"Athina Luxury Suites is a beautiful hotel, with suites that are well-suited for an enjoyable stay and spectacular views of the sea, and very pleasant staff, just what one would expect from Santorini. Having said that, though, there were gaps in service that made the stay there far less than it should have been for such as highly regarded hotel. This may be due to the fact that we were there so early in the season (the very beginning of March) that many on the staff were new and not sufficiently trained to pay attention to details. We feel an obligation to future visitors to identify some of these gaps so they can perhaps be avoided.
Examples:
Suite location: When we arrived, we were told that our suite had been upgraded. Notwithstanding that I was quite clearly walking with a cane due to knee problems, we were not told that the suite was four or five levels down the side of a steep cliff until we started the descent, which to me felt endless. Had the staff been more attentive (i.e., saw that I was evidently walking with a cane), they might have warned us of the challenge in accessing the room and suggested an alternative. As a result of the location, and my knee problem, we left the suite only one time a day. (Note – we knew there would be stairs to manage, but not as many as we in fact experienced.)
Hot tub: One of the benefits of the upgrade was our own private hot tub, which seemed to be a saving grace for having to go down, and up, so many steps given the location of the suite. But, first, the hot tub wasn’t hot. We were told it was set for 95 degrees F. It clearly was not. Second, the jets turned off at less than 2 minute intervals. Repeatedly. We were told that was how they worked and couldn’t be changed. Really? Result: having endured the descent to the suite, during our stay we were only able to use the hot tub for about 6 minutes (3 cycles -- hoping it would get warmer).
Breakfasts: Another benefit was to be able to have breakfast in our room. For the first morning we requested vegetable omelets on the order slip, and were served ham omelets. We don’t eat ham. We chose not to make an issue. But we didn’t eat them. For the second morning, we specifically filled out the breakfast request form emphasizing vegetable omelets. And received ham omelets again. This time we made them exchange them. For the third morning, we again specifically filled out the breakfast request slip, asking this time for pancakes….and received omelets again. Seriously. At least they were vegetable, not ham. It was not clear that the order slips themselves were shared with the kitchen.
So, we would advise Athina Luxury Suites to do a better job of training staff to pay attention to details at the beginning of the season – and would suggest that any guests coming early in the season, like March, be aware that they themselves may need to pay special attention if they wish to receive service commensurate with the beauty of the hotel."
