Marine Dream — Hotel in Municipality of Naxos and the Lesser Cyclades

Very bad experience at Marine Dream in August 2023 (3 nights) due to very dishonest owners.

We booked a sea view studio directly through the website.

First the positive : spacious studio, nice bed Nice terasse with good sea view (even though the parking in front of the hotel ruins a bit the view..) Very close to a very nice beach which is not crowded

Then, the negative (be prepared) :

terrible checkout experience : the owner literally came to our door at 11 am to kick us out of the room because the next customer was already here and she didn’t want to make him wait until 3 pm (real check in time) for some reason. Yet, there is no information about check out time in the room, in the reception, on the website.. no specific hour is indicated anywhere, let alone 11:00 am checkout. After asking, she accepted to extend until 12:00, but then got very angry and yelled at me as if I was asking for something very special. Then my wife got angry and we decided to leave the place immediately. I had never seen that before in 30 years of traveling ! I asked the owner where the checkout times are mentioned and she said look at the website. I looked and found nothing. The lady was actually lying. Later, she recognized her mistake and said she would print the checkin / checkout hours to be displayed clearly. But it was too late.

Second : When I checked the website to find checkout hours, I was surprise to read that the hotel offered free breakfast if you book with them directly (which we did). However, when we checked in, the lady told us breakfast is an additional 8€/person/day. When I asked them about this, they recognized their mistake. They had 3 opportunities to correct this, when they saw us in the morning asking for water they could have said « hey, did you know you have breakfast ? ». Yet they remained silent, probably happy to make extra money on us. So not only they kicked us out, but they robbed their customers.. very bad and dishonest again.

Third : I also discovered in their website that they offer free airport / port to hotel transfer. However when I asked them the day before I arrived, they said there is no transfer included and I have to take a taxi or bus to come to the hotel. They said maybe they can pick us up at the closest bus station but that’s all. When I asked them about this, they recognized their mistake, again, for the 3rd time.

So after confronting them with those 3 misbehaviors, I asked if they understood why I was very disappointed and felt robbed. They said yes.

I asked what they could offer us to make up for that, for exemple a discount of the value of the breakfast at least. They said they couldn’t give us any discount as we have already paid (what a joke…). And they didn’t have any cash either (can it get any worse ?). They only offered us to give us fruits or water, which we couldn’t carry with us and actually didn’t want.

Then I asked if they, as hotel owners, felt OK with all this. They said yes.

I said OK. And I left.

Of course I absolutely don’t recommend this hotel. It’s too bad because the accommodation is nice and...

We booked a sea view studio directly through the website. ||First the positive :|- spacious studio, nice bed |- Nice terasse with good sea view (even though the parking in front of the hotel ruins a bit the view..)|- Very close to a very nice beach which is not crowded ||Then, the negative (be prepared) :||- terrible checkout experience : the owner literally came to our door at 11 am to kick us out of the room because the next customer was already here and she didn’t want to make him wait until 3 pm (real check in time) for some reason. Yet, there is no information about check out time in the room, in the reception, on the website.. no specific hour is indicated anywhere, let alone 11:00 am checkout. After asking, she accepted to extend until 12:00, but then got very angry and yelled at me as if I was asking for something very special. Then my wife got angry and we decided to leave the place immediately. I had never seen that before in 30 years of traveling ! I asked the owner where the checkout times are mentioned and she said look at the website. I looked and found nothing. The lady was actually lying. Later, she recognized her mistake and said she would print the checkin / checkout hours to be displayed clearly. But it was too late.||- Second : When I checked the website to find checkout hours, I was surprise to read that the hotel offered free breakfast if you book with them directly (which we did). However, when we checked in, the lady told us breakfast is an additional 8€/person/day. When I asked them about this, they recognized their mistake. They had 3 opportunities to correct this, when they saw us in the morning asking for water they could have said « hey, did you know you have breakfast ? ». Yet they remained silent, probably happy to make extra money on us. So not only they kicked us out, but they robbed their customers.. very bad and dishonest again. ||- Third : I also discovered in their website that they offer free airport / port to hotel transfer. However when I asked them the day before I arrived, they said there is no transfer included and I have to take a taxi or bus to come to the hotel. They said maybe they can pick us up at the closest bus station but that’s all. When I asked them about this, they recognized their mistake, again, for the 3rd time. ||So after confronting them with those 3 misbehaviors, I asked if they understood why I was very disappointed and felt robbed. They said yes. ||I asked what they could offer us to make up for that, for exemple a discount of the value of the breakfast at least. They said they couldn’t give us any discount as we have already paid (what a joke…). And they didn’t have any cash either (can it get any worse ?). They only offered us to give us fruits or water, which we couldn’t carry with us and actually didn’t want. ||Then I asked if they, as hotel owners, felt OK with all this. They said yes. ||I said OK. ||Of course I absolutely don’t...

We were so happy to have chosen this hotel. The owner was very friendly and helpful, the room was spacious and clean and the bed was so comfy. The shower tray in the bathroom was a good size and the balcony was huge. Wifi in the room was a little unreliable at times but that is the only negative. The breakfast was great, lots of choices. The place had some nice touches, they offered beach towels, free of charge, which you could change for fresh ones as often as you liked. The air conditioning and the safe were also free of charge. Also, the room had washing up liquid, a washing up sponge and a tea towel. We always bring these items with us but there was no need. The hotel is right on the beach at the bottom end if Plaka beach, it’s nice and quiet but only a short walk or bus ride to busier areas. The quietness of this location suited us and the buses run every 30 minutes into town for just €2.30 each where you can find lots of cocktails bars and restaurants to suit all tastes. Fabulous holiday, Naxos is beautiful, we will be back and would not hesitate to book this...