Alva Athens Hotel

"Terrible experience. My 2 friends and I booked a room each in the Alva in early March. My friends booked the last 2 “free-cancellation” rooms so my booking was prepaid, which we expected would be fine. A few weeks after booking my friends were notified that their rooms had been cancelled. No apologies or explanations were provided. I contacted the hotel and they confirmed that my friends had been cancelled. In that case I requested that my room be cancelled and refunded. Long story short, after SEVERAL phone calls and a few emails to both the hotel and booking.com my refund request was declined. Each tried to blame the other before they both agreed that it was a third party booking agent who needed to make the refund. There were no contact details for this agent. It is the worst experience I have ever had with a hotel and it completely spoiled the holiday. I had to stay in a separate hotel to my friends. The room was nice and clean. Though breakfasts weren’t included, I only ate one at the hotel. It was extremely basic. I joined my friends at their hotel and paid for their nice breakfast every other morning. I generally don’t believe in bad reviews. Problems are best addressed, there and then, between reasonable people, but this experience was beyond unacceptable."

"⚠️ WARNING: Do NOT Book This Hotel – Awful Experience, Rude Staff, and Dirty Facilities I honestly wish I could give this place zero stars. From the moment we arrived, it was clear we made a mistake. We got there early and were not greeted, offered help with our luggage, or even acknowledged with basic courtesy. Instead, we were met with an extremely rude attitude from a man calling himself "John Srairidis" (highly doubtful that’s his real name—he never welcomed us or asked about our travels). The first thing he said was that our room wouldn’t be ready until after 2 PM. Fair enough—we went out to get some food and drinks. (By the way, the hotel has NO food, NO drinks, NO bar.) When we came back around 2:30 PM, we were met with the same terrible attitude. John was on a personal phone call and didn’t even bother acknowledging us. After waiting patiently, he snapped at us to sit down in a very aggressive manner. At that point, I was done. I called him out for his lack of customer service and told him he was treating us unfairly, even racially profiling us with the way he acted. He finally got up and gave us our room key, but not before saying: “If you wanted a 5-star hotel and help with your bags, you shouldn’t have booked this one.” He even cursed at us—completely unprofessional, shocking behavior from someone working in hospitality. But it gets worse. There was a leak inside the hotel, and I’ve attached photos that show just how bad it was. One photo shows the bathroom and elevator entrance located directly in what’s supposed to be the “food area”—absolutely disgusting. I can’t even begin to describe how unsanitary and unwelcoming the entire environment felt. We had done our research before booking—this hotel somehow had a 4.5-star rating. DO NOT believe those reviews. They're either outdated or fake. Our friends stayed at the Luwian, and the difference in hospitality, cleanliness, and professionalism was like night and day. Do yourself a favor—book there instead and skip this nightmare."

"As a solo traveler, safety is my top priority, and I felt completely comfortable at Alva Hotel. The staff was always available if I needed anything, and the area around the hotel was well-lit and lively at night. Plus, the common areas were great for meeting other travelers!"