Tui Hersonissos

this hotel was a wow when we got there the rooms was just fantastic 2 flat screen tv,s very large beds plenty of room for a little one in her cot at the side of us nice bathroom it was 10/10 but the holiday was not about the room! we went 1st may so we got all the problems like many others my main thing was the food it was just crap i didnt spend all that money to eat warmups ! but i belive its now alot better same with the beer it wasnt mythos more like goat p@&* and very pricey yea i know 5 star but done 5 star before and didnt get that crap also a very few highchairs it was a nightmare but before we left it got sorted so dont worry . all drinks are free at luchtimes so raid the fridge! many did . did the greek one night plenty of choice but poor did the thai my wife enjoyd but i thought there was more spice in a lemon and did the tex mex at dinner time got the chicken but didnt think id get chicken nuggets! . ok thats the bad stuff out of the way no it isnt one more thing theres no ramps for pushchairs so we had to carry are girl up and down the stairs everyday 2 sets ok thats that moveing on the pools are great yea cold but its the time of yea plus 1 heated pool very nice and relaxing great to take babys and kids in but yea very slippy around the pools so walk slow . theres a nice pool indoor as well side of the half ready gym ! you who have got swim ups well done they look fantastic but those faceing pool side may have people takeing pics every 10 mins same as road side but dont worry been roadside for noise its not at all! the beach is ok people have put they paid but i was to belive it was free mmmmmm! . the shows we watched outside was very poor no one went! but should get better but no way westend . theres no kids disco at all like the playground its for 5+ but tgats me saying that are girl is 16months and there was nothing apart from in the creche what was good fantastic staff and 100%safe . if u want to avoid crap beer and overpriced go over to clubcafe for a fantastic night and meet people great folk that run it who are a laugh u will see the chairs and tables get moved about 10 times a night ! . my worry is when this hotel is full theres going to be no sunbeds as there was none when we left infact some people had left them on overnight! but its earldays for this hotel so it should and only get better . il try post pictures if it works oh yea the spa my wife loved it dais it was fantastic went twice so please enjoy your holiday we didnt have the best of time but many did so enjoy but so glad didnt book mexico as thats getting built in middle of nowhere and i like to go out and about but hey could be wrong they might be a shop . its self catering for me now on if i went in a few weeks it could have been the best holidat i had so lets see how others enjoy as there is lots comeing home this thurs 15/5/08 so should be plenty of post like kingofmerthyr great guy wife and fantastic little boy who we met "hope your fine". well people once again enjoy happy holidays!

We arrived late and the hotel looked great, cases are taken straight to the room and we were offered a light buffet.

ROOM

This was spacious and looked great we were upgraded from a standard room to a family room. Balcony spacious and bathroom had a separate bath and shower. Bath was whirlpool and shower had spa spays. Downside is that the shower isn't sealed in and water leaks all over the bathroom.

Bed was huge and very soft but only 1 pillow each? Requested further pillows but in a five star would have expected at least a couple each. My 4 year old was on the sofa bed and although he was happy enough it was hard and I couldn't have slept comfortably on it. Also the sofa bed is made from wood and the end arms have sharp corners which my son banged his head on - not the best design. Also we had to turn the fridge off at night because it made a funny noise like an aquarium, my husband did this and he doesn't usually get bothered by that sort of thing.

Sliding patrician doors separate the main bed from the sofa beds which was great but the bottom run broken when we pulled the door across and it was the only hinged from the top - a little dangerous I felt for having a 4 year old in the room - we complained almost everyday but the problem wasn't fixed whilst we were there.

The aircon worked fine except that on our first full day it began to leak water although I'm glad to say this was fixed within hours but the maintenance men left some silicon sealer bits in the bathroom sink. Our balcony light was also not working and this was fixed within a day but the maintenance guy let us know he was there by leaving a fag butt on the balcony!

