Astir Beach

The condition of the hotel is impossible to categorize - I gave one star (a star it doesn't deserve) so that people don't think I forgot to give a rating: 1. DRINKING water - running at sink and shower! You can't brush your teeth! Does it come straight from the sea? 2. The furniture is excessively old! Probably 1945! See attached pictures! 3. The rooms are too small! I asked for the 3 bed room, and they put another 180cm bed in the 2 bed room! There is no room to get in the room! 4. No care for the furniture! Fallen doors, missing doors...!!!!! You have never seen anything like this in your life! 5. Radio with 3 channels! Probably channel 1-Europa Libera, 2-Zakynthos Radio, 3-Radio Hotel. You've never seen that in your life

The room at Astir Beach Hotel was a major disappointment. The outdated furniture gave off a dingy vibe, and to top it off, the fridge wasn't even functional. It felt like stepping into a time warp of discomfort. Definitely not worth the stay. I've been in Thassos, Santorini and Corfu so far in Greece and this is the worst hotel I ever been, it reminds me of India.

Just for a bit of background this comes from the perspective of a lads holiday - there were a few families staying in the hotel but quite why you'd come to Laganas I do not know... it wasn't even particularly cheap. Given that their were a few families in the hotel, the staff were often keen for us to keep the noise down at night which we always thought was fair enough and for the most part the staff were reasonable. Tolis the Night Receptionist was very good and was well liked by the guests as was the guy who worked at the pool bar. However, there was another receptionist who was very rude and patronising and while I understand that it's not the easiest job at times we were polite and expected to be treated with a bit more dignity. Also despite pointing out that the air con did not work in one of the rooms, she did little to help. The hotel manager was also difficult to deal with and upon checkout demanded we pay €100 for breaking one of the cheap chairs outside (by just sitting on it). We weren't on an All Inclusive Package but we were speaking to some people that were and supposedly the management had banned alcohol on one of the days which you'd understandably be a bit annoyed by. I understand there is a lot of young people staying in the hotel and that could bring trouble but most were respectful from what we saw and only here for a good time but we were still treated very suspiciously. The location is definitely the best part of the hotel being about 15 mins from the strip and on the beach where there was lots of restaurants too. This is definitely the nicer part of Laganas and while it was the more expensive area you could find cheaper places to eat too like Yiannis with great service which we'd recommend. The pool area was another good thing too with plenty of sun beds and a good atmosphere. A bit of a grudge was that they did charge us for sitting on the sun beds and in general looked to make money off you wherever possible by charging extras but I imagine that's the case for most hotels in the area. In terms of the rooms, they are nothing special but functional given that you wouldn't be spending very long in there ideally during the day. That said, the rooms were a bit short on a few basics: one electricity socket (so bring an extension cable) and there was only one tiny bin in the bathroom and given that the cleaners do not clean everyday after a while the rooms get really messy with bottles and rubbish everywhere. The wifi doesn't work and there is no service but to be honest it's not the end of the world going without your phone for a couple days we found. Overall, for a lads holiday it will be fine and I think a lot of the hotels will be pretty similar in Laganas. The location is great and as long as you spend little time in your room and don't go looking for trouble then Astir Beach will be alright, but I really would not recommend coming here during the season if you are a family.