San Antonio

The hotel is beautiful. The views from the terraces, pool and, if you have in your suite, from the hot tub are absolutely stunning. The ladies at the reception are also very friendly and helpful with anything you may need (car rental, directions etc.). Room, terrace and hot tub are cleaned nicely every day. The hotel is built into the mountain in a way that you are totally shielded from the winds. The hotel is located between Oia and Fira which for us as a plus as you are away from all the hustle and bustle and tourist herds. It is beautiful that the hotel has kept the church of San Antonio within its entrance hall. We do not speak Greek but it seems that the waiters at breakfast made comments about guests. The bed/matress in the room needs to be changed. It appears it had been used for a while as it was compressed in the middle and therefore not very comfortable. The restaurant on site is on the expensive side. You definitely get a better deal if you go out into the cities Finally a comment not about the hotel but Santorini itself. It has been 10 years since my last visit and it definitely feels like this island has lost its authenticity unfortunately. Places like Oia have become 100% touristic, locals, little churches and its authentic charme have disappeared. At the same time I can see the dump in Santorini is growing daily.

This is my experience as a solo, female traveller. I came to this hotel as a solo female traveller and had high expectations after reading the other reviews. In fact I have been raving about how excited I was to get here and have down time in this special looking little gem. Upon my arrival at approx midnight, after a delayed plane and traveling since 11am Sunday morning , there was no one in reception to greet me. A man finally approached stating “ Yeah?” I answered hello to which the man stated again “yeah?” I answered I would like to check in, please?! He then couldn’t find my room reservation. In the end he got my key and took me to my room. The room was presentable, clean. I requested to have room service for breakfast the next morning, he said you’ll have to run down and order it in the morning. My response was okay!. The views are outstanding but they are all around the island from other hotels. This is not my first time in Santorini. The pool is refreshingly cold. The food is good and well presented. When I returned to my room after dinner, on Monday night, there was a bottle of rose and some nibbles waiting for me. I had a holistic massage with Anastasia on Tuesday morning, and it was wonderful. She took excellent care of me. Highly recommend spa treatments. €40 taxi to Oia but decided to get a bus outside for €3 as normally would hire a bike but decided to do things slightly different this time as only up the road from the main town. Taxi back cost £35. Prior to arriving, via email, I requested late check out with the cost -€180 - I decided that that was unreasonable as other 5* offered late check outs for £60 and majority of the time I was lucky enough to get it for free. My expectation wasn’t to get it for free but €180, I feel, is excessive for any guest. And so I was offered the spa shower and facilities so I agreed to that. Fantastic!. When I returned back to my room, on the Tuesday, my room had not been completed by cleaning services. The bathroom bin had not been emptied, you can’t flush the loo paper so it’s a bit unsanitary. Old glasses had not been taken away, there was red stains left on the table that were not cleaned and some glasses were left on the table outside. The sink hadn’t been cleaned nor had the products been replaced. And a plate with desert from the morning was left behind. The bed was half made and shabby, the room was not to a standard that I would expect when I have paid what I paid like the rest of the guests. Just not good enough. When I reported this to reception, one lady came to the room and apologised and agreed it wasn’t to standard. She also said regarding the shower that I should have made them aware of my departure time. It’s not my job to gather guest information, I came here to relax and enjoy my hard earned, time out. These details should have been collected whilst I was in reception, numerous times, today. Thats called deflection. Two cleaners turned up at my door but I turned them away as this was not the appropriate time, the work should have been done already. Reception basically told me that I had “turned away” cleaning staff this morning, when no one approached my room all the time I was here prior leaving to go into Oia town at 13:55hrs. So the bed was made but not very well and fresh towels left but nothing else was done. And my room was completed satisfactorily on Monday but Tuesday it’s turned out to be a complete mess. I always leave my room tidy for the cleaners as I know it’s helpful to them. Reception called and offered 30mins in another room so that I could at least have a shower before my journey home. I requested, given the nonsense service tonight (I have tomorrow to go), they could offered the room, complimentary but this was rejected. It’s a choice that can be changed but clearly don’t want too. I took the 30mins as had I said no and became demanding, I could have lost the 30mins shower, altogether. I won’t be returning as already booked for next year in Oia but what a shame that this visit has turned out to be a stress. I came here thinking I would receive outstanding services like previous guests and not too dissimilar to other 5* hotels I have stayed in on the Island. I hoped I would be leaving to go home, glowing and feeling looked after but I just ended up paying to feel like I’m the inconvenience. I know other guests have had the most wonderful time and feel so happy for them that they got that experience, I just feel jealous that I can’t write a positive experience for myself. I will not recommend this hotel, and don’t have high expectations as they may not be capable of meeting them. I don’t feel service at this hotel is exemplary or even good enough, in my experience.