Sun and Riding
19 June 2024
The Riding
The Accommodation
Do you have any comments about the accommodation and food?
You just could not beat the view from the terrace - absolutely stunning. The hotel had a lovely chilled and relaxed vibe. It has been beautifully designed with some really clever design features. The restaurant manager Nikos was a breath of fresh air - he made everyone smile and just a pleasure to be around. It was nice to be able to chose your meal on the last night, so that you could opt for something a bit different, particularly for my husband who enjoys meat more than salad!
The water pressure in the shower was really weak - assuming when there was demand after the riders came in. The wifi was also intermittent in the rooms but okay in the restaurant area.
The infinity pool was wonderful to relax in after your ride - again stunning views.
[In The Saddle replies: There was an extreme heat wave in Crete during the dates of your holiday. This caused there to be large power outages and for the water pump systems to break. This meant the back-up systems were stretched to their limits at peak times.]
Before Your Holiday
Did you have all of the information you needed to:
How could we improve the quality of pre-holiday information that we send?
Nothing at all - you are always absolutely spot on with everything.
Sabine at the Velani was quite disorganised - I had absolutely no doubt that inthesaddle had provided Peter's flight details and confirmed the transfer to Agios Nikolaos at the end of our stay.
[In The Saddle replies: Sabine always like to re-check departure times direct with guests even when she has received the information previously. This is due to airlines changing flight times last minute and guests having different preferences on how early to depart the hotel.
She has also told me that after she realised her mistake on your departure transfer she only charged you EUR 75 for the transfer to your next hotel, rather than the EUR 110 which had been previously agreed. I think the extreme heat being experienced during your holiday did put stress on normally very smoothly operating procedures.]
How could we improve the way we handled your booking and payment?
Nothing to improve on.
Susan who has been on 6 In The Saddle rides. Great location with beautiful scenery | The horse I had for the majority of the time was wonderful - really willing, responsive and a pleasure to ride. The scenery was fantastic and the views were stunning at times.
However, this is my fifth holiday with In The Saddle and sadly this is the first time that I have come away feeling I wouldn't go back. This is due to having riders who were not even close to having sufficient competence to do the panorama rides. On the last day in particular, I had been looking forward to the ride to Kera. It was abundantly clear when watching a young couple mount in the arena, that they were not experienced riders! There was no assessment in the arena prior to going out and their riding was not nearly up to it (the guide it seemed was not empowered to refuse to take them). This made for a fairly fractious day - the rest of us were relieved to get everyone back safe, as it was potentially quite dangerous.
[In The Saddle replies: Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback, and for speaking with me over the phone. We have spoken with the ride operator who has told us she would not normally have non-hotel guests riding with residents. On this occasion, the people who joined you stated they were experienced riders of at least 10 years and one had their own horse. With the planned ride to Kera being a steady one, and with the hotels trusted horses, she felt this would be safe.]