We booked this vacation last minute and it was our best decision ever,everything was just so perfect!Loved all the restaurants,animations,baby club,just everything.The Hotel is super clean,staff is very well prepared and super organized and friendly so this made us feel like home.Loved seeing all the managers involved with the staff helping.Keep it going that way,we will definitely see you another time!Our best wishes.

Many staff have been at the hotel for many years and that is a god sign.

but small, entertainment one night was great but for the last 3 nights nothing as the hotel was in close down mode.

This is a beautiful hotel with a lot going for it.

The hotel's pool facilities were fantastic, offering a great way to relax and unwind.

All the stuff is extremely friendly and courteous, the hotel facility very green and perfectly maintained and the several restaurants serve delicious food every day.

* In summary: our family was very happy that we have chosen this hotel for our short (6 days) vacation!

Fabulous hotel complex and great staff ( most of them!).

The hotel is built on a large area and every day they discover more and more. .

Thought the hotel was one of the best we've ever stayed in, spacious bedroom with quality furnishings, bedding and towels, extremely clean as was the rest of the hotel.Small queues at mealtimes

The hotel should rebook this time and time again.

If you are used to 5* standard, then forget about this hotel.

A quick word for the Fram team, who lived up to the hotel's reputation this year - dynamic and classy.

As I have my travel agency ,  and before worked as a travel agent for many years, I can say that this hotel was definitely one of the best in Crete !

They help to make your hotel the hotel it is.

Only one very slight fault and that is the local beer which is quite poor,  the quality of every other drink is excellent.

The entertainment was a bit of a let down for a 5* hotel of this size, the outdoor amphitheatre was poor, I was expecting a much larger more professional looking stage (not a concrete base with a wooden shed).

The ramp next to Reception is very steep with poor handles/support.

The room could do with some modernization; the décor was a bit drab, the bathroom needs refurbishing with a modern shower (currently off bath tap); shower curtain was almost hanging off, the room safe needs to be digital as carrying a key around all holiday was a bind and the tea and coffee facilities were poor.

Entertainment was very poor .Most nights we had nothing at all.

We did miss a choice of nuts at breakfast (just walnuts now) 

The lighting in the bathroom continues to be very poor

Whilst the bathroom was functional it is so dated and in very poor condition.

but still poor for a hotel in this price range.

Also, very limited and poor beverage is included in all inclusive.

but if you want to sit on beach after lunch you're too late
3 there is no bar next to main pool - have to walk to taverna to collect drinks - long waits again - there is 1 poor soul trying to do service around pool but he/she is fighting a losing battle.

but maybe a policy of no shorts for women should be applicable to as there were some very poor standards shown by some female guests here.The pools have a no towel policy on reserving sun beds & this worked well as you could get a sunbed at any point throughout the day.

but the rooms and especially the gym are in poor condition and in need of a cell revamp.

Food in the buffet was always cold, very poor selection and the same most nights.

Our first room (306) we had to move from as shower was poor, kettle didn’t work & safe handle missing.

6 years ago the prices of drinks were very expensive

but the drinks were the drinks were over priced.

Even a basic necessity like water was priced at 5 euros, which was quite surprising and disappointing.

To upgrade from half board to all inclusive now costs 50Eu (45Eu in 2019) so not a huge change.

Also, if travelling to this hotel think about upgrading to 'All Inclusive', the soft drinks (including bottled water) and alcoholic beverages are very expensive.

Expensive drinks, both sodas and alcohol if you only pay half board.

Would recommend going all inclusive as the drinks are expensive if not.

If you go Half board beware drinks in the hotel Very expensive,they charge 7-8 euro for a large bottle of water, 1 euro in the shop.

The only thing 5 star is the prices that are charged.

Travelling worldwide for45 plus years I have never experienced rip off prices like this before.

I would not have paid 12 Euros on top of what I had already paid though.

For such a small cute place I don't know where they store the amount of stuff they would need as everything is ice cold and delicious, and very very reasonable prices.

The drinks are expensive and really are not worth paying for, we bought a couple of bottles of spirit (non-alcoholic for me) to have during the day,

but some more expensive brands are not available on the all inclusive.

We chose to pay for all inclusive, which we don't recommend.

We were half board, this did make drinks at our evening meal very expensive

The food continues to be excellent , many choices and the evenings at the Taverna for themed nights are really great.

Price of drinks was extortionate €7.50 for a beer and one night got caught for a €52 bottle of very average wine!!!

Large beer 7 euros, Gin and tonic 12euros, cheapest bottle of wine 40  euros are some examples of the prices at the hotel.

