Laura Beach Hotel - Paphos (Cyprus)

...my husband stayed at the Laura Beach hotel Cyprus from 20th June to 28th June 2007 with Libra holidays. Please note this hotel is also known as Luca Laura Beach and also Cyprotel Laura Beach depending on the brochure, I questioned the rep about this and apparently it used to be part of the Luca group of hotels but has been de-branded. We paid £400 each all inclusive including reserved flight seats.

HOTEL

The hotel is ...
...does depend on how many drop off's there are. It is situated on the beach front if you can call it that, as it is man made and you do need to go down several steep paths and steps which with the sand are very slippy needless to say when you finally meet the bottom there are a lot of rocks, we only ventured down the once. The sea would not be recommended for children as they have a constant red flag and no life guard.

Reception
... more

Me and my husband stayed at the Laura Beach hotel Cyprus from 20th June to 28th June 2007 with Libra holidays. Please note this hotel is also known as Luca Laura Beach and also Cyprotel Laura Beach depending on the brochure, I questioned the rep about this and apparently it used to be part of the Luca group of hotels but has been de-branded. We paid £400 each all inclusive including reserved flight seats.

HOTEL

The hotel is situated about 30-40 minutes drive from the airport but this does depend on how many drop off's there are. It is situated on the beach front if you can call it that, as it is man made and you do need to go down several steep paths and steps which with the sand are very slippy needless to say when you finally meet the bottom there are a lot of rocks, we only ventured down the once. The sea would not be recommended for children as they have a constant red flag and no life guard.

Reception
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We arrived at the hotel at 2am after a night flight, there were us and another older couple, although we finished doing the required forms first the guy ignored us and proceeded with the older couple, we just waited patiently to be acknowledged as it was late and we were getting tired.

We were finally given our room key but told safes had to be arranged in the morning, we were shown directions and where to get the lift and went on up to our room. There was no porter available should we have had a lot of luggage, also the next day we realised we were shown the longest way to our room possible as there were 2 lifts one at either end of the hotel.

During our stay we handed our room key to reception, every time we did this we heard someone else complaining and not getting much joy, we decided to make the most of what we had and get on with having a great holiday having said this we did have several niggles about the place which I will explain as we go on.

Rooms
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On arriving to our room and opening the door there was a strong smell of cigarette smoke, being a non-smoker this was unpleasant but due to how late it was got our heads down and said we would request a change of room in the morning as when we booked we did request non-smoking.

The following morning we went to see the reception only to find they said they did not do non-smoking rooms and the hotel was full they were very unhelpful and not very interested.

We proceeded to meet our rep only to find her in a corner smoking and on a mobile speaking to what sounded like another guest with the same complaint so we didn't expect much. After explaining the situation she went to reception to be told no rooms available she said the only thing she could do was get the cleaner to do a thorough clean (had this not already been done?) which they did or sprayed something and on returning to our room later in the day it did smell somewhat better although not perfect.

Pool
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There were 2 large swimming pools on 2 separate levels, they were clean and the depths marked accordingly they ranged from about 1m to 1.7m. The sun beds around the pool had individual umbrellas for shade and no matter what time we went down there were several available so no rushing to save a sun bed at 6am!

Beach towels were available from the fitness centre but required a £5(Cyprus) deposit which you got back on return of the towel

Bars
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There was a bar on the same level as reception called Nero's this was the only place with reasonable air con that you could feel other than in your room. A bar situated near the pool on the lower level but not that I saw on the upper, if there was one it was probably closed as a few seemed to be which was strange having been told the hotel was full ! There was a bar on the beach but this was closed also.

Restaurants
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Breakfast was served in the main restaurant, this was quite poor, it consisted of bacon, scrambled/ boiled/fried egg, beans, mushrooms and the normal continental stuff as well as fruit which was usually a choice of 2, mostly apples and oranges no pineapple or melon of any kind. The hot foods were rarely hot as it had been stood around, you were lucky if it was Luke warm.

