St Elias Resort

I have waited a few weeks after returning home to review this place as I am quite conflicted. We booked a 1-bedroom private pool room and paid a considerable amount extra for this privilege. Firstly the word private is questionable here ....these one bedroom rooms with pools are all facing a through road and there was a silver Mercedes car parked for the entirety of our stay right opposite our room/pool, this car only moved twice only during the week we were there for a short period so that was our outlook also there was an apartment above us, their balcony is overlooking our "private" pool making this not private at all. Yes we had sole use of the pool but it is by no means a "private" area, the glass balustrade is not high and people and cars pass regularly throughout the day also the view from these rooms is of a building site/refuse area that was busy every single day with then far reaching views to the sea. Our room had a very very strong smell of stale damp upon entering which never really left for the whole week we were told this was because they had had a lot of rain but the rooms only have 2 small windows and the front doors they are not adequately ventilated at all. The decor is extremely plain and uninviting a dull grey colour there was also damp signs along the bottom on the walls and in the bathroom which is totally unfunctional for a family. The fridge in the kitchen area of the room was very noisy, I could not have slept in that room, luckily my son managed but I had to make sure we kept our bedroom door closed because it was even keeping me awake in another room. We were only provided with 5 coathangers for a family of 3 in the wardrobe, this is absolutely ridiculous and we ended up keeping our clothes in our suitcase for that reason and also we didn't want them to smell damp. We had an issue with ants which was only remedied by the cleaner leaving us with ant spray daily in the room, I know ants are not harmful but my son was sleeping in that room and I was not happy at all that the only solution to ants being in our room was for me to spray chemicals daily so he wouldn't have them crawling on him throughout the night. My overall opinion of this room is that it is is a very basic 3 star room maybe even a 2 it is actually one of the most disappointing rooms I have ever had on a holiday and when I spent £1,000 per person for a week I expect a much higher standard. Don't waste money on a private pool room is my advise. The fridge was replenished daily with soft drinks, prosecco,white wine, beer and water however I am not sure how necessary this is as it is an all-inclusive hotel, we were given a plate of pastries each morning again a nice touch and either sweet or savoury canapes every afternoon these are little touches that do show they are trying to raise the standard but the room will always disappoint and is in Direct contrast to what they are trying to achieve. The cleaner Tonka was absolutely rude and aggressive one day as she had to bring us extra towels and when I requested where I may find pool towels she shouted no English and waved her arms around at me in a very angry way, later in the week she became friendly and could suddenly speak English when she realised she was getting a tip from us each day, which is something we always do for our cleaning staff, I was very tempted not to leave it for her as she had point Blank refused to take the €3 off me I was trying to give her when she brought us the replacement towels but I believe these people work hard and their work deserves a tip. The food here was indeed lovely we never had a bad meal and there was always plenty of lovely fresh salads and they really know how to cook their meat,it was delicious. Fried halloumi for breakfast everyday was such a naughty treat and I am still missing this although my waistline isn't. The red wine was not good so I spent the week drinking the Prosecco, the cocktails were good but you had to be sure to ask for the branded drinks otherwise you would get the cheaper alternatives. The staff here work incredibly hard they always seemed slightly understaffed to me but they were all pleasant none the less. We did eat in the meze restaurant one evening and it was delicious but I think one night was enough as there really was a lot of food to get through. The entertainment staff work incredibly hard, the Dancers were amazing and super dooper friendly, honestly I am not sure about the female singer she was very monotone and her voice got annoying after a couple of nights, the guy dancer and singer was a credit to them, a really lovely guy as was the manager of the team she was lovely. We did have an enjoyable holiday here but I just feel it really is lacking something, maybe I just expected too much after reading all the amazing reviews on here, I was expecting an amazing experience and I am not entirely sure we got anything more than a mediocre holiday with the extra little touch thrown in for good measure here and there. Luxury this place is not, the kids slides keep the kids completely entertained. I would not return to the hotel because of the poor rooms but the food really was very good so if you're a foodie you will enjoy it.