A local beer costing 7 euros and the cheapest bottle of wine priced at 40 euros seemed unreasonable.

The food was top quality with a lot of choice and variations.

The stuff is lovely, always beeing very obliging, the food and drinks are amazing, and the facilities of the hotel and its location is beautiful.

* very enjoyable outdoor patios of the main restaurant where we had breakfast and dinner.

All inclusive food just fabulous lots of choice especially for vegetarians.

Multiple gorgeous pools, amazing restaurants and food, amazing friendly staff, too many facilities to mention.

Get up early if you want a Sunbed at the large pool.😎😎  If you like a nice quiet evening meal go in later.

In the dining room and restaurants the variety of food is rich and varied.

A warm and friendly welcome by Marilena's team, thanks to all, Nikos, Konstantinos, Vasilis, Marios, and all the others (sorry to have  forgetten your names) 
The "à la carte" lunch menus and theme buffets (Cretan night was our favorite) are a must: 
chef Pergantis's cuisine is a delight.

Efaristo to Yanis from the main restaurant who gave us a special service and mood that we needed.

Food amazing and hotel staff so very friendly.

Beginning from the food in main restaurant ( everything I eat was so so so tasty), and especially the food in A LA CARTE !

Aquila Rithymna Beach Hotel

price

poor

Free parking

Free internet

Pool

Lovely hotel for people who like to explore,

This restaurant is part of a 5-star Greek Hotel.

This was one of the best hotels I have ever stayed at.

Nothing was too much trouble for the hotel and the extras like a cold juice on the beach each morning were an example of the added extra touches.

We will definitely be returning to this hotel, Aquila Porto Rethymno, again next year.

They are undoubtedly the five star part of this hotel.

We personally couldn’t fault it for a city hotel .

Read the reviews prior to going and was a little worried.We stayed all inclusive.Beach is beautiful with free sunbeds.Pools are small at the hotel would say hotel more suited for couples not families.Food and drink was wonderful.A l a carte was fantastic again lovely food and drink.Service fantastic.Rooms were kept nice change towels and beds when you requst.In a great location.

This is by far the best all inclusive hotel we have stayed in.

I’ve went to this hotel for 10 days at the end of July.

We had a thoroughly enjoyable stay at this hotel and would highly recommend it  -  we were a party of 8 with 4 separate rooms.

Facilities as you would expect for a 5 star hotel.

This hotel is not to the standard it is marketed as.

As for the rest of the hotel I can’t complain about the location & cleanliness

+Restaurant food and service is excellent great choice and friendly team 
+Reception Griggoris and Maria in guest services a credit to hotel 👍

Sadly would NOT return to hotel BUT would return to Rehymnon it is a stunning coastal town with great restaurants and bars my advice would be spend money in a 4 star boutique hotel not this one 👍

Massively overpriced here though- mini bar 😨, drinks !

Unfortunately as I was given a room at the back of the hotel (as I didn't want to pay the high price for a side or full sea view) I had to have a bath instead of a shower.

For a hotel that classed itself as a 5* we would have expected a choice of a glass of fizz or orange juice on arrival not just a cheap orange juice.

You can not bring with you o bottle of water in restaurant because is forbidden.They clean rooms when they want if you want a specific hour you need to tell them at the reception.About  signature on the payment note they said once it is not mine and after that I pay cash every time.Maybe they need a digital signature.

We were shocked to find there was no water or coffee with evening meal, if you wanted these you had to pay.

We paid a very high price for a hotel sold to us as 5 sort TUI platinum.

(Hotel price for this has increased +38% on last year upon query was told it was due to covid !

A bottle of water costs €6 

Overall I do not recommend this hotel to anyone and would urge people not to stay in this place.

But extremely Poor customer service, i would rate it with - 5.

On the whole, very disappointing, more so that this was a gift (an expensive one at that) to get all the family together, something which was very important to us.

though the cost of 5.10 euros for ¾ of a litre was breath-taking.

As with many other comments drinks were expensive

I come from Ireland which I thought was expensive

Sadly, from the AI perspective we were sadly disappointed and would have been even more so had we paid the full price of over £400 extra for AI when we first booked.

A lot of them are very reasonably priced (the more hidden ones), restaurants in full view tendered to be a little more expensive.

I drew this to the attention of a beach assistant who said they were entitled to be there if they had paid nine euros.

but however, felt very let down when we visited the a la carte restaurant instead of going to the main restaurant, there are only a few dishes included in the premium all-inclusive package - the Greek salad, 2 soups, risotto dish and a pork dish, all other dishes carry a significant supplement (some over 40 euros) paying all inclusive I do not expect to then pay more to eat at the hotel.

