My girlfriend and I travelled to Katrin Hotel and Bungalows for a 7-day all inclusive trip via Thomas Cook in October 2011.

Having seen some of the reviews on Tripadvisor and researching Stalis on the internet prior to booking, we felt we had a chosen a decent place in a decent location for a reasonable price. The reality however is that both the hotel and more so the location did not match up to expectations and we were left a bit disappointed by the end of it. Whilst we will return to Crete in the future, we would not come back here or to the immediate area around Stalis.

There were however some positives as well, so I will start with them...


POSITIVES:

Presentation:
The hotel was very modern, well presented and clean on the outside and public areas. There are 3 pools which are spotlessly clean and things like the restaurant and bar areas were in very good order.

Weather:
The weather was fantastic for the first 4 days (it rained for the last 3 days solidly). Avg temp in October was put as 22-23 degrees celcius, but we didn't have a day under 29 degrees when the sun was out.

Food:
The choice of food was good. It caters for the mainly German visitor population but it was fresh & hot. There was an OK selection of fruits, mains and deserts and 'safe' (chips, pizza, etc) options. Drink options were OK - a local beer, some spirits (only in the evening), sugary drinks and coffee

Travel:
Opportunities to travel cheaply by bus (which are frequent, and cheap) to other areas were good.


Unfortunately, despite these positives, there were several negatives which meant that we left disappointed...


NEGATIVES:

Rooms:
We were allocated a room right at the top of the hotel, which I believe was previously another hotel / apartment block. The outside was done well and of the same standard as most of the hotel, but the inside of these rooms was not good. The general decor was dated, and cleanliness was ok - but the floor was dirty and there was a lot of dust in corners etc etc. There were not of the standard as shown in the brochures. The worst part of the rooms were however the beds. They were singles, kept apart by wooden beams and the mattresses were horrifically uncomfortable. They were thin and extremely firm, similar to camp beds, so by the end of the week both my partner and I had very sore and uncomfortable backs. Neither of us as a result slept very well for the week.

We did speak to Reception early on about this, and to their credit, even though the hotel was busy, they did offer us another room - however when we were shown it, it was very small, the bed on offer was as soft as a water bed and there was paint peeling off the walls, so we made the choice to stay with bigger space and suffer with the beds (which due to the rain later in the week, the space meant we didn't get cabin fever).

There was another aspect of the room which showed itself when it rained for the last few days - as much of the flooring was tiled, both inside and outside, our entry to the room was flooded and we had to use our beach towels and shower towels to stop the water coming in under the door.

Finally, some other travellers have stated that these rooms have good views, and I cannot entirely disagree with them, however they haven't mentioned that these views are interrupted by the abundance of uncompleted concrete developments and the huge power cable pylons which run right across the valley over the top of the hotel resort.

Restaurant:
The food choice was OK - but there were no were near enough seats / tables. and there were no two-seater tables. This meant you either had to wait for half an hour to get a seat, or, more often, other diners were simply placed on your table halfway through. There is something in being sociable, but if you are there as a couple, and wanted to eat alone, this got very old, very fast. We, like several other couples, simply went away and had to come back later to eat which did disrupt our plans on several days.

Area:
One of the most disappointing parts of the trip. Stalis is not at all like it is advertised on official sites. It is not a quaint village location, rather it is a staging post town between the two 18-30 party towns of Hernossios and Malia. The result is that it is hugely commercialised, over developed and you just got a feeling of 'tackiness'. Fortunately being the off-season it wasn't overrun, but the reality is that you went away with the feeling it was more like a Blackpool or Skegness with sun than another country.

The beaches were OK (not white sand as described by some) but the water looked clean and clear. However, the beach from one end to the other were carved up by the proliferation of bars and tavernas (some run down, some which looked good) and all were littered with sun loungers - some working, some broken / discarded. Even in the off-season this did not give you the impression of a nice beach area.

Elsewise, there were activities such as banana boats and the 'happy train' local bus tour, but there were no local culture / activities nor any areas able to be reached by walking. If you stay in this area, either hire a car, or use the buses (which is what we did) to travel out to the east of the north coast (Agios Nikolaos and beyond) to get out to see the actual island.


Overall, because of our own experiences, and the expectations we had (based on the research and reviews we had read), we came away disappointed. I would say that if the Katrin Hotel was in another area, we might have had a slightly better opinion, but not excessively so. We wouldn't return here, but would probably try and give Crete another go in the future as some of the areas we visited while here looked beautiful (particularly on the south coast of the island).


TIPS:

Tour companies naturally take advantage of the distance of Stalis from big attractions (such as the Island of Spinalonga, Lassithi Plateau, Knossos, etc) to offer packaged activities. In some countries, the charges for these activities are justified, in Crete, they are not!

We made several trips, the best of which was to the Island of Spinalonga via Agios Nikolaos. Thomas Cook wanted to charge 58 euros per person to do this trip and this was mirrored by the local companies as well. We did this trip for 60 euros in total, which included travel, boat trip and food:

Buses to Agios Nikolaos run every half and hour from 300m to the left of Katrin Hotel and cost 3.60 euros each way. They are extremely modern and comfortable (same as National Express buses) and the trip takes approximately 45 mins. Total: 16 Euros

Trips from Agios Nikolaos to Spinalonga leave from the main harbour area, and cost 12 euros each. The boat we took included a stop of 1 hour on the island, and included a stop off in a bay on the return to swim in luke warm water seas! Total: 24 Euros

We had food and drink at Agios Nikolaos as well which came to about 20 Euros.

