albergo Atene

The only thing that worked for us was how easy it was to reach the beach and town center. I won’t stay here again or recommend it. The room looked nothing like the photos, and the hotel seems to have little to offer beyond its location, which may explain why it’s the cheapest in Riccione. We were put on the third floor even though nobody was staying on the second. There was no light on our floor at night, unlike the first and second floors. Of the roughly six rooms per floor, only ours and one other were occupied up there, and they were next to each other, so we could hear everything from next door. The hygiene was poor: dust and dirt covered the bed, the mirror was greasy, and our towels weren’t changed daily. They folded the dirty towels and returned them to the bathroom, hiding a makeup stain by folding that part inside. The soap sachets had run out and weren’t replaced either. The bathroom had no shower enclosure, just a curtain that stuck to us and made showering uncomfortable. Breakfast was poor. We were told there was a special arrangement with a beach about 15-20 minutes away, but they gave us no paperwork to prove we were staying at the hotel. At the beach, the attendant asked for it, so we had to pay full price.

We paid more than the stay was worth, and I wouldn’t recommend the Atene Hotel to anyone. I’ll gladly return to Riccione, which is a beautiful seaside resort with lots to do and plenty of fun for young people, but the hotel drove us away during what should have been an enjoyable week in August. The nights were impossible: young people made a racket and slammed doors at all hours, with no consideration for other guests. The manager was incredibly rude and failed to give us all the information we needed at check-in. The cleaning lady was the only very kind employee, but she didn’t seem suited to the job and sat on the stairs texting instead of working. Our room and the rest of the hotel were filthy and poorly maintained, and there were no refrigerators in the rooms. The website photos were fake, and breakfast was so bad that we ended up going to a bar for coffee. They served the same dishes each time. Air conditioning cost €5 per day. The owner didn’t want us to leave it on all day, but we did.

The rooms were nothing like the photos, and the bathrooms weren’t up to standard. During our six-day stay, we found dust everywhere and insects in the mattresses, specifically bedbugs. The owner was very rude when we raised the issues. Our bathroom was filthy, had no shower enclosure, and the broken pipes constantly smelled of sewage. We were told we couldn’t move rooms because they were all occupied. It was unbearably hot, with air conditioning only on the third floor, and naturally it cost extra. An awful, dirty nightmare of a hotel.

The location was the one good thing. Everything else was a long list of problems, and I’d advise people to stay somewhere else, or even sleep on the beach or in the car. We were there for a week, and my partner had to clean the room herself. The bathroom was in terrible shape, and the shower in room 104 was disgusting and awkward to use. It had a curtain instead of the enclosure shown in the photo. The room and property were unhygienic enough that, as an allergy sufferer, I struggled to breathe and ended up with a cough and sore throat. There was no air conditioning or even a fan to help us sleep. I asked the owner for a solution and was told, “not just because you’re hot.” So I bought two fans for the room. It was 38°C outside and 45°C inside, according to several thermometers that all showed the same reading. The owner was generally quite rude, though he did answer kindly when I paid the already very expensive bill. Breakfast was very, very, very low quality. I’d spent money on it, so I felt bad about not using the service, but I could barely make myself eat it. Anyone considering breakfast should absolutely skip it and go to nearby bars, which are much better and cheaper. We had to clean the balcony before putting our swimwear and a few clothes there. The little clothesline was about a meter long, and we couldn’t hang much because water dripped onto it from the rusty, leaky air-conditioning motor outside. We had to take turns so the laundry wouldn’t pile up too much, and one of us went without washing clothes. The photos are misleading and don’t show the truth.