Filoxenia Hotel Zakynthos

I’ve never checked into a hotel for a week and checked out again in under four hours—but there’s a first time for everything. Let me start with the positives: check-in was smooth and the staff were incredibly friendly. In fact, they even managed to upgrade our room at no extra cost, which felt like a great start. The entrance and reception area looked clean, modern, and recently updated. Our first impression was, “If this is where we’re staying, it’s going to be fantastic.” And then we were escorted to our room. Unfortunately, this required a journey through what I can only describe as the unrenovated side of the hotel. We were led past water tanks and a generator, then up a set of rusty, wobbly steps (covered with equally tired carpet) to the back of the building. The contrast was startling. When we opened the door to our room, any hopes we had were quickly dashed. The floor was dirty, the furniture dated and mismatched, and the overall feel was more “budget hostel” than “four-star getaway.” The two brown air conditioning units looked like relics from the 80s—and neither of them worked. The bed linen had visible marks on it, and the wardrobe, aside from its sparse collection of coat hangers (presumably left by previous guests), contained three old blankets and a safe that looked like it had lost a battle with a crowbar. The bathroom brought back memories of visiting my grandparents’ house in the early 90s, and the balcony—if you could call it that—was just wide enough to hold the obligatory plastic table and chairs, with no room to breathe. The walls were scuffed, the grout in the tiles was filthy, and the furniture was literally falling apart. Still, we tried to give it a fair shot and thought, “If the food is good, we’ll make it work.” So off we went to the restaurant for lunch. Again, the staff were polite and the service was friendly. The food, however, was a different story. The selection was limited—chips, pizza, omelette, and a few other uninspiring dishes. The beer was passable, but the wine tasted like watered-down vinegar. As for the food: greasy, bland, and underwhelming. We held out hope for dessert, but were met with pre-packaged donuts, banana jelly, synthetic whipped cream, and the usual ice cream selection. Not exactly the culinary highlight we were hoping for. By this point, we were sitting on the balcony weighing our options—and trying not to be too disheartened. This was meant to be a much-anticipated holiday. But the more we thought about it, the clearer it became: we hadn’t spent all year looking forward to this. So we got online, found an alternative hotel nearby, booked it, called a taxi, and checked out. As we were leaving, a staff member approached us and rather aggressively questioned where we were going. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, and added an awkward final note to an already disappointing experience. To be clear, this isn’t a criticism of the staff themselves—they were doing their best and were,

I was shocked that i paid over £400 for 3 nights all inclusive. Id upgraded in rooms. We dont eat at the all inclusive but like to pop in for breakfast and my husband has a beer. This seems ridiculous but they refused me water. And yes im serious. My husband didnt eat a single meal. I dont drink alcohol (maybe one drink but seriously.....i just dont). Well done Filoxenia you done ok. They refused me water. They said the water was ok to drink from the tap. Im a hardy traveller, dont really get sick but i do stick to the rules to be fair. A bottle of water - seriously? Theyd rather i drink vodka than water. Stop being tight hotel owners. And Jet 2 (who i love and use regular....challenge them on this!) And secondly - we came home about 9.15pm and i popped into the buffet to get milk for my coffee and they had nice deserts. I put 2 on a plate and went to leave a waiter literally took it out of my hand and said u cant take these out the restaurant. Like school. More cafe than restaurant.....seriously...this is a rough version of an all inclusive. My husband called it the Fawlty Towers of all inclusives.

Great holiday but only a 3 star Had a great holiday but not a lot going on entertainment wise. Maids were brilliant but only a 3 star at best. We were bed and breakfast so went into town twice a day as nothing else to do. Was lovely break but would definately would not go back