Lunch was serves in the restaurant down stairs which I would describe as being a bit like a cafe or a MacDonald’s layout. The food was mainly chicken called different names but when tasted was much the same as well as a small salad selection and cold meats. There was a children’s selection usually chips or Jacket potato, pasta and either burger or chicken wings sometimes a plain quiche which was very bland and tasteless.

Dinner was served back upstairs in the main restaurant and was much the same as lunch with the addition of a roast joint and vegetables, you could tell the English holidaymakers as they all seemed to be eating something resembling a Sunday lunch.
Desserts were Jelly and ice-cream which was very soft almost melted and a selection of very creamy sickly looking cakes and a choice of 2 fruits mainly apple, orange or pear and if you were lucky watermelon.

In the evenings the men were made to wear long trousers although it depended whether or not your face fit as to if they let you in. One evening my husband had knee length shorts and a smart shirt on along with 3 others in the queue, needless to say the other 2 were allowed in except my husband who had to change and I must say the waiter was not polite about it, he did not mind putting trousers on it was the inconsistency that annoyed us and the lack of air con in the restaurant if they expected you to wear long trousers. Once dinner was finished and he was wet through with sweat(yes ming) we had to go all the way back up to our room for him to shower again and put some shorts back on.

On another occasion we were allowed in with my husband wearing his long shorts, this did please him :-)

Overall the food was very bland sometimes cold and by the end of the week very repetitive so we did venture out into Paphos for a lovely relatively cheap meal towards the end of our week.

The plus part was in between meals there was a sandwich toaster, bread, cheese and ham available in the downstairs restaurant to make your own toasties...these were fantastic and I had one everyday at about 3-4pm this was the best meal and certainly the hottest.

Evening Entertainment
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There was kids entertainment on until about 9.30pm, after this they played bingo in about 5 languages which was quite lengthily but the prize money was about £70-100 for a full house so may be worth a shot if you have the patience.

At 10pm they had other entertainment which was different each night, they had a Cypriot dancers and a parrot show one evening, a fire eating show which was quite good and a male v's female competition which was entertaining. The evening shows lasted until 11pm after which there was a disco in Nero's bar until late.

The AI package included drinks that were local brands until 12 midnight after which you had to pay. Cocktails were also charged for at anytime but were reasonable at £2.50 (cyp).

Internet
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The Internet is available in reception at 50p (cyp) for 15 mins but is very slow, if you go the the bar to the left of the hotel I think it was called Corellas or something like that , go to the bar on the upper floor and internet is free we bought 2 drinks for about £2.00(cyp) and had access to unlimited time on broadband...what a bargain and better views than in the hotel.

Getting around
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There is a bus stop just outside the hotel, the one on the same side takes you to Coral bay, the one across the road takes you to Paphos, it is 80p (cyp) when you get on the bus no matter how many stops you stay on for which is fantastic and a cheap way to get around.

We did not hire a car but they do drive on the same side of the road as us just in case you were thinking of hiring one.

Conclusion
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Despite my little whines I did have a lovely week in Cyprus I honestly didn't see a single cloud all week and the temperature was 45+ C everyday, the food was edible and I certainly didn't starve on all those toasties.

This hotel is not a 4* in any way, I am well traveled both here and abroad and I would give this a 2* if that.

The bar staff at the pool bar were pleasant but the rest of the staff I found rude and unhelpful.

My parents came over while we were still there and stayed in a Thomson Gold hotel 3 hotels to the left of ours, it was rated a 5* so we had a visit and I can honestly say it was like a palace compared to ours I was rather jealous when I had to leave but we were given a free drink and had a little swim and they did deserve a bit more luxury having paid about £1200 each for 2 weeks AI well worth a peep if you get chance!

I have finished my moaning now

Thanks for reading and please don't be put off this was just my opinion on the week we stayed, but I would return to Cyprus just not this hotel, if you do want to know anything else about this hotel or Cyprus please message me and I will try help.

Jo x 

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