Review: Domes Zeen Chania, Marriott Luxury Collection

Thanks for reviewing. I actually booked two nights at both the Domes Noruz Chania and Domes Zeen Chania to try both in a single trip to Crete in August before continuing on to Mykonos and Samos. I believe the Noruz is adults-only and appears to have a better beach area but was planning to drive to Balos and Elafonissi anyways.

My wife and I are staying at this property in mid-September. I'm a Marriott Ambassador member. It will be interesting to see what, if any, improvements have been made since your stay.

You should have high expectations from a Luxury Collection property.

You say it was a 10 min walk to Old Town (I've been to Chania previously but stayed at a different property). How is that walk and what is it like walking back at night after dinner?

Totally different experience last year in October at the end of their season.

Rooms have so much natural light, you should have opened all the curtains up with beautiful views, the same ones you have from the pool. However, it does impacts privacy. That and the fact that the pool isn’t heated are only faults. I’d recommend booking Sapphire Pavillion Sea View rooms.

Haute Living also comes with a totally free mini bar with up to 8 items replenished daily. We also got free snacks and small drinks daily by the beach or pool. The “lounge” had excellent offer including boxes that you could take away with you if you went out and explored. The staff were also super polished and went above and beyond for my partner and me. On a week-long stay they also gave us a free dinner at a top restaurant in Chania and organised taxis for us all free of charge. We would also often get free drinks with dinner as well. The staff were also very knowledgeable about the area and gave us lots of recommendations.

@ Sam -- To be clear, it's a roughly 10 minute drive, not a 10 minute walk. It's probably not realistic to walk that distance at night. If you're not going to drive yourself, then I'd definitely recommend taking a taxi.

The hotel is walking distance from the outskirts of Chania, but that's definitely less charming and more chaotic, and not a particularly nice area to walk around.

@ meta -- Wow, talk about a completely different Haute Living Room experience. Here's to hoping it eventually gets back to that, because that's not at all what my experience was like.

Isn’t there going to be a word on the A3 flight? That said, I’m glad you’re back to posting reviews, as they had stopped after the Aegon fiasco.

Lucky - Nice review. The property looks fairly solid and based on your review I would consider staying there when we visit Crete. The local area looks pretty fun. The plunge pool looks fantastic.

@ VT-CIE -- To be honest, there's not a whole lot to say. We were super tired at that point, there was a remote stand at both ends, and I wasn't able to snap any good pictures. If it's any consolation, I'll be reviewing ferries within Greece, which should be more entertaining than any flight review. 😉

Sam,

If you do want to walk, you can follow the coastal path towards the old town - when I was there in October they were building a bridge crossing the river that flows out to the sea. If completed that would make it really easy, if not, there is a smaller bridge if you walk along the river for a bit and come back on yourself. I would say altogether a 25 minute walk to the old town, quite pleasant and safe even to do at night, although you might need a torch for the costal part of dark.

This echoes my experience last October - I have to say it felt that management were making every effort to leave behind any remnants of Casa Cook!

Yes, Noruz is adults only. It did not open at all last year due to Covid, instead moving any bookings over to Zeen.

Noruz is on a Sandy beach albeit a little less private than Zeen, as there are other properties on either side but it’s certainly a more lovely area. The grounds at Zeen feel a bit more private but as Ben says, not the best beach on the island.

We stayed @ Domes Noruz Chania in summer of 2019 using one of the old 7 night certificates from Marriott and that property was amazing and this was after we came from Mykonos Santa Maria so you know our expectations were high. We were upgraded to a loft suite and it made the 7 day stay spectacular. Breakfast and snacks were provided each day. What made it better was that it was an adult only property so there were no children around. I am a 6th grade teacher so on vacation, I like being around adults more. Beach access was very easy, restaurants abound in the area and taxis readily available outside. The stay at Noruz made a perfect ending to our 25 night European jaunt the summer of 2019.

I’m actually sad to see the return of the buffet here. As Ben has already mentioned the food at the restaurant was great and last year, the Covid a la carte menu was exceptional, both in terms of what was offered but also how the choices were varied daily.

The staff were fantastic throughout. In many of these resorts the staff come from all corners of Greece and board at the property, most of them young people looking for summer employment so I expect for a number of staff they have to start from scratch each season.

I too found the rooms a little odd, in terms of layout and how things were positioned. My room at the front by the restaurant was great for accessibility although without the view from above.

It felt like there were many repeat customers so I imagine many will be returning back from having visited in the Thomas Cook era.

Terrific review and so happy to see commentary on Crete - big fan. Do recognize this is a points blog but would just acknowledge that few places in world set up better for just renting a house or apt for fraction of price. You will be driving often and off site most days. Crete without access to a car is such a missed opportunity. Restaurants across the island are great and not very expensive. I’d argue that none of the hotels have great beach access. And wouldn’t say clientele in hotels on the island is particularly diverse - heavily skews German year round. Still, I’d happily stay at any of points hotels on island as well. Wonderful review.

