Vangelis Hotel and Suites

we are frequent travellers and one of our favourite places is Protaras .I visited here with my family in October half term. This review is based on my experience and i will try to make it as detailed and thorough as i can good and bad. We are a family of three and we were joined by my partners parents so our ages raged from 7 to 60. Check in - was straightforward although there was a man complaining about the kids club on arrival ( will be explained later). We were given key cards and helped to our room with our bags. ROOMS - Now unless you are happy to stay in an extremely dated room you will need to book the renovated rooms. The non renovated ones look far nicer in the pictures THEY ARE EXTREMELY TIRED to the point i would not have stayed in one at all . My partners parents booked this option as they only use the hotels as a base.The room was grubby looking , dated and had single glazed doors and windows facing the adjoining restaurant so was noisy. We paid to change their room after the first night for 130 euros for the remaining 10 nights so really it was a no brainer for us. I had Booked a deluxe jnr suite it wasn't the biggest i've stayed in but, the Dec's were lovely, we had a sea view (over the road) and there was a lovely bottle of champagne waiting for us, Thank you . Having said that my in laws were moved to a renovated room and it was equally as nice and more roomy so i wouldn't bother to pay extra for the suite on a return visit.The only fault i could find if i had to remain objective was the walls were marked and the grouting on some tiles was discoloured, i have seen this previously mentioned in reviews and in my opinion if they addressed these small things they would defiantly gain 5 stars. They are a 4 star hotel and in my opinion this accommodation was worthy of all 4 maybe even 4.5 and i wish people would look into the star rating system before marking hotels down for things like this. Housekeeping - Rooms cleaned every day i cannot fault it all housekeepers i met said hello and were lovely and friendly. POOL - sunbeds no problem , there were enough umbrellas etc . Pool was clean with a lifeguard present. There is a shaded kids pool and a small slide , there is also a beautiful adult only pool. I noticed some other reviewers said they experienced children in there, this was not the case while we were there. Yes there were people putting towels out and then going out but that happens in most places and didn't bother us we still managed to get a good spot if we were late. TIP- the sun stays on the beds by the main pool bar all day! There is also an inside pool which can be privately hired. Perfect for rainy days SPA - beautifully done out looks amazing we only visited the kids spa for hair braids on a rainy day but it looked amazing and treatments were all reasonably priced. ALL INCLUSIVE- Now im a foody! i have eaten better food , however i have eaten far worse in 5 star hotels, so all in all it was good. there was a lovely pool cafe / snack bar which did amazing toasties,pizza, hot dogs and cakes from the patisserie next door this was all included. the pool bar served food like burgers pizza etc , this all had to be paid for but we never needed to use this service.The restaurant was the usual buffet all inclusive / canteen style . we got talking to lots of people and the general consensus was they didn't do enough choice for kids. Now im torn by this statement as my child will try most things and if not she is happy with pasta. I think the problem was they didn't serve the usual nuggets , burgers , pizza etc each night. There was always one of them available along with pasta , Chips and a selection of veg on the kids station a lot of the friends my daughter made were or favouring the pool snack bar. Mine enjoyed trying the fresh tuna , nightly carvery and traditional Greek dishes :-) They also did the usual themed nights , BBQ, Indian , Chinese. We were given 1 night a la carte which was a nice change ALL the staff in the restaurant work so hard and they were so lovely. DRINKS - great selection, always served with a smile , especially Maria who went above and beyond to make sure everyone had a full glass at all times in the lobby bar.Extensive list of cocktails , irish frappes all included as well as the usual local beers, wines and spirits. Location - Yes the hotel is just off the main strip and yes i was concerned , do not let this put you off. As previously mentioned if you get an older style room then it is noisy ( mainly from the restaurant and traffic not loud music) we were facing the street in a refurbed room and we had no problem at all. The location was ideal for us bars, restaurants and shops all less then 30 seconds away.(All pools are private and cannot be seen from the main road). Beach is a two min walk away slightly uphill on way home. Car parking - there was an onsite car park intercom entry we never found any problem finding a space. Entertainment - Now this is where it goes a bit wrong. On our first day we went to the pool and met a few English families through our 7 year old. Of coarse the kids club was mentioned. I mentioned earlier there was a gentleman complaining when we arrived- this family had taken their child to the kids club and been told that it was only for Russian children. long story short weather want great so the kids club was the first port of call. several people tried to take their children there and were told that there was no one there that could communicate with the English kids. The complaint was made, apology given and the kids started to go to the kids club however this had put a bit of a downer on it so a load of us just kept our kids by the pool thinking they may come do some dancing etc like in most hotels - this never happened. There were no activities other than bowls and darts around the pool throughout our stay,despite there being notices for pool games etc. When we asked if we could play the advertised volley ball we were told no as we would need 6 people per side, a small group of us walked around the pool ourselves and got people involved yet the entertainment guys disappeared and didn't return. Nightly mini disco ( usual German / Russian songs along with baby shark ) and a singer / magic show none were outstanding kids loved it though.There was a Bob Marley act that was good mid week. I feel they should try to interact with the kids more. There were lots of German ,Polish and English kids there that did not receive the same hospitality as the Russian children unless certain members of staff were there. It would be good to see more multilingual members of the animation team next year.The pirate tried his best and jumped into the kids pool during the day which made them laugh. TUI REP - This is a TUI fun and sun Hotel and their main trade is Russian Guests This has been mentioned in other reviews and if you get annoyed by other nationalities this may be a problem for you ( although it really shouldn't be!) What did leave a sour taste is when i went to the Tui desk to get some info and was told by the rep and i quote "i do not deal with English i only deal with Russian!" (note the kids club comment previously !) This was not cool at all! I complained at reception and was told the English rep would be in, in the afternoon which she was , she apologised and it was fine. All the staff were lovely , Managers took time to ask if we were OK each time we saw them, all the negatives i mention above were worth mentioning but dealt with promptly and professionally. I would recommend this hotel and i am returning in May , purely because of the finish of the rooms and the food.You are booking a reasonably priced 4 star hotel and this is what you get.With the exception of the entertainment it is by far the best standard of hotel we have stayed in in the area and with a bit of a tweek i really think this place could be outstanding.

- Restaurant/food was excellent. - Swimming pool was cold but nice. - Block D has awful view (see picture) of a unused car park, suggest move, Block A provided best view (see picture) but they charge you €20 extra a night for “upgrade”. - Kids club is poor for all ages, small, unappealing, few staff speak any English (Russian speaking), face painting was the only thing they did daily despite a full day of programmes events. When you try to speak to the ones who can speak some English they don’t offer anything more. Kids under 4 can’t be left at all. It’s a massive oversell and not to be relied upon at all. - Evening entertainment in Russian, but my kids still enjoyed the music & dancing - Hotel is clean and kept well - Staff at the restaurant, Bars & snack bar in the main and the pool lifeguard are all friendly - Adult pool is nice, but with no kids club there is little opportunity to enjoy - SPA is OK, but indoor pool, sauna is nothing spectacular, steam room wasn’t working - This is a rules based hotel, even my daughter was turned away from getting face painted because she wasn’t allowed in kids club with her dry swimming costume on. - Towels not available before 10am (so tip is keep them from the day before) - the Fine Dining Restaurant Robola was great food, but on the all inclusive package they ran out of white wine by 8pm which I found poor. Also, need to book 4+ days before in order to get a table at the time you want. - snack bar good, available all day - Location was excellent, minutes walking distance to many bars & restaurants and two beaches In summary, room to improve but fundamentally we would stay again given how good the food was and how clean and well kept the hotel is. Avoid Block D and go into block A or B facing East for view of the sea.