Santorini Dreams Villas

The host was great with our baby and accommodated every request. He even bought a brand new microwave for us, then moved us to a better room for free after checkout because our original room had been booked and our flight wasn’t until late at night. The room was great too, and the rooftop hot tub had amazing views. Really good service all around.

Both villas were beautiful, but the service let the stay down. We had no idea how to reach Villa 1 until a man at a restaurant called the property for us. A heavily pregnant woman came to help with our luggage, but there was no way that was possible. About two or three hours later, we were told we had to leave because they’d given us the wrong villa. We rushed to the other one and found rubbish left by the previous guests, and the shower hadn’t been cleaned.

The one thing I really liked was the heated whirlpool on the terrace. It had a lovely side view of the caldera and sunset, and was a relaxing place to sit. There wasn’t any privacy, though, with tourists walking past at all hours. Getting there was hard: 65 long steps uphill, and nobody helped with the luggage. I never saw the host. He didn’t welcome us or explain how to find the villa, and only replied to our taxi driver’s calls and texts once we arrived. He sent the pregnant cleaning lady to meet us downhill. After I complained about the service for a villa at this price, he offered only a brief apology by text. Breakfast was disappointing, access was poor, and the villa felt neglected. The bathroom seemed made for children. When I asked about island activities, I got terse texts or brochures, with no returned calls, booking help, or extra information.

For over half our stay, the apartment smelled of rotten eggs. Some workers tried to fix it, but it barely helped, and we probably got sick and had stomach problems because of the smell. The humidity was extremely high, so our clothes stayed wet all day. Ventilation was poor, and the AC broke during our stay. The shower was clogged for a couple of days, and even after it was cleared, using it flooded the whole bathroom. Towels and bathrobes were a lottery: there were only two on the first day for three of us, and later we sometimes had none. Workers came to fix something at 11 PM, though the manager had said they’d be there two hours earlier. The manager tried to help, but ignored our request to end the stay early and several requests for a discount. They offered dinner instead. They also use donkeys to carry bags to the apartment, which we think is really bad nowadays. There were probably other problems too. In ten years and more than 100 rentals, this was our worst hotel or apartment experience. I can’t recommend this or their other apartments. A complete tragedy.