The Lesante Classic Luxury Hotel & Spa

I find this a difficult review to write as do not wish to be unfair to what is basically a nice hotel. I have given four stars - very good - but it I would describe it more as good rather than very good. We stayed here for three weeks half board from mid September until 8th October. We are not great fans of package tours but had such lovely experiences recently with similarly priced 5 stars hotels - Elysium in Rhodes and Elysium in Paphos - and read such positive reviews that we though we would book again. About a month before we went came across a YouTube review of this hotel - again very positive - which would be worth watching for anyone considering if this hotel is for them. My heart somewhat sank as it hardly seemed a five star luxury hotel. On arrival at main reception - a rather bland and underwhelming area - we were given a lovely warm welcome by Stella and other staff. The staff are lovely. But as a few others have pointed out this is a 4 star hotel trying to be a 5 star - the hotel prices are certainly 5 star! There are many positives - the staff are lovely and helpful, the pool area very nice and beautifully set out at night, the room cleaning is of the highest standard I have seen anywhere in any hotel in the world and the hotel well located. The rooms - or at least the room we had , “standard deluxe” are ok, rather beige and bland, with a small bathroom and a small balcony. The dining area is ok but again hardly five star - and the food 3 star. As a vegetarian - who does eat fish socially when necessary - the choice was quite poor. And fish fingers - described on menu as “fish sticks” - in a five star hotel on two or three occasions - left us speechless. My partner is not a vegetarian and described the mains as bland. The starters, salads etc were quite good but the same and after three weeks rather samey. The desserts were always delicious though. Drink prices were pricey. We still had a nice holiday but do feel a little bit disappointed with whole experience. If you are a vegetarian do not go half board - especially if you are staying more than a week. There was little or no hand gel around the hotel - or indeed anywhere on island or other places we went in Greece on trips - and lots of people with coughs and sneezing. We got some hand gel but left it a little late. We got more than a cold! Can I make a plea to place hand gel around the hotel especially eating area - management might respond to this with the usual “we take hygiene seriously and hand gel is readily available” line but please believe me, there was none. Sorry if this review is less than positive. It was a nice hotel, we had fab weather and Zakynthos and neighbouring island lovely.

We had a lovely relaxing time at Lesante and enjoyed our stay though it fell a little short of 5* expectations. The staff are a real highlight always friendly and accommodating. The location is on the quieter side of town (perfect for us) and is a short road or slightly longer beach walk to the centre. There are so many restaurants and bars that I'd recommend opting for a B&B stay though the food was always tasty at the evening buffet. The pool area is nice with very comfortable sun loungers but the lounger politics put a dampener on our stay - if you hadn't claimed your space by 8am you were relegated to loungers without umbrellas on the grass. The sun rotates across the area with very few loungers in the sunshine all day probably adding to the competitiveness. There are signs saying they will remove towels after 1.5 hrs but this wasn't policed. To improve the experience - Rooms were nice but tired they could do with some TLC to bring them up to spec. Full turndown service rather than just offering new towels in the evening. Better tea and coffee facilities in the room. Larger nicer towels for the bathroom as the ones offered were small and quite dry Partitions for the balcony as there is no privacy and you felt like you were sitting with strangers if you were all out at the same time.

Here goes, the good! 3min walk to beach, beautiful pool area, pools and kept grounds and very friendly, attentive staff in all areas. Comfy beds & Good Air Con & mini-bar. The bad- food- defo not 5* food, appalling selection & often Luke warm, not re-filled unless asked, poor selection bread/rolls at breakfast, same food at breakfast every day. No show cooking that you would expect of an advertised 5*. The ugly- drinks way over-priced. €11+ for a cocktail, €9 for baileys- mainly ice, €8 draft beer. If you are half board and opt for lunch instead- forget it! Very limited lunch menu, never changes and you get 30% off price not a free swap unlike all other hotels we have used. This is a small, boutique hotel defo not 5*, my advice would be to stay b&b or stay elsewhere on s/c- lovely restaurants in town, much cheaper prices & variety