Oasis Apartments

We have just come back from the Oasis Tingaki. We have been there before, but unfortunately it wasn't as good as last year. The apartment block was the older one and shaded by the palm trees, but the room was dirty when we arrived and we had to spend an hour cleaning!! Take a pack of disinfectant wipes like we did! 'Cleaning' was intermitent and when they did come in they only emptied the bins, folded the sheets and rearranged the dirt. Sheets and towels were changed twice while we were there, but the last time they changed the sheets was 2 days before we left! Also, even though we were supposed to have the room till 12pm on the day we left, the maid banged on the door at 9.45am wanting to do the room. We won't be going back to Kos next year, even though we love it......time for pastures new!

Background:
I booked my holiday in the Oasis Beach apartments after reading all the previous goods reports. I have been to Tingaki 3 times and spent every summer holiday for the past 15 years on one of the Greek Islands (including several trips to Crete & Zante) and so I believe I can give my opinion based upon many years and experiences in Greek resorts.

Incidentally, Tingaki beach is one of the best Greek beaches I have used – and this is made even better by the lavish & comfortable beach loungers available for hire with 4 inches of mattress (6 euros for 2 loungers and a large umbrella for the day).

Generally:
This year, we were in a party of 6 and were in 3 adjacent apartment rooms in the newest block.
I’ll confess to having arrived with high expectations and so upon arrival was immediately slightly disappointed at the distance this complex was from the main centre. No major drama but a little further than I like to walk carrying inflatable’s etc from the beach etc. in 40 degree temperatures or after a big meal and a few beers in the evening!

The hotel itself is what I’d describe as untidy. It was clearly one block of apartments when it started and it has been growing ever since but they don’t seem to spend time or money on the adjoining areas which were dusty and patched up.

The rooms were acceptable in layout & size plus the maid/cleaning service was quite good. Facilities were nothing to write home about, but adequate as a base providing you don’t interpret ‘self catering’ to actually mean there are realistic facilities to do this. The shower was poor (more later) and lacked even a clip for the shower-head so you needed to hold it up with one hand - what's that about? – would’ve taken 2 mins to fit a clip.

The pool was excellent – clean water and a nice size. The paving slabs around the pool at the far end seem to have subsided about 6” in the lowest area and as with many communal areas at this place there has been nothing done about it. Again, no big dramas providing you don’t stub your toe on a lifted slab. It was open from 10am-7pm.

OK – now the downside:
We tended to stay round the pool until the last minute which was only 7pm. It is still lovely at this time of day but the hoteliers decide to close it at 7pm and kick everyone out (and they’re quite rude at doing so). This is when the water gets topped up and chlorine added. Why they can’t do this at 6 or 7 in the morning I don’t know given they don’t open again until 10am. My kids loved a quick swim after coming back from the beach but this was rarely before 7pm.

Now my biggest beef. We tended to get back into our apartment for a shower at about 7.45pm. By this time I accept that *hot* water may be running out – but 10 of the 14 night we stayed, the water completely stopped between about 8 and 9pm. Naturally this happened just after my wife was covered in shampoo & soap and so she couldn’t rinse off – then got soap in her eyes (I’m sure you can picture the resulting drama). I ended up rinsing her in drinking water from the fridge (ahhhhhhhh – what a way to start the evening). We put up with it for 3 days thinking it must just be unlucky and then decided to mention it to the owner the following morning. This is the point where the owner ceased to be friendly. It is obvious that any kind of complaint pisses him off.

He mumbled; then marched up to the apartment, went in without asking if it was convenient and turned on all the taps. I explained again that the water was fine in the morning - but he ignored me and said, “Look, look water – see water – no problem – stupid complaint” and marched out again waving his hands in the air. Later on, his wife said to me that it was not their fault, it was the water supply to the whole of Tingaki resort which was failing. Strangely, no-one else from any other hotel had an issue. So – you need to bear in mind the unreliable water supply (maybe they divert it all to the pool – not sure) and the fact it is solar heating only. Only way round it is to shower at about 7pm latest.

In short I found this complex below par in comparison to the complexes I have stayed in, and the staff generally abrupt and unhelpful unless you continue to spend lots of money for food and alcohol (which we stopped doing after this incident).

Oh – that reminds me, their breakfast is pants – full English is 4 Euro (before 11am or 5 euro after 11). They don’t heat the baked beans at all (straight out of the tin), the bacon is a thin fatty slither and the sausage is the cheapest of cheap hot-dog type. Other breakfasts such as a simple 2 fried eggs on toast is 3 euro’s but they then charge for the orange juice and a cup of tea and so it costs nearer 6 euros!
As a result I would recommend a 10 min walk towards the beach brings you to the Meni hotel restaurant where the English breakfast is awesome – absolute quality.

In short, I would definitely NOT stay at this complex again as there are much much better alternatives – especially if you can be bothered to book direct and organise your own flights. The Meni hotel or the Mythos hotel are far superior and work out a similar price if you can get flights for under £250 and they are both in perfect resort positions.

I've added a beach picture to give you an idea of how confortable the facilities are!

Thanks Andrew, glad to hear you had great time! also is it too hot to sit and get a tan? and are the rooms air con?!!

In august 2006 we booked a holiday to the Oasis appartments