Domes Zeen Chania, a Luxury Colletion Resort Crete

Especially warm, thorough and very personal welcome on arrival: we felt very valued, thank you. Lovely room/suite with a dedicated pool. Unfortunately, like every other private pool we’ve experienced, unheated and too cold for me to use, but my wife braved it. The main, communal pool, is also unheated, which surprised me. This is a vast, sprawling estate with dozens of one or two storey properties, most with private or shared pools. Despite (claimed) 98% occupancy, other than at breakfast, it was really very quiet and beautifully peaceful. Housekeeping is discreet, efficient and reliable: a lovely team of friendly hard-working ladies, all of whom deserve a mention. The pool is busy with small kids, so if you’re not a young parent, the private pool is your friend. My only (small) complaint was disappointing organisation at breakfast: not enough staff to clear tables of abandoned food, much of it on the floor, left by greedy children and discourteous parents; there are frequent queues for eggs/omelettes, as the cooks can’t always keep up, whilst people let their kids wander round picking up food unsupervised and everyone gets in each other's way. For some dishes you have to reach across other guests to get to the food. I felt the whole thing could be better organised and managed. The adjoining beaches moments away are huge, quiet and beautiful. On windy days, the most westerly is quite protected and the sea remains very calm. The path leading into the city is easily walkable and gets you to the small harbour at Neo Chora in around 15 minutes. The restaurants there and general ambience are much nicer, smarter and less touristy than the main harbour area around the lighthouse so very much worth a visit especially for fresh fish/seafood. Domes Zeen is a very comfortable place to stay and provided a very restful break. Staff work really hard to provide guests with the best service they can and there is a lot of attention to detail throughout, which reflects on really good management and teamwork. Everyone cares and it shows, so a big thanks to all.

We were greeted by everyone ! Prior to coming they reached out and told us about our stay. We had a welcome tea and as platinum were upgraded with a welcome gift. Everyone was perfect - the property and room pristine! Thank you all- my husband and I could not be happier!

This is a nice and relatively new hotel. We arrived at Chania quite late as our ferry actually docked at the other side of the Crete island, which takes a good 3 hours to commute. The little path leading to the hotel is also a bit "doubtful" and even the taxi driver wasn't sure if it's the right way. Anyway, we finally made our way through the darkness and saw our anticipated Domes Zeen Chania. We were greeted by a very hospitable staff at check in which also provided a lot of information on the hotel and the city area's attraction. Very helpful indeed. As it was quite late, we quickly settled down in our room and went to their signature restaurant, Gallina. Its a very nice restaurant and the food quality was up to standard. Only comment is the portion of their lobster pasta, with a price tag of Euro120, I would expect the lobster would be of a more generous serving. Otherwise, overall, it was a very nice meal with a very intimate and romantic (dimly lit) setting. Breakfast was also served at the adjacent restaurant Enino (almost feel like the same place as Gallina restaurant as they are so close) with a la carte breakfast menu. Again, high quality cooking with well presentation. An alternative place for breakfast would be the poolside cafe with buffet style. It has a busier atmosphere and I think families with kids may prefer this setting. The hotel spans across a large area and it is common to be transported by their golf cart. They are usually very efficient in picking up as well. There is also a lounge area at reception where they provide light snacks and drinks for all guests, not just Bonvoy members. I think the key success of this hotel is the hospitable staff. On the last day when we checked out, I was also greeted by a lady manager who addressed me by name (very personal touch in deed) and ensured our stay was pleasant. There are numerous Domes hotel collection in Crete and we are glad we choose this one.

I have little to add to all the positives other reviewers mentioned: I actually like the very modern design and decor of the resort, the food is great, and the service mostly good. Like others have pointed out, this is a resort which attracts a lot of families with small children, so you really shouldn't mind that. There're some activities, but because we visited right at the end of the season, we couldn't really test those. I can also imagine that I don't want to visit when it's fully booked, because I can't imagine it be very comfortable. (The breakfast area was buzzing as it was, and I could hear the telly and child of the neighbouring villa extremely well, wich surprised me.) The mid: some communication with the staff was a bit weird, but that's maybe a cultural, 'lost in translation' kinda thing? On our last evening, a staffer came to our dinner table and quizzed us about our stay. When we gave the stay an 8 out of 10, she looked shocked and told us that's supposed to be very bad for a Marriot? So we shrugged (wanting to get on with dinner) and gave it a 10... The bad: these are the reasons why I won't return to Domes Zeen. In the whole resort, all the greenery is tropical plants, which require a lot of water, different to native plants. On an island that regularly (heck, our taxi driver from the airport to the hotel mentioned it during the first five minutes) suffers from devestating droughts, I find that weird, to put it mildly. On top of that, pools are filled with fresh water instead of sea water. I've stayed in resorts in Greece having their own desalination plants and would've liked to see that here. A luxury collection resort should also emplay top notch technology. (Related to that: the millions of 300ml water bottles handed out to guests. Do we have to do that?!) The last point are the numerous cats on the property. I love cats, and there's no doubt some of the staff care for them. Still, here the resort as the chance to do something for the whole community and implement a proper spay and neuter programme. Cats can multiply very, very quickly (getting pregnant twice a year and having those kittens having kittens themselves 9months later - colonies can grow exponentially). Not only are they a threat for the local wildlife like birds, diseases can spread quickly. Also, spaying and neutering makes the cats much more pleasant to be around - no unwanted spraying, aggressive behaviour etc. A TNR programme could truly benefit the community and also alleviate suffering. The cats were a big hit with a lot of the children when we were there, but also used to beg a lot during mealtimes. Managing the colony would have a lot of benefits.

Наверное, лучший отель в этом районе Крита. Нас проапгрейдили до виллы. Прекрасная русская девушка из Петербурга в департаменте резервации. Абсолютно современный, чистый и прекрасный отель. Четкий персонал. Всем рекомендую. Вернемся снова это 100%