Villa La Stella - Luxlike Home — Hotel in Kassandra Municipality

This is a luxury villa with plenty of space indoors and outdoors, a nice pool and in general with nice everything. We were four adults and two children and we stayed for eight nights in mid July. The place is indeed luxurious, we felt pampered. Given that it can host ten people I think the price was fair: 550 euros/day through booking.com. The owner said he would have given us better prices if we booked direct. I would recommend and I plan to be back one day. I subtracted one star because there are some problems (read below) which don't fit with the word "lux" in their name.

The Good The pool is excellent. The pool water was not heated, but that was not a problem except for a couple of colder, cloudy days. There is enough parking space on the property for five cars. There are plenty of nicely arranged areas to sit around, eat, or work outside. There is a large lawn area where kids can play games - no shade though. The owner was very accommodating. When we needed a hairdryer (somehow it was missing) he showed up right away with a new one. The owner did not care about the AC being on while the door to the terrace was wide open. Quality equipment in the kitchens, fridge, stove, all Miele. There is a dishwasher in the kitchen. Lifesaver when you have kids or when many people drink. Quality air conditioning, Daikin. We ran all of them all of the time. Quality materials and finishing. One can tell they spent money and effort. Quality baths. No bad odors, the water would not linger in the shower area, as it happens in many places in Greece (due to clogged sinks). The cleaning lady came four days into our eight nights stay. It was really nice to have a clean villa again. Especially the outdoor area, which gets messy from going in and out of the pool, plus just nature doing its job. Both backyard (and pool) doors had netted doors, against mosquitoes and flies, a life saver.

The not so Good Hot water was so so. We could take quick showers. But if you wanted more it becomes complicated. The girls wanted to wash their hair. The hot water ran out before they were done. The water temperature fluctuates. The pressure is low. I don't think two people could shower at the same time. Fortunately we were just four adults, I can't imagine ten adults would be able to shower quickly. Bedrooms had outside blinds, useful to make it dark in the room. But there were two other small windows with no blinds, defeating the purpose.

The Bad We were forbidden to throw anything in the toilet. Not even toilet paper. Do the math. All showers had one missing door in the middle of the cabin. The water was on one side and there was one panel on the other side, so I would have to shower in a complicated stance. In order to have hot water we would have to turn on the system. After showering we had to turn off the system. No microwave oven. Very spotty net. Would pause for minutes. The net is practically unusable. Forget about YouTube. Whatsapp is all you can do. Besides the bad service from the ISP, there is only one router in the living room, which would cover parts of the outside area, by the pool. Anywhere else you simply don't have wifi signal.

Careful: There are mosquitoes. Take mosquito repellent creams or burning sticks. There are wasps. Not a big deal, they would leave us alone, but if you're afraid of them, there are many of them around, mostly attracted by the shallow hot water around the pool. We found wasp nests around, hidden...

I recently stayed here and unfortunately, the experience was mixed. Let’s start with the positives:

Pros: The location is great – only 3–4 minutes by car from the beach and the resort area.

The downstairs rooms stay cool even without air conditioning.

The AC unit in the living room handles the heat well.

The outdoor fridge is functional and helpful.

There are 3 fridges in total, 2 bathrooms downstairs, one on the ground floor (one shared), and one shared bathroom upstairs – very practical for larger groups.

The pool is nice and the outdoor tables are really good, there is also a lot of pool furniture.

Cons: It’s nearly impossible to stay outside after 7 PM due to the overwhelming number of mosquitoes. This is a shame because the courtyard and pool area are very nice, also really difficult if you want to do a BBQ later. You also can’t just cover yourself in mosquito repellent while eating. This could be easily fixed by spraying the vegetation weekly or planting natural bug-repelling plants.

There is almost no outdoor lighting, except on the terrace.

As mentioned in other reviews, the wooden boards around the pool are damaged and can be dangerous for children. Also, the tiles are extremely slippery, increasing the risk of accidents.

The mosquito nets are torn, and one of the downstairs room windows has a broken handle.

Strong wet smell in one of the downstairs bedrooms. We kept the window open during the day, but the smell never went away.

We encountered cockroaches, mosquitoes, and other bugs in the downstairs rooms.

There are wasp nests in the outdoor lights – the wasps are large and pretty curious, making it hard to enjoy meals outside.

Hot water is inconsistent, with low pressure most of the time. It can’t support the villa’s full capacity. If people in your group (especially girls washing their hair) expect to take longer showers, the hot water may run out very quickly.

The showers are not well arranged and feel quite uncomfortable to use.

The small fridge downstairs is pretty weak.

The iron shower by the pool and the pool lights didn’t work at all – except on the day we left.

On our last evening, there was a power outage. Some Albanian workers came to check the issue, but they didn’t speak English and claimed it was a utility company problem. However, it was clear the fuses had blown – half of the house lost power, including the AC, during extreme heat.

Some of the indoor chairs had exposed nails or sharp objects in the cushions. One of our friends got scratched while sitting on one during a board game.

Conclusion: I can't give more than 2 stars. It's a pity because the furniture and overall design are nice, but the problems are too many and the owners clearly don’t seem to care. I wouldn’t return unless there are obvious...

So, usually im not a picky guy and i try to find the best experiences in my vacantions with the family and friends. Initially i wanted to give a 4 stars review after my summer vacation at Villa la Stella, but after i read most of the previous year reviews i decided on the one star review. Looks like the same problems exists, even after all the previous tourists talked about. Positive: the pool, clean and big enough for the kids to enjoy and to hage fun; the view, spectacular sunrise from the 1st floor terace; quiet place, and good for relaxing at a morning coffee;

Negative: same dangers i saw in the previous comments about the wood/deck around the pool. Lots of the pieces are a hazard for kids. Danger of stepping in it. Not fixed yet. most of the bug net from the windows had holes in it, thus are unable to keep the mosquitos outside. Bring with you repelant sprays, electric devices against mosquitos. no water pressure. If you will want to make a shower on the 1st floor, tell the others to not turn on another sink. very poor internet conection. We live in an era where we use devices for everything. Not only social media, but also business. Sometimes even sharing a photo on watsapp felt like 15 years ago. strong sent of mold on the bottom bedroom. Kept the window open during the day, but the smell didnt disapeared. We moved the kids in the living room. dont know about you, but i think a microwave is mandatory, especially when you come with kids.

Overall, its clear that the owner tries to improvise some fixes for the season, but for now he doesnt want an upgrade or at least a reasonable improvement. Probably the things are working out ok, even with these drawbacks.

Hopefully this review will help. Go, have fun, enjoy the surroundings, and leave an objective review, so others will benefit of a new Villa...