Giannoulis - Grand Bay Beach Resort (Exclusive Adults Only)

The staff provides exceptional service, the beachfront location offers easy access to amenities. Guests appreciate the cleanliness and delicious breakfast options.

We arrived in the afternoon and received a warm welcome at reception. The receptionist offered to look after our cases and for us to go straight into the dining room to have our dinner and a drink. After we returned we were informed that we’d been upgraded (seems to be a pattern of this) We were told that we’d now be staying in a double room with a private pool for the adjoining rooms and ourselves to share. We stated that we’d already upgraded on the TUI site to the seafront room, for £56, but we were told that this was impossible and they’d take us to the room. Whilst in the room and feeling very unhappy we found the invoice of our upgrade and returned back to reception. We were encouraged to relax and have a drink and they’d look into our upgrade. Eventually taken to the seafront room. Our first impression of the room was it looked amazing. When you stay there for a week and look closer there were a few faults. You can’t use the bathroom mirror due to steam after having a shower. The air con was extremely dusty and the balcony windows weren’t cleaned. The cleaners each day change your towels and make the beds. They also empty the soiled toilet tissue bin, but they only mopped the floor once. I am allergic to many foods including nuts. There aren’t any allergy warnings for the food served. The food is hit and miss. Luckily we’d brought snacks with us to eat. The staff work very hard in the dining room and ensure you have everything you need. We were unlucky with the weather as it was extremely windy and cold in the mornings and of an evening. The pools were freezing and aren’t heated, so we couldn’t swim. None of the rooms at the front (garden view) or the seafront rooms get any sun during the day, so people who have their own reserved sun beds on their rooms terrace, take the other sun beds on the sunny side. We managed to get sun beds by the pool or beach each day, but I’d imaging this would cause a problem during high season. The evening entertainment wasn’t great tbh. There was a violinist, a saxophone player another night and a DJ. Luckily we met some great people staying there, so we all made the best of it. The hotel is very remote with only a few souvenir shops, a supermarket and a couple of bars that serve food, but a lot were closed due to the end of season. If you enjoy more to do whilst on holiday, this location is very quiet and wouldn’t be for you. We wouldn’t return back to the hotel s we’ve stayed in better hotels and locations.

We were disappointed by our 3-day stay at this hotel. Although the hotel claims to be all-inclusive, a lot is extra, unless you have gone "premium all-inclusive. So the pina coladas are included in the "all inclusive" but the non-alcoholic version you have to pay for. Similarly the bar remains open after 11p.m. but you have to pay for drinks after then. Many of the sunloungers round the pool are reserved for specific (premium) rooms and all the other sunloungers round the pool had been bagged by 8 am. Even the beach sunloungers could only be reserved for guests staying a minimum of 4 nights. The view is barren and the beach is stony. Whoever is in charge of catering needs to up their game. We got to know the salads well. They would be out on the serving tables for 3 hours, and would then reappear at the next meal: the feta, the tuna and the sauces especially. There was some, but not that much, fish. All the "hot" food was lukewarm and even after a couple of days we found the food same-y. Tinned fruit was served. The hotel needs more investment. The main hotel WCs, for instance (which you accessed by walking past the servery for the "hot" food) had a door on the gents which did not lock, a broken urinal and a light which went out after 15 seconds - so you needed to be quick! The wifi speed was intermittent. Streaming a film could be hard work. And our room was a litany of small things that a decent hotel would have noticed and fixed: the bathroom door was warped and could not close. The bathroom (other than over the sink) was dimly lit, the shower was weak, and with an inadequate shower screen. The bedroom reading light was too dim to read by, the patio door let in water, and Reception wanted to charge us extra to be able to use the safe deposit box in our room. You can see that the hotel used to be 5* but it has had its fifth star taken away. Apart from that, the hotel was OK, and the waitresses were kind, cheerful and helpful.