Lesante Blu Exclusive Beach Resort

We had a fantastic few days staying at the Lesante Blu hotel. The hotel opened for the summer season in 2017 so it was very clean and modern. We had a lovely double room with an open bath, walk in shower and a large terrace which overlooked the sea. The room was very clean and was serviced every day. The staff at the hotel were very friendly and helpful and the breakfast buffet was fantastic. The dinner buffet however was quite expensive at approx. 38 euro pp although the food was great. The infinity pool looking out to sea was lovely, with a number of sunbeds built into it. It was however very cold. The hotel in October was fairly quiet as we were there the last week of the season before the hotel closes. There is a small shop a 2 minute walk from the hotel and the local town is a 5-10 min cab ride away or 30 min walk. We used a great taxi service called VIP Taxi Service who charged 8 euro to go into town, or 25 euro to the airport. They were great and would pick you up at a moments notice. One day we took a boat tour out to see the Blue Caves and Shipwreck Island. This cost ??27 pp and included transfer to and from the hotel. We were collected abut 9am and returned to the hotel about 3pm. The transfer to the port was fairly long, and the boat journey itself only lasted 20-30 mins each way but we did stop for an hour on the island for a swim which was absolutely beautiful, and we then stopped at a nice taverna on the way back from the port. This was a great price compared to what many of the shops in the town were offering for this day trip. Overall I would highly recommend this hotel for adults only. It was perfect for a few quiet and relaxing days away in the sunshine.

We stayed at Lesante Blu from 11/10/18 to 16/10/18. There is no doubt the resort is beautiful and the scenery is spectacular. No matter where you are, the views will take your breath away. We were welcomed with an upgrade to a honeymoon suite upon arrival which was a lovely gesture. The room was clean and quite spacious. Housekeeping was done daily and the women servicing our room were polite, friendly and always had a smile. Our only complaint was on our last night when there was a knock on our door for our daily beach towels; the housekeeper did not give us much time to answer - she knocked twice and proceeded to open the door. In addition on the Sunday, we were lounging in our bedroom, the curtains were open when all of a sudden, we saw a man with a net cleaning our private infinity pool. Considering we had the do not disturb sign on, this is not acceptable. Our privacy should have been respected. Unfortunately we were not able to use the infinity pool as it was freezing. There is a heated pool in the resort however at ???30 euro per person per day, we did not think it was worth it. The breakfast was delicious and there was a good selection of cereal, eggs, fruit, pastries to name a few. The hotel does not have a shuttle to take you to and from Zakynthos. Options are to take a taxi which is ???15 each way. There is also a bus service which is ???1.80 per person each way. The hotel offers an airport transfer service, which costs ???60 return. Our driver was 7 minutes late when picking us up to go to the airport which is not acceptable for a service we pre-booked, especially knowing we are going to the airport. In our experience around the world, transfers to the airport are usually punctual and more often than not, they arrive early. Our greatest disappointment with the hotel was the reception staff. We found them to be unwelcoming and cold. I am not sure if they took an instant dislike to us, but not once were we greeted with a smile. Actually staff did not greet us up entering or leaving the lobby unlike all other hotels we have stayed. The lady who booked our transfer to the airport was particularly cold and unfriendly towards us. Another thing I need to mention is that a couple of the male staff on reception and the porter refused to acknowledge me. It was always my husband who was addressed as ???sir???. I must have been invisible. I have to acknowledge the two young women who were working in the restaurant where the outside pool is. One had short dark hair and the other had long blonde curly hair. They were extremely nice, gracious, polite and friendly. Our expectations of the resort were quite high considering some of the positive reviews we read. In addition my communications with the hotel staff via email prior to us arriving were very positive. The reality was quite disappointing for us. We had hoped the last leg of our trip to Greece would be the most memorable and enjoyable, but alas it was not.