POOL

We spent the first few days in the Large spa pool as all the others were a bit cold (time of year I think) but there was a problem and on day 3 it was as cold as the others. We switched to what I would call the kids pool (between the adult pool and Thai restaurant) and my son cut his toes in this pool, he wasn't the only one unfortunately. We reported this but we never got an explanation from guest relations or saw the problem being resolved. My son liked the Fruit spray ground but there was no set time when it was switched in (rarely on in the morning) however this brought it's own problems as water leaked on two paths surrounding it and paths became very slippy - also before we left was noticed that the grass surrounding the pool was becoming muddy.

We found that the tiles throughout were quite slippy when wet and my son fell a couple of times even when he was walking carefully.

We went to the beach across the road and although this was part of the hotel still had to pay 5 Euros for two sun beds and a parasol.

FOOD

The breakfast buffet was great served between 7 and 10.

Lunch is served between 12.30 and 15.00 in the Red saffron taverna and got really busy (remember the hotel wasn't anywhere near full at this point) and was a bit difficult negotiating your way through the sea of tables. Food here was ok. What I didn't like was that soft drinks were all fizzy there was no milk or fruit juice or still juice for my 4 year old to drink just water. I did ask but staff seemed unable to get any.

Evening meals - your allowed to eat in 4 of the 6 restaurants as part of the package so we turned up at the tex mex at 7pm only to find out that we had to reserve a table to eat as part of package or pay extra not to book. What isn't clear is that you must make a reservation at breakfast and there are limited places or eat when you like at the main buffet restaurant. I felt this very restrictive.

Buffet restaurant got better as time went on but when we left I felt was only just about 4* not anyway near 5* Show cooking was debatable - we could see someone cook swordfish - does that count?

We visited Thai / Tex Mex and Taverna and found the Thai was best for food and service, not sure what was tex mex about the tex mex food? and taverna service was terribly slow and food was lucky to be 3*. All are set menu only - which was not my understanding of the package sold to me.

The soft drink problem was the same at dinner as lunch but did have milk for kids and if you spoke nicely to the right staff member you could get some apple juice in buffet restaurant and peach juice in the other restaurants.

Wine was drinkable but not good - again 5* status comes into question.

Bar drinks and snacks are very expensive - go across the road for bar and shop v reasonable.

Didn't go to Al Dente or Aroma grill as you were only give 10 Euro towards these and had to pay for your wine there

STAFF

This varied alot and I felt communication was perhaps an issue, staff that didn't understand you walked away and didn't get someone else to answer your questions. I thought the woman who greeted you at breakfast and lunch (Nicky or Micky) was really nice and cheery and she spoke and understood english better that the reception staff. Guest relations (Thomson reps) were lovely to speak to but made little difference to any of the problems.

ENTERTAINMENT

I thought this was very good and professional - Rock a pella show was good but lounge room is small and no aircon -so it was too hot.

Sports

Didn't use much - husband went to golf and played pitch and putt for as long as he wanted - also driving range available but these are not in sensatori (not much of a hardship 5 min walk to robinson hotel). Also offered scuba diving all included in package.

Kids facilities

There's a kids club (3 to 12y ears) which is free but is a like a nursery school room and they offer four 45 min sessions Sunday to Friday and an 7 to 8pm as well. Also Stay and play session's 12 to 2 everyday. I thought the sessions too short you couldn't go and do much but out son liked it and the staff really lovely.

There's a crèche but we didn't need this so can't review.

I had been expecting a soft play but no such luck, also the outdoor playground wasn't finished when we arrived. It finished 3 days in and then we discovered it's for over 5's - in looking around other hotels in the area they cater very well for under 5 playgrounds shame sensatori hasn't done the same.

Last but not least we left our cases in the room for checkout (as advised by hotel) their porters should take cases to the luggage room in lobby, however with 10 mins til the bus was due to take us to the airport it turned out that cases were still in our room (2 hours after we checked out) if we hadn't chased this with reception we wouldn't have gotten our luggage - not great guest relations. I would question the security in the luggage room as people just were going in and out it was a mess and there were no controls in terms of security that I could see. Then the bus could not reverse up slope to entrance and we had to lug our own cases down steps to the road - not a porter in sight. Not a great end to the 5* holiday we expected.