We were also given a joint room so this made our stay slightly uncomfortable as people could hear us and we could hear them.

So there is a stong band noise at each closing.

Some people would not like this as the view was uninspiring and there was considerable street noise,

but what it doesn't say is that the road is so busy with traffic that you need to take your life in your hands to cross the road.

Facing the sea also means facing a busy road so can be quite noisy.

Unfortunately they were noisy, disruptive and generally badly behaved.

It’s on the main road so noisy with the odd waft of bus/scooter exhaust fumes.

but the balcony facing onto the back road wasn't very appealing or relaxing & very noisy early morning.

Housekeeping didn’t arrive until around 2pm, by that time we didn’t want to be disturbed so we put a sign on the door.

However, this is an extremely busy road which means that if you have your balcony door open it is very very noisy and when you sit outside at the hotels cafe and bar.

however again, not the ambiance I would expect being quite cramped in the outside area by the pool with a noisy road at the side. I can't stress enough the willingness of the staff to rectify any question, concern or need throughout our stay (thank you so much!)

There is carpet in the corridors so its very quiet no people walking past your doors to wake you up.

They organize shows right under the rooms and we can't rest because of the noise!

We were on the 5th floor view from the balcony was roadworks and noisy.

but we did experience outside noise both during the night and early morning.

There is a little noise coming from entertainment in the evening, where it can be difficult to talk together.

The food in the main restaurant and the al a carte restaurant was really good quality and lots of choice, you will not go hungry.

The food and the recommended wines were first-class.

The breakfast was lovely with a good selection of food and was constantly being replenished.

The a la carte restaurant menu is excellent and well served,

In the excellent a la carte restaurant, Piazza di Porto, which is run very efficiently by the captain, Vassilis Vassilakis, the food and ambiance are excellent and memorable.

Restaurant food was very good and again the staff were lovely with the manager often around to greet you.

Talking about staff one has to mention the maitre d of the a la carte restaurant, Vasilis who's knowledge,and professionalism are second to none.

although half board we ate in evening three times .

The manager and his staff were always on hand to make sure all was running smoothly be it at breakfast, lunch, dinner and the special moonlight cocktail party which was absolutely amazing.

We had breakfast and dinner included , breakfast was good

We were half board and were really impressed with the food.

The food was delicious with plenty of choice with a decent branded alcohol menu.

All staff were friendly and professional, the hotel was ideally located for both beach and a short walk to Rethymnon Centre which has plenty of bars and restaurants and the food was excellent.

Great location, good quality food and drinks.

Aquila Porto Rethymno

quietness

Paid private parking nearby

Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)

In reality, it was the stench from the drainage that was evaporating from the bathroom floor.

There was no apology for the state of the bathrooms upon us moving sadly.

but we would say the bathroom was definitely in need of a refurbishment.

One thing that may have been nicer would be larger bath towels.

Their is a crack in the bath, the shower is hand held over the bath and the patio door doesn’t lock.

The bathroom was incredibly dated (exposed ugly pipes) the room quite barren no toiletries in the shower ( which was separate to the bathroom) and it just gave a really bad first impression.

Bedroom is big enough for and is nicely done
Hair dryer poor quality.Bathroom very small and shower is in bath and is quite small.

My only comment is that with a family the open plan bathroom would maybe not suit everyone.

And unsurprisingly, there was no power point anywhere near to that mirror for using hairdryer, straighteners, etc.

Bathroom could do with slight modernisation and more power sockets are needed for practicality.

- The shower flooded in our room and went into the room corridor, we found a slightly damp smell too on arrival.

but if you like a bath check when you book.

- The bathroom did not have an extractor fan, the room was not properly ventilated, our room smelt of wet towels the whole time (room #308)
- There is a kids club,

Departures: 
We were leaving late on Monday night and had to be out of hotel room for 2pm, we asked if there was anywhere to get quick shower and changed before transfer and the receptionist put us in a spare room for few hours to shower and dress free of charge which was very kind as we had no where to get ready at.

Although I was disappointed by the split balcony in our seaview family room which faced North and therefore got zero direct sunlight, hearing the sound of the sea as you fall asleep is magical.The beds are comfortable too, with a pillow choice and daily replenished mini bar.Loved the abundance of towels and the rainfall shower.

There are not many amenities in the immediate vicinity of the hotel

If I had any gripes, it would be the weird sink, which is odd

This was definitely not a 4 star plus,not a luxury holiday too busy too many children the only thing that was good was the food.Had a hand held shower in a bath supposed to be open plan it was just a bedroom with a bathroom.

