Hotel Theoxenia — Hotel in Municipality of Mesolongi

Another year, another review and sadly, no change. As we had friends with us, we asked for two garden rooms as we felt it would be nice to have a terrace looking straight onto the garden. The confirmation came and everything seemed fine. ||||On arrival the female receptionist (who could be a prison warden) handed us keys to third floor rooms. When we asked why we hadn't been given garden rooms, she shrugged and said 'many problems, many problems'. She took us to see the 'garden rooms' and they seem to be disused, with a nasty smell in the corridor and single beds only. So we went to the third floor...It was not a problem in itself BUT we would have liked to have been warned that garden rooms were not available for whatever reason. I suspect that half the hotel rooms are 'moth balled' and not in use.||||Our room (No 324) was a strangely set corner room with a tiny terrace and a partial view of the lagoon - why we were given that room when the hotel was not full, I will never know. Our friends' room was OK but their bathroom, like ours, was small and the plumbing dated from Methuselah. The shower cubicle is tiny and the shower curtain sticks to your body like glue. The only way to shower is to keep it open, meaning water all over the floor. There was a large-ish gap in the wall above the WC, which was 'repaired' with a wad of tissue paper! At least the bathroom was clean but it needs total refurbishment to achieve 1970s standards, let alone 2016.||||There was a broken glass table by our bedside, with a sharp edge (dangerous if you had children in the room). The TV was minuscule and reception was awful.||||On the plus side, the air conditioning unit worked well and the bedlinen was clean and good quality. Wifi worked fine too.||||The common parts are disgustingly dirty, with carpets worn and black with dirt. All sofas in the lobby are shabby, with torn, greasy leather. ||||And breakfast....well, there was some (not a lot) fresh fruit this time, and the usual curled up sandwiches and biscuits. No croissants or pastries (but boiled eggs), the most undrinkable coffee from a machine (in a country which prides itself on its coffee culture), undrinkable tea (made with tepid water) and the usual fat, unsmiling man smoking in the breakfast room. The smell of smoke was nauseating. GUYS, SMOKING IS NOT PERMITTED INSIDE PUBLIC PREMISES. PLEASE CUT IT OUT.||||Christos, the manager, tries his best and has to be congratulated for his efforts but this place is best avoided if you can. Unfortunately, I've yet to discover an alternative for our annual visit but I am sure it can't be long before someone offers better rooms in...

I would like to rate it satisfactory instead of average if I had the choice. This hotel is the most decent hotel in Mesologgi (I agree with another of your reviewers). Its location is in the best place in the town with an amazing view. I also agree with another reviewer that the hotel looks like it has come out of an old greek cinema movies and you at every corner feel that you are going to see all the old movie stars: Kostantaras, Vlaxopoulou, Papagianopoulos but this for me gave the hotel a strange attraction. Indeed except from the reception and ground floor area the rest of the hotel could do with a gradual redo. I would suggest he owners to not change the 70s feel though. Overall the rooms were very clean and the hotel people very accommodate, The attractive price I believe makes it a nice hotel to stay if you are an easy...

English speaking people tend to visit Mesonlonghi (and there must be five different ways to spell it) either for the wild life or because this is where Byron died. Either way, the choice of hotels is limited. The Theoxenia has a fabulous location on a small peninsular at the the edge of the city overlooking the extensive lagoons. Once upon a time it was an elegant and modern hotel. But the world has moved on but, unfortunately, the Theoxenia has stood still. Although that gives it a certain charm it needs investment. The staff work hard but there aren't enough of them - on our first night, the menu at dinner was limited by the fact there was no chef. On the other hand, the hotel is a short walk from the lagoon where there are flamingos, kingfishers and avocets - and that kind of compensates for some of the...