Esperia

The walls are thin enough that hallway sounds and noise from neighboring rooms came through easily. Still, the location is hard to beat, with both the beach and Rhodes Old Town a short walk away. Our room was kept clean with daily service, the staff were consistently friendly, and we enjoyed the breakfasts. I’d recommend Esperia City Hotel for its location and service despite the noise.

The worst part of the stay was the breakfast. The food selection was poor and the quality low, and there wasn’t even cheese. Olive oil came in small bottles that guests weren’t allowed to take to the table. When we brought one over, a waiter came to our table with a rude, aggressive expression and took it away. I guess hotel manager Apostolis, who was sitting nearby, had told him to do that. It felt like they were watching how much guests ate. My mother was also told to leave her filled plate inside when she wanted to eat outdoors, because apparently the indoor and outdoor areas had a fixed number of plates. There was only one plate per person on each table, and when I asked for another, the waitress said that one plate was for everything. My parents, my sister and I stayed for five days in mid-September. We’d arranged the family trip months in advance and flew from Germany to Rhodes on a Monday. We’d booked a family suite, but the room we got looked nothing like the pictures. We tried not to make a big issue of that, but the bathroom smelled bad and was in terrible condition. The shower curtain didn’t look clean enough for any of us to use the shower. The toilet seat and sink were so low that we hit our heads while brushing our teeth, and I ended up using the lobby toilet. The air conditioner in my and my sister’s room didn’t work because the balcony door wouldn’t close properly. In that heat, we couldn’t manage even a minute without AC. I told reception, and they offered us a room on the first level, but that had other problems too. They said the door couldn’t be fixed until the next day, when an exterior maintenance worker would be available. After the long flight and all the arrangements, we were shocked. I regret booking this hotel. I’m writing this to help others avoid the same awful experience, and wish I’d seen an honest review like this before booking.

Breakfast was a favorite, with a full selection and different food each day. The hotel was beautiful and well organized, and the staff were so kind and helpful. They made us feel at home and very welcome. 💖🫂😉

We paid for a lost night and got no compensation at all. After returning home, I also saw that the hotel confirmed in Booking.com messages that my mother’s two linen dresses, one white and one green, had been found, but our friends in Rhodes were then told there were no dresses to collect. The hotel gave no explanation or took responsibility. We had originally liked its location, bright rooms, and polite receptionists, but this left us feeling the place wasn’t trustworthy. I absolutely do not recommend it. We arrived around 2 AM after a delayed flight, on a Rhodes trip booked through a travel agency. At check-in we were given a room completely different from the one reserved, and it doesn’t appear on any Esperia Hotel website. The hotel has a new building and an old one that felt like it was from our great-grandparents’ time. Online, only the new building is shown. The agency had emailed to confirm the room was available for our dates, and the hotel had said it was. I told reception this wasn’t the room we’d booked and asked for a change or refund. The receptionist said she couldn’t do anything and we’d have to wait for the manager in the morning. So we had to choose between spending the night in a horrible, moldy room that looked centuries old and worth at most €200, or sleeping at reception. We spent two hours discussing it there with no solution, then had no choice but to stay. We managed at most an hour in a filthy room, in a cement-like bed with no pillow. The next day, our travel agency representative and the manager came to help. He offered a basically similar apartment that was slightly larger, and said casually that we should be satisfied because there was no other option. We refused and asked for our money back. After a long discussion, he said they’d found two separate rooms, though we’d booked one apartment. We accepted them in the new building because that was the best option then. The hotel blamed an overbooking and said there was nothing they could do. I suspect the tourists meant for those two rooms had also been pushed into the old building. Without the agency, I doubt anyone would have paid attention to us. My mother and I stayed at Hotel Hermes, Room 304, from August 2nd to August 3rd. After we got home, we realized she’d left the dresses hanging in the wardrobe. I’ve attached pictures comparing what we booked with what we received.