Sunrise Jade Hotel

I must start by saying ‘’were we at the same hotel as all the other reviewer” this hotel although being brand new has a long way to go to before it earns its Star status. We had a swim up room and although clean they are strangely situated behind the main pool areas so not that private people walking back and forth all day so not much relaxation. The main lobby reception area is HUGE and then you have a small bar tucked in one corner and as boring as I have ever experienced and we have travelled all over the world. They need to work more on their entertainment as quizzes and such are not for everyone the level of artist was below par. The restaurant is very awkward there is no area behind the serving stations so all replenishment is done from the front and staff are pushing in front of guest to fill up serving areas the staff were nervous wrecks as they were mostly all new young employees. Breakfast can be a bit of a shambles I waited for staff members including the manager who told me to sit and they would bring my request to the table I gave up I am still waiting on the food item. This hotel may have brought a joy to others but if you are looking for a lively atmosphere then don’t book this hotel.

We stayed as a couple back in August for 10 nights. We had a sea view room on the 5th floor which was just stunning. On the whole this is a very good hotel: staff are friendly and helpful, the pools are lovely, the sun bed allocation for us worked really well, it is a very peaceful adults only hotel but the walk into town is not far at all if you need a change of scenery, the snorkelling in the little cove is fantastic (a real highlight for us), we were full board and really enjoyed all our meals. There were a few minor things that in our opinion means this hotel falls short of 5* (but nothing that would ruin your holiday or put us off coming back) e.g. the wi-fi is pretty bad, the tv signal kept cutting out and at midnight goes off all together, there is no bottle opener in the room and we were told we'd have to go down to the bar to get bottles opened (even though there is a mini fridge in the room), the air con although cool definitely was cold for 16 degrees (which we had to set it to in the height of August), on a couple of occasions our clean bathroom towels had stains/marks on them so we had to ask for new ones. Finally, a comment we made to the lovely Manager, there is A LOT of plastic waste e.g. plastic straws at the pool but not at the restaurant oddly and plastic bottles of water every day in the room - why not have a refillable glass bottle instead. All in all though we had a really lovely relaxing break and would come back here again.

