May Beach Hotel

We made an excellent choice with May Beach Hotel. Travelling with a rental car, the location is great as a base for discovering the Western Part of Crete (Chania, Rethymnon and most of the Heraklion Area). The staff was very welcoming and helpful, and the cleanliness and decor of the Hotel is exemplary. The well-kept garden with the pool area has a very relaxed and calm a**osphere where we could unwind after the trips of the day. We had half-board and dinner was fine with a wide selection of greek and european dishes. However, around the hotel there is not much going on in terms of traditional tavernas apart from the facilities in Platanes which seem very tourist-oriented, and the beach area behind the hotel is kinda mediocre if you know other beaches on Crete. We visited beaches in the south (Plakias and Frangokastello area, 1hr drive, great) and Phalasarna on the West Coast (2hr drive, extraordinary) which more than make up for this. Nevertheless, due to the main island road (New Road) being close you are able to reach many locations no time. The bus stop to Rethymnon is 100m away, and the trip is just 1 € and takes about 15 minutes. If you are prepared to travel a bit for your experience or are fine with hanging out at the pool the whole day, this hotel is perfect! My only major issue is that the rooms towards the front close to the residential road are very loud due to motorized traffic. I am normally not a big complainer in this regard but there are A LOT of very loud motorcycles passing through there especially later in the evening and also during the night. Also the windows and balcony door have only simple single-layer glass and are not sound-proofed. The hotel could really improve here. We asked for and got granted with no fuzz a room towards the back which was way quieter. All in all we had a very nice and relaxing holidays there and would come back. We recommend this to all travelers looking for a calm retreat in the center of the island with plans for regular forays into the countryside or the cities.

Stayed here for 1 week all inclusive. Very, very, very quiet hotel. If you are from the UK I would not recommend staying here.. If you are under 50 years old and from the UK then I would definitely not recommend this hotel. No English speaking guests so can feel isolated but then again everyone kept themselves to themselves, there was not any interaction between guests. The all inclusive is abysmal, poor selection of drinks (especially alcohol), the ‘beer’ is 10% beer, 90% soda water, the only spirits included is Raki, Ouzu & Brandy, you have to pay for anything else. The food as well was terrible, extremely small selection which we did not like at all, was lucky there were chips to eat on a few nights and then we just had bread and fruit most of the evening. There is no entertainment at all or any any music played around the pool during the day, it’s just pure silence. On to the positives.. - Friendly & helpful staff always available. - Small quiet hotel so it was relaxing throughout the whole day. - Decent outside pool which was never crowded (always sunbeds and good space free). - The location was great, 5 min walk to the beach via the hotel which has plenty of places to eat, sunbeds and a beach club. On either side on the main road if you took a little walk you can find plenty of shops, bars and restaurants. €1 bus ticket to the main town which you can buy at the supermarket opposite the hotel (close bus stop and 10 minute journey). - Comfy spacious room and beds. I would return to this area in the future but definitely NOT this hotel, especially considering how much it was it did not live up to expectations.

We had by far the best vacation ever at May beach hotel! Every single people working here= so nice and helpful ❤️. Great athmophsere between guests and many come here for years thanks to the way of taking care of guests. We slept like a baby, because of the excellent matresses. Best food ever straight out of the garden and local farmers= very njammie! So May beach hotel is top! 💯👌❣️

