[Hotel Review] Greece - Crete - The GDM Island Hotel (Adults Only Hotel)

The GDM Hotel, known as the Island hotel is located between Herakilion and Hersonissos.

Reception &Welcoming Area, The Island Hotel, Crete

The entrance of The Island Hotel, Crete

10 key points of this hotel

*Adult Only Hotel

*Quiet location

*Excellent Customer Service

*Easy access to Heraklion & Malia and other towns

*Several Tavernas for pop in and out for drinks at night time

*Half Board Dining Buffet

*Sea view from the Dining hall

*Supermarket is around the corner

*Not far from the Airport

*A bottle of free water

Absolutely delighted to share our experience with this hotel.

Q1. How long did we stay here for?

A: We stayed at the Island hotel for two weeks. From 2 May till 16 May. The day we arrived was the grand opening day. So not many guests were there yet which was just perfect.

 
Q2. How was the weather?

A: Really good and we think we were lucky. I have read many weather related threads before heading to Crete. Many people mentioned that May can be quite wet so we were ready to face some rainy days. But thankfully the rain clouds came after we left. We had only ONE cloudy day during our two weeks stay.
It was approximately 23 to 25 degrees during the day which is just perfect to go out and do things. At night, however, it can be chillier than you expect. I regretted so much not to take a mid season cardigan or sorts of. One day I ended up wearing my wooly jacket and It helped.

Q3. How is the location and what surrounding area is like?

The location is called Kato Gouves and it is between Herakilon and Hersonissos. I found the location itself is really handy as it was not far from the capital and Hersonissos and Malia even. A local bus runs every 30 mins or so and you can go to Herakilon and Hersonissos in about 15 to 20 mins. The only issue that you will soon find out is that the bus time table doesn't mean anything. If it is your lucky day then a bus will come ‘on time’. Most of time it didn't happen. The nearest bus stop is about 20~25 mins away on foot.

Q4. Anything else around the hotel?

Personally I don’t like busy resort locations like Malia. For that reason this hotel was just perfect. There are few Tavernas and bars nearby you can visit at night for few drinks. We tried four different places and they were all fine. Also there is massive supermarket called ‘Hallas’ which sells everything. I don’t think the price isn’t too much overly charged but yeah it is bit more than a standard price. You can get free samples of all different flavoured local Rakis there too.

The George Taverna is just in front of the hotel

Also I have to mention that it was still quiet time of the year(early May) so not all the places were open. Most of time it was quiet but there are neighbour hotels behind the Island hotel and they seem to play party music a lot and LOUD :)

Q5. How was the room you stayed in?

Obviously we didn’t worry too much about our room. We booked with Thomson and every holiday we booked with this company never let us down. But this time, the room was a bit disappointing. I mean the room itself was still really good and had everything we needed. We don’t normally fuss about the view stuff but this time we had to even consider to pay extra for an upgrade. The room we were given was overlooking white roofing only. Plus all balconies are so close to each other and you can hear next door’s conversation without any efforts. I didn’t want to stay in a room overlooking the ugly white roofs for 14 days. So went to see the reception to find out more information about the room upgrade etc. It wasn’t cheap as you can guess but thanks to the thoughtful receptionist, we managed to escape from this room and were given another room which was far much better and spacious. That was really impressive customer service.
Our new room was around the relaxing pool which was really handy. Although we have no problem with our new room, I had a thought that it would be great to have a mosquito net installed with the balcony door so that we can open the door for cool breeze at night rather than using an air conditioner. The room we stayed was facing west and it gets cool breeze at night. It was far much better than airconditioner.

Q6. What facilities/programmes are available?

The main pool

I believe that every room has a small refrigerator and safe. The refrigerator isn’t big but does a job.

There are Tennis court / Table tennis / Basketball court/ Gym / Spa / Game room with some pool tables / some programmes such as  darts, Yoga, pilates, basketball, Wine testing etc etc. Every day three times a day there are some programmes to attend. There is a piece of paper with all daily programmes written in your room. So have a look.

Every night there is a live music show at Tholos bar. Very romantic when you are there but soon you will realise mosquitoes are there too.

There are three swimming pools. Please be careful when you walk around the swimming pool. When the floor gets wet it can be slippery. We witnessed that one lady fell over. Thankfully it was a minor accident but the floors are covered with marble kind stone tiles you can hurt yourself badly when you are unlucky.

Hotel has a restaurant but we never used it so I don’t know whether it is good or not. We normally hob out and ended up having lunch at one of Tavernas around the hotel.

Live Music played at the Tholos Bar

Q7. What about the dining experience and the food range?

Every morning you will be given either fresh brewed coffee or tea or both which is fantastic. The hotel only does ‘half board’ : Breakfast and Dinner. It was a buffet style dining service: F For breakfast, plenty of various yoghurts, fresh fruits, all cooked breakfast, breads etc. Dinner is more diverse as the menu changes every night such as Italian meal night/ Indian & Asian meal night/ Cretan meal night/ Greek meal night etc etc. There are many choices of Salad and we found out that Greek Salad is always popular so you need to hurry. :) Dessert are amazing. Plenty of cakes and sweet dessert options for indulging yourself. Don’t miss out ice cream which is at the corner.
The dining area is big but where all the food are located is  designed badly so can be really crowded and packed at a busy time and you would struggle to get to the serving plate you want at some point. Don’t get mad. These things happen everywhere.

Great desserts are served every night :)

Absolutely enjoyed Breakfast in the Sun everyday

Q8. And the staff?

They are just fabulous!! They deserve five stars. Every one of them are so helpful and friendly. They are ready to listen to you when you have any issues and do their best to resolve problems as SOON as possible. During our stay we encountered few issues with the hotel facilities and others matters and they were always there to help. Morning and night we were pleasantly greeted by members of staff. We really appreciate all your hard work and hospitality.

Q9. Any additional information to share? - A free bottle of water / Plane noise / unstable Wifi

First of all I would like to mention about this. A bottle of water is provided everyday. Really handy and great idea. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t opened the bottle of not. They will still give you a new bottle on a daily basis. You know you are in Greece where the weather gets hotter in Summer time and you get easily thirsty. When you think a bottle of water is nothing but nono. It is a different story when you are in Crete.

Some might not be affected too much by airplane noise but here is my experience to share. The hotel is located in an area where Heraklion airport is not far from,which means that southbound planes from the north fly over the hotel often. Plane noise can be heard both at day and night time. As you can guess It gets busier when the peak season starts, more and as often. Normally I don’t bother too much with airplanes but I have to admit that few night flights were quite loud and disturbing.

Wifi works most of time but it is really unstable. I had to reconnect it several times a day. When we stayed there, the hotel wasn’t 100% occupied and it was already unstable. I assume it will get worse when it is fully booked. So bear in mind.

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 We absolutely enjoyed our time with the Island hotel and we definitely would go back there when you visit Crete next time. Again thank you so much for your hard and hospitality and I hope my review is helpful for the future guests who will choose this wonderful hotel for your holiday.