Domes Novos Santorini, Autograph Collection

We stayed for a week's break at Domes Novos. The hotel is lovely, super spa and gym facilities. The room was very comfortable and kept very clean. The location of the hotel is however a bit disappointing. It is on the busy main road to Oia which has continual traffic (dozens of coaches every day) going to the village. Traffic noise plus helicopters flying to the heli-pad across the field from the hotel mean that is is much noisier than we expected. The road up the hill to Oia to view the sunset over the caldera (sunken volcanic crater) is very busy and narrow with very limited pavements for pedestrians. It takes about 20 minutes to walk with the traffic passing very close to you. There is apparently a hotel shuttle to the village. The hotel gave us no information about this, we only found out from other guests. The sunset view from the hotel is nice but note the hotel is located on the other side of the hill from the caldera. The hotel closes for the season in November, and even in September had a bit of an end of season feel. The rooftop Vatanee restaurant and bar was not open. Often in the evenings the rooftop bar was in complete darkness creating a dark and gloomy atmosphere at the poolside tables below. The showers in the spa sauna area were also out of order for the duration of our stay. Food in the restaurant was good, although the same menu for the duration of our stay. At breakfast, there is a buffet and an a la carte menu. The a la carte menu is mentioned on the first day but not offered, you have to ask for it. There is a good range of activities, sunrise yoga with Maria (worth getting up for!), sunset art and wine tasting (a great combination!) plus the gym and spa. My wife had the Olive Tree spa treatment which she really enjoyed. So overall, a very good holiday but just one or two areas where it didn't quite meet our expectations.

This is a difficult review to write as we had a lovely holidays in Santorini. We feel this hotel has all the right ingredients to be a great luxury resort, but does not fulfil it at the moment. The rooms are lovely and spacious, well equipped and the private pool and sea-view was fabulous. However, the whole establishment feels extremely new - as such we feel that it's still trying to develop. The minimalist design creates a very austere and harsh environment, but this could be because the planted areas, and come to that other areas, need to mature. There are no quiet communal spaces to sit as there are only a very few loungers around the pool next to the restaurant. There is no atmosphere at all. Most guests seem to eat out elsewhere, as we did, as the restaurant was always bare and under supported. The staff as individuals were lovely, smiley, welcoming and helpful but somehow did not deliver. We had a faulty toilet which required four visits on successive days by Maintenance. It was dealt with so well, but even as we left the bathroom wasn't functioning as it should. The complementary bottle of wine provided as a goodwill gesture was highly appreciated, but shouldn't have been necessary. We were told that we would receive a small gift on departure, this never happened. On one occasion we booked the very useful shuttle a day in advance with Reception but our names weren't added to the list when we boarded on the day. Most, if not all, of the issues were dealt with beautifully, but surely these issues should not happen in a five star establishment. To put it simply, the overall "package" did not meet our experience at other Domes resorts. All this being said, we enjoyed our stay, and for us the location just outside Oia was a peaceful retreat from all the crowds and coaches. The 20 minute walk up the main road isn't pleasant but great exercise.