- They are super environmentally aware, they encourage people to not use straws but the straws which they do have are biodegradable. They also advise people on the impact of washing their bed linen and towels daily and encourage not to do this.
- Every single restaurant has a full vegan menu!
- All of their toiletries and cruelty free and have the leaping bunny logo
- When you order room service for 2 during normal hours (i.e not late night dining) they bring your food up on a table which you can sit at! There’s also the option to have breakfast in your room and the same goes for this so you can eat on the balcony! I saw load of photos of people eating on their balcony on instagram and we had a junior suite so I thought we should have all bells and whistles and this is what I was seeing!
- I read quite a few posts enquiring on whether to tip in pesos or USD and we asked our butler, they 100% do not mind what you tip in, we had both, anyway point 5- there is no pressure or obligation to tip in this hotel the staff will still give you amazing service either way! They are so incredible we wanted to tip but don’t feel pressure!
- If you aren’t one to read through things there is a pillow menu, however the pillow on the bed is amazing either way!
- The gym provides earphones if you forget yours, there is yoga daily in the morning, a super mini spin studio in the gym and the equipment in there is pretty up to date!
- The hotel is only 6 years old so everything is quite brand spanking new as far as the lifespan of a hotel goes.
- All of the a la carte restaurants are first come first serve so no need to worry about booking, they have a beeper system if you have to wait. You can eat at them all as many times as you want! The sushi is absolutely incredible and I had 3 fillet steaks that week at the grill! Tacos daily on the lunch buffet and the guac is NOT extra and it comes by the barrel! The food is incredible here!
- There is USB connections in the rooms for charging so do not fret if you forget you plug adapters!
Tips on how to book a great trip with Love Holidays
I always get asked how I find such good deals for things and how it always looks like I’m going lovely places and if there is something which I want to do I will find a way of making it happen in the best way possible, it just takes patience and persistence. Apart from my most recent holiday to Mexico which was booked through British Airways I have always gone through Love Holidays. For me and my personal financial situation their low deposit and installment option works best for me and I find it the most affordable way to book something several months in advance and not have to pay the full balance up front or put anything on a credit card. I’ve booked many different trips with Love Holidays now and I have come up with a bit of a system that I wanted to share.
First up if possible I would really recommend doing this on a computer instead of a phone if possible it makes it a lot easier.
So go in to the site and set where it is that you want to go. When looking for a beach holiday I normally put anywhere in and then filter it down by minimum temperature and take it from there, if you know where you want to go then you can put in your specific location or you can also put in multiple locations too so its really flexible.
The next most important thing for me is to filter by star and filter by trip advisor rating, star rating of the hotel is something that will be different for person to person, I generally go 4* or above as in many countries the star rating standards are never as good as in the UK but that is of course each to their own, however Trip Advisor rating for me I find non negotiable, so filter it to 4 or above. 4 out of 5 really is the lowest I would go, 4.5 or higher and you know you’re playing it safe that its going to be pretty good.
There’s lots of different things that you can filter out for your requirements- that you do or don’t want on your holiday and once you have set the parameters sort by ‘Trip Advisor rating high to low’
This is a good way of those hidden gems coming to the top of the list instead of the most popular statistically, the cheapest or the biggest saving. I would do this first and then filter by price after if you wish and then you can cross reference against the ones which you saw high up the TA rating list.
Then in a separate window pull up trip advisor and have a little look through recent reviews, maybe read some of the bad ones to see if it’s people with way too high expectations or if they’re being ultra picky or just generally if their issue is something that wouldn’t bother you or the bad reviews genuine red flags about this hotel or resort. Have a look through the traveler photos too to give you a bit of an idea of what to expect.
Then lastly for good measure because I’m ridiculously anal and hate being disappointed when holiday time is so precious I go and see if they have an Instagram and have a nosy at what’s on there, have a look at people who have tagged them and also shots which are tagged at that location.
By this time you should know if you want to go to this place or not so if you do go through to the payment screen and select which deposit option you want to do as there is a few and you are good to go! Make sure when you select the room you pick the option with deposit option otherwise when you go to pay it won’t be there.
You can log in and pay more at anytime outside of the scheduled options and can pay off early too if you wish to, just got to ‘manage my booking’
Just a note to be aware of with flights-
Ryanair’s current baggage policy literally includes a small handbag- like the kind you would use day to day for phone, keys, makeup etc. If you want to take a hand luggage case as well the cheapest way to do this is add priority boarding, this adds a standard size hand luggage case per person.
With Easyjet it includes a standard hand luggage case with no weight restriction, however, if you have a handbag on you with you purse/passport in etc it must fit into your case before you board as to have 2 bags you must be an Easyjet plus passenger and this is a yearly membership.
For further info please check the airlines websites!
Love Holidays have a really good January sale too and other sales throughout the year so keep your eyes peeled for booster deals!
I hope this helps and you find some amazing deals!
Safe and happy travels!
Hx
Travel review: Ikos Olivia
I did a lot of research before booking Ikos Olivia as there’s so much choice out there for all inclusive holidays and hotels and I didn’t wanna be disappointed but I was sold on the 50% discount in the Love Holidays January sale and the 5/5 Trip Advisor rating, not to mention the Trip Advisor list which named it the #1 all inclusive resort in Europe and #2 in the world!! I was not disappointed. Let me start by making a bold statement… This is the BEST place I’ve ever been in my life.
So who’s it for?