My partner and I stayed at the Lesante Blu on a B&B basis over the last weekend before it shut down until Spring 2019. Transfer time from the airport was about 20 mins for 30EUR. First impressions were very positive - the hotel looks brand new, very bright and clean lines, good quality furnishings / sofas etc. We were greeted by a couple of staff as we stepped out of the taxi and our suitcase was taken whist we were checked in on the sofas in the foyer by the very helpful concierge. She walked us up to our suite and talked us through pretty much everything about the room and the hotel in great detail, only leaving once she was satisfied we had no other questions. We were really happy with the room (#43X) itself - we went for a seaview with a private hot tub. It was spotless and looked brand new, with a large bath and a fantastic monsoon shower. Really nice, good quality robes and the hot tub temp goes up to 40C. The one thing that really surprised us was the free mobile smart phone that came with the room - free calls to a number of countries (anything not free / outside of the list just wouldn't connect) and island-wide coverage for the pre-loaded apps like google maps. The concierge described it as our "personal mobile concierge" whilst we were staying at the hotel, and we took it with us every time we ventured out - very useful for walking directions and restaurant / bar research! This was a first even for a pair of pretty experienced travelers and very, very much appreciated! After a brief wander we headed down to the pool, and we were struck by how well integrated the water features are with its layout - the water flows through a number of channels surrounding various seating areas and flows down a series of waterfalls to the main pool area. The main, L-shaped pool itself is absolutely beautiful with a fantastic view - if you can, I strongly recommend securing a place on one of the double beds that sit in a shallow part of the pool (you can dangle your toes into the pool from the beds). The breakfast buffet had a good quality if not overly-extensive selection of cereals, fruit, pastries, yogurt, meats, fresh omelette etc. - we'd tried everything by day four, so I'm fairly certainly it would get a bit samey for a stay lasting a week or more. The hotel has a private beach that does actually see some kids wander over from the hotel next door - unfortunately for us it was quite windy during our stay, especially so down by the water, so after a rather choppy 10 minute foray into the sea we didn't try again. Pros: - The place is spotless and maintained to a very high standard. - The sunbeds / loungers are very high quality - obviously very new and very very comfortable - no itchy plastic here! - Housekeeping were very helpful, great at replacing towels / water etc. when asked, never an issue. - The bar / breakfast room staff were very friendly and helpful (remember to use your Tourist Greek for please / thank you, it's very much appreciated as is the odd EUR tip!), but occasionally service is slow - unexpected given it was end of season and the hotel was relatively quiet / few guests around the pool etc - Food portions are genuinely *massive* for pool-side staples such as ham & cheese toasty or club sandwich. Genuinely, order one for two people, it'll be plenty. Cons: - I found the endless pool extremely cold and not something that many people sat or swam in for longer than a few minutes at a time. I'm not sure if this was due it being end of season and perhaps not heated to the same degree (and admittedly the air was cooler), but genuinely this was the least amount of time I've spent in a hotel pool on holiday. I wondered whether the constant flow of water down the waterfalls into the pool area and the very pretty cascade over the leading pool edge i.e. the "endless" part, meant that the water didn't stay around long enough to heat up much. A genuine shame and my key issue with my stay. - We were given one glass of free iced water by the pool, and one bottle per person per day in the room - this is not not good enough for a supposed 5* hotel where you can't drink the tap water, especially in extremely warm weather. Plain drinking water should be available free on demand even if the guests have to go and get it themselves from a drinking fountain or similar. - Service was sometimes slow e.g. order a coffee at breakfast and it can be between 5 to 10 minutes before you actually get it. Might be easier to get a coffee machine in and let the guests get their own hot drinks? - Regarding prices for food and drink, they're pitched at 5* levels; drinks are typically 40% / 50% higher than you'd pay in local restaurants or in nearby towns such as Tsilivi - we didn't come across prices quite so high even when dining out at mid-range restaurants in central Zakythos. For standard pool snacks like toasties or club sandwiches, our preference would be actually be for the prices to be halved along with the portion sizes. I will happily concede that we weren't seeing the hotel at its busiest or when in full high season operation, but regardless this review reflects our honest opinions and experiences during our stay. Despite the stated negatives we really enjoyed our stay and would definitely recommend this to others - I'd like to see what it's like during high season when the weather's really warm. Other potentially useful "stuff": Taxis to / from Zakynthos were 15EUR (bargain) and 8EUR to / from Tsilivi (if you can't be bothered to walk the 1.6 miles...). One of the doormen recommended Prosilio in the main town - take this recommendation if you can, we had an absolutely fantastic dinner for two on the Saturday night for around the 100EUR mark. There are a few tourist-style supermarkets a few minutes walk away if you want to buy your own drinks for your room for your hot tub sessions... Tsilivi is very close by and has plenty of places to drink and eat.