We booked the st. Elias with Thomas cook for our wedding in September, on the day we were due to get married Thomas cook went bust and our wedding package with Thomas cook fell through. This was devastating news on the morning of our wedding but the resorts manager, receptionists and girls on the entertainment team were exceptional and couldn’t do enough for us taking over the stress and re organising a wedding cake, flowers and taking wedding photos for us. They organised everything to perfection and the venue was beautiful. We stayed for an all inclusive week at the hotel and couldn’t fault a thing great for kids, staff are helpful and friendly and food is amazing. Thank you so much for all your help we couldn’t imagine getting the service use provided anywhere else. Cannot reccommend this hotel enough!!

We stayed here in August with our 5 year old daughter. We stayed in a one bedroom suite with private pool. The pool was amazing, I’m so pleased we booked one of these rooms and we used it every day. We had a lovely seating area outside with sun loungers, had fresh pastries delivered to our room every morning & canapés/pastries every evening. We also had a coffee machine, and fridge filled daily with water, soft drinks, beer & Prosecco. However we feel as though the actual apartment really let this hotel down especially for the money we paid to stay here. The pictures on the website look amazing, but the finish inside was definitely not to a high standard, the bathroom was tiny, you literally had to squeeze in because of where the door opened near the sink & there seemed a lot of wasted space in the apartment where they could have made the bathroom bigger! It was also a pain having to remember to turn the hot water on a few minutes before getting in the shower, have never had to do this anywhere else! I ended up having a tepid shower most nights as it took too long to heat up! We also had a big problem with ants everywhere. The cleaners carried ant spray & would spray them, however would not wipe the dead ants away! We went to the pool with the slides a couple of times when we were there, however our daughter wasn’t old/tall enough to go on them so we preferred to stay by our private pool. The slides are a fab addition to the hotel for children that are able to use them & it was great they had lifeguards. We managed to get sun beds later on in the day when we did venture to this pool. There was always plenty of food to choose from at meal times, however from the rave reviews on here about food we were expecting it to be a lot better than it actually was. We have stayed in other hotels where the food has definitely been better. The desserts were a bit strange which was disappointing. Our daughter cannot have dairy & we had to track down someone every morning for Almond milk, we ended up buying our own as it was hard work trying to explain! The only desserts she could have were marshmallows & jelly, would be great if ice lollies could be included in the all inclusive. On the plus side, somebody always came over straight away to take our drink order & we never had to wait long for a drink during meal times. We tried the Meze restaurant on our last night, we had booked to sit inside however when we got there we were told there was no air con so we ended up sitting outside! Food was lovely, however we felt as though it was a bit rushed & there wasn’t enough time between courses. We found that a lot of the hotel staff are actually quite miserable, one of the guys in the restaurant always seemed to be shouting at the staff & most staff did not make an effort to smile or say hello, we had read such great reviews about the staff so this was really disappointing. The reception is also ridiculously hot, not ideal when waiting to check in or waiting for your transfer back to the airport! Whilst we were there I think there was some sort of Cypriot holiday as lots of locals descended to the hotel to stay for a long weekend. Most of them were very noisy & rude, pushing past you in the restaurant & trying to take your chairs at the entertainment area. I know this isn’t the hotels fault but we just felt it spoiled our holiday a bit. The one thing that we were really impressed with at this hotel was the entertainment team. We don’t usually stay for the entertainment, however they worked so hard & put on such amazing shows. This was definitely the best entertainment team we have come across & we’ve stayed at a lot of hotels! We thought it was lovely that the entertainment team ran the kids club & did the daytime activities as you felt as though you really got to know them. Our daughter loved going to the kids club & then seeing the guys on the stage later on. They were all lovely & made an effort to involve you & talk to you. The location of the hotel is up a hill so if you have mobility issues then I wouldn’t recommend it. The paths around the hotel are also quite rocky & uneven, I took heels but didn’t end up wearing them for fear of breaking my neck! There is an amusement park at the bottom of the hill which was great for little ones with rides, crazy golf, trampolines etc. Plus the usual bars on the strip. There is a courtesy bus which runs from the hotel down to Fig Tree Bay & back throughout the day. If you want to go to the beach you need to get there early during the summer as we got there around 11 & it was heaving! This hotel definitely has its pros & cons, however I don’t think that we will be returning any time soon.