Kouros Palace Hotel

Staff were lovely and majority helpful. The amazing selection of freshly prepared food in dining area was just fantastic. Waiters were usually on hand to take drinks orders when seated at desired table and always met with a lovely warm greeting. We didn't travel with a tour company as organised holiday ourselves so didn't know what was on offer or entertainment events at hotel however, hotel has a number of entertainment staff/reps who liaise with guests on a daily basis. We were lucky to be met with a young lady called Mariann (from Hungary) who took us under her wing. She was really helpful, very polite and spoke very good English. She was responsible for aqua aerobics and water Pilates and certainly is a credit to the hotel. We holidayed between 5th-19th August 2017 which was a particularly hot spell even to the Greeks, the waiter/bar tender staff came round poolside offering watermelon slices. Brilliant! Games room with 2 billiards tables near bar area and table tennis by lower pool. Daily darts games organised with hotel reps. Many younger guests congregated near reception area as good wi-if at this location as our teenage son did so too. We were lucky enough to get a family room (room 283) which had a sea view from our balcony and not too close to the evening entertainment noise. Room was lovely, clean and was as in the photo. The beach was only about 10 mins walk across the road, literally straight opposite the hotel whilst passing the little "Kouros Market" shop. There are more of the hotel apartments as you walk down towards the beach and then there is the hotel Beach Bar over on the left where you can get drinks and snacks and ice creams etc. Beach volleyball area set up just opposite beach bar. Sun loungers available but for a fee which you pay for at the hotel reception however, we learned that after 3.15pm, you do not need to pay as the attendant is finished for the day.

This was not our original choice of hotel as we should have stayed at The Continental Palace but due to the earthquake from Bodrum, we had to book elsewhere at short notice. Having read previous reviews from Booking.com we were prepared for a heavy presence of German holiday makers. During our 2 week stay, sure as guns, the majority of holiday makers were German. We discovered that there was no Thomson (or Tui as now known as) rep at arrival or airport nor hotel. In fact, there is only 1 Tui rep on the island of Kos. If you need your rep you have to telephone from a little area near the reception where there is information and ring binders about services etc. Not ideal and the majority of written material available was in German. "All Tours" seems to be a company for the German holiday maker and is very organised. We booked our holiday as half board but we discovered that due to the location of the hotel, we were a bit stuffed when it came to getting lunch. The general assumption was that anyone staying at this hotel goes fully inclusive as the reception staff didn't know how much the lunches would be for 2 adults and 2 kids aged 14 & 12. In the end we decided to upgrade to fully inclusive. If it hadn't been for Mariann (one of the hotel reps/entertainment team, we would have been clueless re: daily events both daytime & evening. There was certainly an issue with ants throughout the hotel. Ants came in under the front door of our room and also around pool/sun lounge area but I guess that's to be expected in a hot country. Although there was a billiards room with 2 tables, one table was constantly out of order throughout our 2 week stay. This was popular with many of the guests so really should have been fixed. Communication seemed to be a problem with the cleaning staff of our room with regard to changing out towels. Every day they would get it wrong and only bring 2 bath towels or 4 little towels. Nightmare!