We stayed at the Sunrise Jade from the 20th of October to the 29th of October in 2019 and booked our stay through Hotels.com on account of a slightly cheaper booking fee. To start off I’d like to state that I’ve never been to a hotel and left saying “please don’t change anything”, but in this case it turned out to be the case. HOTEL: The hotel itself was apparently opened for its first season of operation in April 2019, so it is still pretty fresh. This is apparent across the hotel grounds: everything has little signs of wear and tear and mostly every nook and corner are clean. There’s also a fairly modern minimalistic style to the decor with just the right amount of flair in places. The reception is large as is the lobby and waiting area, which can accommodate a large number of people waiting for their ride or otherwise. The lifts are quick and provide quick access to the other floors along with the adjacent stairwells. The hotel also has a number of places to dine that are very comfortable and enjoyable. The lack of children makes the atmosphere of the hotel very calm and relaxed, which is a must for any couples who want a relaxed getaway. Room noise is generally of a typical level, which is mostly dependent on the awareness of other guests - dragging a chair across the floor will resonate to all the other adjacent rooms as will closing your room door with force. Current experiences indicate cultural differences: Russian neighbors were noisy and inconsiderate, whereas Germans and Brits were considerate and quiet. LOCATION: The hotel is located a short walk (ca. 10mins) away from the hustle and bustle of the main street of Protaras and a 15 min drive from Ayia Napa. Reaching the hotel from Larnaca airport takes a little under an hour with a rental car. The location was perfect for us: it’s quiet but still accessible enough to be able to walk to lunch or dinner elsewhere. Our rental car (free parking in front of the hotel - although probably a little limited during peak season) made it even easier to access places in Ayia Napa. There’s also a nice dirt path in front of the hotel for a run or walk, as well as numerous places to access the sea for swimming or snorkeling. We also recommend going to Cape Greco - a short drive and watching the sunset from a bench at the Monument of Peace is amazing. Note however that early arrival is key - you’re likely not to be the only one there for the sunset... SERVICE: Immediately upon arrival reception was very welcoming and had arranged us a room as per our request: we’d booked a Deluxe Sea view and requested a quiet room from an upper floor. They were also able to arrange late checkout free of charge, although this is dependent on the level of bookings - low at the time we left since the hotel is open from April 1st to October 31st. In general service was always faultless: receptionists, waiters, cooks, cleaners, pool attendants, barkeeps and baristas always greeted us with a smile and cheerful hello. They even have a second round of evening service and bring you complimentary sweets from Patisserie Amelie next-door every evening. Our only let-down with service was with a visit to Reef, a restaurant next door. ROOM: We were given room 516 and were satisfied: it is on the top floor facing the sea. Only room 522 or 505 at the very ends may have been better with regards to noise, as they do not have rooms on both sides. The room is spacious, clean and has plenty of room for storage etc. it’s equipped with a hairdryer, coffee maker, kettle, fridge/mini-bar, safe, tv, a drying rack on the balcony etc. The bedsides have two usb A wall charging ports as well as British mains sockets. The balcony has a stunning view and has two chairs and a table for enjoying a nice evening. If you’re up to it, wake up to watch the sunrise. The bathroom is clean, has two sinks and a roomy shower with a rain and handheld showerhead. WiFi is also fairly quick and had little issues during our stay. Our only quip were the noisy doors: depending on how you close them, they may make a lot of noise. The AC was powerful enough to cool the room down to 21 or below, depending on what setting you had it on along with the ambient temperature outside. I imagine it may struggle a little during the hottest time of year. It is noisy, however, but this noise functioned as white noise and helped us stay asleep. They’ll also provide two separate duvet covers if asked - we only shared the duvet itself once the room cooled a lot in the early morning. Sleep quality in general a 4/5 for as light a sleeper as I am. POOLSIDE: They have two pools for general use and a separate pool that is only for those that booked a room with access to a pool directly from a room (these are rooms located on the ground floor facing the sea - they have a separate room rate. They also have two hand-drawn maps of the pool chairs around the two large pools that the pool attendants use to allocate chairs: if free, you get to pick chairs and they are allocated to you along with towels for the duration of your stay. Changing chairs is as easy as requesting to see the map. There are also a number of chairs in lawn areas that are apparently on a first come, first served basis. Note that a lot chairs only get sun to around 2-3pm, while only certain chairs are unobstructed by the hotel building and are able to get the late afternoon sun. These chairs are usually located closer to the coast. The smaller pool is deeper and more suited to a swim, we were told it was 24m in length and our GPS measurements matched. The poolside bar is convenient and easy to access. The only gripe is that non-smokers like us are not happy next to smokers - but this is unavoidable and understandable, although chain-smokers are an unlucky occurrence. FOOD: The breakfast buffet is phenomenal, fresh fruit, omelettes made to request, porridge (a little thin to our taste but remedied by adding extra oats), croissants, salad & fresh veggies, freshly squeezed orange juices, coffee/tea etc. We also had lunch at the hotel - great portions that were very large in size. The only meal that we wouldn’t recommend is the tuna salad: the tuna was great, but it was only served with lettuce. “Fresh greens” implies other vegetables?if the chef wants inspiration for salads, he could walk to Hippocampus and have the tuna salad over there which is amazing (or any of the salads over there for that matter). The house salad was, however, very good. If you have a sweet tooth, we HIGHLY recommend Patisserie Amelie next door - it serves amazing waffles, ice cream and coffee. ACTIVITIES: The hotel arranges water aerobics, a quiz and beachfront yoga daily as well as other activities we may not have noticed. There were also live music performances in the evenings on several occasions - some of the very talented. Their gym is a little basic - but you can still get a good workout if you get creative, even if your wife is a competitive crossfit athlete. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT: 1. Install rubber noise damping for the room doors - this might lessen the noise generated by the doors closing. 2. When the hotel is closed, clean the AC air vents as they have already collected a fair bit of dust. 3. Install a wall dumbbell rack in the small weights room to save space. 4. Install a pull up bar in the weights room (e.g. Rogue). 5. Provide more gym mats for the gym: there were only two brown mats for use regularly and the blue ones were reserved for yoga and inaccessible. 6. Make the balconies strictly non-smoking. 7. Get someone to code a simple iOS & Android mobile app for the pool attendants and give guests access to the the app - this would allow guests to “book” pool chairs easily. This is a simple app and not hard to code - I code in my line of work. 8. Start exporting the ice cream from Patisserie Amelie to Finland - believe it or not but Finland is one of the top ice cream consumers globally. Having tried every possible ice cream back home in Finland along with sampling what we’ve come across abroad, Patisserie Amelie’s ice cream would definitely find a strong export market if they wanted to start exporting their ice cream. The number of flavors and raw ingredient quality has no parallels back home (and even in some places in Rome). 9. Finally, although the hotel is closing and the season coming to an end, please don’t alter your standard of service: the breakfast buffet was starting to lack typical items such as fresh croissants or pineapple as they were “out”. I understand the need to minimize losses and minimizing food waste is environmentally friendly, but this could be done by donating leftover food to locals or staff? Otherwise this leaves the customers with a little bit of a niggle as the breakfast is otherwise fantastic. If the Sunrise Jade otherwise stays as it is and manages to maintain the hotel in such great condition without increasing its prices, we’ll definitely be back - the quality-price ratio is astounding!