Just came back from the Summer Palace and I do not think I went to the same hotel as some of you on here. Had a great time the food, staff, drink were all fine and the room was very nice with a very good seaview.

On arriving at the airport we were met by the rep for Sunstar Leisure to be told due to storm damage to the pool at the Norida Beach Hotel we will be staying at the Summer Palace instead this we found out the next day to be a lie as the hotel was shut due to finishing touches to the complex.

On the journey to our hotel we had to stop off and let a couple of people out at another hotel as the coach driver was reversing a tree branch hit and came through the back window almost hitting a family of four who were sitting on the back seat how nobody was injured god only knows the driver took no notice and started to drive off only to be met with shouts of stop from most of the people on the coach.

The rep was hopeless it seemed to me all he wanted to do was to get us all to our hotel so he could get home as it was now around 3am in the morning.

Once inside the Summer Palace we were met by a cue of around sixty people all trying to check in, my wife asked if their was any tea or coffee available only to be told it was in your room (another lie) after about an hour we were checked in, once in the room no tea or coffee making facilities there.

The hotel was clean but not 5 star in my opinion.
After a sleep we had a walk around the complex it looked ok. That evening we had a meal in the restaurant which was nothing special the bar only had one person serving so it was not uncommon to cue for twenty minutes for a drink after two nights of this we decided to go out for our evening meal and drinks.

We were due to leave the hotel on Sunday the 8th of may at 03.45 in the morning but when I received the flight tickets the time had changed to 19.30 of the 7th of may, on the Friday evening I noticed a lot of people around our tour desk so I went to see what was going on only to be told our flight time had been changed and we had to be out of the hotel and on the coach for the airport for 05.30 on the Saturday morning of the 7th losing a whole day of our holiday so we could catch an 8'oclock flight home (another lie).

I asked the rep (Dougie) if he would speak to the hotel reception and authorise a phone call back to England as my car was in a off airport car park but he declined and said I would have to pay for the call. Once checked in at Kos nobody from the tour company was to be seen and no information was given to nobody, at around 10.am two hours after our departure time a Greek aircraft landed Alexander Air we were told this was our aircraft once boarded the craft we were told it was going to fly to Gatwick first then on to Manchester (another lie).

Its now around 12'oclock and we are taking off, after a couple of hours in the air the captain told the passengers the aircraft had to do a detour to Vienna for radar problems, this was a scheduled stop for maintaince already planned but again we were kept in the dark so after two hours on the ground at Vienna we were back on the move.

Lets not forget we had only been offered a small airline breakfast no more food was available. We arrived at Gatwick around 4pm. So from 05.30 until 16.00 we were only given a small breakfast I find this unacceptable. I would never again consider travelling with Sunstar Leisure as the reps were useless and support from them was nil.

We had originally booked for family village but were told on landing in Kos that we had been upgraded to 5 star summer palace hotel. Great we thought till we got to hotel, then were in a long queue for half an hour waiting for keys and wrist bands then had to wait for porter to show us our room.

When he arrived he told us we were only downstairs when we got there key would not open room door another half hour later where given another key for a room upstairs, no problem great views, problem very noisy people on our floor slamming doors at all hours of the night and shouting their goodnights in very loud german.

Cleaners arrived very early and very noisey. Entertainment not very good food much of the same all week.

Worst holiday I have ever been on could not wait to get home. Booked for Norida Beach but on arrival was told hotel was not ready due to storm damage - total lie it was being decorated for new season!

Summer Palace more 2* than 5* ants in our room and no running hot water, food terrible same things everyday started to eat out in the end after people started to go down with what I can only assume was food poisoning!

Bar service absolute rubbish 30 mins to get a drink gave up on that as well in the end.

No entertainment whatsoever unless you can call the dream team dressing up in drag and trying to sell us bingo tickets entertainment!!

Flight time home changed 4 times thought world war 3 was going to break out in reception, reps totally useless about as much use as a chocolate tea pot!!

Flight home absolute nightmare, no plane to take us until an old jolloppy of a plane turned up 1hr late, was sat at back of plane near engine and had the absolute horrors when the captain climbed up on a ladder and started to tinker around with a screwdriver on a panel next to the engine!! 90 mins later we were on our way only to be told 2hrs later that we were diverting to Vienna due to problems with the navigation system!! Absolute horrors again! Another 90 minutes sat on the tarmac finally arrived at Gatwick 2hrs later, have never been so glad to be on solid ground, very distressing flight 3.5 hour flight turned into a hellish 8.5hrs, felt sorry for the people who had to stay on board to go to Manchester.

Would never ever book with Sunstar again holiday was totally ruined thanks to them!!

We had a super holiday, the the hotel, staff and food were fantastic.

The staff couldn't have done any more for us.

Having not been All Inclusive before we thought we would give Summer Palace a try, in the brochure it looked very inviting.

Although the brochure did say there were a lot of steps, we didn't think there would be quite so many, even with the lift to the beach you still had steps and a steep slope. Getting the cases back to the Reception at the end of the holiday was a nightmare, this should not happen in a 5 Star Hotel.

The Dining Room was pleasant but there was not nearly enough variety in food, definately not 5 Star.

The alcoholic drinks were rubbish and we saw the bottles being filled up from 25 litre plastic containers, again not 5 Star.

