We booked our holiday through Teletext and a company called A1Travel. They seem to cobble together package holidays using other companies' charter flights and hotel bookings. The package worked well but it meant we weren't sure who was supposed to be looking after us and it turned out we were without a rep. Not a bad thing but worth being aware of. It also meant we had to pay extra for air-conditioning and missed out on a couple of other minor points that the larger travel agents had negotiated for their guests.

On arrival, at 4am, only the night porter was on hand to greet us. Though friendly enough, he clearly isn't the most empowered member of staff so couldn't let us have the key for the room's air-conditioning or even let us have or even buy a bottle of water. This wasn't the greatest start to our break but was soon behind us.

Our room was of a typical standard for Greece; not particularly luxurious but comfortable and with all the basics. It was cleaned everyday and we had clean towels and sheets everyday too.

This was our first "All-Inclusive" and we thought it offered great value. The food was excellent and provided enough variety to keep us happy for a couple of weeks. The restaurant staff were friendly and the service good. There was the occasional delay whilst they restocked but nothing worthy of complaint. We're quite adventurous diners so happy to try any of the dishes on offer. Some were exceptional with the lamb being particularly good - and plenty of it! Local drinks; wine, beer, spirits and even cocktails were included and on the whole drinkable. One small gripe was the cola which was particularly poor - tainting the otherwise perfectly drinkable spirits - we'd have happily paid extra for a proprietary brand but this wasn't an option and buying a bottle from the shop over the road was mysteriously frowned upon (our advice is to do this but keep the bottle hidden!). The bar staff lacked the friendliness of the restaurant, they weren't hostile but there was very little friendly banter. There wasn't any entertainment, though not always a bad thing, once or twice a week would've been good to get things going.

The pool and surrounding area was excellent. The pool itself being somewhat larger that you'd expect at a hotel of this size. The gardens, tennis court and pool area were always clean and tidy at the start of every day.

Kolymbia is a relatively quiet spot with some nice beaches, pleasant bars and a few restaurants. It appears to have been hit by the recession (or possibly the spread of all-inclusive deals) because quite a few business have closed and fallen into disrepair. It is well served by air-conditioned buses and you can easily get to Rhodes town or Lindos for only 3 euros each (somewhat less than the 26 euro trips on offer by the reps!).

In all, for a quiet break we'd recommend both the Rodo Cypria Hotel and Kolymbia.

Stayed at Rodo Cypria August 2009, welcome in the early hours was excellent. Hotel overall, staff, service and food were all good. Lovely pool area. All staff could not do enough for you. Good choice of food at meal tiumes. Only slight downside was the rooms were in need of an update, as they are looking quite tired. Would recommend this hotel and area - short walk from the hotel takes you to bars, shops and restaurants. Bus stop right outside where other areas of the island are within easy reach.

My partner and I and his 2 sons (aged 15 & 20, the elder with a learning disability) spent a week at the Rodo Cypria in August 2008.

We had booked 2 adjacent rooms and on arrival were informed that they were overbooked, and we had been allocated a family room. Though fantastically positioned with a terrace opening out onto the pool area, I felt it was totally inappropriate to make this decision on our behalf, especially when my different surname indicated that I was not the mother of the teen/young adult in the party.

The room had a main bedroom with TV and the bathroom off it. A second sleeping area was off this main room, separated off by part wall/part curtain.

I regret never following this up after the holiday, because we would surely have been entitled to a discount./compensation for the loss of a room.

They did throw in free safe as compensation, but this was no compensation for the lack of privacy and "time out" from step children. I spent the week dressing in the bathroom and challenging a teenager who treated my bed as a sofa! Additionally, it also obviously ruled out any romance after the kids have retired!!

Other holidaymakers had been farmed out to different hotels, and one couple had only arrived in their pre-booked room at the Rodo after being in TWO different hotels. I didn't pursue the matter of being relocated when rooms came available, as the rest of our group were obviously less concerned about the issues of sharing and loved the convenience of the poolside room so much (and having to pack up & move on such a short break would hae been inconvenient).

