Odyssia Beach Hotel in Rethymno

An ordinary 3-star hotel
We were on vacation with three of us for 2 weeks. Booked a room superior, as we thought that it will be larger in size, but as it turned out that they are almost all the same size, up to 20m2. It was very uncomfortable for the three of us.
The hotel would do well to pay attention to the general coziness and order. Everything is somehow dirty and not cleaned. Dishes in the restaurant - this is a separate story for discussion.
There is no entertainment for children. Even board games and that for a fee.
Will I come here again - definitely not.

Pros:
-very close to the sea (less than 1 minute)
-Near supermarkets/coffee shops
-15 minutes by bus to Rethymno

Cons:

Minuses:
-breakfasts and dinners. For 2 weeks only a couple of times there were mussels and once shrimp for dinner. Breakfasts all 14 days were the same.
-There is no kettle/coffee maker in the rooms, and tea/coffee is not offered at dinner either. Had to go to neighboring cafes and buy some.
-dishware so old and sometimes dirty that it was just unpleasant to eat from it.
-Restaurant manager Michalis (an old man with makeup) constantly yelled at the staff and went to make remarks to the guests, it was very annoying. Only when I complained to the general manager of the hotel, he left us alone. (“You can not sit at this table, you can not drink from this cup here, you have to dress differently” and everything like that).
-Cleaning the room depended on the woman who cleaned.
-beds, umbrellas and towels on the beach all for a fee, although this was not warned. And we had a full package bought.
-restaurant A la carte at lunch, it was basically a la carte dishes from the food that was left over for breakfast or dinner.

We spent two weeks in Odyssia Beach Hotel in Late July and Early August. Most guests during that time were german-speaking with occassional french and dutch guests.
As everything in life, the hotel has it´s strength and weaknesses. To the good sides belong an excellent gastronomy, as well as a friendly service (at least outside of the reception area). The weaknesses of the hotel are mostly tied to the hotel rooms, even if one decides to rent a "Deluxe Room". Additionally, Odyssia´s pool landscape is rather small. Combined with the fact, that it is the only area where sunbeds were free of charge, the place tended to be rather crowded.
But anyway - with some creativity one could reschedule and move to the beach area, where sunbeds were available for quite a fair price (Between 5 to 7 Euros per day for two sunbeds and a parasol).
As stated - Gastronomy in Odyssia is quite fine, even compared to international standards. Breakfast was always fresh and offered dishes for various tastes - from classical bread, to bacon, boiled and scrambled eggs up to salads and marmelade. Dinner was served in buffet form, offering vegetarian meals up to fish or national cuisine. Amusingly, me - as a categoric beef eater - had pretty much fun with the salads (what is rather rare usually), so vegitarians will have their fun in this hotel too.
By the way - the hotel offers also a small supermarket with more than fair prices. So normally there is no need to leave the hotel for shopping. If you want to do so, you will also find two supermarkets, a restaurant and a sightseeing company near by the hotel.
The major disadvantage of Odyssia are the rather small, spartanic furnitured room. We received a “Deluxe room” during arrival. It consisted of a modern bath, interestingly with the washing basin in the hotel room´s entry area (?). Otherwise, the main room consisted of the beds, a rather small wardrobe, a safe that had to be paid for, a sofa with a side table, a wall mounted console table and two TVs. Due to the modest size of the Deluxe Room, storage area was “sparse” at best. In general I missed strongly facilities for storing suitcases and clothes here.
So, compared to similar hotels around the globe, the Odyssia definitely has issues to keep up with it´s self-declared deluxe standards here (Important to consider, when reserving a Deluxe Room). In general, I know hotels, which offer better and more spacious rooms for the same price.
As a summary, I would say, one can go to Odyssia and have fun there. A pretty much different issue is, whether one would come back again - but try and see.