Bluesun Hotel Elaphusa

This is a very nice hotel with a good value for money. The rooms are spacious enough, could use a little "refurnishing". Cleanliness was approximately OK, probably in a pre-Covid time, we would have been less critical. There are disinfectants all over the hotel and all staff are wearing masks (most of them correctly). Staff at reception is extremely helpful, polite and welcoming. The food is good, without being extraordinary. The Cocktail Bar Bolero, right outside the hotel is a wonderful place to have a coffee in the morning or a nice cocktail in the evening with great relaxing music (sometimes live in the evenings). What can be improved: Due to the pandemic situation, we were expecting a little something extra from cleanliness. The pool area is in serious need of a refurbishing. There is no variety for breakfast between days, even if you have quite enough choices. Some staff in the restaurant could be more careful and could learn more English. Coffee at breakfast is really bad. All guests should have been wearing masks indoors.

NOT FOR COUPLES - SALTY SEA WATER SWIMMING POOLS. Firstly the room was extremely dated and certainly not 4 star standard, we have stayed in nicer 2/3 star travel lodges. The hotel was at least 20 years old from when it was last updated. The shower screen was broken, holes in the bath which were patched with filler so it was like sitting on stones and wall which had a fist sized hole and had a bodge job of poly filler to try and cover it up, the leather headboard was flaking away it was so old, large chips around the bathroom sink tiles and stains on the floors and curtains. As you opened the patio door to the balcony it would come away from the wall which was extremely dangerous. We turned up to the hotel expecting a nice relaxing time however the pool was filled wall to wall with children and there was no relaxing atmosphere at all, this is not a problem however it’s certainly not advertised as a family hotel in our opinion so this was disappointing. It is £2.50 for a bottle of small 500ml bottle of water but walk down the road and you’ll pay £0.75 - it’s more expensive than central London. The spa treatments are also a minimum of £60 for a massage which is overpriced for a basic spa within a hotel vicinity. Both pools are also salt water which is not advertised, there are a very minimal amount of sun beds round the pool, they clearly do not have the capacity to cater for the volume of guests so we ended up going to the beach. We were so disappointed with our hotel room we asked to see if we could be moved and spoke with Andre at reception who was very helpful and agreed the room was not that of a good standard. He advised there were no other rooms available as the hotel was full so he would make a note of our concerns. Unsatisfied with the response we asked to speak with the manager and miraculously within 5 minutes another room was available for us to look at as an alternative and he advised it would also be an upgrade to our original room booking. We looked at the alternative room which was a smoking room and were hit with the smoke smell as you entered, furthermore it had two single beds pushed together as one. Next to the air conditioning unit was a 50cmx50cm hole which had been cut and the tile was half broken hanging down, it was worse than our initial room so we politely declined the alternative. We finally managed to cancel our booking through our provider and we booked a brand new private 2 bedroom apartment just down the road for half the price, which was the saving grace of our trip to Bol. We could not leave this hotel fast enough, we still cannot understand the 5 star reviews this hotel has received and it was due to the good reviews we booked . There are much better private rentals on the island - avoid this hotel at all costs. This is the first negative review we have left but feel strongly about how poor our experience is and we would like to avoid it happening to others. We have stayed in various different hotels in all continents and how this hotel has been voted 4 star is mind blowing.

We had a great time at this hotel. The staff are lovely, particularly the bar staff. The food is good, what you would expect at a 4*. The drinks aren’t overly expensive like they normally are at hotels. The rooms are clean. The pool and facilities are great. The location is perfect with it being so close to all the surrounding beaches, and Bol is a beautiful resort centre. The walk to the centre is really pleasant as it is all pedestrianised with stalls along the way. We would stay at this hotel again as it ticked all the boxes for us.