Garden Palace Hotel

We had a stay at Hotel GARDEN PALACE in Zakynthos from 10/07/2023 to 17/07/2023, booked through Paralela 45 Experience. The vouchers, still, were issued by Christian Tour. They may have a collaboration, I do not know.

Please se below our experience with Paralela 45 Experience, Christian Tour and Garden Palace and draw the conclusions:

- When arriving at the hotel the room was different from the one that we booked.
- The room was supposed to be cleaned but it wasn’t and we had to wait until they cleaned it
- They all said it is impossible to change the room as there was no other availability
- We had many lizards on the balcony. My wife has a phobia of them and asked to change the room. They did not want to do this claiming there is no other availability.
- We had no assistance from Christian Tour representatives even though we contacted them many times. One of the persons, the one who welcomed us on the island, Cristian, was unreachable, he always had his phone turned off.
- One day we found our belongings on the floor
- The AC smelled awfully, had no remote control. They have not cleaned it during our stay even though we insisted
- Also, we did not have a towel dryer on the balcony. We asked for it every day but did not get one
- The food was bad. Always the same every day, the beverages were of a very low quality
- The employees were literally analysing all our moves during our stay in the restaurant as we were some criminals.

Think again when wanting a vacation booked from Paralela 45 Experience, Christian Tour and at this Garden Palace Hotel in Zakynthos which is 2 stars at the most, not by far 4.

Shame to you all!

Good: + clean rooms + pool + kind staff (not the manager/owner) + good location Bad: - rude manager/owner - lunch is mostly awful - dinner was average. It seems they often reuse remaining lunch food. - no hand soap. We got 3 little shower gel when checked-in - Owner shut down the lights in the common area (in front of the hotel with tables and chairs) after 23:00 without any communication. - drinks were awful. Beer is watered too much. The shots were almost water. I drank a whisky and it was barely tasted like whisky… - air conditioners barely worked or not even worked - air conditioner filters were very dirty (it was black because of the dirt) - we couldn’t watch Euro 2024 matches on the big tv in the bar because owner said the cabel didn’t work on the big tv… (it worked in the rooms though…)

Arrival from Gdańsk to the hotel in front of the hotel after 06:00. Reception closed, no staff. We waited in the heat until 7:30 a.m. A lady from the reception appeared and informed us that check-in was available between 12 and 3 p.m. She gave us wristbands and we could eat breakfast. It's a pity that the reception was not open 24/7 as it is on the Internet. 0 English support. We went for breakfast a little after 8:00, ate and left, still waiting for accommodation. At 9:20 I went to the restaurant where I had breakfast earlier to get a glass of water, the receptionist approached me and almost grabbed the glass from my hand. She said I couldn't have a drink because the All Inclusive option starts at 11:00, I politely asked why, breakfast lasts from 8:00-10:00, if I had breakfast and left, I can't come back? We wanted to drink water because we were waiting for a room in 35 degrees heat - as it turned out, we couldn't! And we had to go buy a bottle of water to the market that was around the corner. Around 11:00 the receptionist calls us to say that the rooms are ready. Very nice and clean rooms - you can't say a bad word about it, but the air conditioning in this room is a disaster, the height of the room from floor to ceiling is 4.8 m - the air conditioning from the times of the Polish People's Republic was not able to cool such a large room where it did not work 24/7 yet because the electricity was on the card. Our newly met Poles had no air conditioning at all and they spent 2 days without a working air conditioner at 35 degrees outside before the hotel staff replaced the device with a new one. No water bottles in the guest room (apparently 4 stars) - not to mention salty water in the tap and shower. There was nothing to brush our teeth with - we had to buy water at the supermarket - is this an All Inclusive holiday?? – failure After checking in, we went to the bar, drinks? Plain water - I understand that All Inclusive is watered down drinks, but here it was only water. The hotel owner or co-owner is a big boor, a simpleton and a xenophobe - he obviously doesn't like Poles. He throws some rude texts at us, e.g. that we drink too much and only go to pee, I am large and he said rude texts to me, saying that when I got out of the pool, the waves stopped. On the second day of our stay, the owner was very unconcerned with some of the Poles who wanted to order a drink as part of the All inclusive offer - for some reason he did not want to pour them a drink and started a discussion that Poles were cunning and whether we were so smart and that we can't afford to pay for drinks - shame. The All Inclusive Open Bar was to be open from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. It closed around 10:40 p.m. The bar had regulations that clearly stated that two drinks per person were allowed when entering the bar at one time. We approached the bar after 10 p.m., closer to closing time, and the bartender (one of the owners) said that he wouldn't pour us two, but poured us on

In the grounds of the hotel is a rental company Maroudas rentals says part of the hotel. Don’t use these for day trips booked an excursion and totally different to what we were sold when talked to the owner just denied any involvement and no care shown give a wide berth

The worst hotel we have ever been to. We arrived at 8 am and waited for hours before we could get a room the owner yelled at us that we couldn’t have our suitcases in the reception but at the same time we didn’t get the room where we could put our belongings without being scared that they would be taken. There wasn’t nobody in the reception for hours so you have to search for people if you need some help. The staff/owners extremely rude unprofessional and mean. They don’t change towels every day, and they give you only 1big and 1 small towel. When we asked for new ones they started to be mean and we got into an argument. The bathroom is old and dirty you can’t even wash your hands because there is not any soap or towel. Cleaners smoke on people’s balcony while they should clean the rooms. The food is horrible it is too greasy and it smells awful it is very much the same all week. The owner didn’t let us take one slice of bread out of the kitchen. We were treated very badly and also threatened that he will remove us from the hotel because we were having fun at the pool. Overall HORRIBLE not even worth 2 stars. Do not go to this hotel.

Avoid this hotel.🙃
All pictures are from 5 years ago, they do not reflect the current reality.
Cons:
-The owner always follows you whatever you do;
-THE ROOMS ARE NOT CLEANED. They don’t change the towels and they don’t bring you shower gel/shampoo unless you ask (and they looked strange if you do that)
-Wifi works extremely hard in the rooms;
-All the service at the bar leaves much to be desired. Water and juices are from dispenser in plastic cups, if you ask for a cocktail.. it’s extremely diluted and the food served is tasteless.
-‘the coffee’ is made with a machine as old and dirty as the hotel;
Pros:
-Relatively close to the beach;

It seemed like a bad joke for a 4-star all-inclusive stay.