Domes Aulus Elounda All-Inclusive Resort, Curio Collection by Hilton

Definitely not a 5 star experience, despite having upgraded to Cool Living. However, 10/10 to the lovely staff. Warning: the entire hotel is set on a steep hill requiring buggies, shuttle buses or cars to take you from your room to everywhere you need to go. At busy times there was a wait. The 1st room prompted a swift room change to one with a noisy pool pump on the permanently shady balcony making the whole area uninviting and unused. A spectacular view was marred by the deteriorated masonry on the building by our dusty terrace which had rubbish in the vegetation next to our glass balcony. Three disturbed nights from noisy neighbours gave cause to complain again. Cool Living upgrade was expensive and not exclusive, as any guest can access it. The sunbed tables were dirty and the bar poorly stocked and understaffed. The view was however stunning. 4 /10 for the naf beach, approached by crossing the road. A la carte restaurants are very hard to book into and you're restricted to only 3 reservations for the duration of your stay. On the other nights you're forced to go to the very poor Island restaurant buffet with flies feasting on the food. 10 out of 10 Vatani; by far the best restaurant but sadly only served lunch. Yellow Sea (sushi) restaurant claimed we hadn't booked but found us a table. Italian Greco Levante was poor. Two out of four starters were unavailable. The great Caesar salad didn't make up for the average pasta/pizza on offer. A disappointing holiday, which didn't meet our expectations. We've had much better 5 star experiences elsewhere.

The view from our room was absolutely breathtaking, every morning felt like waking up in a postcard. The hospitality throughout our stay was truly exceptional, and we felt warmly welcomed from the very beginning. A heartfelt thank you to Mr. George , the Operations Manager of the hotel, for the warm welcome and for everything he did to make our stay so special. His personal attention and genuine care truly made a difference, especially the thoughtful gift of a book about the rich history of the area, which added even more depth to our connection with this beautiful place. We can’t wait to return this October, just as we promised!

First off the setting is beautiful...with fantastic views of Mirabella Bay and Springalonga island. Good points.... 1. Bar staff are great with plenty of drink choices. 2. Very chilled vibes 3. Our room sapphire nest was close to the main building 4. Bed was comfortable with good quality linen. Towels changed every day, walk in shower was powerful and hot. Good cleaning routine 5. Beach close by with comfy sunbeds and bar area just for hotel guests 6. Pool sunbeds were also good i would think quite new. Pool was excellent as well. 7. Staff are friendly and helpful 8. Breakfast buffet was good with loads of choices definitely one of the better breakfast buffets 9. loved the grab and go selection 10. Reception and concierge were very helpful and friendly Not so good points.... 1. Due to bad weather at start of holiday no other food venue at hotel was open for evening meals except the island buffet 2. We did manage to book yellow sea one evening but told our booking was for the evening before.. this was not our error! As we already had plans...they were then fully booked... no offer to accommodate us at another time or place due to not being open... was not impressed! for me personally while I'm happy to have buffet at breakfast and even lunch but not evenings, More needs to be done to have a proper sit down restaurant for evenings... not just pitta or pizzas! at the poolside Therefore we ate out most evenings and we had some excellent local meals! 3. Due to some poor weather as this hotel relies on outdoor spaces to sit etc...bar area was busy with a lack of seating at times. 4. Beach bar had no food choices when its clearly advertised as having snacks etc... not sure why but it may of been due to only just being open at the start of the season 5 No pool service for drinks, which is not really a deal breaker but for 5 star hotel I would expect some sort of waiter service Therefore overall a lovely chilled week in lovely Elounda........I think this hotel is good its very laid back, just not sure about the lack of eating choices when the weather is bad, however the food we ate was good to be fair. I would also recommend a car! If you want to explore the area! And yes it's hilly and steep! But the views are amazing!

The hotel is clean and the staff are incredibly polite. I think it’s a beautiful hotel, with lovely rooms. Asian night in Greco Levante was the best meal. Marina who is in that area is amazing, attentive, hard working, excellent. I did feel this hotel is luxury and I would recommend it. The downsides are, I found the food buffet selection limited and small on some days, particularly if you don’t eat fish. The food we did enjoy though was quality and well cooked. We had the ‘sapphire zen suite’ with private pool. Which was advertised to us as a more enhanced experience. However, all you get extra from your room is a reservation at Greco Levante, so not really exactly what I was expecting. I’m glad we came at the start of season and paid a lesser cost on this basis. You don’t get bands for the hotel so anyone can use the cool living area (and they do) and essentially anyone could walk in off the street really. Our pool didn’t get cleaned for the first 3 days we were there.

What can we say? Wonderful 5 night break at this delightful hotel. Even though this is the last week of the season, nothing is too much trouble for this wonderful staff team. Fabulous suite with amazing views, easy, laid back styling and entertainment offerings, and superb food at all of the restaurants. Special mention to Christina and all of the team at the Island buffet restaurant and the amazing chef and his team at the sushi meze restaurant. Thank you Vicky and all of your team...and definitely see you again next season!

So we are just back from a short break (4 nights) at the Domes Aulus and I have very mixed reviews. Firstly the staff are fabulous, and absolutely 5 star but the resort is not. We booked a Sapphire Cozy Suite with private pool and private terrace, comes with Cool Living but the description and room layout given by Hilton is not the reality. As we had booked Cool Living we expected to be at the top of the very steep hill as that is where Cool Living is situated but we were not as it appears that they have not built any Sapphire Cozy Suites up there…instead they have renovated a few of the old hotel suites at the bottom so anytime we wanted to use the facilities we paid for we had to either walk up the very steep hill (its half a mile)or get a golf cart from reception and that is for breakfast, lunch, dinner or to sunbathe, so a bit of a pain. We were in block 1, next to the normal restaurants, just above reception and the car park. So noisy, overlooked and not private. Our deck and pool were not private, they were on a public walkway, surrounded and overlooked. If we had been staying longer I would have complained but the alternative, as I found out, would have been a move to block 5 which is neither near the beach or cool living, instead stuck half way up the hill. All the new Cool Living blocks are stunning, relatively private with fabulous views. The original hotel at the bottom of the hill (non cool living) is quite rough in places, like the pool needs an overhaul, the loungers are not great and there is broken tiles and decking and generally not that clean. The new cool living part is beautiful, stunning pools, great loungers, lovely bar area and good food but that all comes at quite a premium and even if you’ve paid for cool living you may not be roomed there. However its not all good because the hotel appears to upgrade anyone who complains about the normal facilities to cool living as compensation but that means those who have paid for cool living don’t always get what they have paid for. We couldn’t get a restaurant booking for a couple of the nights and couldn’t get a lounger one of the days. It sounds petty but when you’ve paid just under $4K for 4 nights and been promised 5star it’s not really that great. The food in the Griglia is lovely but I wasn’t impressed by the food in the Island restaurant (very basic buffet). So would I go back, no, not 5 star and definitely not value for money which is a shame as Crete is beautiful and the staff are fabulous.