The week before we went to Crete, my boyfriend and I read reviews of the Katrin Hotel and started to regret booking it as the reviews were quite negative. However, the second we arrived all those worried went away and we loved it!

The hotel is set on a mountain and our room was pretty much at the top which meant we had a bit of a trek every time we went to and from our room. Although this was annoying at times, I wouldn't change it as we had the most amazing view. We also had a swimming pool and bar right outside our room so we didn't feel like we were away from everything. The bar man at this bar was fabulous and although he worked long hours, he always had a smile on his face and very socialble and funny as were all the staff at the hotel. Our room itself was lovely, although I recommend getting an anti-mosquito plug in as we had one night where we were eaten alive!

The hotel food was beautiful. There was a massive selection on the buffet as well as counters with chefs making food there and then. There was always pizza if you didn't like anything else. The deserts were amazing and there were times when id come back to the table with three different ones. A lot of cream but I love cream!

The entertainment team was Katerina and Kim who spent a lot of time at the main pool entertaining the children. They had a lot of energy. They tried their bests in the evenings at the bar although it could probably be better. I loved the fact that there were so many nationalities all under one roof and all getting on and Katerina and Kim tried so hard to speak in all languages. I was very impressed with them doing the quiz and bingo in 5 different languages! There was also Best Couple and Mr Katrin which were hilarious.

The Katrin Hotel was in a perfect area. Stalis town was literally across the main road. In the town there are loads of restaurants and bars and we had many many cocktails. There is also a really good bar called Rhythm which is open til very late. The hotel staff also go to this bar so i'm guessing it is one of the best bars to go to! Malia is the town next door although going there was just like being in a seaside town in England (everything is English!! Nothing special. Nothing Greek.) so we didn't go back after our one visit. It is worth taking the Happy Train when you arrive which is a train that takes you around the resort, including Malia and gives you an idea of what is around.

Overall, we had a lovely time and the staff were extremely helpful and friendly. I read in previous reviews that it caters too much for German's and the hotel was full of them but so what? Yes there were many German families but they were very nice and there were also many Polish, Dutch, French and English (plus others). Everyone was lovely.

If I was to go back to Crete, I would definitely stay in this hotel again.I'm already missing the food!

Also the hotel manager was always there and checking everyone was happy. I don't know when he had time off!!! Very hard worker.

I only have a few negatives:
- There was no DVD player or hairdryer in the room which was stated, however I didn't ask at reception so maybe i would have got them that way.
- The dining room is not big enough for all the guests and there were times when you had to wait for a table to be free as it was too busy. Not very organised.
- Vodka was only all inclusive from 6pm onwards yet beer and wine was available from 11am to 11pm. I only drink vodka so I had to watch my boyfriend drink beer all day while I stuck to coke.
-Two single beds with a wooden frame in the middle. Would have preferred a double bed...

I just want to add that there is a street cat that goes into the hotel regularly and is obviously very hungry. I fell in love with that cat and on the last day gave it some ham and it was heartbreaking at how hungry the cat was and how fast it gulped the food down. If you see it, please give it some food. Everyone was carrying it around and giving it cuddles but it needs food! (That's the cat lover in me sorry!)

We read one bad review about the food a week or two before we went so we weren't expecting much, we were pleasantly surprised at how good the food actually was.
The hotel caters to a lot of different nationalities and we only heard positive comments from the english family we spoke to. They too thought the food was very good. (they had also read this negative review and were bewildered as to why.) On holiday in a foreign country you are not going to get the same food that you eat at home, you are going to get foreigh food. Overall there was always something there that would suit your taste unless you were extremely fussy (in which case begs the question why go to a foreign hotel all inclusive if you know you are not going to like foreign food), the manager Nikos was very approachable and interested in any suggestions for alternative dishes. Alongside the hot dishes on offer there was a lovely salad bar, there was always chips, so if you didn't like what was being served you always had the option of a salad of some sort.
The deserts were fab unfortunately and we simply had to eat them after promising ourselves before we went that we wouldn't.
The hotel itself is very nice with thee pools and a toddler pool. The rooms were nice and kept spotlessly clean by the maids (thanks to ours who was called Angelina)
The whole outside areas were constantly being swept and mopped, they were immaculate.
The animation team consisted of Kim and Katerina and they did a grand job during the day.
Unfortunately the same could not be said of the night time entertainment which is no reflection on Kim & Katerina. You simply cannot entertain six different nationalities (although Kim bless him, tried very hard) he spoke at least five of the languages and Katerina was also multi lingual and she was fantastic with the children. Bingo in six different languages was torture and boring but they do do fun stuff aswell.

hotel was ok but we went with our 3 year old child,arrived at 4am to be told we were not booked in by nightshift porter,thomas cook rep said she could not stay as she still had other people to drop off on the coach and left us to sort it out ourselve{thanks alot thomascook}2hours later we were sent to what i can only describe as a hostel in malia where we were asked to pay for aircon after we had already paid for in our so say all in clusive hotel,so after 1 hours sleep we were awoken by the pumps for there swimming pool pumps,eventually got sent back to the katrin that afternoon,no towels in our room or drinks in fridge which by the way is only filled once the whole week,anyway back to the food which is all geared for the german market,there for 7 days and we didnt eat once in the hotel,luckily stalis main strip is 5 min away which the food was cheap and very tasty,so all im saying is stay in the hotel self catering if it is poss but the all inclusive is a complete waste of time and hopefully u will be booked in when u get there otherwise u got to sort it out yourself