Honestly one of the most beautiful hotels we have stayed in.

This stylish boutique hotel is highly recommended!

Our swim-up rooms at the back of the hotel are lovely,

We check out Nov 4, and the hotel closes Nov 5.

So think of reserving yours as soon as you arrive at the resort.

Lovely hotel, a good 4 out of 5 from me

The hotel is impressive looking, especially at night.

Overall, I would definitely say this is a fantastic hotel.

I honestly can’t rate this hotel enough.

We had the most amazing week at your hotel!

This hotel is perfect for families and also for couples.

Superb hotel, great facilities and above all such friendly staff.

Just returned from the white palace where do we start about this hotel .First of all like other reviewers the staff and everyone connected to the hotel are amazing and cannot be faulted.The restaurants  including the buffet are wonderful.The White Restaurant takes fine dining to another level.The pillows on the bed are so fluffy and soft you just sink into them.A reminder to anyone going on the farm trip good experience don’t eat before you go too much food .Use the wine library Charlotte the sommelier is great .To finish this review anyone thinking of going don’t hesitate just book it .Can’t wait to return .

Overall we loved the hotel and it’s location.

This hotel has the potential to be very good indeed,

By far, the best asset the hotel has, is its staff, who were all attentive and responsive to our needs throughout our stay with you.

I very highly recommend this hotel ♥️

The hotel location is some way out of Rethymnon

We’ve just returned from 2 weeks at this amazing hotel.

We are picky guests, we always stay in 5* hotels and can be fussy, and we never go back to places we’ve already been to, as we like to explore new destinations,

The soundproofing is very poor, with noisy neighbours upstairs and a young couple with a baby beside us.

The vegetarian option for food were very poor and not clearly labelled meaning you had to be cautious in choices leading to an even reduced variety.

The service was poor, and for no reason the bar people including the waitresses were rude to us (especially to my daughter's).

We travelled with kids who were rather wary about a kids club after a previous poor experience elsewhere.

FOOD

*Asia night in the buffet was poor.

- The food outside of the restaurants is poor, you have to pay extra for room service.

Because of the very poor communication with the wedding travel company we did visit in September 2022 and were blown away by the venue and knew it was the most amazing venue for us.

however they were spread thin and their effectiveness diluted by what we can only assume is very poor service training.

but there was a small kids club and only a DJ for night time entertainment which was quite poor (due to covid) although a couple of musicians playing outside should have been ok?

Unfortunately the quality of these was poor.

I found that the hotel has poor security so that anyone is able to come and leave via their beach.

The rest la carte restaurant poor all the time have to as stuff to get drink or if you order one thing you other stuff.

After last year's late Greek vacation on another island, which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment due to the hotel's poor food and accommodation, and even after checking out several vacation sites for reviews, the only good thing was that the weather was very good and the local beach was great.

Doesnt sound luxury to me and to run out of a particular branded beer is poor again not what you would expect from a “Luxury” hotel.

however it seemed unfair that you had to pay extra for cakes and sweets at the chocolate shop if you only had this package

Improve gym facilities - for a 5* hotel of this calibre the gym was very poor and seemed to be an after thought - just few equipment placed here with no emphasis on design 

Entertainment wasn’t great - catered more for kids than adults - again for a 5* hotel this was very poor 

Different pools - guests have access to the main pool however there’s about three other pools within this complex and only available to those with swim up rooms.

but honestly the buffet restaurant standards are so high you will be happy eating here at anytime.

The food is very fresh and authentic, dont miss Greco Farma, which wereally liked.

We found the best restaurants are the White and Greek restaurants.

but at night was at the Italian restaurant (helped calm my son by showing him pictures of his own 3 year old son).

The food & drinks are great, better than other all-inclusive resorts that we've been to.

My one frustration was the a la carte restaurants.

I would strongly advise downloading the Grecotel app and booking the restaurants before you arrive.

The food was so delicious, everywhere was spotless and your staff are super friendly and nothing is an issue!

Especially the buffet restaurant team and the entertainment team (William).

The menus were different which were great too.

The food and drink provided were most certainly all of the highest quality.

The food was amazing, the restaurant staff were so accommodating with my allergy needs, and nothing was too much to ask.

This is the perfect retreat to experience high quality food in  a variety of restaurants, served by welcoming staff.

The speciality restaurants are all amazing .

Also, nice cocktails and served everywhere and all the time.

Our room was modern and comfortable with all the amenities we needed. We used the hotel's online portal to pre-book some a-la-carte restaurants and they were all just incredible - especially the White (I recommend the Bianco menu!)