Amus Hotel & Spa

Fine but definitely not 5 star!

We enjoyed our holiday at the Amus and there is plenty to like, but overall we didn’t feel the hotel lived up to its 5-star rating or the price we paid. It’s a perfectly good 4-star hotel and we’d consider returning at the right price, but wouldn’t pay the same amount again.

Pros

* Excellent reception staff and fantastic spa experience
* Lovely beach with clear water and plenty of sunbeds
* Good breakfast with plenty of choice
* Comfortable, spacious rooms with excellent air-con and soundproofing
* Beautiful reception areas and well-maintained hotel grounds
* Great location in Ixia, with restaurants and bars nearby and easy access to Rhodes Town

Cons

* Overall standard, service and attention to detail don’t consistently feel 5-star
* Ground-floor pool area feels cramped, tired and below the standard of the rest of the hotel
* Food, drink and hotel facilities aren’t communicated particularly well to guests
* Drinks at the ground-floor pool bar are expensive and very poor value
* Some facilities and furnishings could do with upgrading
* Service around the pool and beach can be inconsistent

Room & service

We booked a Deluxe Sea View room and were initially disappointed to be directly above reception, meaning our main view was the entrance/fountain area with the sea beyond. Reception were brilliant when I raised it and immediately showed us an alternative room on the 7th floor with a much better view. We actually chose to stay where we were as our original room was considerably bigger with a much larger balcony. I couldn’t rate the reception team highly enough.

The room itself was comfortable, with great air-con, good soundproofing, robes and slippers, although I wouldn’t describe it as particularly “deluxe”. Housekeeping was generally fine, but occasionally lacked attention to detail – for example, a robe belt that had fallen on the floor was simply mopped around rather than picked up. Only one bottle of water was provided on arrival and wasn’t replenished during our week, which was another small detail that didn’t feel particularly 5-star.

Food & drink

Breakfast was good, with plenty of choice and food replenished quickly. Staff were friendly and always found us a table as quickly as possible. Coffee could take a little while at busy times but I understand it was peak time and not a huge deal, and a coffee menu would have been useful – we didn’t discover iced lattes were available until our last day. On an early-start morning we arrived for breakfast opening at 7am, but pancakes and french toast weren’t available until around 7:20/7:30.

We didn’t eat at the hotel’s restaurants, partly because information about the food and drink offering wasn’t particularly accessible. There was no hotel guide in the room and we weren’t given anything at check-in explaining the different restaurants, bars, spa etc. they did tell us briefly about breakfast times etc and that “X is on the 11th floor” etc but it was quite difficult to retain all the info given then. We later discovered QR codes were available from reception for the restaurants. Providing one QR code at check-in linking to all hotel information, menus, opening times and bookings would make a huge difference.

The ground-floor pool bar was particularly poor value. Drinks were the same price as elsewhere in the hotel but served in much smaller plastic glasses, and one €12 cocktail we received was barely more than half full. We understand using plastic around a pool, but the portion and price should reflect this.

Pools & beach

The 11th-floor pool was pleasant and we could always find a sunbed. The ground-floor pool was a different experience – cramped, busy and quite tired, and it didn’t feel like a 5-star resort area. The pool toilets here were particularly unpleasant and could really do with refurbishment and more frequent attention. This was a stark contrast to the beautiful facilities around reception.

The sunbeds at both pools and the beach generally felt worn and weren’t particularly comfortable. Pool towels could also only be exchanged every two days, which seemed unnecessarily restrictive for a 5-star beach hotel.

The beach was much more enjoyable. It’s pebbly, but the sea is lovely and there were always plenty of included sunbeds. On one of our four beach days staff came around taking drink orders, which was great, but this wasn’t consistent. We also saw non-hotel guests walking in from the beach and using both the hotel’s beach facilities and ground-floor pool without any apparent checks.

Spa & location

The spa was fantastic. We had a couples massage with Vasilios and Luisa, who were both brilliant, and also enjoyed the hammam. This genuinely felt like the 5-star experience we’d expected elsewhere in the hotel.

Ixia itself was ideal for us – close to Rhodes Town while still having restaurants and bars within walking distance. Whispers Restaurant, around a 30-minute walk away, was easily the best meal of our holiday and is absolutely worth visiting. We also enjoyed Coconut and Ixia Beach Bar, where we found the food and drinks particularly good quality and much better value than the hotel. There’s also an excellent, reasonably priced supermarket immediately to the left of the hotel.

Overall

We didn’t have a bad stay at all, and some aspects were genuinely excellent – particularly the reception staff, spa, beach and location. The issue is that lots of smaller details add up and don’t match the expectations created by a 5-star rating or premium price.

