Atlantis Hotel

We stayed at the Atlantis for a week in early October. This is the 4th time for us in Kos, the 3rd time in a Lambi hotel. Lambi being on the outskirts of Kos town is a place we like. For the energetic you can walk into town or hire bikes [great bike tracks into town and through it] or simply get a bus right outside the hotel for 1 &1/2 euros. Weather in Kos at that time of year we've found to be just perfect. Although in Kardemena one year we found in rather windy which is why we prefer Lambi. We hit lucky with our room, we ended up in a little bungalow literally yards from the beach and ditto the quiet pool. We weren't too impressed arriving late at night as had no idea where we were, the fairly awful designed curtains at door and window didn't help. The room we discovered after falling into bed after a very long journey and waking up to sunshine proved to be not too bad. Not exactly luxurious but the situation with its own patio made up for it. Everything was very clean and you simply couldn't argue with cupboard,drawer and wardrobe space. Well I can - as a woman I do have to ask why hanging spaces barely take a mans shirt and no way accomodate ladies dresses etc. Not that it ruined my holiday as always pack my own hangers in case not enough provided, so simply utillised the wardrobe doors. There was a fridge in room but no welcome bottle of water - naughty, naughty for a hotel desiring a good rating. The safe was free a bonus there, toileteries provided although never replenished but that didn't bother us. Towels weren't replaced very often, resorted to throwing them in bath but then signs were everywhere saying it was a "Green" hotel so fair enough. The hotel grounds were lovely, yes loads of cats but were obviously well fed and not pooching. So many people seemed to take great pleasure in playing with them too, so cat haters - back off!! Can say that the veranda restaurant in main hotel that we used for both breakfast and dinner was a lovely place to eat. Always popular and you sometimes had to queue but Michaelis the head waiter in charge there was a star. So nice, so polite, and handled the non queueing averse to anything but jumping in as soon as a vacant table appeared - dare I say Germans? Or indeed other non queing Europeans. Without any fuss, or unpleasantness he with a word and a smile got them back in line. A truly lovely man and a real asset to the hotel as well as the other nice young waiters working with him. Every time you sat down a fresh clean laundried table cloth was provided and table set. Unlike some hotels where you literally have to search for your own cutlery. Thankyou Michaelis it cant be easy in that heat, working these hours and at the end of a season to remain always so smiley and polite. The inside restaurant was very large and busy also hot, couldn't fathom out why people would choose to ear inside when so lovely outside with beautiful views of garden. Food was pretty good too, not the best I've ever had but a really good choice. I don't know why people said it was repetitive, just fussy I suspect. Lunch we had in the poolside restaurant and have to say one of the best pool restaurants we've ever had. Gyros & souvlaki cooked in front of you [that was a bit repetitive] but loads of other choices on hot trays inside. Praise to the waiters too here as the restaurant was always not surprisingly busy. Always quick to clear and set a table and always smiling. We chose to use the smaller pool very close to our room and sea, it was lovely, so quiet, sheer bliss. Yes the pool like most in Greece was cold, the sea was warmer at that time of year, but once in lovely to cool down in. Jet2 holiday we were on gave us a free 15 minute massage, which turned out to be in lovely white tents in the gardens opposite the pool we used. So good I booked another session. The only negative I could find was the bar staff. Both at the pool bar and main hotel bar. OK it was getting to the end of season but can honestly say we've never come across so outright rude non smiling unpleasant bar staff any where. We're a retired couple always polite so a bit of a shocker. As a student in my youth I had many summer jobs working in bars and can honestly say I'd have been sacked if I behaved like that !! Come on, if the waiters who in my opinion seemed to work harder than you can keep smiling what was wrong with you?? The animation team seemed to work hard but left you alone if you desired peace. Some of the late evening shows were in fact pretty good although we didn't see them all. The seating to view these as both bar and theatre in front of big pool a tad problematic but fine if you got a good seat. We really had a most enjoyable holiday and met some really nice people. There was in fact a good mix of nationalities and of age groups. Possibly less children at that time of year but enough for kids club to be enjoyable. The test is would I go back - yes in an instant if we had the same room location. Getting up early and within seconds sitting with your feet in the sea watching the sun rise - just wonderful. A big red sun just slowly coming up over the horizon - just magic!!

I was a little concerned by some of the poor reviews I had read before arriving on 17th October but I found some of the comments to be true and some to be too harsh. I was pleasantly surprised by the authentic hotel decor, lovely veranda and abundance of flowers and shrubs in the gardens, 2 nice pools and close proximity to clean shingle beach. We were in the main building and the rooms are in need of refurbishing. The TV is antiquated and the signal so poor on the 1 British channel, it was unwatchable. Whilst we don't go on holiday to watch TV, it is nice to catch up with the news or watch a little TV whilst in the room. The room had only 1 plug access, right next to patio doors which needs addressing with so many people needing to charge a variety of gadgets these days. On the plus side the safe was free and hairdryer worked efficiently. The beds as other guests stated are incredibly hard but we requested mattress toppers which helped a little. We had a couple of issues in the room but immediately we reported the problem, it was dealt with straight away. The towels are small and threadbare and need replacing. We were only given some small toiletries on arrival which was never replenished for the whole 2 weeks which I've never come across in any other hotel. The Staff however were lovely and helpful throughout our 2 week stay, no complaints there. The animation team comprising of Elena, Radu, Georgi and Aga were great. Encouraging people to join in the activities but never pushy. We had a lot of fun joining in with the aqua gym and some of the evening entertainment. The all-inclusive drink package was poor with only 4 cocktails available after 7pm and they were not nice. If you paid for cocktails, you got the real deal at 7 euros a pop. The soft drinks were over sugary and did nothing for the local spirits. Red, White and Rose wines were just about drinkable and you could help yourself freely to these as well as lager and soft drinks in the main restaurant and the Taverna. The first week I was more than happy with the food in the main restaurant and especially at the Taverna on the Blue, which felt authentic and had a good choice of Greek specialities on offer. The second week the food declined as quickly as the number of guests remaining in the hotel.The Taverna closed at night but just opened in the day for drinks and snacks. That was a real shame IMO and if you are going to keep the hotel open till the end of the season then all guests deserve to receive the same services as had been provided throughout the summer. There was always soup, salads and plentiful desserts as well as bread and rolls but the quality and choice of meat, fish and vegetable dishes definitely declined which I felt let the hotel standards down. The beach was nice and quiet but you did have to pay 3 euros a day to use the sunbeds. They came with padded cushions which was much more comfortable than the sunbeds around the pools. We took beach shoes which certainly helped with getting in and out of the sea because of the stones. The sea temperature was lovely and we were surrounded by shoals of fish. Overall, We had a relaxing 2 weeks with lovely sunshine the whole time. On the last night, Management allowed us to keep our room up till we left, free of charge which was much appreciated as we were on a night flight. If you like cats, you will find them all around the grounds, one kitten used to take part in the yoga every morning. so funny. Yes we had some issues but I hope management will look at updating the hotel over the winter months and take on board some of the guests concerns because in most regards it is a very nice hotel with lovely staff and if a few changes were made I would be happy to return in the future.