The journey to and from the Airport was a nightmare the journey to the Hotel took about 1.30 hours instead of 10 minutes and the journey back took about 1 hour.

We cannot comment on the entertainment because we didn't choose to be involved.

Having read some previous reviews on this hotel we were expecting the worse but were pleasantly surprised.

I think we were lucky with our room allocation which was not too far from the reception/restaurant etc and the rooms were spacious and clean. The reception had not been informed that one of our rooms needed a cot but they kindly arranged one pretty quickly even though it was quite late at night.

The sea views are spectacular from most of the rooms and from the restaurant and main pool.

The food is perfectly edible but very much the same choice every time and we found the dining room clean and all the staff (with the exception of the maitre d')very friendly. We enjoyed our two meals in the Italian restaurant which made a nice change of venue.

We did not attend any of the entertainment so cannot comment.

Definitely not a place for young children or those with walking problems because of the steep slopes and many stairs. Families with children would be much better off in the Norida Beach complex which has much better facilities for the the kids (and has just had the reception area refurbished).

Kardamena was too English for us but we did get some good food at Scala and some very nice wine at Mojo's (ask Peter for his organic house wine). Should also mention the Malibu beach bar on the coast road between the hotel and the town (about 45 mins walk) - great music, very warm welcome and a nice pool to cool off in. All the locals were exceptionally friendly.

All in all we had a very good holiday - this is not English 5-star after all and we felt it was well worth the money but should probably have stayed at the Norida.

One possible pitfall is Kos airport which clearly cannot cope with the volume of traffic. We were very lucky both in and out with very short delays but on the way back there were long queues to get into the airport for some flights. It is worth checking what the line is for rather than just join the end of it since we managed to bypass this as it was not for our destination. I assume the situation will only get worse as the season builds up.

The flights and transfers were trouble free but arriving at the hotel at 2 am we were faced with large queues to check in. The porter showing us to our rooms got lost and we wandered around the hotel finally finding our room about 4 am.

A 5 star hotel raises expectations on food, comfort and standards of service. The summer palace fails miserably on all counts.

Those with walking difficulties should be aware that there are many steps at different levels of the hotel as all the rooms are very spread out on these levels. There are no lifts to take you up and down to the different levels.

The food is poor quality and quantity with long queues at peak times for service at the grill. The food at the buffet is not covered and visited by flies and sparrows. There were frequent shortages of bread, plates and eggs etc. The variety of food was very poor, the same foods being served at several mealtimes, and if you had children with you, there was very limited choice.

The furniture in reception was torn and tatty and the area smelled strongly of chlorine from the indoor pool. This was the only comfortable area to have a drink but understaffing resulted in waits of up to 30 min for a drink. People started ordering double quantities but a notice appeared on the bar restricting customers to two drinks.

The Italian restaurant could not produce a small salad within 30 min and the staff were reduced to asking the guests what they had ordered as their system had failed.

If you are a smoker the hotel imposes a 5% surcharge on credit card purchases of tobacco, some of the shops in Kardamena impose a 2% surcharge, beware.

Kardamena appeared small but pleasant and was just opening up for the season.

Our flight was cancelled with a delay of 22 hours, resulting in a riot with the Sunstar leisure reps unable to cope. We were given assurances from the reps that we could keep our rooms on at no extra charge and details would be confirmed by reception at 10 am the next day. At 10 am Sunday we were told by reception we had to pay 40 euros to keep our rooms. This was greeted by another near riot. Sunstar leisure took another hour to confirm to the hotel that they would pay the bill.

At 2 am the bus turned up for the airport transfer to pick up passengers for Manchester but despite phone calls from the driver no reps turned up. The Gatwick passengers poured on to the bus and the driver left for the airport leaving some behind. There were no reps at the airport, we had been abandoned by sunstar leisure.

This was a holiday from hell. We paid the money and expected better.

The hotel is 10 minutes from the airport which is handy. It's situated about 4 miles outside Kardemena and is part of a group of 3 hotels which I believe are all, all inclusive, although your all inclusive doesn

I booked a last minute holiday with Sun Star to the Summer Palace hotel in Kos, unfortunately the company they used to supply the flights (Golden Sun) went bust 5 days before we were to leave but we managed to get some excellent flights with Thomas Cook although the flight times were terrible.

Stansted to Kos 21:30 arriving 03:15 and leaving 04:15 arriving Stansted 06:00. We hired a couple of Taxis at 18 euro each to the Hotel.

The Hotel is on a Mitsis complex containing 3 hotels, Summer Palace and Norida both 5 star rated and the Family village 4 star rated.

The complex is located about 10 minutes bus ride from Cardamina and sits at the foot of some breath taking mountains over looking the sea. Summer Palace has approx 250 rooms at least half are a chalet style in a type of village arrangement with five swimming pools dotted around.

As the hotel is on a hill side there are many steps to negotiate between the rooms and pools there, is a pool side bar well located in the middle which is able to serve all the pools with out to far to walk. There are another two pools 1 is indoors and the other is a salt-water pool located on a terrace over looking the sea, with a poolside Italian restaurant.

As the hotel is located on a hill side it is difficult for the disabled or anyone who finds walking up hill or stairs slightly difficult. To get to the beach you need to negotiate a large number of steep steps although there is a lift down to the beech, it may be worth noting there is only one and if that