Over-all the holiday was probably 3*+ I think give it a year and it may reach 5* deluxe as currently advertised.

About as far from 5 star delux as Butlins, Freezing pools, terrible caterring and more health and safty issues than Afghanastan on a bad day. Pool tiles sharp and children had cuts, at least one holiday maker ended up in hospital for two days with food poisioning, two guests we saw, slipped around pool due to extremly slippery tiles, alot of guests had bathrooms that did not work or leaked. No fire regs in the rooms, lifts had no alarm or phone lines in until a complant was made. Repair and gardenning work still being carried out. Beach is Ok, some oil / tar under the sand but beutiful sea once in. Oh, they run out of sun beds quickly and you end up on the grass. Ques for breakfast and dinner and forget booking the other resturants unless you want a 30 minute wait in line. The hotel has great potential and is decorated with stunning furniture and artistic flare. It will be lovely. Faultless as far as design and colour in furnishings. Nightmare design in terms of if you have a pram and are in the blcoks away from the main hotel. You will need helpon the stairs. My advice, spend your money somewhere else for at least a year until they get it right.

Just got back from Sensatori, and had a fantastic time, really dont see why everyone is complaining so much about the hotel, there are a few problems with the hotel but nothing too major.

On arrival in Heraklion, your'e met by sensatori reps who allocate you with your room numbers and a small welcome leaflet with the esential info. you then have about a 25 min direct transfer to the hotel, and are greeted with a welcome drink on the terrace whilst your luggage is taken direct to your room!

We found all the staff to be very friendly, efficient, and polite all around the hotel, and the two managers are always around the hotel somewhere, no matter what time of day!

The rooms are brilliant, flat screen tv's, tea/coffee making facilities, iron/ironing board, slippers etc and the mini fridge can be emptied so you can fill it with your own things, by a simple call to reception. Cleaners came everyday, on two occasions they didnt leave towels but again by calling reception this was sorted.

Food was fantastic-wide variety each day, and specialities at dinner each night, didnt hear of any complaints whilst there, so not sure about the reviews of the dodgy food!! you can make reservations for the other restaurants each morning, but advise to book early as the do get fully booked.

We had treatments in the spa, and its definately worth the money, so much choice of treatments to have, but again it was pretty much fully booked while we were there, all the treatment rooms have different themes, with mood changing lights etc!! wow!

Entertainment was good, with different shows each night, the Rock-a-pellar show is fantastic, and also the light and fountain show is brilliant,the only thing that could make it better would be for the hotel to have more shows(a lot of the entertainment is singing)

Pool areas were very clean,can get very slippery though, a few people fell over as there are no mats down around the pool, a lot of this was brought up with the hotel staff so will no doubt be improved over time.

The hotel prices for drinks werent cheap, a pint was 6euro, around the corner we paid 2.50 euro so a lot of people were visiting local bars/tavernas for drinks. this was probably the one main thing purely because of the high prices!

there is still some building work around the back of the hotel, this isnt far from being finished, and wont affect the holiday at all.

the reps are friendly and any problems you have, theyll listen to you and find out any answers for you.

Wide range of sports available throughout the day if you like to be active, football, volleyball, scuba diving lessosn int he pool, bike hire etc.

Didnt use the childrens facilities, but kids were coming out with paintings, sweets etc, and they have lots for kids, movie nights with popcorn and everything!!

Whats on each day cna be found out on your tv's, it gives you all the activities by hour, and restaurant/spa info etc, which they improved everyday while we were there.

Really dont see why people were complaining so much, i think thats all some people seemed to do, but at the end of the day, everyone has a different experience, and you can never please everyone!!

