Essence Hotel

The lake view from the balcony was amazing, and the room itself was really nice with a super comfortable bed. I got in a little late, but Alex at reception was kind and got me checked in quickly. He showed me to the room and even offered to carry my bags. I’d be happy to stay here again.

The pool was filthy, with garbage in it, and the sunbeds were rusty and falling apart. Inside, the room smelled awful, the bathroom was completely unclean, and I couldn’t sleep. Everything feels old or broken. This hotel needs a complete rebuild, or at best deserves one star. In its current state, people shouldn’t be staying here.

The one person who seemed to know what they were doing and was genuinely helpful was a barman. The rest of the staff weren’t helpful at all, and I really can’t see how this is meant to be a four star hotel. The food was awful. Breakfast had watery omelette, no French coffee, and oily fried potatoes. They kept serving the same sweets three days in a row, and nobody was eating them. I was so frustrated I paid extra for dinner, but the meat was very dry and the vegetables had no taste. Meals were eaten in complete silence because it felt like everyone else could hear any conversation. There was nowhere to dry clothes after trips, no tables on the balconies, and no parking space. The bathroom smelled. The pool water was dirty, and the stairs were broken, so they didn’t feel safe to use. The blue lights in the room stayed on unless I removed the card that powers all the electricity, so the choice was to sleep in a blue room all night or pull the card. I’ve never encountered that in a hotel before. I’m very disappointed. The three star hotels I’ve stayed in were much better.

On my first visit at the end of Aug last year, I couldn’t fault the hotel, so I came back this year with five family members. That turned out to be a big mistake. We paid over €700 for two nights across three rooms, mainly so our Grandmother could spend a relaxing day by the pool while the rest of us visited Meteora. She would have struggled with the heat and steps there. When the pool opened at 11am, she went down. Within about half an hour, local teenagers had taken most of the beds and spent the day pushing one another into the water and shouting. There was nowhere shaded for her to move to, so she went back to her room and stayed there all day. Reception told me locals pay €10 to use the pool for a day. It isn’t especially large, and with a big crowd of youths, you can imagine the situation. I think guests should be told about this arrangement in advance. We paid hundreds of pounds to stay, yet the pool was effectively unusable because of the screaming, loud kids. At night, local youths also gathered on the hotel patio beside the bar, right below the rooms, smoking and shouting late into the night. Staff allowed it, which made it hard to sleep. It felt more like a local youth club than a hotel. None of this happened on my previous stay, or I never would have returned with my family. It’s been embarrassing and very disappointing, and we’re glad to be leaving today to return to Nydri. There were other problems too. The air conditioning was broken in one room, and poor in the other two. The pillows were uncomfortable, towels were worn thin, and the bathrooms looked tired. The rooms across the hotel need an overhaul. The pool stairs were broken as well, making them unsafe. Breakfast was just weird. I’ve had plenty of continental breakfasts, but this was among the worst: no toaster, food brought out from previous days and gone stale. The coffee was okay. I wouldn’t return or recommend it to anyone wanting to relax and enjoy the facilities. The hotel seems to care more about local youths using them than paying guests. It’s run down and needs updating, and I wouldn’t rate it as a four star hotel.