King George, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Athens — Hotel in Athens

I wanted a super nice, central hotel in prime location and was willing to pay top dollar to get something super nice. I did pay top dollar, EUR 4800 for 4 nights (eg, EUR 1.200 / night). I walked out of there feeling disgusted with myself because I was dumb enough to fall for the tourist trap that rips off Americans who can pay. Here's what we got:|| 1. An interior suite (paid, no upgrade) with a view of an air shaft, no natural light, it was dark and depressing. When we woke up and went to bed, we had no clue whether the sun was shining outside, whether it was day or night. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect exterior light and windows to the outside world for EUR 1.200 / night. Did I mention the peeling wallpaper, moldy cracks in the bathroom, etc? They're basically milking the location and reputation of the joint to rip off Americans with money. I have paid far, far less for vastly bigger, lighter, better in shape suites in equivalent hotels in Paris, London, Rome, Milan, Tokyo, San Francisco, Osaka, Buenos Aires, etc. If this place cut prices by 1/2 or 2/3, then the price would be reasonable, at the prices they actually charge, it's a complete rip-off.|| 2. The a/c didn't work, the room was hot and stuffy, we couldn't even open windows to the outside world to get ventilation or air flow. When we checked out, the bell folks told us that the heating was turned on!! The temperature outside was in the 80's during the day, why would these people turn on the heating instead of the a/c??? Guys, for EUR 1.200 / night I expect the a/c to work, got it?|| 3. The first night on arrival our only meal had been on Lufthansa (actually quite good!), but we wanted a small bite to eat before heading to a work-related cocktail event with many people, hitting that on an empty stomach after a long day's travel didn't feel like a good idea. When we arrived at the upstairs restaurant, they served Michelin star fare, eg, foam of this and gelatinous mixture of that, bizarre concoctions mixing things not naturally mixed. I asked politely if we could please have a salad, calamari, caprese (tomatoes and mozarella), and the waitress just looked me in the eye and said "no". I explained our situation that we wanted a glass of wine and something very light and healthy as we'd be having dinner in a reception shortly, and the waitress looked me in the eye and told me to go next door and have a cheeseburger. Can someone please explain to these people that not all Americans eat cheeseburgers and that this is pretty rude - how would she feel if I told her to go chew on some olives? When I mentioned this to the manager on the next day, he told me their restaurant was a "fine dining" restaurant. Hmmmm, both my partner and I took that as a pretty direct insult, we're good enough to pay EUR 1.200 / night but obviously not good enough to appreciate fine dining.||On the positive side, folks did speak flawless English and the location and reputation of the place are hard to beat. The 7th floor breakfast buffet is spectacular (why can't they get some of the mozzarella and tomatoes that they have in the fridge for breakfast out to serve as an appetizer at dinner when a guest asks??) as are the views of the Acropolis, parliament, Syntagma square. This place is also not as "busy" as is the Grande Bretagne next door. That being said, the staff didn't all seem that motivated - when we first arrived, they made a big show of helping with our luggage and holding open the doors, etc., after that we always had to pull and pull to open the heavy front doors ourselves, while the door man stood there serenely surveying the scene in Syntagma Square.||Bottom line - this is a historical hotel where heads of state and other folks like that stay, you can impress the locals by telling them you're roosting in the King George, but honestly, it's a totally overpriced ripoff that gouges Americans while sneering at us. EUR 1.200 / night should get you working a/c and windows to the outside world, and staff that are polite and don't vent their preconceptions of Americans on their guests who're paying through the...

Rooms: Fine certainly not luxury. Our room had many cosmetic defects and was missing a light as well as several “chandelier glasses”. The bathroom door rubbed the floor and had several issues closing. The bathtub door was the loudest creaky hinge on earth. Literally sounded like an alley cat yelping for a mate.

Service: what i would expect from most hotels but nothing i would consider amazing. The maintenance guy i met 3 times for various issues was awesome though. Very kind and apologetic for the disparate issues he had to correct over 3 visits.

Location: well this is it this is city center. You literally cant get better then here. Food, things to do, all of it.

Review: on checkin we were greeted very warmly and got the explanation of everything that the hotel offers. Guest services were kind and helpful.