I went with Jamie my boyfriend and for couples it was perfect, there was a lot of couples there and young families with babies, a few groups of friends but clearly there to relax. Lets get something straight if you’re looking for somewhere to party this is not it. There is plenty to do for kids if you’re looking to go as a family with various different options of sports activities, learning to dive in the pool, free pedalos, evening theatre entertainment, kids club nights, kids tables in the restaurants so you can have some adult time as well as kids day time activities too and a creche.
My personal favorite things to do are eat, drink and chill (even better when all at the same time) and that is what it was perfect for.
The Hotel
Upon arriving for our transfer you can tell the quality from the second you approach. The beautiful modern hotel stands tall in its grandeur with a big fountain outside, huge storm lanterns with candles in and lovely potted trees all lined in perfect regiment against the marble. Unlike many 5 start locations in certain countries this certainly rivals any UK hotel in quality. The welcome at reception included glass of fizz and a very warm welcome from the front desk staff. We arrived late so we went straight to our room. We upgraded at the time of booking to a panoramic sea view junior suite. The room was beautiful. Marble floors, high ceilings, mirrored furniture, neutral decor with turquoise blue Greek accent tones, perfectly clean, massive bed, luxurious bed linen, big double balcony, lush bathroom. What more could I need? They even had a snack waiting in our room!!
So whats included in your all inclusive?
Everything! Premium drinks, all food, 24 hour room service, minibar (restocked daily) bottles of wine, cocktails, wine (full on bottles like in a restaurant), dining out at 3 local restaurants in the village too!
The food and Drink
The hotel has 5 restaurants, 4 of which are A la Carte. There is Provence which is French, Ouzo Greek traditional, Fusco Italian and Anaya which is Asian then also Flavors which is the buffet restaurant. Booking is required for a la carte and the hotel has its own app which you can download to book, I would recommend booking your a la carte dining on the first day for the duration of your stay, you can cancel or change but these do only have limited availability so it’s better to do to avoid disappointment. You can eat a l carte as much as you wish and when you are at the restaurants its hard to believe that it’s all inclusive. Each restaurant has a sommelier, a proper wine list where you can order but the bottle from a selection of wines carefully chosen to pair from worldwide destinations, a full menu and the quality is not skimped in the least. All the staff are so knowledgable and friendly and happy to make recommendations, my 2 favorite restaurants were Ouzo where everything was incredible. I recommend the shrimp starter and the lamb kleftiko and Provence where the mussel starter was divine and I had the most exquisite dessert I’ve ever had- pistachio creme brule! Also to mention each restaurant has a separate vegetarian menu and gluten free menu.
Even Flavors the buffet restaurant was incredible, we ate here almost everyday for breakfast although Provence does breakfast too as a continental buffet with a small made to order menu. The lovely thing about Flavours is they had really put thought into every detail of this to cover all the requirements of the guests such as- vegan butter, soya milk, gluten free bread! The food here too was wonderful and the selection immense. This was very well quality controlled with dishes constantly being rotated to remain fresh. The had dishes to indulge and an incredibly wide selection also if you are watching your weight. We also ate lunch here many days too as its next to the beach but Provence and Ouzo also do a smaller lunch and late afternoon snacks.
If you like a more impromptu dining experience and don’t like to be set to times there is a snack menu which is served all day and gets brought to you on the beach or by the pool and has thing like burgers and sandwiches on which are tasty too.
Drinks wise there is a full cocktail list which gorgeous cocktails served with premium spirits with all the correct glassware- not a disposable plastic cup or parasol in sight!! The bar staff had a great knowledge also and were happy to let me deviate off the menu and made me espresso martinis and classic martinis.
In reception there is a list also of the entertainment in the bars each night and some of the singers we heard were fabulous and definitely worth going to see.
The Spa
The Spa is a beautiful spa, the second you walk in the aroma just hits you and relaxes you straight away, this is where the gym is, sauna, steam room and indoor pool is located as well as where you have any treatments which are booked at additional cost. The treatments are not cheap and off the top of my head the massages start at around 100€, I did opt to have a couple as I think I had drank the entire value of my holiday in cocktails. I had the Exquisite Miracle Eyes which is a treatment solely focus on the rejuvenation of the eye area as my eyes were looking a little weathered which was lovely and had 20% off and the Anti-fatigue Remedy massage which was also beautiful. Although pricey it was a lovely addition to my trip and was the only money I spent all week so I was really happy. Theresa my therapist was very calming and lovely and really tailored the treatments to my needs.
I also used the gym a few times when I was there and it had all the equipment you could need for a basic workout of cardio and weights. There is also a selection of classes included too which include yoga, core and much more!
What else is there to do?
There is a daily excursion too available for guests which you can book in reception at Guest Relations. The only one we did was the local market. Please note this is a very rustic market selling local wares to local people and is not in a tourist area at all, the excursion leaves you for about 3 hours and we were done way before that and were a little lost for what to do and got the same impression from other people on the trip too. The mini-mart on site sells many of the same things if you need gifts such as souvenirs, olive oil and spices etc. This was the only trip we did.
Down at the beach there is also the option of hiring equipment for water sports, my boyfriend treated us to a speed boat for 2 hours which you take out completely independently! This was amazing!! A real treat at 200€ for 2 hours but I absolutely loved it and would highly recommend, we sailed all the way across the bay to a completely secluded area overlooking cliffs and forest, it really was exhilarating and great to try driving the boat!!
Just a couple of final details which I know are important to some of you travelers- wifi is everywhere and so good I could watch Netflix on the beach and there is adult only areas at each pool and on the beach too if you like a little grown up time.
Thanks for reading, I hope this has been a help if you’re considering Ikos Olivia as a holiday destination! Keep your eyes peeled for those deals!
All my love, H x