Daios Cove

Perfect Perfect thank you for your kind and generous hospitality.

Great

My family travels extensively and this ranks as our worst experience yet, particularly in terms of value.  I am usually not an all inclusive person (and I did a lot of diligence on resorts in Crete), but ultimately opted for Daios Cove following a strong recommendation from a friend who loves this resort. We have stayed at several other hotels in Crete that were less expensive yet far more "luxurious", welcoming, and atmospheric - I'd recommend these over the overpriced and obnoxious vibes of Daios Cove. Details below. On the positive side, the beach is beautiful (but, there are countless beautiful beaches in Crete that do not come with the exorbitant cost of this beach and the other negatives I describe below). First, this hotel is not peaceful, particularly when it comes to night-time noise.  By way of background, the grounds are huge, so if you are with young kids (or anyone with limited mobility) you want a room near the central area, which houses all of the "action" (restaurants, kids club, funicular, pool).  But, this area is very noisy at night.  The kids' club plays music until 10-10:30, which is not the biggest deal.  But the bar area plays "club" music until 1-2 AM, and sometimes even has DJs until this latehour.  To have quiet, you have two choices, neither good: 1) close your windows (and not use your balcony, which is a shame when the summer nights in Crete are so beautiful), or 2) choose a room located 15-20 minutes' walking from the central area (this is what the Daios Cove team offered me, when I complained about the noise...but even then could not guarantee that these further flung rooms would be silent).  The music was a huge negative to our experience and I am not even sure who it was serving, as nearly all guests seemed to be families with small kids. The number of guests exceeds the team's capacity to manage them. F.ex., during our stay, the hotel was not full, and still the package holiday "towels reserving pool chairs" was happening. Every meal was stressful because it takes ages to get assistance from servers, and forget about getting service at the beach unless you are extremely proactive.  The hotel also lacks atmosphere, warmth, and sense of place.  Aside from some of the food offerings, you might have no idea you are even in Crete (calling to mind Caribbean all-inclusive mega resorts).  Unlike the rest of Crete, where service is welcoming and genuine, the service at Daios Cove was impersonal and robotic.  After awhile, the resort felt suffocating, particularly since you cannot leave unless in a car or on one of the resort's laughably overpriced excursions. If you do get a chance to leave, the nearby town of Agios Nikolaus was much more fun than Daios Cove. Relatedly,  Daios also misses on small details, which is not acceptable at this price point.  For example: - There is confusion and sketchy messaging about whether the standard all-inclusive packaging includes breakfast at the restaurant (or just breakfast at