HOTEL REVIEW: Corfu Imperial Beach Resort

Having been to Corfu already earlier in the year to review IKOS Odisia (Review here), we thought we’d pop back in October to stay at another highly-rated hotel, albeit this wasn’t all-inclusive.

Seeing as this was a very last-minute trip, when choosing a hotel and location it came down to a few things. Good weather, selection of restaurants/bars and location.

We settled on Corfu Imperial by Grecotel and the eventual room we ended up staying in, was absolutely stunning. One of our favourites ever!

Booking

We booked our flights with three days to go however we only booked the hotel the day before we got there.  

Flight wise, we flew with British Airways in Club Europe and given how expensive CE is at the moment we were surprised to see that our flights only cost £500 each.

We added a car to the booking to take advantage of BA’s Double Tier Point promotion. Netting 320 tier points each for a flight less than 3 hours.  This made it just over £1.80 per Tier Point which is more than acceptable especially given this trip wasn’t for the points and was such a last-minute holiday.

For the hotel, we booked direct. They offered a 10% discount on the advertised prices given the short nature of the booking.

They have a wide variety of rooms and the most premium are the waterfront villas which is what we booked. Specifically, a ‘maisonette on the rocks with private pool’.

We paid £2750 for 5 nights on a bed and breakfast basis (£550 a night).

We moved rooms after the first night, but I will come on to this later.

Corfu Imperial

Corfu Imperial is a luxurious 5-star hotel with 300 rooms & villas situated on their very own private peninsula with panoramic views of the Ionian Sea. Boasting 3 private beaches, 2 pools and 5 restaurants.

The resort is large but not too large like Ikos Odisia and is surrounded by hundreds of beautiful olive trees as well as their perfectly maintained gardens.

I would say that whilst the hotel has a fantastic charm about it, it is definitely showing its age. Not in the sense of maintenance because they are on top of this but more the decor. Such as older looking furniture and the overuse of marble everywhere.

The hotel grounds and surroundings reminded us more of being in the Amalfi than Corfu. It really is located in a beautiful spot with hillside properties, crystal clear waters and tall cypress trees everywhere.

Check-In

We arrived at the secure gates of the hotel in our hire car at 3 pm where we were told to drive straight to the hotel reception. After 150 meters we arrived at a drop-off/pick-up area where I found somewhere to park whilst our toddler slept a little longer.

Katrina stayed in the car whilst I went to deal with the check-in formalities.

Being in a villa we had a separate check-in area that was located at the lobby bar. I was greeted with a fantastic selection of chocolates, macarons, juices and water set out in an afternoon tea layout. Being on my own I struggled to work my way through the selection but the bits I tried were very nice.

Katerina (not to be mistaken for my wife, Katrina), our personal concierge introduced herself and dealt with the check-in, by way of taking our passports and credit card. She explained everything we needed to know about the property and shared her mobile number so we could connect via WhatsApp.

Katrina and little one joined us just as we were complete. Following that we were escorted to our room by Katerina who gave us a tour and showed us how everything worked.

When we got there our bags were waiting for us, which isn’t always the case at hotels and can be a big frustration of ours.

Villa 1

As mentioned earlier we booked a Maisonette on the Rocks with a Private Pool and that’s exactly what we got. Room 4 to be precise.

The villa was entered via a private gate and straight away we noticed the large side pool and sea view albeit we were slightly disappointed as the sea view was interrupted by a few large olive trees and bushes. We totally appreciate this is nature, however, I believe this is the only room with an interrupted sea view.

The three-floor room itself was sparkly clean and presented very well. On the same level as the front door was the master bathroom along with the wardrobe area. Downstairs was the living area with a large corner sofa and double doors with direct access to a patio area and the pool, plus a second bathroom. Upstairs hosted the very large bedroom with amazing sea views and another wardrobe area.

Whilst the room was lovely and I’m sure suitable for most, we couldn’t help but feel underwhelmed. The room was showing its age and clearly needed a renovation. The pool area was very shady and as mentioned above, we just didn’t have that sea view that we love. Especially when our toddler goes to bed early, we like to sit outside and enjoy the views which wasn’t possible here. We also felt the room vibe was very clinical with zero artwork on any walls. It was white throughout including walls, furniture and floors with nothing to break up the blandness.

Furthermore, and this is not an issue of the hotels, but the three floors were not ideal for our family. The stairs were solid marble, and the lower set of steps didn’t have any protection on the left-hand side. Of course, our toddler thought this was a really fun game, but we did not, and I requested a room change a few hours later by messaging Katerina on WhatsApp.

She said there were no other rooms available, but I insisted, even if it meant paying to upgrade. 5 nights with him running around and the risks associated was too much for us to enjoy ourselves.

