Just returned from this holiday village. We had an excellent holiday. Had a family room in the activity area, we thought that we had booked the relax area but soon got used to this side as everything was on hand. The hotel is spotless and staff are constantly cleaning. The room was great, our daughter loved having her own room but the sliding doors meant that we could keep an eye on her. The food was excellent, very high standard, especially Carl's fish and chips on Tuesday lunchtimes. Carl was a very good source of info and was really helpful.

The entertainment staff were excellent, Bobby and Shaun are excellent singers and dancers. Shep adds humour especially when he gets the dances wrong. Our daughter had swimming lessons with Chris who was really good and joined in the entertainment and looks very good in tights (do not miss the medieval show).

The only negative were the awful speakers outside the rooms which blared loud music out for much of the day, there really is no need for these as the central music is loud enough. A lot of people complained about it and lots of people covered them with towels or tried to unplug them. For this reason we would not stay on the activity side again. We have booked for next year but chosen another area. However, it was very handy having all of the restaurants and activities nearby.

The location of the hotel is not the best as the beach is a shingle one but the hotel has so much to offer that you don't need to venture far. We went to Lindos to the Acropolis and Rhodes old town; both well worth it but beware if you have little kids as the Acropolis is a bit risky with a large drop into the sea.

I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone with a family.

We stayed in the relax side of the complex with a lovely swim up room, the beds were very comfy and the rooms were nice and clean. The staff at the hotel are a credit to the company with smiles all the time even in the heat.

The food was nice but sometimes it could be a bit cold but lots of choice. I think the hotel opened too quick as our daughter ended up with 5 stitches in her foot from the pool there are lots of missing tiles in the pools which is appalling for a 5 star hotel we didn't feel we were given the after care which we should have had.

Holiday Village Koymbia, Rhodes
We stayed in a Royal Deluxe Family Room that was quiet, spacious, clean and comfortable.
Everything was excellent and even improved during out stay.
Every day nice little touches and improvements were made.
I.e. Gate to make the Royal deluxe Pool more 'exclusive'. Flowers. BBQ in the Royal Deluxe Pool Area.
Dinner dress code of Gentleman wearing long trousers in the clubhouse restaurant was in-forced. The presentation and quality of the food improved on a daily basis and was excellent. Service excellent. I travel worldwide on business and stay in 4/5 star hotels every month so can make a good comparison. We have already booked up a deluxe family swim up room for July 2011. Would not want to stay on the activity side though, Too many Tatoo's for my liking.

We arrived at holiday village rhodes on 1st july and were not disappointed. We stayed in a swin-up family room which was excellent. The rooms were spotless and very roomy and the cleaners worked to a very high standard as did all the hotel staff. Having your own terrace and sun loungers was magic. The food in the restaurants was excellent and there was always plenty of choice even for the kids. The entertainment team were fab they worked very hard and there was always something going on. I would definately go back and having 2 children realised that the holiday village is the way forward so much so i have booked HV red sea for next year.

I am sorry to Daniel but I stayed in the activity area and unfortunately I do not have any tattoos. Apart from that the swim up room I had was ok but the room is a total let down and definately not 5 star. I stayed in the Hotel Polynesia last year in Benalmadina and was expecting a room of a similar calibre, but it was so small. The hotel buffet was so repetitive ie. bolognese every day. There were flies and wasps all over the food and drinks. The entertaiment was ok if you are under 7. I do not mind this but there should have been more outside acts. The young ones were mostly going to their beds after 9 but still the entertainment was geared for them. Any older children ended up drifting aimlessly around the hotel. On our last day we were only getting 30 mins for a courtesy room so we opted to keep our room on for 70 euros til 6pm. We did not even get clean towels for that. This hotel is maybe 3 star at best and I have also stayed at hotels all over the world. We were lucky to be in the activity area which was not affected by the outbreak of disease in the relax and deluxe areas,but I saw many ambulances coming in for people.

Hotel was very nice and clean. Staff very polite and helpful. The Hotel was situated about 15 mins walk to the town, however did not rate the town, not much there only very few shops and bars. Entertainment team were very good for the children. Good selection of food, although there were several dishes which were there each night you had to be fussy not to be able to choose something. Only downside you had to be prepared to get up at 6.30am!! to be guaranteed a sunbed, more sunbeds needed for such a big complex.

