NEMA Design Hotel and Spa

I am highly surprised by the hotel's high rating, which, by the way, guided my choice in the first place. This place turned out to be a major disappointment. First of all, there is construction work going on within the hotel grounds – a big construction site – which, as you can imagine, completely ruins a chance of a peaceful vacation. The construction itself wouldn't even be that big of an issue if it weren't for the fact that despite being inside the resort, the workers show up as early as past 7 AM. Not only do they bang and drill, but during breaks from the noise, they shout to each other and joke around at full volume. They have absolutely no consideration for the kind of environment they are working in! On top of that, they should be starting much later – at 10 or even 11 AM. Sure, you can eventually go to the beach to escape the noise, but then I don't really see the point of paying for a room with a private pool. When it comes to "Adults Only" hotels, the primary motivation for choosing such a place is PEACE and QUIET, so I have no idea how the management failed to take this into account. And yes, after four days of this "bliss," we were offered another room, but it was so tiny that after unpacking our suitcases, we wouldn't even have a place to put them (it’s worth noting that most rooms here are really small – apart from a large, comfortable bed, there’s basically no room to move around; we came for a 10-day stay and had quite a bit of luggage; also there is no make-up desk nor a full-lenght mirror! only horizontal mirrors where one can see only middle part of its outfit). When my Partner asked about a room of the same size that had just become available, the response was a flat "no, because of blah, blah, blah...". Another issue is the breakfast hours. It is served until 10:30 AM, but it must be emphasized that Crete is in a different time zone than most of Europe (and Europeans clearly make up the majority of the guests). We flew in from the UK, so for us, it felt like breakfast was only until 8:30 AM! And again, who wants to wake up to an alarm clock for breakfast while on vacation??? As a result, almost everyone shows up at the last minute, creating a massive rush, overcrowding, and a shortage of tables on the terrace. What a surprise that people on a child-free vacation finally want to sleep in and then enjoy their breakfast on the terrace in the sun – which is generally the main reason they flew to Greece in the first place! Here lies another design flaw: the number of indoor tables is significantly higher than on the terrace. I have no idea why, because people don’t fly to Grece to sit cooped up inside a building. There are massive, sliding glass windows that could easily create a semi-outdoor space, but somehow they were never opened... Then there’s the issue with tables for four. Most visitors are couples, yet they get seated at four-person tables. Consequently, when you actually show up as a group of four, there is nowhere to sit, even though there are plenty of empty two-person tables around! And once again, their bright idea is to seat you inside 🤦🏻‍♀️. When you ask them to just push the free two-person tables together, the answer is "no" because of "hotel policy" 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️. This requires yet another conversation with the manager. And yes, the manager made an exception and so on and so forth, but I think the Reader already understands how tedious all of this is... You don’t pay 50 grand (Polish Zloty - £10k) to spend your time constantly negotiating with another manager. You pay that kind of money precisely so you don’t have to discuss anything with anyone or fix problems, because you are FINALLY not at work and you just want some peace of mind! There are other shortcomings as well, but I don’t even feel like writing about them anymore, and you probably don’t feel like reading them... On the positive side, the hotel definitely has: (1) The staff – very polite and seemingly genuinely concerned about all these inconveniences. (2) The food is also good, and above all, there is a large variety. (3) Also, there were absolutely no tiger mosquitoes, which we had been heavily warned about. (4) The location, in terms of easy access to shops, restaurants, and other attractions where you can buy lunch for reasonable money. It also feels very safe. However, regarding another aspect of the location, there are airplanes flying overhead every few minutes. NEMA is a 25-minute taxi ride from the airport, but the flight path covers the entire coastal strip – which some brilliant engineer must have designed. The hotel has no control over this, but it’s simply another element that ruins the "peace and quiet" PR built around this Adults Only resort. So yes, someone else's screaming brats won't ruin your vacation here, but plenty of other factors certainly will. 😉👍🏼 As a nearby alternative, we highly recommend Ikos on Crete or Corfu – it’s a tad more expensive, but you will get some real rest. [My actual rating is a 2.5 out of 5 (half), but since TripAdvisor doesn't allow half-bubbles, I have to settle for a 2].

Wonderful experience. Everything was 10/10. The people, service, food, cleaning. Peacefull area which I needed. For your rest, you’re at the right address.