Fast forward to 11 am the next morning and Katerina showed me a new room and wow, this one was perfect and blew me away. In my head it was an instant yes! However, I was price conscious as the two types of rooms were miles apart so I was worried the uplift would be too much.

After a little negotiating, we agreed we’d move immediately to the new villa at an additional cost of £900 for 4 nights. (£225 per night).

Villa 2

We upgraded to a 2 Bedroom Waterfront Villa with a Private Pool and wow what a villa this was. At 1300 square feet just for the internal space, it’s extremely large with plenty of room to really unpack and feel at home.

The two bedrooms were huge with beautiful marble en-suite bathrooms. The living room had full width sliding doors that opened onto an outside dining area and the pool.

The master bedroom also had a very large walk-in wardrobe complete with a dressing table and chairs. It also had a make-up chiller which isn’t something I’ve heard of before but goes to show the thought that went into the design. However, there was zero lighting anywhere near the dressing table which made it totally pointless and seemed like a huge oversight.

The wardrobe areas had more hangers than I could possibly ever consider filling even if I had brought every single item of clothing I own from home.

Almost everything about this room was an upgrade from the previous room such as the décor, the bathrooms, the space, the position of the villa, the view, the pool and suddenly the extra price paid seems like extremely good value for money.

Apart from three small steps in the master bedroom, this villa was all on the same level which was exactly what we were looking for.

The view from the patio and pool area was indeed uninterrupted and made for a spectacular setting where we spent most afternoons having room service lunch.

The villa was also on the other side of the peninsula from the first villa which is very important because the waters were much calmer (at our time of staying). I probably wouldn’t have gone in the sea from the first villa, however, I actually ended up spending quite a lot of time in it due to our deck and how calm it was. If the room wasn’t expensive enough, they wanted to charge 90 euros a day to heat the private pool. Unfortunately, it was too cold for us to take full advantage which was a shame, especially given how much we were paying for the room. In their defense, they cite environmental reasons. 

Behind a small gate by the pool are 20 or so wooden steps down to our very own private deck with sun loungers and towels. I enjoyed snorkeling off this deck and just sitting down there catching the end of day sun with the calming water glistening in front of us. This truly was a happy place for us.

Restaurants

The hotel has 5 main restaurants which are looked after by their F&B manager, Leo. I wouldn’t usually mention team members in my reviews; however, Leo was fantastic. Always around, running plates in numerous restaurants at the same time, meeting guests, and making everyone feel special. Our little man took to him in particular and Leo was super kind to him.

Aristos: This is a French fine dining restaurant with sunset views over the sea and hills behind. We shared a large seabass with some sides, which was fantastic.

Yali Seafood: We ate here for lunch and dinner. At lunchtime, it felt a little strange as the menu was the same as the evening which is very limited to large dinner-type meals instead of something small and maybe more relaxed. The service was super slow at lunch time too and I can’t help but feel this is a missed opportunity to create a really great lunch spot. The position of the restaurant is right on the water with amazing views.

At dinner, we had a great table and watched the sunset, again with a whole seabass to share. The service at dinner was much better thankfully.

Merlins: This is an adult-only restaurant that serves Asian and Latin American fusion. We ate on the terrace of the lobby bar and Leo treated us to a feast of sushi, crispy duck, spring rolls, salmon, and many more items. We ended up needing 3 tables to fit everything on. This was a fantastic meal, and we left very satisfied and full.

Trattoria: This is an Italian restaurant located below Aristos. We ate here on our arrival evening, but we felt it lacked an atmosphere. Sure, it was the end of the season, but it still missed something. We both had a pasta dish, and we shared a pizza at the same time. This is a thing we do at most Italians as it’s the best of both worlds. Our friends find it very funny that we have 3 mains between us. The food was ok, it wasn’t amazing, and the portion sizes were honestly too big. By the time Katrina was stuffed it looked like she hadn’t touched it which then led to her feeling bad sending it back.

Mon Repos: This is their main buffet restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We only ate here at breakfast. It is the busiest breakfast I have ever seen anywhere. Dozens and dozens of people finding food at the same time is all a bit too chaotic for me. Our breakfasts were short and sweet as we would rather save space for a nice lunch and dinner.

Bars

The main bar is the lobby bar which we visited every evening after dinner. Shout out to the team here, especially Adriana who was one of the most fantastic employees we have ever met. She was really kind to our toddler and always remembered our drinks.

They put on a variety of music each evening from singers to pianists to DJs and none of the entertainment was too overbearing like we have experienced elsewhere.  

There is also a bar next to the main beach that serves a variety of drinks but mostly cocktails, beers, and wines. I enjoyed a pina colada once which was very nice.

