Sentido Asterias Beach Resort

We stayed at this hotel as a family of 6 from the UK with ages ranging from 7 through to 70. Firstly the positives: We arrived very late in the evening and they had arranged for a selection of cold meats and cheeses for us in the evening which was welcomed after a long day of travelling. The hotel communal areas area really well presented and clean. Staff in reception are lovely and welcoming and help where they can with queries, particularly Alexandra. Staff work incredibly hard in the restaurants and beach bar, Samuel in particular. Food is very good. We generally used the beach bar during the day for food where there was more than enough choice. Restaurant can get busy and a bit canteen like during breakfast and dinner. Plenty of choice though. Sunbed availability was good. We came during peak uk august school holidays and found most of the week Sunbeds started to be taken from around 8am, but by 10 some were still available. The adults only pool may be more difficult to secure but we didn’t use that, although it looked lovely. Children’s pool is very good. A glass panel was broken on the day we arrived and the whole area was taped off. I was really worried it would remain like this all week but was pleasantly surprised to see it replaced and open by lunchtime. Plenty of sunbeds available all day around that pool. The hotel has a beach you can walk to in 5 minutes where there are free to use loungers. Lovely clear beach with a number of watersports available. Beach shoes required as very stony though. There’s also a bar on the beach included in the all inclusive. Pool area is very big and clean. Entertainment team try hard and involve people where they can in activities, albeit it’s a very repetitive timetable. There is a shop on site that is very reasonable.

Areas for improvement:

This is not a 5 star hotel by any stretch of the imagination. The rooms are incredibly dated and basic, no different to a 3 star in our opinion. The beds weren’t overly comfy and came with limited bed linen. The bathrooms were particularly dated with cracks in the tiles on the wall. The room was clean but we still felt underwhelmed on arrival. No information book in the room which we would expect and there was one complimentary bottle of water in the fridge which was never replaced in the whole we were there. No iron or ironing board in the room - again, something I would expect as standard in a 5 star resort. Although the beach bar is very good, there were queues at peak times and the cups used weren’t very big. We often found by the time we got back to the Sunbed we had drank half the drink already. To avoid queues for soft drinks I would recommend a self service area. The outdoor seating area outside the main foyer desperately needs more seats. The main bar is always full and we found after coming back from evenings out around 9/10pm there was literally nowhere for us to sit for evening drinks. There’s plenty of space for more comfy sofa areas outside so again, a quick win in my eyes. Kids club is nice and the team try hard but again they have very limited resources. My youngest normally loves going but found it quite boring and repetitive.

Finally, I’ve not marked down on this basis as the hotel can’t help where it is based, however for awareness, for our range in ages travelling and the fact we like to get out and about at least 2-3 nights a week on holiday, this hotel is very remote. The nearest resort area is Kolymbia which is a 20-25 min walk in areas of no pavement or lighting. We did it one night but I was nervous walking back in the dark with quite a lot of traffic whizzing by. By car this is no more than a 5 minute drive, yet we were quoted €20 each way for 6 of us which is scandalous. Taxi availability is dreadful. We had to change plans to go to Lindos one evening as there were no taxis available at all and the island do not allow Ubers. We pre-booked for another night which cost us €130, and the same again for Rhodes Town. Both worth a visit but we weren’t expecting to be spending so much on taxis all week. A complimentary shuttle to Kolymbia would be a really welcome touch from the hotel. We did use the complimentary bus that faliraki waterpark put on that stops next door to the hotel. This goes at 10pm and returns at 5pm.

Overall a nice week, but probably wouldn’t return having been to other 5 star resorts offering more as standard, and the location.

Having been to Rhodes many times in different hotels/resorts, we were looking forward to visiting. Generally a nice hotel, clean, modern and a friendly atmosphere. Food good - always something different to eat and the pool snack bar is very good, especially the gyros wraps! Rooms clean and housekeeping daily to a good standard. Having to refill your own glass bottle of water from the fridge or buy your own a bit odd but eliminates the use of single use plastics I guess. Most of the staff very hard working - restaurant staff faultless but the evening bar very much depends on who’s working as to the level of service. Queued for 30 mins for a drink one evening with one guy behind the bar seeming to have to do everything. They do have staff taking orders for drinks but they seem selective as to who they ask and who they serve and even then it’s very slow! Generally though they all work hard and are pleasant enough. We had issues with air con in our room whereby it tripped every night at about midnight and we had to ring to reception to get it reset. It did get a bit tedious every night and they did offer a room change but we liked our room so did not. They did however give us a free late check out to make up for it. Couldn’t really fault them as to how they dealt with it, One let down we felt was the entertainment team. Every day was the same and they didn’t really interact with the guests. The girls did their best but the guy running it didn’t seem to care too much and it all came across as being a bit lazy. Witnessed him one evening having a shouting match with one of the external evening entertainment people which was very unprofessional and a bit intimidating for a female on her own who had just nipped to the toilet! Definitely room for improvement and a need for some variety in the daytime, activities and music wise! After a week it was simply boring! Very windy the last couple of days which meant we couldn’t use the umbrellas round the pool - not a problem for us but worth considering if you have little ones that need a bit of shade. Would we visit again? It’s not a no but also not a definite yes! In summary, a nice hotel and a good break but just a few niggly things that let it down. Not a 5 star by any stretch based on other hotels we have stayed in on the island - more like 4.