Mövenpick Resort Agios Nikolaos Sivota

“The ultimate hotel experience”

Location - This hotel is in the most perfect location. The village of Sivota is authentic and charming, with all you need for your stay - plenty of lovely little shops, supermarkets, and a great variety of restaurants and tavernas, all serving delicious food. Water sports are available - we always … more

Location - This hotel is in the most perfect location. The village of Sivota is authentic and charming, with all you need for your stay - plenty of lovely little shops, supermarkets, and a great variety of restaurants and tavernas, all serving delicious food. Water sports are available - we always rent a boat for a day from Gregory’s Boat Rental at the marina where the guys are helpful & the boats very comfortable and well maintained. The surrounding islands are densely forested and ideally explored by boat. You will hear only the sounds of the water against the boat & the continuous song of the cicadas. The hotel is atop one of the hills of Sivota, just out of town. It is a steep climb but that’s what makes it such a fabulous view when you get there (& taxis are cheap at a flat rate of €5) Facilities - This hotel has it all. There are 2 restaurants, both with amazing views, 2 pools, one family pool & one adults only infinity pool which of course has those breathtaking views, free sun beds on the lovely little beach (shared with the neighbouring hotel) & also on the floating jetty, where you can relax, swim & feed the fish! Breakfast is taken at the main restaurant & is truly amazing with everything you could ever want - hot food with eggs cooked to order, a full range of cold meats, salad, yogurts, honey, cereals - it would take too long to list it all. For those who are inclined there is also a small gym & yoga space overlooking the bay. Staff - All the staff are welcoming, friendly & attentive. From check in at reception to waiting & bar staff, the lovely lady lifeguard to the ground staff who are always happy to get you around the grounds by golf buggy - & a special shout-out to the fabulous cleaning ladies who do such a great job & are very friendly with it. Rooms - The rooms are fantastic. We have had 2 stays here, the first in 435 which was something very special with a private infinity pool overlooking the hills of Sivota from where we savoured the sunsets with a glass of wine most nights. On our 2nd visit we were staying in 214 which is a deluxe sea view room, minus the pool but beautifully furnished with a good size balcony looking out to sea. Both rooms had the fittings you would expect, rainfall showers, bathrobes etc & I am confident that whatever room type you experience the standard is the same. Following the change of ownership this year to Movenpick, we appreciated the new policy on the minibar where the first items are all complimentary (wine, juice, sparkling water) & still water, tea & all coffee pods are complementary & replenished daily. A few items for feedback - firstly the menu in the restaurant. This is in the main an international nouvelle-cuisine type menu with a daily special. For us, we prefer to eat in Sivota with its large choice of restaurants. This is a shame as the food in the hotel is of a high standard, if a little on the pricey side, and the chef is very good, but we would like more traditional Greek dishes on the menu - dolmades, kleftiko, moussaka etc & maybe more seafood also. Secondly, my only quibble with the rooms is that the beds come with very heavy suffocating duvets. Granted, the air-con makes a covering essential but there are plenty of good lightweight duvets & it would also be nice to have a sheet as well so that those with higher body temperatures could opt only for the sheet. Thirdly, the music at the beach bar. While it is auite pleasant at the bar itself, please remove the speakers at the infinity pool. You don’t need it & it’s more relaxing listening to the sounds of nature (I did notice the volume was lower this time than previously & it wasn’t intrusive, but I think most people would prefer not to have it at all) These minor points do nothing to detract from the overall experience & I would say if you’re coming to Sivota - & I recommend you do - the best choice in town is the Movenpick Agios Nikolaos. We always feel as if we are coming home when we visit & would like to thank all the staff for another memorable stay. We are already looking forward to our next visit!

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“Great hotel - but not when fully booked”

Resort is beautiful - it is all on slope so it means everyone has a good view from their room (I imagine) - and the resort is not too big so even walking up slope from beach to room is fine. All buildings only 2 storey max so visually looks lovely as all low level. Extra touches we really liked w… more