For us, a good 4-star hotel rather than a 5-star experience. We’d return at the right price, but certainly wouldn’t pay what we paid this time.

Luisa was Very calming, attentive and thorough...
Thank you So much for your caring and relaxing service, wish I could stay longer, and have more treatments ! So nice to be able to use all of the Spa facilities at my leisure also !
Thank you again Luisa :) and to All at the Amus Spa !
It's been a Most Welcome, and relaxing experience ! :)
Home Tomorrow, with The most lovely memories !! :)

Honest Review of AMUS Hotel & Spa Rhodes

We’ve just completed our first week at Amus Hotel & Spa in Rhodes, so I wanted to give an honest and fair review based on our experience so far.

First of all, I’m not a snobby guest or someone who expects complete perfection. We’ve stayed in 5-star hotels before, and while we are having a lovely holiday here, I personally don’t feel the hotel consistently delivers the 5-star experience I would expect.

The good points

The location is excellent. You can get a taxi into Rhodes Old Town or Faliraki in around 10–20 minutes, and there are also some great restaurants, bars and entertainment within walking distance of the hotel. We found some lovely bars with karaoke nearby, which was great fun.

There are two pools available. We much preferred the 11th-floor pool, as it felt quieter, more modern and cleaner. The ground-floor pool is less attractive in places, the surrounding grass can become muddy when wet, and the pool area itself can be quite slippery.

We were half board and thought the food was absolutely fine. There was plenty of choice, the restaurant was very clean and the staff greeted us every evening. All of the staff work incredibly hard and were consistently polite and accommodating.

Considering we visited during peak August, we were pleasantly surprised that we never queued for anything and always managed to get sunbeds for our party of five.

The beds in the room are absolutely huge and very comfortable, and our towels were changed daily. The pool service was also good, and the gentleman looking after us was particularly helpful and polite.

The reception area is lovely for sitting and relaxing, especially when you need to escape the heat. There are also plenty of trees around the pool areas, which provide some welcome shade.

We hired a car through reception, which was really easy and made exploring the island much more convenient. Reception is also open 24 hours and the staff were always helpful whenever we needed anything.

We’re also trying the spa during our stay, so I can’t comment on that just yet, although we’ve heard good things.

What doesn’t feel 5-star

There are quite a few smaller details that, when added together, make me question the 5-star rating.

Pool towels can only be exchanged every other day, which doesn’t feel particularly 5-star to me.

Some of the finishes in our room, particularly around the doors and balcony, look untidy and tired. The air conditioning is also controlled by the hotel, so you don’t have the freedom to adjust it yourself, which can be frustrating.

The patio door in our room was so heavy and stiff to move only my husband managed it.

The shower cubicle in our room is very small. Our other room had a bath, which was much better for the kids, but the shower in ours felt particularly cramped.

We were staying on the 9th floor, directly below the restaurant, and unfortunately this meant a lot of noise early in the morning from chairs being dragged around upstairs. If you’re a light sleeper, I would definitely recommend requesting a room away from the restaurant.

The lifts can sometimes be a bit of a wait, although considering we’re here in August, it’s nothing horrendous.

There is a kettle in the room, but there were three of us staying and the coffee /tea & milk portions provided were so small that there was barely enough for one person. For a hotel marketed as 5-star, I would expect better tea and coffee facilities in the rooms.

The sunbeds are another area that needs attention. Some are uncomfortable and quite a few are clearly worn, fraying or even falling apart. On some of them, the fabric has stretched so much that you feel like your bottom is almost on the floor!

Overall

Despite all of this, we are having a lovely holiday. The staff are fantastic, the location is great, the food is good and there are plenty of positives.

My main point is simply that, having stayed in genuine 5-star hotels before, I don’t feel AMUS consistently reaches that standard. There are lots of relatively small things that could be improved, and I think addressing those details would make a significant difference to the overall experience.

Would I say don’t come here? Absolutely not. We’re enjoying ourselves and would happily recommend Rhodes and the hotel to others.

Would I personally call it a true 5-star experience? Not quite yet

Hopefully the hotel takes comments like these constructively, because with a few improvements, it could be a really outstanding place to stay.

Amazing Cretan massage by the lovely Lina. Worked wonders, feel like a younger man 😁

Maya and Luisa did a perfect job, full body massage, highly reccomended!!!

Massage at the spa from Maya and Luisa was excellent, would recommend!

השירות, החדרים נוחים בעיקר החדרים עם הדלת המקשרת למשפחה גדולה. העיצוב הנעים והמרחבים כך שלא הורגש עומס של תיירים.

