Íkaros — Hotel in Athens

I was travelling alone from Piraeus to Athens airport and chose this hotel for an overnight stay before leaving early next morning. I primarily chose the Ikaros as it was cheap, only 28 euro for a single room, and I wasn't going to be there long. However, the price reflected the poor location and the dreadful noise from the busy six lane road running directly past the hotel. Although the helpful receptionist was kind enough to give me a room at the back ( with no view) this was preferable to the front facing rooms which were indescribably noisy, even throughout the night the rumble of traffic could be heard.||||I wanted to get from Piraeus to the hotel by bus, and after a few false starts, the A1 bus which is labelled Glyfada and Voula goes past the hotel and stops opposite the big Poseidon nightclub which is a landmark. Very cheap on the bus, only 1.20€, You have to cross the six lane carriageway, but there is a crossing point. Apparently the airport X96 express bus does not drop off passengers, you can only disembark if someone is being picked up, so it is safer and cheaper to get the A1 bus from centre of Piraeus (bus stop not easy to find!).||Anyway, the hotel room was clean and functional and the shower was excellent. The little bar/cafe attached to the hotel was not freally open, due to the bad weather and no customers, but the receptionist did make me a cup of coffee on request, and later that evening they managed to produce a small toasted sandwich for me. As far as I could ascertain, there are NO nearby shops or cafes within walking distance, so bring snacks with you. As I was a solo female traveller. I didnt want to walk round after dark looking for a cafe.||As well as the road noise, I also had a unsettled night as the man In next room arrived back noisily at about 10am and I could hear his tv until 2am! Then, after that, he proceeded to make a noise which sounded like a guitar being strummed very badly, no tune, just randomly, it was very weird. Despite banging on the wall three times in the early hours the noise didnt stop until about 5am, my alarm was 630am so I had a very disturbed night! But maybe you will be lucky and have a quiet and considerate guest in the adjoining room.||Early next morning I left the hotel at 645am, no one visible on reception, no breakfast. I was told earlier that the best stop for the airport bus was to walk back in the direction of Piraeus to the next train station stop, cross the road and wait for the bus, they are roughly every 15 minutes in the day.||||I would have given this small hotel a rating higher than three if it had not been so hard to get to, and the noise. It is ideal if you want somewhere halfway to the airport without paying a high price, but the road noise and lack of meals might put you off.||||There was good wifi reception in the small lounge downstairs, and apparently on the first floor, but my room on second floor had an intermittent t...

Toilet not functioning properly. Non-stop noisy leak in bowl and leaking somewhere around the base and continued wet floor which made going to toilet very unpleasant. Reported to staff immediately an unsuccessful attempt to rectify led to request the next morning to change room. One staff member confirmed room nextdoor would be available but the same staff member that tried to repair the problem the night before refused to acknowledge that the situation was important enough to warrant a change. I explained that my wife is fighting CANCER, and that this was not an ideal situation for her wellbeing and emotional state. The staff attendant expressed ignorance and became nonresponsive in offering any help or solution. His behavior firstly saddened me and emotional tears began to fill my eyes which then resulted in voicing my disgust in his professionalism and lack of sympathy. I then asked to cancel the rest of my reservation and refund the balance of my booking due to the failure to supply and service a booking. His response was I don't care for what you want and I don't care to who you go to complain to... Lump it or Leave it... I chose to leave it and packed our bags and took my distraught wife out of there... Where do I go from here professionally to submit a complaint and get a refund... Never in my travels have I experienced this...

Remember that this hotel is really cheap and don't expect something extraordinary for the price you paid. Everything is more or less devastaded/old/strange, but that's how it works at places like this one. The room (I booked a private for 2 without bathroom) is spacious, it was painted long time ago, so the walls are not clean but it looks quite ok. The bed linen (except blankets, they smelled really bad) were clean and white, the furniture was quite ok, the bathroom (outside the room) was big, just remember that old hotels in Greece have the strangest showers ever and you won't...