Now the issue. Immediately up to the room. Notice a light is out. It wasnt, it was literally just missing. Then we noticed we were missing a robe. None of this is a major issue. Call down ask for the replacements etc. then it derails. We go to shut the bathroom door and it has sagged were it needs some force to close looking at the floor its clearly damaged from guests just dealing with this. I then go to open the glass hinged door and im greeted with a cat mating call at 100+ decibels …. Okay not great but well less then expected especially at a “5 star luxury “ hotel. Call down again and am told maintenance will come again. The very cool and nice maintenance guy did come up a short wile later and is able to fix the cat wailing but it unfortunately required copious amounts of WD40 to get the hinge to break loose and stop creaking (this has returned a little as of 4 hours later now with a popping noise as wd40 and plastic dont get a long). Then needs assistance for the door. Cool no worries. 3rd visit with another maintenance man. They get the door re-hung and its now not digging into the floor. The only issue now is that pesky WD40 smell. So after awhile house cleaning comes and does what they can but its WD40 and the guy needed to drop a lot of it into those rusted hinges…. So we are having to shower with the smell and cant really use the bath as of now.

Then the last kicker for day 1 of check in. The reservation for the hotel restaurant “The Tudor” cancels our two week old reservation. Now these issues in singular are not a big deal but the abundance of them at a hotel in this category of “luxury collection“ is everything but.

We are here for 6 more nights so heres to hoping this situation improves but for now this is far from expectations at this class and cost of hotel.

Latest developments. There is mold leaking from under the bathtub calking.

Update #2 they moved our room the new one is mold free but the toilet press is falling off the wall and doesn’t flush without coming off and the window trim is falling off.

Update #3 they corrected the room issues and offered to comp breakfast for the stay. The new room is a courtyard view which is more like looking into an open air prison but at least everything is working in the new room after further maintenance fixes. The last 2 days have been much nicer and im starting to enjoy athens. The king George however is in need of heavy maintenance and does not give an air of the opulence the cost of this hotel garners. I have stayed in better maintained 3 stars for business travel. And on personal travel many 4 stars in Osaka, germany, and Spain that are certainly nicer then this 5 stars. Questioning Marriott for my future stays if this is how they maintain their luxury hotel lines.

Updating to 2 stars from 1 and will give a final update based on the last 3 nights of the stay.

The breakfast is nice but not anything to write home about. The breakfast staff are the real jewels of breakfast kind, helpful, and willing to give advice and help you with your Greek. While the food is just fine the staff...

The hotel is right on Syntagma square - which is very helpful when arriving via the airport metro (as it's right next to the entrance. The location could't be better and the hotel overlooks the Acropolis.

The hotel was recently refurbished and joined Starwood in Summer of 2013.

ROOMS: The rooms are nicely designed and well appointed. The bed is super comfy and soft and the pillows are wonderful. Blackout curtains are everywhere giving one plenty of opportunity to sleep in. The room has rather small closets. They offer an iron/board upon request. They have a huge flat screen TV that is bigger than the one in my house. The lighting is the only flaw in the refurbishment. I've never seen such small buttons for lights and none are labeled. So you must press them all, every time, to figure out how to work them. Very weird.

BATHROOM: The bathrooms are of decent size but lack a bidet. The lighting is good, and they have a scale, hair dryer and shaving mirror. Nice soaps/shampoos. It has a shower/bath combo with rainfall shower head. However, the shower goes from hot to cold and back again every 10 seconds. VERY annoying. Needs to be fixed.

FACILITIES: Beautiful facilities with large lobby. Plenty of places to sit and read. 2 computers with printer if you need. Tudor restaurant situated on the 7th floor is where you eat and it offers views of the Acropolis. The gym is spacious and decently equipped. There is a sauna as well. However the gym was built on wood floors and they do not have gym mats on the floors. So when you use the round dumbbells, they proceed to roll all over the room. Time to invest in some mats for the floors.

PLATINUM RECOGNITION: I found the recognition to be good, with one glaring flaw. 1- I was upgraded to a Junior Suite, atrium view upon arrival. This was a disappointment. The atrium view allows you to look at another building and some satellite dishes on the roof. As a Platinum Ambassador I expected to be treated better and at least upgraded to one of the Grand Deluxe suites with Acropolis view. These were available during my stay (checked the website after checkin) and I've read reviews on another site where Platinums were upgraded to these rooms. Not sure why I was solely given the smallish junior suite with poor view. And it only had a small love seat, barely large enough to seat 2 or to relax on. A disappointment. 2- a bottle of free water daily 3- Fast free Internet. 4- Free buffet breakfast in exchange for my 500 point amenity. Although on one of the days I had to have a discussion with the staff about what the little card meant (he wanted to charge me even though I redeemed for free breakfast). Obviously I wasn't charged.

Service is wonderful here, everyone is super friendly and helpful. The doorman is helpful when there, but for some reason there are times when he has disappeared and the front door is super heavy. I saw a woman struggling to open it when I came back to the hotel one eve.

I'd highly recommend a stay here if you're in Athens. Although, they really shouldn't hold back when upgraded Platinums... left a worse taste in my mouth than needed. The atrium view was disappointing when the hotel had such...