Elga Hotel in Kardamaina

Don't believe the good reviews. The place was an absolute disgrace. When we arrived we were advised not to keep money in the room as it was not safe and therefore recommended to hire a safe in reception (extra cost of course). So this is the first hotel I have ever stayed in where you are told at reception your valuables are NOT safe in your room. Not a great start to the holiday. Things got bad to worse. We paid extra for air con. They wanted cash becuae the debit card machine was temperamental. I did not have rhe cash but then the card machine suddenly worked! We got to the room and only air con for ONE room. The other bedroom was swelteringly hot and unbearable. The note in the room said beds and towels changet once a week!! I've never known anything like it. Hotels normally change the towels daily. We REALLY couldn't believe it. Room was very tired and old with a tiny shower and a hose that didn't work. Next day the pool area looked OK but there was a very large family SMOKING in the pool and drinking beer on the side of the pool. The swearing and langauge and F words was despicable in front of the other kids and nothing was said. We were so shocked and another lovely lady with kids said she so was frightened to go back to the pool area thag she went to the pool in the next hotel called KOOL pool. The whole area around the hotel is derelict. The whole experiemce would have totally ruined rhe holiday except that Kardamena was generally a nice resort so we.made the best of it but I would sadly say this place was an absolute shambles and I regret not doing more research before coming.

Hotel is behind Louis Supermarket & the main Kos Town bus stop, so location is great. Easy for taxis & transfers to find. And if very basic self-catering/bed/shower for the nights you stay is all you're after, the rooms are roomy & the beds are decent. I found it safe, secure & relatively comfortable for 2-star self catering. Now unfortunately that's as good as it gets I'm afraid. Before I move onto the negatives some considerations: 1. The shower is tiny & the curtain is more of a hindrance than a help. The shower head is mounted 2ft high on the wall either so you have to hold it when washing your hair & yourself. Treat the bathroom as a wet room as there is a drain in the middle of the floor. Also the shower drain clogs easily & it's never cleaned. 2. Absolutely nothing is supplied in the room - no soap, bottled water, toothpaste, iron. If you get in late at night bring supplies with you, the supermarkets don't open until 8am 3. There is a loose manhole cover outside my room, sounds like someone knocking on the door. Not the hotel's fault, I know. 4. The hotel prefer cash for tourist tax, air con & general bar spending. Staff can't/won't use their card machines. 5. Room cleaning is extremely spartan - existing bed sheets folded, the loo bins are supposedly emptied although ours wasn't during the second week, that's it..... And now the bad Absolutely appalled to see the lady working the pool bar smoking on my first day behind the bar, over the food & drinks behind the counter. She was smoking alongside 2 guests. Not only is this dirty, unhealthy and unhygienic but it is also ILLEGAL. She appeared to have relatives from England staying with her who later leaned over me in the bar to stub out their cigarettes over my shoulder onto my table. I am repelled by smoking and this alone would ensure I never return to the Elga, it is a disgusting dereliction of duty. To be honest hotels have been shut down for less. The lady at the pool also seemed to permit 2 small children (6 & 8 yo) who appear to be part of the hotel family to run in & out of the main adults pool despite there being multiple signs insisting that children should stay in the children's pool only. The kids were allowed to run riot all over the pool & banged into/annoyed other guests. People i met in Kardamena town over the 2 weeks have said the pool & the pool bar manager have a very poor, bad & sloppy reputation for this across all of Kardamena & that's why they won't go near the pool or the Elga hotel. The Kool Pool is around the corner, is a lot more popular & is clean & professionally run. On my last week I also noticed my room did not have the toilet paper bin relined & no toilet paper was left despite us having run out for 4 days, there was a significant and sudden drop in standards. Clean towels were scarce on the second week & guess who I saw was on cleaning duty but spent most of the day smoking with the cleaning trolley with her English pals by the pool those days