Art&Spa Hotel Villa Creoli

If you’re desperate for a roof over your head, maybe this will do, hence the two stars. It’s advertised as some kind of artsy villa from the great ’50s, but what you find is a tasteless hotel that mostly brings to mind a horror B-movie from the ’80s. Old things are scattered around the breakfast area to suggest an old luxurious era, but it doesn’t work. The wooden floor and old plumbing kept me awake, and the breakfast was mediocre at best.

The street is run-down, with abandoned, decaying houses. The manager was very unfriendly, rude, and aggressive. Stay away if your time matters to you.

We paid 75 euros for one night in Xylokastro because we wanted somewhere cheap while visiting friends. We found Epoca or villa creoli, and noticed it appeared under different names on different booking platforms, but didn’t think much of it. When we arrived, the lobby was empty. We called the contact number three times, heard it ring, and got no answer. About 15 minutes later a man showed up, seeming lazy and unwilling to help. He handed us the key, gave a couple of details about the room, and sent us to the second floor. The elevator smelled bad and was too small for a family of three with luggage. The room was awful. There was a bad smell, stains on the walls, and cracked paint in places. The laminate floor was swollen and stained, and we couldn’t tell when it had last been mopped. The skirting boards were peeling, the furniture was dusty, and the bed was two singles pushed together with stone-hard mattresses. Its plywood headboard was covered with paper wallpaper and looked worn out. The sheets were stained, the towels old and damp, and mold covered a large part of the ceiling. The refrigerator was dirty, smelly, and not working. Two glasses sat upside down right on its surface. There was a glass bottle of water, with salts around it, though the water in Xylokastro is NOT drinkable. Mold had started growing on the rubber stopper. The air conditioner looked like it could give you Legionnaires’ disease. The outdoor unit was rusty and covered in mud and lint, the clothesline was rusty, and the hanging planter held cigarette butts instead of flowers. The balcony was clearly unclean. In the bathroom, a forgotten water bottle sat on the ventilation unit. The sink, faucet, mirror, shower base, and curtain were all DIRTY. The faucet was loose, there was no hot water, and the toilet seat was wobbly. There was also a gap in the bathroom ceiling between the masonry and the beam. The hallway, main room, and other details suggested a shoddy renovation. Some toiletries even had other hotels’ brands on them. We had to borrow sheets and towels just to get through the night. The next morning we looked for the owner to complain. His response was extremely sarcastic. We asked him to come upstairs and see the problems. He insisted the mold wasn’t mold and provocatively asked me what else it could be, saying, “Mold is black, that’s not black.” He blamed us for the refrigerator not working because we hadn’t turned on a fuse, then said it wasn’t his responsibility to know which employee was messing with the switches. When I asked whose responsibility it was, he wouldn’t answer and mocked me with, “Don’t you have switches in your house?” He also blamed us for the lack of hot water, claiming we hadn’t turned the right valve. Then he called us plebeians and ungrateful, arguing that two single beds are wider than a double. He kept challenging our patience and intelligence in a biting tone. Tragic, sarcastic, unacceptable, a liar and provocative. Even calling the accommodation unsanitary is putting it mildly.

I’ve never stayed in a worse hotel. It was filthy, horrible, and disgusting. The man who calls everyone Pinocchio and liars must still be living in his own fairy tale. The building should be demolished. The walls were covered in grime, the beds were like crates, and there were ants and cockroaches on the floor. You had to know which bathroom valve controlled hot and cold water, even though the blue one was hot and the red one cold. The toilet was yellow from limescale and buildup, and everything was clogged. Dust, cobwebs, and cigarette smell were everywhere. I can’t believe hotels like this are still operating in my country in 2023. I know the owner will reply and say I never stayed there.