I have just returned from my holiday and I am absolutely appalled by the hotel offering as a luxury destination and as 4 star. We paid a total of £2,700.00 for this holiday to Greece, upon arriving our dream break holiday turned into a nigh**are. We were greeted rudely by the staff and shown to our room with a can’t be asked attitude by the staff. in the common areas we had faeces running down the hallway and under the room doors, the all-inclusive offering was pitiful – the food and drink was minimal and the bedroom TV was smashed. As soon as we got there, we complained – not what you should be doing upon arriving to your holiday. Sadly, we spent more time outside of the complex than in it. We also spent a lot more money as we had no option but to eat out most lunch and dinner times (despite paying premium price hoping for a premium buffet option!). The buffet was smaller than a kid’s buffet! The drinks options included: house wine, raki, ouzo, one draft beer; having been to a few all-inclusive resorts, I would expect spirits to be included (not branded) and a few different beer options. We didn’t have any snack options; other than snacks we would have to pay for. I did not have a kettle in my room, despite the room description advising a kettle and mini bar would be in the room. I even had to pay for a tea in the evening as apparently this was ‘not part of the all-inclusive offering’ – ridiculous. We were also advised that the entertainment was every 15 days, this surely cannot be right for a family hotel? So, on top of bad food, drinks, hotel room, service – we were without entertainment. I would not recommend this hotel at all.

the front desk Arpyro was great made evey thing easy .Also Maria The bard tenders Alex and Chris werwe grea great .

Overall a very pleasant stay. Positives: Excellent Wi-Fi Spotlessly clean Very modern decor Friendly staff Nice location Relaxing a**osphere Lovely pool area with lots of sun loungers Negatives All inclusive very expensive and level of alcohol is a joke. No Gin or Vodka on the menu. Beer is warm and tasteless. Really disappointed with this for the price that we paid. Very focused on European guests, German, French, Italian. Very small number of British or Irish guests. Didn’t seem to make an effort with English speaking guests. But very fluent for other nationalities. Safe €10.00 per week should be be free as part of all inclusive deal. Towels very hard and worn. Beach area that hotel boasts of is very poor and not fit for swimming due to the amount of rocks and stones. Food is just ok and again not good value based on what we paid. Overall bar the negatives we did enjoy our stay here but all inclusive needs Serious attention as it’s just not good value for money.

Cons: Rooms bit on small side, not much wardrobe space & only 5 hangars between 2! Towels so stiff nearly took skin off, shower not very powerful and drainage so poor it kept flooding floor. Bed was 2 pushed together, causing a very hard edge all way down. Pillows need replacing as there was nothing to them. Safe was extra cost. Glad took kettle as not 1 provided. Our room was at front facing road, so had no sun on balcony in morning and quite a bit of traffic noise, only a wooden trellis so no privacy from neighbour, but I think most others had solid walls. Fridge in room - empty on arrival and nothing ever put in it, for AI I would expect at least some water! Food at both indoor and poolside restaurants not very good, often cold, not much variety. We struggled most nights and out of 10 went out to eat 4 times. You can pay for pizza, burger etc but would be nice to have this offered occasionally at lunchtime as part of AI. Waiters trying to take plates etc whilst still eating - 1 tried taking hubbys saucer while he was drinking from the cup! Drinks on AI extremely poor, practically non-existent! Weak local beer, ouzo, raki or a brandy, cheap horrible wine - that’s it. When we asked barman if we could have a vodka and lemonade, was told no but gave us a shot each as a token, on him! Made us want a proper drink even more! Entertainment was once in 10 days for about an hour - Greek dancers who after a while got some guests up to join in. Beach reached through back of hotel, on uneven, overgrown path and wooden suspended bridge over a marshy ground. Sea very hard to get/out of due to stones, 1 restaurant with sunbeds and umbrellas. This hotel is not for the English - for 9 days we were the only English there, which makes you feel isolated as most other guests don’t even reply when you greet them. Gardens could be beautiful if they were kept trimmed etc. On one day two men were chain-sawing a tree down at one end of garden, which wasn’t even visible to guests let alone causing a problem - this went on all day! For heavens sake do this sort of thing before you open for guests so they don’t have to endure the noise/dust. There is a separate pool for kids with slide etc - but not used. Pros: Cleanliness good. Most staff friendly and helpful. Small village with few restaurants within 10 mins walk. Bus stop close by. No noise heard from neighbours in adjoining rooms. Laid back feel. Quite disappointed with hotel and would not return as not good value - and it certainly wasn’t cheap!