Beaches & Pools

There are 3 private beaches and 2 communal pools. One of the beaches is an adult only, one is the main beach and is a little bigger and the third beach is exclusively for homes and villa guests, which we were able to use but we didn’t know about this beach until the last day so didn’t visit it.

The two pools are next to each other, and both are located by the main building with amazing panoramic sea views. The larger being the main pool with plenty of sun loungers and cabanas and the smaller one is an adult-only pool.

I understand that the large pool is heated but the adult-only pool is not so when you visit outside of the main summer months as we did, you may want to consider this.

We spent a lot of time at the main beach, and we never struggled to get sun loungers when we arrived however by lunchtime they were always fully taken.

Unfortunately, the usual morning lounge grabbers were here too! Not too many but by the time we arrived at the beach there were 5 to 10 being held by various objects.

I would also add that compared to other luxury beach resorts we have been to before; this one lacked the finer touches. For example, when we arrived at the beach the beach staff were quite hard to find to get towels from and when we did, they brought them over and almost threw them at us instead of helping set up our loungers like almost everywhere else does.

We also felt the service on the beach for drinks and food was almost non-existent. If you wanted a drink, you’d almost certainly have to walk to the bar to get it yourself.

Other than those minor niggles it was a really nice place to spend hours on end. The sand was smooth, and the sea had zero rocks which made it very pleasant to walk into without worrying about cutting your feet. Albeit a little cold this time of the year but we’ll let the hotel off that one.

Hotel Grounds

The grounds around the hotel are looked after beautifully and as mentioned earlier on, remind me more of a high-end hotel in the Amalfi Coast.

Whilst there aren’t too many communal areas unlike Ikos Odisia which had plenty, what they do have are looked after really well and always looked on point during our visit.

I would say that even some of the grounds such as flooring and walling are also showing their age a little. It just wasn’t as polished as maybe I would have expected it to be for the price point but none of this deterred from our experience.

I understand the hotel renovated some rooms during covid but not all so maybe they are slowly working their way through upgrades.

Facilities

There are too many things on offer for me to list them all, however I will cover the main points.

Water sports: The hotel has a great water sports centre located at the top of the peninsula that offers all of the usual suspects, including but not limited to, paddle boards, see-through kayaks, boat hire, jet skiing, wakeboarding, and underwater scooters.

It’s worth noting that even non-motorised water sports are chargeable. Paddle boards cost us 20 euros an hour each. This is what we did most days on the calmest waters we have ever experienced.

Gym: There is a very decent looking gym that has a great amount of equipment which is quite impressive for a hotel. It was very busy each morning which seems to be the time of choice.

Cinema: Located at the very end of the peninsula is their outdoor cinema that plays movies in the evenings several times a week. This can also be booked for private showings which would be really cool, especially given the setting.

Elixir Spa: Whilst I didn’t have any treatments during my stay, I did pop down to take a look at the spa which is a lovely space that is located below reception in the main building. Whilst it’s not the biggest spa I have seen it’s more than enough and has everything you need such as a heated pool, sauna, outside relaxation area, steam room, massage rooms and an aerobic fitness room.

 Kids Information

For those of you who do not want to read about kids, please skip to the summary below.

This hotel caters brilliantly for kids of all ages. From babies to teenagers. For babies, they can offer everything from cots to training toilet seats. You just have to submit a request form before you stay requesting what items you require.

Kids up to the age of 12 eat for free each day at the Trattoria Italian restaurant. I would suggest doing this because one day we ordered a plain bowl of pasta to the room and it cost over 23 euros and of course he didn’t touch it, so this is an expensive way to do it.

The kids club is also free and located in between the main pool and main beach which is ideal if you want to leave them there whilst you find a moment of peace but not be too far away.

Following on from my earlier comments about rooms. Before you book, make sure you check which room type you are going for and how many steps it has. I don’t think they should sell the first villa we were given to families with young children. It just isn’t safe.

Summary

For a last-minute trip, we had a blast! All 3 of us loved almost every single moment and it was exactly what we needed.

Villa 46 was our piece of heaven, and I wish we could stay there every year however I priced a week in June next year and it was over 20,000 euros! Maybe not!

There are areas of improvement needed such as modernising the hotel including some rooms and I felt the food offering could have been better (sorry Leo).

Other than the negatives I wrote about earlier such as the beach and pool service, I think this hotel is fantastic. The team are amazing, and the location is really special.

We loved having Katerina on WhatsApp to help with anything we might have needed. We have used this type of service before at other hotels and it was nowhere near as good as Imperial. Katerina was a superstar and did everything within her power to make sure we were happy.

We spent half a day in Corfu old town that we would definitely recommend. It has a beautiful feel about it with lots of old buildings and streets lined with fantastic restaurants and coffee shops. We visited the famous fortress too which was nice and easy to do with some great views. 

Overall, we were very happy and would love to return one day.