Arhontiko Ermoupolis

This is one of the saddest reviews I’ve ever had to write. I don’t usually review places outside Booking or TripAdvisor, but I felt I had to describe how poor our stay was. I booked arhontiko Ermoupolis for the first two days of October 2019. I love luxury boutique hotels, so the idea of staying in an original Syran villa had me excited. When my girlfriend and I arrived in the afternoon, the outside of the house looked stunning. It’s beautiful, well kept, and just a couple of steps from Agios Nikolaos, with the bell towers right above you. That was where the charm stopped. You have to buzz to get in, which didn’t feel much like a five-star welcome. The first thing we saw was the downstairs room advertised as one of the four units. Outside it, the chair and table were covered in clothes, objects, empty bottles, and other junk. We assumed a guest had left a mess, then learned we were the only guests there. The owner, Rania, wasn’t on the property. An older man greeted us without much enthusiasm, and I felt like I was intruding in someone’s home. We were travelling for several weeks and had a lot of luggage: I had three large bags and my girlfriend had a small cabin trolley. He took her little bag without asking whether he could help with the heavier ones, leaving her with the weight of the big luggage. I’m young and can carry my bags myself, but at least asking would have been a gesture you’d expect at a five-star place. The house itself is pretty and looks authentic, but nobody showed us around. We were taken quickly to our room, and that was it. The man was sitting comfortably on the sofa with the TV on the whole time. It was hard to tell if this was meant to be a five-star property or a bed for rent in someone’s home. We had a deluxe double on the main floor. I’d read reviews saying some rooms had no windows, and the owner replied that all the rooms had windows. Ours had no window to the outside. There was one looking onto a roofed patio about 100 by 100 cm, with very little light coming in. Opposite was the bathroom window of the second ground-floor unit. We were lucky to be alone. The room was dark, hot, old, and so small. The wardrobe hit the bed when opened, and there wasn’t room to leave a bag open. Just a mess. I’d also read a review about dirty, poor-quality towels and the owner’s rather unkind response that they were Coco-may and always clean. Our towels were old Zara Home ones, extremely rough, like they scrubbed you when you dried off, and one had a huge stain. The slippers were reusable, and there was no robe. Breakfast was very basic: tomatoes, grapes, a croissant cut in half, two Danish pastries cut in half, a couple of cookies, a little yogurt, and cornflakes. Not exactly five-star. The next day we were served the leftovers. As we were getting ready to leave, we found out there was a ferry strike and our boat had been cancelled. The man became alarmed and asked when we’d be leaving, seeming almost scared we might stay longer. This was still a few hours before checkout, and we had the right to remain there. We felt pressured to leave before we’d worked out what to do. He almost kicked us out, then shut the door while we were loading the car. KEEP AWAY!

My wife and I stayed with Rania in 2018 and gave her 3000 euro in cash to book several weeks for us in 2019. I’m leaving my earlier review as I wrote it: the place is pretty, but it’s up a steep, slippery hill from town, and there are many fine places much closer to the main sandy beach. The main issue is that I no longer trust the safety of staying here. I believe they defrauded me. We prepaid for those weeks in 2018, but early in 2019 I developed cancer and couldn’t travel. I contacted her many months before our planned arrival, and she said she would return the money. I’m sorry to say she gave back only a small part. I suspect she had no trouble rebooking our room and did not pay taxes on the room she rebooked in 2019, before Covid. When I paid her, she also told me she didn’t have to report the 3000 euro as income because “we were friends.” This place doesn’t seem reputable to me. If you stay here, be careful with your money.

Back in 2018, we asked Rania to find us a nice place to stay for our wedding. She gave us a fairly expensive offer on paper, without taxes, and was even prepared to cancel somebody else’s booking to host us. After reading the other reviews, I’m glad we didn’t accept. Practices like this are doing real damage to the country.

A special place in a neoclassical Hermoupolian building, with a one-of-a-kind hostess. Rania makes sure everything is just right. One of the best hotel beds I’ve ever slept in. Well done, Rania!