Elia Kentron — Hotel in Municipality of Chania

We really liked aspects of this property, but there were a few things that were less than great, dinging it down to four stars.

Location was fine - convenient to the old section of town, but not hard to get anywhere else either.

Room 5, where we stayed, was very nice (cool looking stone walls, great shower, ok size) but the lighting was inadequate for our aging eyes - there were no actual windows (there are two skylights but one was covered and even if it wasn’t, at night it wouldn’t do much good). Also, hotel management told us that there was no place to securely leave our bicycles, so we had to carry them up and down a flight of stairs each time we used them.

It was disclosed, but you should be aware that there are no staff actually at this location - it is managed from their hotel around the corner and down a long flight of stairs. No issues with that, but it felt more like an Airbnb (but without cooking facilities or seating) than a hotel. Very little connection with staff the way we would normally have in a typical hotel.

Oh, and also they charge a fee for additional coffee pods after you use the first two that are supplied. Kind of surprising for a nice...

I'll start with the good. The bathroom was a nice size and the shower was wonderful. The king-size bed is also worthy of praise. |What's not so good was how noisy the room was. The ceiling wasn't there in the conventional sense, it was just the joists and then the floorboards of the room above, which meant that any movement upstairs was very loud. |You also need to be aware that finding the entrance and getting checked-in can be a challenge. |If you get a shuttle bus from the airport it will drop you in the general area of the hotel, but to find it you'll need Google Maps, or similar, and then be surprised to discover the hotel's entrance is tucked away around the back of the building. Once you've found it you then realise there's no reception desk. You now need to find the sister hotel - the Elia Bettolo Hotel as that's where you check-in and also where breakfast is served. Fortunately, it is just across the street. |Another thing to note is that the tea and coffee options are taken care of via a 'pod' system. On the face of it all good. Except for the fact you only get two coffee pods and once you've used those you're expected to pay...

NOTE: as there isn't a manned reception the keys are collected from the Elia Betelo Hotel just a 2min walk away but this wasn't clear when we made our on-line booking.||||Ideal spot to base yourself. All of the old town is within walking distance, you are surrounded by a wide choice of restaurants, and the main bus station is a 10min walk away.||||We arrived during a downpour; the staff couldn't have been more welcoming by offering teas and coffees.||Not a one off as we found them friendly and helpful throughout our stay - perfect customer service.||||Room was large, clean, and cool with toileteries provided. Bed was big and very comfy.||||Despite being in the Old Town we had no problem getting to sleep at night and didn't find it noisy.||||If you don't want to search for a place to eat breakfast, the Elia Betelo Hotel (where you collect the keys from) has a great breakfast selection at a bargin price...and theGreek coffee was superb and the staff were happy to make...