For a hotel that had only been opened for 3 days, we coudlnt fault it one bit, and will more than likely book again for next year!!

Went to Sensatori on opening week. Rooms are excellent and very spacious, well laid out resort but wait a few weeks to let them sort out teething problems. Food was like school canteen and cold,no flavour very poorly presented.Long queues to get into breakfast and not able to sample other rest as they limited it to how many people they would take. It was a farce to have to book in the mornings and queue for 40mins to be told sorry fully booked.Also lack of mattresses for sunbeds so very uncomfortable to relax on.I believe that this hotel opened in a rush with not enough trained staff, lack of facilities very poor ent.

Hi all, I too was worried about the hotel after reading the huge amount of concerns posted. We are just back and I thought i would post some info for you all. The hotel is really beautiful and definately wins points for that. Our room had a pool/sea view and was well positioned. There is a small amount of work still going on but it is right at the top of the hotel and well away from the main areas and only seems to be finishing off not major construction. I have to agree about the slippy pools. We were travelling with a four year old and were a bit worried about him falling. Also, for those with kids, take swimming shoes, our son cut his feet in the pool as did several other children on the same day. This seems to only be a problem in the kids pool and it was being investigated whilst we were there. On to the food, it is not that bad. Breakfast provided loads of choice and I didn't suffer from a problem with cold food. At lunch and dinner there were peaks which were busy. but I never had to queue apart from maybe a minute or so while we were waiting to be seated. The only time i did was to make reservations at the A La Carte restaurants. We did find drinks really expensive in the main hotel but there are some bars with kids play areas not five minutes from the hotel so that solved that problem! There were some minor problems for us but I kind of expected that with being the first guests. At the end of the day, a holiday is what you make it and I am sorry to say that there seemed to be some guests there intent on complaining and getting as many freebies from the management as possible. If you want me to answer any specific questions i will try, sorry for the long post but i hope it helps.

We arrived late and the hotel looked great, cases are taken straight to the room and we were offered a light buffet.

ROOM

This was spacious and looked great we were upgraded from a standard room to a family room. Balcony spacious and bathroom had a seperate bath and shower. Bath was whirlpool and shower had spa spays. Downside is that the shower isn't sealed in and water leaks all over the bathroom.

Bed was huge and very soft but only 1 pillow each? Requested further pillows but in a five star would have expected at least a couple each. My 4 year old was on the sofa bed and although he was happy enough it was hard and I couldn't have slept comforably on it. Also the sofa bed is made from wood and the end arms have sharp corners which my son banged his head on - not the best design. Also we had to turn the fridge off at night cause it made a funny noise like an aquarium, my husband did this and he dosn't usually get bothered by that sort of thing.

Sliding partician doors seperate the main bed from the sofa beds which was great but the bottom run broken when we puled the door across and it was the only hinged from the top - a little dangerous I felt for having a 4 year old in the room - we complained almost everyday but the problem wasn't fixed whilst we were there.

The aircon worked fine except that on our first full day it began to leak water although I'm glad to say this was fixed within hours but the maintenance men left some silicon sealer bits in the bathroom sink. Our balcony light was also not working and this was fixed within a day but the maintenance guy let us know he was there by leaving a fag butt on the balcony!

POOL

We spent the first few days in the Large spa pool as all the others were a bit cold (time of year I think) but there was a problem and on day 3 it was as cold as the others. We swiched to what I would call the kids pool (between the adult pool and thai restuarant) and my son cut his toes in this pool, he wasn't the only one unfortunately. We reported this but we never got an explanation from guest relations or saw the problem being resolved. My son liked the Fruit spray ground but there was no set time when it was switched in (rarely on in the morning) however this brought it's own problems as water leaked on two paths surrounding it and paths became very slippy - also before we left was noticed that the grass surrounding the pool was becoming muddy.

We found that the tiles throughout were quite slippy when wet and my son fell a couple of times even when he was walking carefully.