If you are a proper family, with younger kids, the family rooms would be wonderful. Because of the awkward room situation, we stayed in the bar late each night and only used it to change & sleep.

The manager wasn't very understandng when I first expressed my concerns, and never offered us a room move duing our stay. I found him generally a bit surly and more concerned about saving money than customer service.

Aside from that, the holiday there was fine for what we wanted. The local drinks on the AI were great, with a wide range of good cocktails plus decent versions of any spirits you might want. I don't know what the beer was like, but red wine was palatable.

The 15 year old did have some alcohol, under supervision... this supevision was necessary in the main bar, as he'd have been given whatever he wanted. At the pool bar, he wasn't served alcohol. This is something of an issue, as even if you are willing to allow a teenager the odd drink, it seems a little unfair to charge adult price for a child that is not going to make full use of the alcohol element of the package. Though we didn't want him drinking much,.....on principle, I object to staff in the hotel refusing to serve something that's been paid for.... Either give a reduced price with no alcohol, or charge a full price and permit parents to decide whether they drink. This would be even more of an issue for a younger child, as i think they charge ault price from the age of 12.

The food was OK. I would have liked a little more Greek choice, but it served its purpose and everyone found something they liked at every meal. Not piping hot, but I've never had buffet style meals at hotels that have been. The wide choice of ice creams at mealtimes was a bonus, though missed the coconut flavour when it ran out after 3 or 4 days and wasn't replenished. There was also fresh fruit, particularly melon, available every meal.

The pool was pretty good, and never packed out. As we had a poolside room, we usually got the 4 beds & table in front of the patio, and I think other guests tended to view it as cheeky to nab these before those elsewere round the pool, with them being positioned so close to the poolside rooms, so it felt like we had our own sunbeds just feet from our room.

The kids like the pool scene, so we spent a few days hanging round the hotel. It's quite a long walk to the beach, especially in the heat. There are pedalos for hire very cheaply, plus various motorised sports. Day trips by boat also run from here. The4 beach is a little rocky, I recommend the beach/canoeing shoes you can buy at every store for £4-£5.

The hotel is on a long tree lined road leading to the resort, whch looks nice (much better than most commercial resort roads). The bus stop is directly outside the hotel, with buses going to Rhodes town & the waterpark (a must!). The resort centre has the usual bars, shops, phamacies etc and is a nice stroll in the evening. There are shops and bars close to the hotel.

I would definitely recommend the waterpark... a huge place with an impressive mixture of gentle and white knuckle rides.

Overall, the holiday provided what we were looking for...pool, sun and no bottomless pockets needed for drinks & snacks for kids. The bar staff were great. The restaurant staff less friendly, but they all seemed to be more concerned with keeping the manager sweet. I got the distinct impression that he kept them under close supervision and they were all terrified of him (a staff member came out of his office in tears one day).

I would probably go back, if only for the free-flowing cocktails and effort-free, cheap break... but I wouldn't choose it for my main annual holiday.

Hotel itself is very nice as is the pool and gardens all clean and well maintaineed. Staff in general were very friendly and courteous.

However the main problem is FOOD (excluding breakfast, which is continental). My advice would be to sack the cook and employ a chef who has some imagination and flair. The ingredients were all there and there was enough of it unfortunately it was badly cooked and there was no presentation. (Greek salad was excellent but the only Greek food on offer)

Soup generally cold; desert grapes and 'frozen cream' most of the time. Under no circumstances go fully inclusive, dinner is the same as the previous night's supper. Cats wandered around the dining room, dining room staff more concerned with selling drinks than clearing and relaying the table; on a number of occasions we had to relay our own table.

We ate out on a number of occasions the food was so unappetising.

Problem 2 - no entertainment except for the once a fortnight Greek Night which was an excellent BBQ, this was the only night we enjoyed the food. TV but only English speaking channel was the BBC World News.

Air conditioning was available but at six euro per day was thought to be excessive.