space. Everything in the rooms seemed to be from the decade when the hotel was built somewhen in the seventies of the last century. Brown tiles, brown chairs, a tv set from 1980, furniture that lookd selfmade and not 4 star at all. There was a small terrace attached to one of the rooms unfortunately with no privacy as the neighbours share it with one.
The food is simply horrible - especially breakfast is something that really makes your day! I do not know how this coffee is made and what taste it has - disgusting. The presenation as well as the quality of the food is bad. We booked halfboard and expected the worst for dinner. The first evening we were kind of surprised as the food was better than expected. But that changed with the second and all other evenings as we always found something of the dinner of the last evening in the we were served. Besides being boring the food was of poor quality just like breakfast.
The probably funniest couple of the hotel staff were the two guys running the bar. One did not speak any other language than italian (in an international hotel with 80% engl. spoken guests at the time of our visit) and both of them were very slow in what they did. Guests are not asked what they want, guest have to go to the bar and ask for the bar list or a drink etc. Brilliant service!!!
We asked the hotel for a better room but they did not have one. We also asked DERTOUR for a change of hotel but they denied and insisted that this hotel is rated correctly by one of the DERTOUR staff yearly. No wonder as the hotel has special rooms for hotel clerks that do the rating.
There is one thing that is unique to the hotel and that are the views - fantastic!!! The beach - though it is not a private one - is beautiful but it takes app. 500 steps to reach it and worse 500 steps to climb up again!