Guest User
September 18, 2023
Wanted to give a detailed and balanced review having had a few days to come down from the highs (metaphorically and physically) of the Myconian Utopia. First off, there is loads right with the hotel and it starts with the staff who are the most dedicated I can think of at any I have stayed. The same faces you see welcoming you into breakfast (of which more later) are the same ones saying goodnight at the end of an evening. They work incredibly hard from front desk to around the pool and always with a smile on their faces. This starts from Costa, the manager, who is really “hands-on” and you can really tell how much he cares about the successful and smooth running of the hotel. The beds around the pool are wonderfully comfortable (the double-beds the most relaxing by any pool anywhere I have stayed) and there is a cool and laid-back atmosphere with low-level music and a DJ on some afternoons. Our room took some getting used to. We had a Heavenly Retreat Sea View Balcony, which was up two elevators and along a narrow and open-air corridor. The room itself was large with a wonderful view looking but the idea of having no cupboards but open rails (tastefully done) was unusual, as was the fact that the bathroom was not a separate room but open plan (toilet and shower had their own doors). Lighting was somewhat limiting and could have done with a decent vanity mirror. Bed was super-comfortable but as there were adjoining rooms (and perhaps because a door on either side of our room to link them), sound-proofing was poor and we could hear the lady in the room next door constantly coughing (fortunately she slept through to 9am and not 7am). As a light sleeper this could well have been a major issue for me. Also, some reviews do mention a smell in the corridors of the hotel and there certainly was, even with the quite strong winds that Mykonos is famous for. Fortunately this did not permeate into the rooms but it was there (we saw the cleaners pouring liquid down the drains and scrubbing the floors) and there clearly is an issue. As others have said, the breakfast is adequate without being spectacular; same every day with no real variety or off-menu items available. For a 5-star property I think they could up their game. We hired a car for our stay and I would recommend this as the hotel is somewhat isolated. Yes, you could eat in any of the groups restaurants and a couple around Elia beach, but you are 30 minutes from Mykonos old town, and whilst there was a shuttle bus, we wanted to explore a bit further afield and were glad we had our own transport. A word of warning though, the roads are seriously challenging, especially if you made the mistake we did of following a Google Maps “short-cut” down the narrowest and most wildly winding roads! That aside, we loved our 8-night stay in Mykonos. The island is great, people are super-friendly. The staff at the hotel were wonderful and we hope to return at some point.