SAP71. As I said in my post, FC have a photo shoot on 15th May.Did the rep not tell you that .
People out there who arrived yesterday are commenting about the cost of uploading photos via phones.Guess no one has found free wifi yet. Hence none yet

My contact with a HV rep was over the internet, therefore I can only assume that they have broadband access (maybe not free, but then nothin in life is!), where are the guest uploading their photos to?

hi sap
we are going from 21 july till 30 july and I think like everybody else we want to see real pictures of the resort !
thank you very much for your update!
I wanted to sent you an pm (private message) but it don't work ??
you and everybody else with info can mail me *email address removed*

thks a lot

Belgium/Belgie

tpe

I found holiday village rhodos - kolymbia at the face book but I don't see pictures ??
Is there another on face book?

also thks for the info an d you can also mail me if you like see mail adresse above!

SAP71. Read my post. They are not sending photos anywhere at the moment.
I guess if going anywhere would be to the Facebook groups.
Groups, plural as there are now two Facebook groups for the HV

I have just had an e mail from Laura Mandara pre travel services of First Choice. Confirming photos are being taken on 15th May & will appear on their web site soon after

Waaaaaah - was a member of the facegroup book but it's suddenly gone! Was here last night, now nowhere to be seen!! Anyone know why!!??

facebook group is still there. But facebook playing up a bit just keep trying. The group is also now open for anyone to join.

Just had a look on Facebook at photos taken by THE GUEST at the holiday village.
It looks a bit desserted

Also had a look at the First Choice web site photos.New computer generated photos have appeared !!!!

Having worked in web design and created computer graphics, I can assure anyone reading that the photographs of the HV have been taken with a digital camera and are not computer generated as previously suggested.

I doubt anyone will post a review/response here as to just how completed things are before they return home from this first week.

I have booked two weeks for july 14th from exeter hope it will be completed and not too far away from anything waiting for reviews to come in excited but worried

Mrsj59, I think you have to realize that Kolymbia is not a thriving village. There are some shops, bars, restuarants and that's about it. It is several miles down a dead end road from the main highway. So yes, I would say it is pretty far away from things. While there is daily bus service, it isn't a case of a bus every half hour either. I believe there are 2 buses each morning and afternoon. Nothing later in the evening. So the best thing to do if you want to get about the island and see things is to hire a car or bike.

As I said in an earlier response, as an all-inclusive hotel you may find you need it to be all-encompasing as well. This kind of place and location best suits someone who wants a quiet vacation where they do nothing other than laze around the pool all day. There is no problem having a more active vacation if you hire a car but to do much on foot or by public transport is not easy.

No doubt the tour company will be there to 'welcome' you and sell you their day trips.

To coolerking70. The images on the First Choice web site are computer generated.
How could they be otherwise. The photo shoot was not taking place until today. I was told this a few days ago, by Laura Mandara from pretravel services department at First Choice.

re rodos ron
doesnt exactly state that in the brochures or what the thomas cook advised me yesterday perhaps you ought to publish your own travel brochure on the holiday village and area

There was a photographer around the site on wednesday and thursday. The pictures on First choice website look genuine with just a few computer generated ones of some rooms. I don't know if another photographer was due in yesterday but cannot see why he would be, so i suspect your "rep" must have been mis-informed. The planned appearance of the site though is woefully wrong so best ignored.

MrsJ, I have sent you a PM with a description of some things to see and do on the island.

Holiday Village Rhodes.
First Week, May 8th 2010. Activity Area.

Transfer was good taking about 40mins. We were greeted with a champagne reception on arrival at and there were a lot of First Choice staff and in2action teams were there to great us, as were Gizmo Fireman Sam and Bob the Builder, so a surreal arrival. We were the 3rd family to check in.
Our bags were taken to our rooms whilst we had a quick bite to eat.

Rooms, 4 out of 5
Ours was a family double room consisting of queen bed, two single beds separated by a sliding door. Bathroom was nice with bath with shower and a shower cubicle with a large shower head and a small shower head! Basin and toilet, in the wall separating bedroom and bathroom was a big glass unit with a blind in it, I don't know what this was for? Nice telly but it didn't work for a day or two and not much on when it did.
No kettles in the rooms! Yes I know it is all inclusive but it is still nice to be able to make yourself a drink in your room.
There are hair-dryers in the bathrooms but these were no good for beverage manufacture.
The air-con worked for a day and had to be looked at but was soon fixed again.
The hot water was non existent and we happened to get warm water a few evenings, after more complaining from us and others in our block we finally had consistent hot water on Thursday evening though it did smell funny (like oil)
Room key cards stopped working 3 times, also the door lock latches pop out randomly after you open the door so you cannot shut the door without pulling down the inside handle first, a bit annoying especially when early morning arrivals were struggling to close doors at 3am and slamming them to no avail.
General cleanliness was good but the place really needed a deep clean, building dust and debris in evidence in most places.

Food- main restaurant, good choice and tasty though some dishes were slightly salty. Mostly luke warm for the first few days but eventually the staff seemed to get it to stay hotter in the bain mmaries (more strange smelling water!) they should ban smoking or have a smoking area in the restaurant though.
We didn't try the a la carte or Steak restaurants as it was vague as to whether these were open or not.

Drink- plenty of bars as well as help yourself to beer / fizzy pop /wine /juice areas. Very good.

First choice staff/ entertainment/kids club staff were very good and friendly, In fact everything these people did was excellent.
General hotel staff were friendly and hard working, restaurant staff were great though maybe it is a cultural thing but please stop pawing our children or scaring them by shouting hello in their faces!

Pools were very good though we tended to spend most of our time around the larger pool in the activity area. Lots of sunbeds most were towelled early (even though it is an British only resort) so we can't blame the Germans for that, however be aware that there were a lot of visitors having a look round from nearby hotels, challenge them or get management to if they do not have the right wristbands on.

Pool Towels are 10 Euro deposit each and can be changed up to 3 times per stay.

No (or hard to find) toilet facilities near the pools so you have to use your room or the reception loos or the lower floor loos under reception area.

Water park, pretty good but we felt a lot of the flooring was a bit too slippery, be careful. Age restrictions on the faster flumes, 12+ on 3 of them, 6 + on the other. On the pirate ship 3 slides were open to all. Most of the Lazy river rings appeared to be dead or dying after only two days of the park being open!
The splash area was OK but nowhere near as good as others like at the Portugal HV.

No pram ramps! If you take a pram to the main restaurant you can go down the steep ramp under reception then come back up in the lift or drag it up the steps, you will also find a mini market under reception, though the local supermarkets up the road appeared to be cheaper for inflatable pool toys and maybe most other things.

Safety and Security- everywhere seems accessible at all times so keep an eye on the little ones to make sure they don't sneak too near the pools, one is very close to the evening entertainment area.
There are gates around the perimeter of the complex which were mostly swinging open so anyone could wander in or out.

Overall, we thought it was a good holiday but Not currently worthy of 5 stars. To be honest on the surface everything looks fabulous and some of the fixtures and fittings look great but sadly I think some of the work is rushed and shoddy and this will become more apparent as time progresses, which is a shame as the staff are all working very hard to create a pleasant happy holiday.