Mareblue Aeolos Beach Resort

Lovely holiday, 2 adults and 1 15 year old. Stayed in room 3301 near to the lagoon pool. Couldn't fault the room, huge balcony, comfy beds, big walk in shower and a lovely view. We were provided with 2 bottles of water a day and a bottle of red on arrival which was a nice touch. I would say the only drawback of the room was the fact it was near the cleaners day supply room, and we often walked back to our room in a cloud of smoke due to them smoking in there. Not ideal when non of us are smokers. The buggies are a god send. Especially as one of our party has mobility issues. We never waited long for them and the guys driving them were always happy and pleased to give you a ride. We spent most of our time around the lagoon pool. Shout out to Jennifer at the lagoon bar who was friendly and quick at serving. Food and drink were great, no issues, and enjoyed all the restaurants. Small supermarket over the road from the hotel, along with a place to rent boats, padel boards etc. We rented a self drive boat which was fun and straightforward. Not a lot of places to walk to in the area, but there are buses and taxis so we didn't find it much of an issue. All in all we had a lovely holiday, very relaxing. Would definitely visit again.

Pros: * The hotel is very clean, with incredible views. * The buffet offers a huge selection of good-quality food, with plenty of seating. * Drinks are strong and good quality. Cons: * Check-in was quick but lacked even the most basic information. We were left to figure everything out ourselves, including discovering the app needed to book meals, which no one mentioned. * Our room was tiny and looked nothing like the photos. It felt cramped and was a real disappointment. * The resort is so spread out that buggies are essential to reach two of the three pools. On arrival, we were left waiting around 10 minutes in the heat, still in our airport clothes, before a buggy arrived. The long waits became standard so be warned. * The entertainment was by far the biggest let-down. It felt cheap and poorly organised, with very basic shows and a “pool party” that consisted of a single speaker and a few inflatables. We’ve stayed at many all-inclusive resorts, and this was easily one of the weakest entertainment programmes we’ve experienced. * The animation team seemed heavily focused on French guests, which often left everyone else feeling like an afterthought. On one evening we saw a separate quiz held but only French guests were included. At times it felt as though most of the animation team avoided interacting with English guests. I’ve seen similar comments on previous reviews and we unfortunately experienced the same. Towards the end of the holiday 2 new members of the animation team arrived - Karabo and Rodrigo . Both of them were completely different to the majority of the animations team. They were fantastic and genuinely made us feel welcome. * The entertainment schedule also changed at the last minute with little or no communication. * Wi-Fi only worked properly at one of the three pools, so be prepared to rely on your mobile data around much of the resort. * The Lagoon Pool regularly had long queues for drinks, making it frustrating to use. We’d recommend the family pool or adults-only pool instead. Overall, the hotel has stunning views, good food and is kept very clean. However, poor communication, disappointing entertainment and a lack of inclusivity meant it fell well short of the experience we expected from an all-inclusive resort.

We had a great stay at Aeolos. Here is my summary: Positives The view - incredible sea view from every pool, restaurant and bar (and most rooms). The resort has been well designed to maximise this and it never gets old. The staff - every member of staff was attentive, helpful and friendly. It feels like everyone genuinely enjoys their job and they want you to have a great time. Really appreciated this. The resort - great to have the variety of 3 pools each with their own style plus a great beach area to choose from. Rooms are decent with good views / bathroom products etc and very clean with large bottles of water supplied every day. The grounds / gardens and flowers are well maintained and lots of beautiful spots for photos. And if you like cats you’ll enjoy the resident ones ! The food - you have 2 à la carte meals per stay and we really enjoyed both. The main buffet restaurant is good. We always had a good meal. Breakfast was a bit repetitive (and the chef on eggs hit and miss one was great one lady couldn’t make an omelette) but overall fine. My daughter loved the ice cream cafe at the beach - became a daily ritual! Location - Aeolos is great for being a short drive from airport and the old town. It’s also close to benitses harbour which we used to take a boat tour to Paxos and Antipaxos (highly recommend). We also loved hiring a boat from hotel beach to explore the coastline. Entertainment - we appreciated the variety of this. The acrobatic show, dj night, a beach party.. was great to see the resort bring guests different options. Negatives The drinks - we never waited long for a drink they are ok but not many branded spirits, many of the wines not great and often felt like staff were instructed to give measures not quite to the top. I was longing for a rose but too sweet/bright pink for me. We also missed a proper coffee, not many freshly ground bean to cup options. Accessibility - ok for us but there are lots of steps / hills. Few steps down to beach and hills up to some of the pools. You can always call a buggy if needed but if mobility is a challenge it’s worth bearing in mind. Overall we had a great stay and would recommend Aeolos.