Resort is beautiful - it is all on slope so it means everyone has a good view from their room (I imagine) - and the resort is not too big so even walking up slope from beach to room is fine. All buildings only 2 storey max so visually looks lovely as all low level. Extra touches we really liked were bottles of water in room every day and decent size fridge with a complimentary mini bar that once used can then refill with own drinks - really good idea and we used ours for beers from supermarket to have on the balcony. West facing so you obviously get a beautiful sunset. Rooms have fantastic showers, very comfortable beds and great views. Restaurant is great position and excellent food. For breakfast in August they need more staff though. We had to make a table up for 3 people most days, and only on first day did someone offer coffee- otherwise we had to chase it down. On last day had to check out so chased where coffee was after 15 mins to be told they hadn’t forgotten and was in the queue - but this was not true as could see number of tables seated after us had theirs already - so not really good enough that we had to either make a fuss and start pointing out people who sat down after us (which we didn’t want to do) or just give up on coffee. Turns out it wasn’t in queue and another 20 mins later we got the wrong coffee to our table. The older guy (in charge?) at this restaurant rather than apologising that had wrong drink after a v long wait just looked very annoyed when we said it was the wrong coffee and marched off. He was terrible - the other waitresses at breakfast were at least apologetic as realised that the service wasn’t up to (what I presume are their) normal standards - but he just seemed put out the whole time. Breakfast a definite low point and not something we looked forward to each day as was chaotic. The other waitresses at breakfast were good (unlike the older gentleman they were always polite and tried to help) but just too stretched. It also didn’t help that there were some guests who were quite thoughtless - for example one lady broke a glass lid on the floor and then rather than reporting it (kids in bare feet and lot of people in thin sandles) just asked waitress for coffee and left the glass for anyone to tread on. The drinks and food service to the pools during the day was excellent and the barman / waiters at the Island bar were great. Really friendly and efficient. However again in evening they needed more staff as only able to cater for a few tables out of the restaurant. As other reviewers have mentioned it is a very quick and easy 5 euro taxi to the town which has loads of great places to eat as well as boat rental etc, and taxi rank down there means easy to get taxi back up as well. Walking into town approx 10 mins or so. But it is a big hill back and we didn’t even attempt it! Diego has a fabulous boat can rent from the hotel jetty (has a few boats that can choose from depending on what you want) - possibly cost a little more than the town ones but was definitely worth it. His boats are beautiful - really comfortable, and so many coves / places to stop and snorkel. Swedish made with great layout, B & O speakers etc. we had a wonderful time out on it. The beach is idyllic - clear sea, lots of fish , and temperature refreshingly cold. However there - and the pools - they need to monitor the sun lounger situation. There was a bit of a chav mentality from quite a few guests who would put their stuff out on loungers before breakfast - which is inappropriate in a resort like this at any time, but especially when it’s fully booked extremely selfish to keep space when not actually using them. We came down for a swim at 10/1030 most days and most of loungers (and all the front row) were taken with towels/ t shirts - but no people. There were also guests from the neighbouring hotel using Movenpick loungers. They come down different stairs but for some reason hotels do same colour towels - and need a better system for moving them on their beach loungers (the Movenpick ones are more comfortable and closer which is presumably why take them) - but they were rarely moved on. I can see why you might not need to police this too much off peak - but it really was necessary in August to be more robust about them being a) for Movenpick guests only and b) not reservable by throwing on a tshirt before breakfast as ridiculous to not be able to get 3 loungers together when hardly any Movenpick guests actually down there. We often couldn’t find 3 loungers together when knew perfectly well those on neighbouring beds weren’t from the hotel. We reported to staff but as they were busy doing drinks they were unable to do anything. At point where you know your paying guests have no loungers as randoms taken them, but can’t do anything about it, then not staffed well enough. On a very busy Monday there was one member of staff doing loungers/ drinks / kayaks - and instead of moving on non hotel guests, just served them drinks. Was obvious they weren’t guests as needed to pay in cash rather than signing to room! The hotel is great but the main issue we had was the sunbeds- which is obviously a big part of the holiday. In mornings we knew was going to be a hassle finding one - not because people on them- but towels and t shirts. There was a persistent problem of people (especially a large group of 8) putting down t shirts etc on sunbeds by the pool and then going to breakfast. It’s just not a big enough resort for that - there’s plenty of room if everyone just used the space they’re at but there was a few groups making it very difficult for others. We did ask the manager about this as fed up with arriving to the pool / beach in morning to be greeted with ‘reserved’ loungers and no people - and he was very apologetic and we were told that it should be half an hour and then staff remove things to lost property. But they just didn’t have the staff to actually enforce it plus as nobody realised that was the policy everyone still doing it. In morning it would actually be even easier to just have the lifeguard there a bit earlier and just stop people dumping towels and then leaving full stop. As the pools aren’t open until 10 I don’t know why any saved loungers are allowed to be there with no people before that - would have been very easy to sort the problem by moving their stuff when lifeguard came on duty. And have loungers available for when people actually came down to use them. The manager did come and help when had similar issue at jetty - having walked along as could see half the chairs were empty, only to get there and find all ‘saved’. But realistically calling the manager every time not a viable solution. I can imagine this is probably only an issue in August as there are plenty of loungers between the beach, jetty and two pools- which is why it is people keeping beds they’re not using causing the problem. Final day left a bad last impression - went down for an early swim before breakfast - no towels for us to use as had all been used by people ‘reserving’ sunbeds, then up to breakfast where never got any coffee, then the taxi arranged via the hotel never arrived. They called and arranged another but didn’t seem to think it was much of an issue even though 40 mins late, plus they hadn’t realised the replacement would cost more than we’d been quoted so when we got to the airport didn’t have enough money. The arrival transfer they could also improve - usually with hotel transfers they know exactly when you’re arriving so quite smooth check in. We waited for nearly 15 mins as a last minute large booking were sorting out some payment issues - there were two staff there and could easily have had one of them sort us out and give us a key (as we were fully booked and paid for) which would have taken 2 mins, instead of the relatively long wait. So all in all a lovely hotel in a great location - 4 or 5 star but marked down as at peak time it was less relaxing when staff so stretched as breakfast was chaotic and constantly getting to empty ‘reserved’ sun beds rather than just being able to stroll down and sit wherever is clear. I couldn’t bring myself to join the towel reservation lot and situation definitely reduced my enjoyment of the holiday as never felt could just relax and just wander down to sunbeds when liked - had to hunt down available ones amid the many empty ‘reserved’ ones each time was annoying. The manager was aware how busy it was and did his best but all so much of this holiday was less relaxing than it should have been which was a shame as can tell it’s a lovely place and would probably be great to stay at another time

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