Apollonion Asterias Resort & Spa

I was unpleasantly surprised with The Apollonion Asterias Resort & Spa. I didn´t like the location, far from the mains sights of the island. The corridors were dirty and dark. The pool service extremely slow and front desk staff unprepared to deal with problems.

It was our first time to Kefalonia, but probably not the last. Such a beautiful unspoilt island without high rise and overly commercialisation. Stay date 19th September. To get to the hotel from the airport requires either a long and winding road route or a pleasant ferry ride, we arrived mid day so could see the views from the ferry. We booked a junior suite with private pool in the new Asteria section, 652. The views were very nice to the sea in the distance and the patio area quite large and private. Normally pools are cold, but to our surprise our pool was very pleasant and so was used most days. The furnishings as you would expect were in good condition due being only 20 weeks old, according to the TUI rep. The cleaning was good and our maid friendly. Xi beach is a nice beach to walk along, with some stop off points for a drink. On two evenings we wandered down to Baywatch, quiet, chilled music and very reasonably priced drinks. We didn’t see a problem with the heat of the food in the restaurant, however I would agree the variety was limited. Having stayed in many holiday hotels over many years I think it was acceptable but done to a restrictive budget for the chef. However service was really quite bad at times, not the fault of the staff, they worked very hard. But the drinks system is inefficient, one evening we ordered a bottle of water which took 15 minutes to arrive. But I watched as one man behind the bar took orders, made up drinks and the a bill produced, the backlog was apparently 15 minutes based on our experience. At peak times more staff needed. The Maitre de was obviously stressed, which unfortunately he took out on the staff, to witness him scolding a 19 yr waitress several times when she was working so hard and doing a good, the result she started to cry. My wife went over to her and told her she was doing great. This isn’t good for staff morale, certainly not good for guests when in the middle of the restaurant. Maybe he has problems, so not judging except to say your staff shouldn’t be afraid of you, clearly they are. We hired a car from Sixt, the Scottish lady was lovely, Catherine? This allowed us to explore the island, they were doing a 2+1 free deal, but gave the car back after two days. We would highly recommend Sixt and car hire, some fantastic scenery and beautiful beaches. We drove to many places and the ferry was very easy to use. We went for a 45 minute de-stress massage each, which was wonderful. Stephanie did a wonderful job as did the other girl. On our wedding anniversary we booked a table in the a la carte, the meal was pleasant but only three other tables in use, though our waiter said all tables were booked? So overall a good hotel in a good position, but lacking in some areas. Staffing shortages are maybe due to not having sufficient local population? Everyone we spoke to was from Corfu or Crete or Greece mainland. We enjoyed our stay and may return one day.

On arriving at the apollonion hotel everything looked beautiful, large fabulous resort, although a lot of walking and steep banks to get to the pool and restaurant. My main problem was the restaurant, food was not hot, cold eggs bacon etc for breakfast, same problem for evening meals, after 3 days I complained at reception, the evening meal was warmer that night, but not hot. I complained to Tui rep on the 5 day, great, food was actually hot for the next few days. The restaurant is huge, service was really dreadful, the maitre’d showed us to a table once we were left to fend for ourselves after that, staff didn’t no what they were doing. It took over 20 mins for bottle of water and glass of wine, everyone was complaining. The only member of staff that seemed to be doing everything was Lysandros, ( I think his name was) he never stopped, very efficient, although didn’t seem very happy, not surprised really as he was carrying everyone else. Entertainment in the bar was dreadful, still had problems for a drink. The maitre’d eventually phoned on the day of our departure about our complaint, basically too little too late. We did have a lovely holiday shame about food and service, it spoilt the 5* rating of the hotel. Kefalonia is a beautiful island, it won’t stop us from going again just not to the apollonion.