Intercontinental Crete

The hotel looks lovely (a bit odd crossing the road to the beach) the breakfast is great and the town is stunning, but our experience was far from perfect. We were shocked at the difference between staying at an established IHG property and staying at a hotel carrying the brand name. We chose InterContinental Crete for a special anniversary trip. After booking we’d seen some concerning reviews on TripAdvisor but decided to give the hotel the benefit of the doubt and form our own opinion. Unfortunately our experience was overall negative too. There were several service-related red flags BEFORE and during our stay, which we attempted to raise and resolve directly with the hotel in a timely manner. Most seriously, a gust of strong wind caused a heavy wooden sun lounger at the adults-only pool to fall onto my wrist, leaving me with cuts, bruising and swelling, and resulting in a broken bracelet. The lifeguard who assisted me was helpful, but explained this had happened before & was a recurring safety issue with the loungers. The General Manager, Konstantinos Fragkoulis, initially invited me to follow up after our stay, which I did, However, my subsequent emails went unanswered for more than a month. The hotel only responded after I escalated the matter through IHG. The Front Office Manager, Natalia Kryłata, eventually apologised for the communication delays. However, the underlying concerns remained unresolved. In August, I contacted IHG Customer Care and was given a formal case reference and explicitly promised a response within 48 hours. That response never arrived. All customers deserve to be treated fairly and have their concerns taken seriously, regardless of loyalty status. We have been loyal IHG customers, attained Elite status and yet still struggled to be listened to. In October I followed up with the hotel & through IHG’s customer service chat, I was told that the matter had been escalated but that IHG could not intervene because the incident fell under the hotel’s direct authority. I was effectively directed back to the hotel’s Front Office Manager, Natalia Kryłata, (and oddly given a Gmail address to contact her through). I understand incidents of physical injury and potential insurance liability may need to be handled by the hotel. However, that does not explain the wider service failures or why IHG couldn’t help. For guests, it isn’t obvious what is an IHG-managed hotel and one independently operated under an IHG brand licence. We just sort of expect a consistent standard of hospitality and accountability. We’ve lost complete trust in the consistency of Intercontinental. Before booking again I’d check if the hotel is directly managed by IHG or independently operated under its brand. That is not something we ever expected to have to consider. We aren’t naive, travel a lot and expect the odd thing to go wrong. It’s never ruined a trip or made me want to avoid the brand before. What matters is how a hotel responds when mistakes or health & safety issues arise. In this case, I felt we gave both the hotel and IHG plenty of opportunity to address our concerns and got nowhere. I would not book this property again and I can’t recommend it. Especially if you are expecting the high standards of service/hospitality etc associated with the InterContinental name.

Amazing deep tissue massage, would definitely go again

Great experience we can't wait to come back. Aegeo was amazing

Maria was absolutely phenomenal for the Greek Wellness Journey experience. She had wonderful energy and put total care and passion into her work. I highly recommend this treatment as well as any treatment done by Maria!

Perfect atmosphere, professional threatment, very relaxed. Fantastic experience.