We went to the beach across the road and although this was part of the hotel still had to pay 5 euros for two sunbeds and a parasol.

FOOD

The breakfast buffet was great served between 7 and 10.

Lunch is served between 12.30 and 15.00 in the Red saffron taverna and got really busy (remember the hotel wasn't anywhere near full at this point) and was a bit difficult negociating your way through the sea of tables. Food here was ok . What I didn't like was that soft drinks were all fizzy there was no milk or fruit juice or still juice for my 4 year old to drink just water. I did ask but staff seemed unable to get any.

Evening meals - your allowed to eat in 4 of the 6 restaurants as part of the package so we turned up at the tex mex at 7pm only to find out that we had to reserve a table to eat as part of package or pay extra not to book. What isn't clear is that you must make a reservation at breakfast and there are limited places or eat when you like at the main buffet restaurant. I felt this very restrictive.

Buffet restaurant got better as time went on but when we left I felt was only just about 4* not anyway near 5* Show cooking was debatable - we could see someone cook sordfish - does that count?

We visisted Thai / Tex Mex and Taverna and found the Thai was best for food and servce, not sure what was tex mex about the tex mex food ? and taverna service was terribly slow and food was lucky to be 3*. All are set manu only - which was not my understanding of the package sold to me.

The soft drink problem was the same at dinner as lunch but did have milk for kids and if you spoke nicely to the right staff member you could get some apple juice in buffet restaurant and peach juice in the other restaurants.

Wine was drinkable but not good - again 5* status comes into question.

Bar drinks and snacks are very expensive - go across the road for bar and shop v reasonable.

Didn't go to Al Dente or Aroma grill as you were only give 10 Euro towards these and had to pay for your wine there

STAFF

This varied alot and I felt communication was perhaps an issue, staff that didn't understand you walked away and didn't get someone else to answer your questions. I thought the woman who greeted you at breakfast and lunch (Nicky or Micky) was really nice and cheery and she spoke and understood english better that the reception staff. Guest relations (Thomson reps) were lovely to speak to but made little difference to any of the problems.

ENTERTAINMENT

I thought this was very good and professional - Rock a pella show was good but lounge room is small and no aircon -so it was too hot.

Sports

Didn't use much - husband went to golf and played pitch and putt for as long as he wanted - also driving range available but these are not in sensatori (not much of a hardship 5 min walk to robinson hotel). Also offered scuba diving all included in package.

Kids facilities

Theres a kids club (3 to 12y ears) which is free but is a like a nursery school room and they offer four 45 min sessions Sunday to Friday and an 7 to 8pm as well. Also Stay and play sessions 12 to 2 everyday. I thought the sessions too short you couldn't go and do much but out son liked it and the staff really lovely.

Theres a creche but we didn't need this so can't review.

I had been expecting a soft play but no such luck, also the outdoor playground wasn't finished when we arrived. It finished 3 days in and then we discovered it's for over 5's - in looking around other hotels in the area they cater very well for under 5 playgrounds shame sensatori hasn't done the same.

Last but not least we left our cases in the room for checkout (as advised by hotel) their porters should take cases to the luggage room in lobby, however with 10 mins til the bus was due to take us to the airport it turned out that cases were still in our room (2 hours after we checked out) if we hadn't chased this with reception we wouldn't have gotten our luggage - terrible guest relations. I would question the security in the lyggage room as people just were going in and out it was a mess and thewre was no controls. Then the bus could not reverse up slope to entrance and we had to lug our own cases down steps to the road - not a porter in sight. Not a great end to the 5* holiday we expected.

Over-all the holiday was probably 3*+ I think give it a year and it may reach 5* delux as currently advertised.

We've been at sensatori since the 1st of May ( opening day).

There are some excellent things to report and some not so good. Firstly the rooms are amazing, we are staying in a family room, which consists of a king size bed and a sofa in the bedroom and then a small living room with a large balcony over looking the sea.

