Upon arriving very early in the morning, we stubbled around on the apartments landings looking for our room in the absence of any type of light after been dumped at the property by the rep who left quickly - an omen perhaps? If I hadnt had a lighter in my pocket, I would've been randomly trying doors until I got lucky, no doubt waking people as I went.
My Wife and I were on our honeymoon, a fact that had been passed to the owners as they congratulated us on it in within the next few days; however, they didnt see fit to provide us with a double bed. Both our single beds did not have nailed slats underneath the matress meaning that pretty much every night part of the bed would collapse, often with a loud crack and smash as the slat hit the tiled, dirty floor. It is a rather rude awaking at 3.30 in the morning when you have a wooden slat smaking the floor with a crash and your midrift disappearing into the resultant matress sag. We didnt have a table or kettle either and the glasses were chipped, cracked and badly maintained. The fridge had been turned off and I had to get the owner to come and turn it on; this meant that nothing could be refridgerated for 24hours while it powered up. Upon entering the bathroom we found the floor to be soaking wet - perhaps it had only just been cleaned? No - but more on this later...
The next day we went to reception to be told that it would cost us 78euro for air conditioning or 30euro for a fan. This was the start of the apartment ownership trying to extract as much cash from you as possible - want to use the internet? Pay for it (reserving the wi-fi for themselves). Want to play Pool? Pay for it. Want a drink? Pay extortionate rates for it (small bottle of water 1 euro; goto the supermarket 1minute away and get 6 1.5litre bottles of water for 1.60euro). Thankfully, we didnt book any trips with them as well: having spoke to several other guests/detainees at the apartments they were taking a huge cut of commission off all transactions.
Lets get back to the bathroom. How can I put this...the toilet....exploded. When we arrived, and for a few days, the cistern was at a crooked angle, with the water pipe at a perpendicular crooked angle which in turn didnt connect properly with the toilet. This meant that there was water continually leaking out of the cistern, down the pipe and directly onto the floor. This completely ruined our toilet paper (which we/everyone has to self purchase) as it had been placed on the floor (next to the dirty mop and bucket left in the bathroom which never was moved by the cleaner - hmmm, something suggests they already knew about the broken toilet and wern't prepared to fix it:ie a DIY cleaning soluiton?). Anyhow, on the third day, the cistern pipe almost completely detached from the toilet and when it was flushed, it sprayed water out the back of it like a fire hose. When I got the owner to look at it, I was given instructions about how to fix it now and if it went wrong again. Another guest we spoke to had similar problems and again was given a plumbing 101 course and left to their own devices. Having fixed the fireman's hose problem myself, we still had dripping water from the cistern which meant that we were often unable to flush our toilet on most occassions (as it had all drained out of the cistern). Couple this with the cleaners only changing the bathroom waste bin about every 3-4 days (for those who dont know, you aren't suppose to put toilet paper down the toilets in greece) and you have a stinky, unhygienic and slippery bathroom. Now add into the mix the shower tray/plug hole that was all but blocked, so that everytime you have a shower, the built up water floods over the top of the tray and adds to the water already on the floor from the toilet!
About a week into our trip, our entire apartment block lost electricity for about 2 and a half hours in the afternoon. This was when it was 35 degree heat and alot of people had gone to their apartments to cool down with their air conditioning and fans. This lead to most people heading down to the bar to try and cool off - mysteriously the bar,which was part of the same building, was the only part of it not affected by the electricity outage!
There are two pools at Iraklis and both have a layer of green slime around their edges. Another guest with young children experience her children bathing costumes change colour after having been in the pool. All the loungers and beds around the pools are cracked, ripped, missing bits and are in desperate need of replacement.
The lady owner, Maria was ok with me but wouldnt speak to my wife for days for reasons we could not fathom. The man, Stavros, was rude, arrogant and off-putting to us all holiday. We often caught him picking his nose or with his hands down his pants and then reluctantly getting up to make someone some food. We made sure we never ordered food when he was about. He also wore the same t-shirt for five days running (the blue italia one in another posters photos), wore a different t shirt for a day, then went back for the Italia one for a further five days and clearly had hygiene issues. He was not pleasant to be around.
Iraklis puts on two nights of entertainment, though really its only one. The first, spaghetti night, actually doesnt feature any entertainment at all - unless you count the worst spaghetti bolagnaise I have ever had the misfortune of eating, entertainment. The second night, Greek night, is ok providing that you are in good company. It is made to sound like there will be greek dancers and belly dancers coming in but in reality its you doing the dancing fueled on drinks that yup, you have to pay for yourself, on top of the fee for the night. OK there was free raki but I think they were brewing their own in the garage! 15 euro for an ok bbq? We paid marginaly more than that for a cruise, swim, bbq and sightseeing tour.
I could go on but I think you get the point - if this was a two star place, I would hate to see the one star accomodation. Any photo's you see of the place will be the building on the right which is where the owners live and is a nicer location. Please go to somewhere in Stalis as the resort is lovely, just dont go to Iraklis
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
