This summer I booked this hotel on the island of Corfu with my family, in combination with a week’s stay at the beautiful Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens. The purpose of this reservation:a week of relaxation, my only week of vacation of the summer, a business trip having prevented me from keeping one of the two weeks planned.
Booking
I must concede one thing:I am not a fan of vacation clubs. Firstly, because the packages with flights included involve flights on charter airlines with odd schedules and lost days.
Secondly, because the facilities are generally not up to the price paid and for good reason: the Yield applied is insane and the costs are overestimated due to the salaries of the animation team and the provision for the all-inclusive.
As you can imagine, we at TravelGuys do not use Tour Operators such as Marmara or Look Voyagesto make our reservations in such all-inclusive properties.
Our method requires a little more investigation.
The Club Mayor Capo di Corfu is marketed by Marmara, which also provides the entertainment. So by comparing the photos on the Tour Operator’s website and those available in the hotel comparators, it is easy to find the right hotel.
And in this case, it is the jackpotand for several reasons:
- The price. Here, the difference between the dry stay (without flight) proposed by Marmara and my reservation made on Hotels.com (subsidiary of Expedia) was more than 1000 € for the week with equal service, all-inclusive in this case
- The services, totally equalto those of the people having booked by Marmara: meals, animations, Junior Club, etc.
- The treatment by the hotel staffis much more favorable and for good reason: the margin made by the hotel is much higher when booking directly than when booking through the Marmara room block. Thus, we were able to enjoy a beautiful suitewhile the Marmara’s had only a standard room.
In the end,always do this little researchthat takes about 2 hours before booking and disbursing such a sum, the rate obtained being about 250 € per night in all inclusive for 3 people.
Arrival
We arrived at the facility around 5pm and were checked in immediately. We were upgraded to a duplex family suite.
The Club was presented to us in detail as well as the services included, i.e. all the catering in the form of buffets and the complete Bar.
The hotel takes particular care to specify thealcohol brands used to indicate that no, all inclusive does not mean cheap: Smirnoff for vodka, Bacardi for rum, etc.
Room
The rooms of the establishment are located insmall separate buildings which gives a good impression of a small village.
Our room, located in building 7, is therefore a family suite, where the master bedroom is located on the main floor and the two children’s bedrooms are located on the mezzanine.
The bathroom is located on the first floor, with the sink separated from the shower and toilet to allow several people to wash at the same time.
A refrigerator filled daily with bottled water is available.
We regret the paid use of the safe for 3 euros per day, an extra charge that is a bit petty considering that the safe is already in the room.
A pleasant terrace crowns the whole, equipped with a drying rack allowing to dry the beach clothes.
Restaurants
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, theall-inclusive package allows access to all the buffets presented in the restaurant: breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner.
The choice is plethoric, as shown in the following photos:
The quality is rather good even if the dishes are subject to recurrent overcooking,probably due to the fact that they are kept warm.
Also, the plethora of choices available from the start means that the buffet offer changes little each day.
The Italian buffet on Friday night, for example, is not a success.
The service is only utilitarian: “what do you want for a drink? Are you finished?”.
The wines are of poor quality, as well as the fruit juices which are only chemical ersatz. Choose sodas, even if water remains the best thirst-quenching drink.
Bar
Thebar is of very good quality. The staff is very pleasant andalways available. After the first day, you are recognized and do not need to specify your room number.
The service is doneeither at the table or at the bar.
Entertainment facilities
The hotel is very recent, and its facilities are top notch: very large pool, slides for children, secondary pool more quiet, beach volleyball and tennis courts, spa and boat and water sports equipment rental.
Entertainment
This is really the weak point in this Club: the animation was really not up to the mark, both in quantity and in quality. The French animators kept to the strict minimum, performing only 3 shows out of 7 nights, and of a more than mediocre quality, limited to patronage choreographies.
The daytime activities were carried out withlittle enthusiasm and with a music limited to 15 tracks running in a loop all day long, including unbearable songs of Christophe Mae and Magic System.
More seriously,a firework hit my son-in-law’s eyes causing a hematoma on his eyelid.
No reaction, neither from the animation team, nor from the hotel.
Only other caring customers asked if everything was okay.
Only the shows organized by the hotel were of good quality: music, Greek folklore.
Departure
The departure formalities were very simplesince everything was paid in advance.
Conclusion
A very pleasant stay, even if the entertainment premium is not really justified here. By way of comparison, theClub Alicudi hotel (operated by the Tour Operator Aeroviaggi) visited last year has an extraordinary entertainment team.