The swim up rooms look fantastic from the outside, in my opinion these look like better value than the private pool rooms due to the fact you can't sit around the private pool because the pools are on a higer level than the balcony and the only access is up a short flight of steps. From what i can see they are all on the top level of the blocks too.

Most of the problems are due to the ongoing work. This is mainly confined to the top half of the hotel and consists of entire blocks of rooms having the final work carried out, this isn't a problem because this is away from the main area of the complex and I only saw it by wandering around.

My main gripe is the sports facilities not all being completed, i.e. You have to go to the next hotel to hire bikes and the gym is still empty apart from 2 running machines, I couldn't find the driving range, you also have to go next door for that too. Also there are no steps fitted to the indoor pool which my wife found out when trying to climb out of the pool after diving in. While on the subject of the pools they are absolutely freezing, including the private pools, this will probably change in the middle of the summer though! But they are far too cold to take my baby into.

Now the restaurants, please bear with me as I'm still trying to understand them myself! Basically the main restaurant is buffet and free for all meals, this is where you have breakfast and evening meals. You can book for evening meals at the tex mex and the thai, don't know about the taverna for evening meals yet always seems closed and there is no option to book You have to book at breakfast and you can book several days in advance, but there seems to be a set number of bookings allowed which seems very small for the size of the restaurants, i.e about 12 tables per night ,This seems absurd as on leaving the empty thai resturant tonight there was a queue of about 20 people waiting for tables in the main restaurant. Been to both thai and tex mex and are both good, although not 5 star. There is waiter service but it is a set menu so no choice what you have.

There is live music every night and a cabaret act.

This hotel will be fantastic as soon as all the teething problems are sorted and they know what they are doing regarding the eating arrangements.

Please bear in mind that I have only been here 3 days and I am doing this for all the concerned sensatori forum followers. I will try and post pictures when the hotel gets the wifi working.

I stayed at the hotel at the end of april, for 5 nights. The lobby as you walk in is fantastic, very grand and finished off very well. In fact all the hotels public areas are finished to a high standard as you would expect. Again the rooms are finished of to a high standard (one tip is the shower floods the bathroom completley, no matter how hard you try not to get it wet) i would reccomend upgrading to a swim up room. These are fantastic, they have child safety gate thing so that they can't get to the pool unsupervised. They all have a terrace with sunloungers and table and chairs. They also will either get the sun in the morning or in the afternoon depending on what side you are allocated in.

Overall the food was good, with a few minor hitches, as we were the first guests staying there (from the uk market) Although the food did improve a lot while we were staying there. The 2 a la carte restaurants i did not test out as i felt they were very over priced the Aroma stone grill (Steak house) was 50 euros for a main course of steak and that was with a 10 euro reduction!! and the same for the al dente. The Thai i was unable to make a reservation for, with only 400 people staying in the complex at the time i feel that this is going to be horrendous during the height of summer. The Tex mex for lunch was terrible!! food was well below what i expect from a 5* deluxe hotel (chicken nuggets and a few chips) and to make it worse when it arrived it was stone cold!! However i was told that this was due to the kitchen suffering a power failure?? (why not close the restaurant?)

Entertainment: there was not much. Mostly singers and pianists etc playing in the lobby. I visited the comedy night, which was okay, very funny, however I felt that the area which it was held (the show lounge) was tiny and the chairs were very uncomftable. (again i'm not too sure if it was because there was only 400 or so of us?)

Any other questions feel free to ask!

Wonderful place , just got back and will plan to go back next year.

The hotel is brand spanking new ,still under construction.

Wasn't able to use much of the facilities but I was there for a convention so didn't have much free time anyway.

Next time it will be for pleasure so looking forward to enjoying it .

The grounds are immaculate and stunning .Winding pools and several large ones. Hotel is beach front and could see the ocean from my room. Many restaurants but the only complete one was the buffet restaurant .Food was great and rooms spotless. People were very friendly and accommodating. Will definitely go back!