"Upon arrival at ‘Elivi Skiathos Luxury Resort’, you could be forgiven for thinking that you had arrived at a gatehouse, to an institution, as opposed to a ‘Luxury Resort’.
My partner and I were unfortunate enough to have chosen this hotel, albeit there are slim pickings, so far as hotels are concerned, on the beautiful island of Skiathos.
We were required to move rooms, three times, in less than 48 hours, due to filthy and unhygienic rooms; and blocked drains.
The first thing, that hit us both, when we entered the first room, was the overpowering musty smell. The shower gel container, in the shower, was completely empty, there was mould all around the base of the shower, and the drain was blocked, so we had to stand in our own used, and stagnant, drain water. Oh, and of course, not forgetting the large ants on the balcony, and inside the room.
We asked to speak to the manager and we were rudely told to go to reception. After some prevarication, the ‘general manager’ arrived at our door, on an electric buggy. It was clear he was well versed in dealing with complaints about his rooms. He was, at first, full of apologies, he accepted that the state of the room was ‘totally unacceptable’, and offered us an upgrade, and a discounted rate for our third night.
We moved to our second room, which we had been assured had been cleaned to the ‘highest standard’. The theme continued, however, with an overpowering musty smell. The cleaning staff had obviously forgotten to clean the pool that had lumps of raw bird excrement, around the top edge.
In an attempt not to have a completely ruined much needed holiday, after both separately losing a beloved parent, and celebrating a special anniversary, we went to the other side of the island, which is completely unspoilt and beautiful. When we got back to room number two, my partner went for a shower and I went down the hill, to the shop. Before I had even made it back, the bathroom, the living room and the bedroom floors had flooded from my partner having the audacity to have a shower! Her pristine Celine and LRL beach bags, and sandals, were completely soaked, and ruined from dirty drain water.
The ‘general manager’ again attended and was insistent that his ‘expert wedding team’ would carefully restore the Celine bag to its former pristine condition, or it would be replaced. My partner, very reluctantly, handed it over, on the strict understanding it would be replaced, if it wasn’t properly restored. Again, the ‘general manager’ was full of apologies, moved us to a downgraded, and much smaller, room, this time, and gave us a complimentary meal in his Japanese restaurant, where cats roam free. The buggy driver was seen to throw the Celine bag onto the front seat of his vehicle.
The following morning, we called reception and were informed that the bag had been fully dried with a hair dryer!! We were subsequently presented with the bag, which had been completely damaged by the hotel.
We immediately notified the ‘general manager’ about the damage that the hotel had caused to the bag. He said he would have it collected and then later, when no one had collected it, told us to drop it off at reception! He said it had been returned “in great condition”.
That was completely untrue. We had, first, been informed, by a receptionist, that they had ‘dried it with a hairdryer’; second, by the ‘general manager’, in a Whatsapp message, that it had been 'dry cleaned'; and third, in person, by the ‘general manager’, that it had been dried with a micro fibre cloth!!! Conveniently, the last version of the events, given by the hotel, was just after we had sent a copy of the care instructions, obtained from the Celine website, to the 'general manager', which confirmed the bag should never come into contact with liquid, but in the event that it did, should only be dabbed with 'a dry, non- fluffy, light coloured absorbent cloth'. You, like us, may wonder how a soaked ‘Palm Leaves’ beach bag, could be dried with a 'micro fibre cloth', in around 12 hours…
The ‘general manager’ was shown time and dated stamped photographs of the bag, both immediately before, and immediately after, it had been returned by the hotel. At that stage, his attitude changed. He lied and stated that we had never been told that the bag had been dried with a hair dryer, or that he had undertaken to replace it, in the event it was not restored to its original condition.
The general manager alleged, inter alia, that: i) I would be held responsible, by the hotel, for any water damage to his room, 'as a result of my conduct' [having a shower]; ii) the blocked drains were perfectly normal, in a seaside resort; and, in relation to room 1, due to ‘accumulated sand’; and, in relation to room 2, due to the ‘presence of sand, and also wooden debris’; iii) the second room was subject to a full inspection, particularly in relation to the functioning of all of its installations, and no malfunctions had been detected; iv) he had never said that the bag would be replaced by the hotel, if it wasn’t fixed; v) I had caused ‘usage’ damage to my own Celine bag; and vi) the hotel had upgraded us to the second room, without charging us, completing ignoring the obvious, namely that we were only moved due to the condition of the first room.
It is astonishing that my partner, and I, could possibly have been responsible for sand in the drains, at the Elivi property, when neither of us had stepped foot, on the beach, before having a shower! Where we were supposed to have found 'wooden debris' is beyond us!
Matters came to a head, when we returned late afternoon, on the third day, in the rain, to discover that the hotel had locked us out of the room and so we could not access our belongings.
We immediately attended reception and spoke to the ‘general manager’, who happened to be in the foyer. We were ushered into a more private area, by him, together with a senior female member of staff. We were told we had to pay, under Greek Law, immediately, for the third night. We said that there was no question of us paying, given that the hotel owed us a significant sum, for the damage it was responsible for, in respect of our belongings. We stated that we required immediate access to our room and we would be leaving the hotel. We later received threats, long after we had departed, that the police were to be called to remove us from the hotel!!!
On a final note, the charming ‘general manager’ threatened that if we wrote an unfavourable review, ‘they’ [he/ the hotel], would exercise all legal rights to sue for compensation. This may explain the lack of negative reviews about the ‘Elivi Skiathos Luxurt Resort’. It was pointed out, to him, that guests are perfectly, and legally, entitled to write factually honest reviews about a hotel, at which they have stayed. The above review is just that."