Absolutely fantastic hotel with a great location for beach’s and Rhodes town. Spotless hotel with great food options in the restaurants and lovely staff. Katie especially was helpful at guest relations the whole stay, she helped us organise transfers daily for our activities, ensuring we got there on time safely and comfortably. Always a smile on her face! Couldn’t thank her enough for her help.

We were pretty disappointed with this place on the whole. For a balanced review -
POSITIVES - reception & cleaning staff all very friendly and helpful / polite. Other staff less so. Beds comfortable.

NEGATIVES
Firstly, the ‘deluxe sea view suite’ we had booked and were shown to, was really small. Like there was hardly any space between the foot of the bed and the wall small. Having raised this we were upgraded to a much bigger and nicer actual suite with a seating area - but if you aren’t upgraded you’re stuck in a small room- we were lucky.

The road between the hotel and the beach, almost invisible in the photos, is significant. The beach looks miles away from the hotel. And the ‘private beach area’ (poorly maintained with scrappy loungers, nowhere to order drinks etc) - is right beside the road. So you get to listen to traffic if you sit there. The photos are deliberately deceptive.

Food - very average. We’re stayed in lots of nice 4 and 5 star hotels with buffets - this was one of the worst. Poor quality / greasy meat, poor selection of salads, also queue for table every day. Food in the 11th floor bar was nicer. The taverna we tried one night - average.

My main issue with this hotel however was the total lack of space / grounds to accommodate the nearly 700 people staying when it’s full!!! The main pool, so cleverly shot in the photos, is not nearly big enough or rather the space around it which is tired old decking or a strip of garden - is literally packed like sardines with loungers and no space. We didn’t manage to get space or a lounger on a single day of the 16 we were there. 11th floor pool ok but similarly packed

All in all - they have built a huge hotel and not kept up the facilities to accommodate the number of guests. Our holiday would have been ruined by this if we hadn’t found and gone daily to, a lovely place down the road where we wished we had stayed - Villa di Mare - lovely rooms around a big pool, comfortable loungers and right on the beach.

Had a great couples massage provided by Maya and Lina. Excellent techniques and ambiance and both were polite and attentive to our needs and overall experience.

Amazing stay, we throughly enjoyed the entertainment team, their Big Show was amazing and captivated my daughter’s attention in owe! Pink wave entertainment kept us upbeat and brought the good vibes!!!

Xristiana was very good and I enjoyed my massage thoroughly. Atmosphere was very relaxing and calming.

Amazing! The location, staff, facilities were all amazing for a family of six

The location, decor, ambience, staff friendliness, entertainment, pool areas.

The views were very nice.

Myself, my husband and our 4 year old daughter have just come back from a week at Amus. In all honesty, this holiday was a real mixed bag! Like lots of places there were pros and cons but in our opinion it is not currently a 5* hotel!!

Pros:
The staff across the whole hotel were lovely especially the ladies in the suite reception! They were very helpful and great with our little one (Watch out for the lifeguard - fun police)
Being allocated ‘suite only’ areas was a nice touch and considerably quieter than other areas of the hotel. Breakfast is very busy in the buffet so take advantage of al a carte restaurant. Food was great and we never had an issue with choice or food quality!
Myself and my daughter had a spa treatment and they were great 👍🏻

Cons:
‘Extra or hidden charges’ really get my back up! Especially when we’d already paid a considerable amount of money for a suite! Little things that are just not necessary…certain ice creams, certain drinks, certain food in the restaurant, drinks brought to you on the beach, the mini bar (even in the suite)…all chargeable! Drinks in the bar after 11.30pm…chargeable!
The hotel grounds are lovely but there are definitely areas of the hotel that are looking tired and in need of repair/maintenance or sprucing up.
Entertainment…rubbish! Again not what you’d expect at a luxury hotel! Bingo, karaoke etc

We’ve stayed in much better hotels for the same price and I do think that the 5 star rating needs revision.

Lukas is an incredibly skilled and professional massage therapis at Amis hotel and spa, I had a wonderful experience and felt relaxed and comfortable throughout the entire treatment. She is attentive, caring, and really knows what she is doing. Lucia makes sure you feel comfortable. I highly recommend Luisa to anyone looking for an excellent and professional massage therapist!

Fantastic family holiday in the Amus hotel. All areas spotlessly clean and the beds are the most comfortable we have slept in. Food is excellent and staff are all so friendly and helpful. Entertainment team are great especially Nichola. Highly recommend. Hotel is a 5 min walk from restaurants and bars.