Aqua Blu Boutique Hotel and Spa

The hotel is very nice designed, the rooms are big and comfortable, good breakfast, very nice pool . The staff is kind, helpful and give you the feeling that you are the only guest in the hotel and every wish of you is fulfilled . Athena and Helena from the reception are very helpful and efficient Maria, the one and only is always there for you, super professional and treat you like family.

Arrived at the hotel after an excellent private transfer journey, greeted with a welcome drink and information with regards to the layout of the hotel and then taken to our room - I can only be honest and say I felt disappointed with the view, I had e-mailed specifically to check it was a sea view room and yes it was if I lay on the bed, so not really, 'slight sea view' would have been a more accurate description, but to be perfectly frank the view when entering the room was of scrubland. The balcony is small and directly overlooks the rooms below that have paid extra for private plunge pools - not a problem for us but I'm not sure how I would have felt if we had booked one of those rooms. The bed was incredibly comfortable with loving quality bedding and the air conditioning also spot on, the sound proofing was also excellent we didn't hear a thing once our door was closed - so overall the quality of the room was very good - top tip don't take many clothes there is only one wardrobe for 2 people to share with very few hangers however we did find the suitcase stand quite helpful! - the rooms are cleaned well but it is the first 5 star hotel we have stayed in where the toiletries are not replaced until totally used, each day our toiletries had been turned upside down to ensure we got the last bits out before being replaced, we don't like to be wasteful but this did make us laugh. The hotel is nicely laid out and beautifully kept certainly internally and the gardens - I am not going to go into raptures like a lot of people seem to about how friendly the staff are as they were doing nothing more in our opinion than behaving how they should do in a five star hotel - in fact the pool side staff were indifferent to say the least - basically if you fawned over them they would be exceptionally OTT but if not it was hit or miss if you got served quickly or slowly - in fact the pool area is the weakest part of the hotel in regards to service - the area should be looking perfect all the time, it is well laid out with good sun beds and day beds but during our stay we didn't see anyone plumping up cushions or straightening beds up that had been turned around by previous users etc, certainly not during the daytime, there seem to be a little straighten up at sunset - there was a distinct lack of care for the pool area in general, this may have been due to the staff at that particular time but we can only comment on how we found it whilst we were there - on some days the service for drinks were good on others slow, so slow we on one occasion had to go to the bar twice to remind them and on a couple of occasions totally forgotten - the hotel hosts a drinks reception which was very nice with a free drink and nibbles to meet with the management once a week but I doubt many people would really feel comfortable enough to actually ask them to address these issues, including us. On a big plus side the breakfast service, staff, food and setting is without doubt superb - there is a lovely beach opposite the hotel, breezy at times which is really refreshing and the hotel keep that area very well. The fact that it is over the road wasn't really an issue - the road is quite busy but after a while you don't really notice it. The walk down into Kos in the evening took us about 30 minutes at a steady pace, it isn't a particularly attractive walk and the taxi fare was only about 7 euros - however there is a bar about 300 metres along that walk on the left called the Mylos Beach Bar, it is down a bit of a dusty track but do go its by far the best bar in the area and is easily accessed from the beach as a beach bar too - the service is superb, drinks and food incredibly reasonable and staff equally as friendly as the hotel. It is open daily from 9am until 4am. There is also a supermarket before the track to the beach bar which is handy for any requirements. The Mylos beach bar serve nibbles as a given with any drink ordered, this really would be a nice touch for the hotel to adopt - we were only offered some nuts just the once with our regular lunchtime drink at the hotel, big disappointment. I generally judge a holiday by would we go back and yes we would, the points I have raised are relatively minor and could easily be addressed which would certainly make it more attractive. I feel a little bad writing some slightly negative things as most of the reviews are OTT but we do generally holiday in 5 star hotels and the things pointed out would certainly contribute to a definite 5 star experience - happy holidays!