Alia Beach Hotel in Hersonissos

🚨 AVOID THIS HOTEL – EXTREMELY DODGY EXPERIENCE 🚨

We recently stayed at a hotel in Crete and had such a disappointing and frankly disturbing experience that I feel compelled to warn others.

From the start, things felt off. On arrival, we were told we owed €70 in city tax — despite our booking confirmation stating €60. When we tried to pay by card, we were told it had to be cash only, which already raised red flags. Despite our discomfort, we were pressured with the excuse that “it goes straight to the city.” We’ve traveled widely, and this is the first place we’ve seen that only accepts cash for a city tax.

We eventually paid in cash that evening, with no receipt provided — again, very suspicious.

On our final day, my partner went to request a late checkout (I’m six months pregnant), only to be told we hadn’t paid the tax. There was no record, no explanation — just a vague, confusing document showing both €60 and €70. The staff made zero effort to clarify or resolve the issue.

Later that night, while waiting for our transfer, things escalated. The receptionist stormed over, shouting, demanding we pay again. We calmly explained we’d already paid — but again, no receipt = no proof. I reminded them it’s not our fault if their staff didn’t log the payment.

Instead of resolving it professionally, the staff got aggressive — shouting, refusing to listen, and even putting his hands on my partner. He told us to get out and refused to return our luggage unless we paid again. I was told I “deserved to pay double” because I didn’t have a receipt — which they never gave me in the first place. He even threatened to call the police over their own mistake.

In the end, we had to pay the city tax twice just to get our bags and catch our flight. They wouldn’t even take card, saying “we get charged €5” — as if that’s our problem.

To anyone considering this hotel: AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. Especially if you’re pregnant, traveling with family, or expect any level of professionalism or integrity. The staff were aggressive, dishonest, and clearly up to something shady.

On a brighter note, Alia Beach Bar Restaurant (next door but separate) were lovely. They saw how upset we were and kindly offered us drinks and a place to sit before our transfer. Unfortunately, they couldn’t help as the restaurant and hotel are separate entities.

Crete is beautiful, but this awful experience completely ruined our trip. We won’t be coming back.

#TravelWarning #HotelScam #CreteTravel #AvoidThisHotel

It was a very unpleasant experience. We booked this hotel through an agency and it was advertised as 4 star hotel, but I would say it is maximum 2.5 star hotel. The rooms have very old and dirty ACs. We initially received a room where the air conditioning was missing some components( the swigs did’t exist) and you could have seen the interior filter through the hole and it was super dirty. Also the AC didn’t even cool, it was maximum ventilating. I asked the receptionist to change the room because I didn’t pay to have a non functioning AC and he was very rude, kept telling me that is a beautiful room that is big and that the AC is ok. In the end I had to call the agency through which I booked and they discussed with the receptionist and in the end after 4h of waiting he changed our room. The cleaning lady comes only to change towels and to clean the floor and came in the worst moments like when we left for breakfast and 40 min later when we came back in the room the floor was wet and we couldn’t get in the room without leaving marks.. The breakfast was very limited and identical every day. If you have allergies or a sensitive stomach you don’t have choices to eat. We have been in Greece many times, and we know the usual conditions on hotels, but this was by far the worst hotel we ever stayed in Greece in the last 8 years and it was super expensive for the conditions offered. Avoid this Hotel if you can!