FORGET island-hopping – what about room-hopping on your next break?
Booking a hotel room for a holiday is a bit of a dice roll.
Will you be next to the bar or perched peacefully up high with a top view?
Will your neighbours be a quiet couple keen on early nights or young lads up for endless boozy fights?
Two Corfu hotels have introduced fun new packages at their signature hotels.
At the MarBella Corfu, guests can sign up for a “room-hopping” deal and try out various rooms.
And the MarBella Nido has a “suite-hopping” package.
At busy times, some beautiful rooms go unused between bookings for longer stays.
That isn’t great for the hotels or for holidaymakers.
We stayed for four nights at the MarBell Corfu and changed rooms twice.
With these packages, the hotels take care of everything — even packing and unpacking your case.
The room you get depends on availability.
First we had a standard room with a garden view, spent nights two and three in a superior room and ended up in a junior suite with its own pool.
You could even book a week in a standard double and find yourself living in a plush suite.
The best thing about it? You only ever pay for a standard double room.
While our room-hopping was a novel way to explore the hotel, you would be pressed to find anything to complain about wherever you stayed.
'FABULOUS VIEWS'
You get fabulous views of the Ionian Sea from almost any point, while the hotel has a private stretch of beach with a full bar service.
After extensive research, we can confirm having a Marbella Spritz, the hotel’s signature cocktail, while paddling in the ocean is worth a try.
For a more active afternoon, take one of the hotel’s boats or canoes to enjoy the bay, or saddle up on a bike to explore the nearby slopes.
New for this summer is a guided paddleboard safari, including the wonders of the deep and also the Old Fortress of Corfu, which dates from the 6th Century, and the Agios Ioannis Peristeron Castle on the hilltop next to the hotel.
We opted for a hike up the mountains to finish our day, earning up the evening’s cocktails.
MarBella has thought of some really fun ways of keeping guests entertained.
Seasonal activities range from birdwatching and water sports to pottery classes — even an educational robotics class for little ones.
It is not often kids come home from a holiday knowing how to build their own robot.
Unfortunately the robot class wasn’t offered for adult-sized kids, so we focused on enjoying all six of the hotel’s restaurants.
The highlight was Platea, a traditional Greek place serving up local favourites every evening.
Go high-end Greek at La Bussola, indulge in Italian dishes at Comodo or fresh salads and fish at Dolphin.
While there is more than enough to try on site, the hotel runs a frequent shuttle to Corfu’s main town, where you can explore for yourself.
Frequent travellers often appreciate mixing it up on a trip — and if you are not the sort of person who gets attached to a specific room, the room-hopping deal is worth a try.
MarBella took all the stress out of moving around and the transition between rooms was effortless.
During our stay, our room changes were taken care of while we were at breakfast or sitting by the pool, so switching rooms never felt like a chore.
The whole thing became quite a fun experience and we were excited each time we changed room to see where we would go next. As it turned out, all were amazing.
GO: CORFU
GETTING/STAYING THERE: Ryanair, easyJet and jet2.com all fly to Corfu from Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Bristol and Newcastle airports. From £133 return in September. See skyscanner.net.
The Marbellous Room Hopper Package runs until September, for stays of five nights or more. Book seven nights and one night is free.
You will be charged the cost of a standard garden-view room, around £198 a night half-board. You could then be upgraded to a superior room (£280), or a suite (£391). See marbella.gr.
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