Thanks for the review (I’m SO HAPPY you’re traveling again and I can’t wait to read many, many more reviews!), but I can’t imagine not being extremely disappointed for that suite at that price point. I really hate hotels that don’t put in comfortable furniture.

@Phillip Interesting. My partner and I loved our Sapphire Pavillion Sea View Room. It’s one of the best rooms in a beach location we’ve stayed in. The views were amazing as we just opened the whole front curtains every morning and had a sea view from bed. We kept the other glass wall mostly closed for privacy as the pavillion next door could see inside. They can also see you if they peek a bit. Though wr didn’t use the pool as it was too cold and it wasn’t heated. Maybe we lucked out on the room as I can see how if you’re further down or not in the right spot you don’t get the view and there is also no privacy.

Glad that hopefully COVID is behind us and reviews are coming back (which I've sorely missed).

The Haute Living concept is hilarious, both in its description and its execution.

Thanks, Phllip.

The walk is always easier with a couple of tavernas or ouzeris along the way for pit stops!

This hotel is selling through the various "billa Reisen" type websites in Germany and Austria. 5 nights half board, including flights with Lufthansa from Munich. From Euros 1049 per adult. The same hotel package you got. So about Euros 150 a night half board, plus airfare. You mentioned German families staying there so I looked up a couple of the German and Austrian discount travel websites.

Wow - sad that this is actually in the Luxury Collection (looks more like an Autograph at best)...standards for inclusion into the tier have certainly slipped since the SPG days.

Beautiful Property had originally booked reservations here for our Greece trip next week, but my wife found this amazing Airbnb in Oldtown with a rooftop deck right in the heart of Chania, we couldn't pass it up. So instead, just took some of those points for a night in Athens upon our arrival into Greece at the Athens Marriott. Btw a very lovely Hotel with a pretty good Pan-Asian restaurant on the Top floor with views. Ben in agreement with you the rooms which are very nice do seem a bit underwhelming. I am certain by August they will have all the wrinkles ironed out.

I’d argue that some Autographs are better than Luxury Collection properties to begin with. But the former certainly has an extra wide spectrum of property quality.

Bonvoyed!

We visited with my family last week and booked a Sapphire Family Pavilion with Pool. We are now in Mykonos and I just saw this post whilst sitting by the pool and thought to write a couple of words. As an architect, I found the design of Domes Zeen Chania quite exceptional. Actually after doing some research online after reading the post, I just realized that the hotel won the 2021 Sleeper Ahead award (which is a great accolade). Hotel design is my passion and from an architectural perspective, I just loved the property.

On the services front, as we also visited some weeks after the opening, there were some hiccups, but nothing that was a major spoiler for us. We travel as a family and I found the kids club area great. The kids really enjoyed it and the fact that we were by the main pool, close to the kids, was very handy. I like this boho feeling of the resort and it definitely suits me and the family. I have stayed in plenty Luxury Collection hotels and I feel that Domes Zeen Chania is a great addition. I also wanted to do a quick visit to Domes Noruz Chania, but as it is adults only, I wasn't able to go with the kids, so I don't know how the two compare. Overall we had a great stay and I would definitely visit again.

Stayed there in summer 2019 as well, and enjoyed a loft suite. Loved the place!
Afterwards stayed at Domes of Elounda -also quite amazing, but in a different way. Highly recommend both places, but I'd give a very slight edge to Noruz as my fave.

Lucky's review of Zeen is certainly appreciated, but next time I'm in Chania, I'll probably stick with Noruz.

as a non-architect I was contemplating how well it fits into surrounding, at least for my layman's eye. I'm currently staying in a literally next door hotel having the view from my balcony of the resort and Chania but I can see only one or two units of the resort. Only when I climbed small rocky cape visible on the Ben's photo of a road to cross to the beach, i realized how big the resort is but not ruining the natural ambient, IMHO

I am currently staying in a hotel next to Domes and swimming at the next beach separated from resort's beach by small rocky cape, I climbed the cape the other day and commented to my wife that the resort is having a gravel beach rather than sandy and we being luckier with the beach as "ours" is a sandy one. There is also a sandy beach further away to the west (Paralia Hrisi Akti), maybe 5 to 10 minutes walk from the resort, but of course staying in a luxury resort expectations are high and not including walking to the beach. On the other hand, I wouldn't agree one doesn't come to Greece for beaches given that some of the world's most beautiful beaches are in the area like Balos, Elafonisi and Seitan Limani. Well these are maybe the exceptions you're talking about...

the bridge is not yet finished as of today, but one can cross the small almost completely dried out river beneath the bridge, we walked the way several times already. Nicolaos tavern right at the corner after the bridge to recommend, maybe a kilometre down the street another one on the left side with a big wine barrel inside visible from across the street. While I agree with Ben that the outskirts area is not charming, I personally never felt unpleasant nor unsafe (we walked at night)

It’s very walkable even at night. Not well lit, but nothing your iPhone light won’t solve