Holiday Village Rhodes was as good as the two others we have been to(Costa Del Sol and Turkey)but not 5star, more on a par with the other 4 star villages. We had a swim up room on the activity side which was spacious, clean and comfortable. The super king size and king size beds were a real bonus and the large bathroom was more than adequate. Being able to open your door directly onto the pool complete with two wicker sun loungers was a real treat, we were very lucky as we had a room on the side which had sun all day, the majority only had sun until noon.The downside was the early morning rise to get a sunbed, 6.30am is a bit ridiculous! There was loads to do for young children, clubs, clubs and more clubs. First choice need to think carefully about older children, maybe split the 9-15 aged wavelength club into 9-12 and 12 -15years as my 12 year old was bored in the evening.She met some friends her own age and all they did was play games arround the village in the evening as all the entertainment was directed at 10 years and under. Not enough seats for the number of guests at the entertainment venue and if you wanted one you had to be there by 7.30pm otherwise you would be stood up all night!The reps worked really hard and the shows they delivered were of a good standard. Dave from Sheffield was amazing and such a lovely guy, he should be on the telly! Food was good, plenty of choice and hot. My husband had a 24 hr sickness bug, he blamed it on the seafood, otherwise we all had a lovely holiday. Would return if First Choice look at better entertainment(day and night) For the older children and realise that the adults don't want to sit through 2 hours of kids entertainment if they want a seat for the evening.

Great standard in rooms but lots of teathing problems room swipe keys not working tv not working to just lack of staff and poor communication between hotel staff and lack of management direction.I was supprised that after opening quiet a few of these holiday villages first choice seamed supprised at the amount of problems they had and the poorley trained staff to deal with these problems.The biggest problem is the food area which is not large enough with staff and guests fighting for space the food quality is good but the food runs out very quickley one night the meat carvery ran out by 8.30 the only way potatoes are cooked is as chips so get there early the food choice is limited for a five star hotel

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 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.

Arrived at the Holiday Village, Kolymbia and it is impressive to look at. Room well furnished nice bathroom and bedroom, however our swipe key did not work and for two days everytime we wanted to go into our room we had to ask reception to let us in. Just after we arrived a Man wandered in with pictures for the wall then wanderered out again, then someone to fix a window (we hadn't reported anything) and so it went on, but not to look at the lock. Three days after we arrived two gowns appeared, two other couples did not get gowns but kettles appeared in their rooms, 5 days later a chair bed appeared
We paid the up grade to Royal Deluxe swim up room but the jacuzzi's in the pool did not work, there was no where around that pool to get a drink or food, you needed to go to one of the other areas and no toilet facilities around any poolso if you went to one of the other areas you had to go back to your room for the toilet or Reception. The upgrade was really wasted money as you had less facilities than other People. The Reps told us to go to the Brasserie for our lunch but it did not open at lunch time.
Having said this the pools where fabulous and well finished, they should be good when they are up and running correctly. However it is not peak time and the Relax area by 9.15 all the beds where sat on or had towels on, even though the Reps said it was not allowed.
The food was very good, we had breakfast and evening meal in the Brasserie (a bit limited the menu in the evening)very well cooked and beautifully served, the staff where excellent.
The entertainment left a lot to be desired, only for Children, we went a few nights but left as it was dire, however Dr and the Medics where good but only 0n for half an hour. There was a good Duo on one night in the Adults only bar and it seemed a pity not more entertainment was put on over there. The British Staff looking after the Children from what we saw did an fantastic job and the Children all seemed very happy.
The Village Kolymbia is very quite and not much there, beach shingle and sand. We went out on a trip to Lindos and Rhodes old Town which was very good, the guide was very knowledgeable.
This Hotel will probably be very good once everything is conmpleted and working they seemed to have consentrated on the Activity area which appears ready and working,but if they want Couples to go they need to sort out the entertainment.
It is a pity First Choice took bookings for the Deluxe area costing more when it was not ready.
This hotel will be excellent for Family's with Children as there is plenty for them to do.