Hotel Avra Rafina — Hotel in Municipality of Rafina - Pikermi

With our Andros ferry cancelled because of industrial action, we found ourselves spending the night at the Avra Rafina.

The complimentary shuttle from Athens International Airport was a bonus, although it was late by at least 10 minutes. We found this out when calling the hotel. But the service was quick and the driver friendly.

First impressions of the hotel were good. The check-in process was swift and our room (119) was quickly allocated. The room, with balcony, looked out towards the sea and the Rafina ferry port.

By Greek standards, this hotel is considered 4, but it would probably only just scrape 3 elsewhere in the world.

The room was much cosier than expected - both the bedroom and the bathroom were very small. The bathroom offered a toilet and a shower, with the wash basin being just outside the door. The room had a balcony with two chairs and a table.

Our twin beds were very comfortable and appeared clean, with the exception of one very long black hair on my pillow.

The shower was disappointing. Both on the evening of our arrival and the morning of our departure, the water temperature was tepid.

We also had to call reception about our toilet, which was constantly flushing, with water pouring from the cistern into the bowl. Assistance from reception was prompt but the first visit wasn’t a successful one. We waited perhaps half an hour more for somebody else to arrive. He simply whacked the flush and it fixed the problem.

We encountered a brief power cut whilst in our room. When this was raised, we were told “that’s not possible”. It definitely was possible though. We were sat there in darkness!

Room facilities were somewhat lacking. Two small bottles of water were provided but a kettle, tea and coffee and even an ironing board were noticeably absent from the room - again items I would expect in such a high rated establishment.

The green and blue lights above the door were also really irritating. Both remained on constantly, lighting the room up. If it’s a completely dark room you are after, you’ll not get it here.

Breakfast here was the highlight of the stay. The offering is substantial and the food of good quality. The orange pie and spinach pie were especially good, and the fresh and hot food, available in abundance, were very good too.

On checking in, we were told that the hotel restaurant offered 15% off for hotel guests. It was made clear that drinks were excluded from the offer. Stopping in for coffee and cake, we were surprised to see that the discount hadn’t been applied. It would appear that cake too was excluded from the offer - although this hadn’t been mentioned previously.

The stay here was pleasant. Whilst I probably won’t return, it’s a handy spot for a night or or two before...

Worst experience in my life. If I could give this hotel a zero star (or negative), I would. This was our last night of the honeymoon in Greece. We decided on this hotel because it was close to the ferry port, the airport, and offered a free shuttle to the airport. We booked a room online and specified that we needed the double bed. We show up to the hotel, check-in, and go to the room exhausted to find two twin beds. I went down to reception and explained the situation. Instead of cooperating with us to correct the mistake, they told me there were no other rooms available despite us clearly seeing many rooms with keys behind the front desk, and the two individuals at reception started to talk in Greek and what we understood is that the lady (Georgia) tried to be helpful and say there were rooms while the other guy (older, maybe in his 60s, gray hair) refused for some reason. I asked to speak to a manager and they refused and invited us to speak to a manager in the morning (pointless given that we were checking out the next morning). They had me waiting while they helped other guests, and while l waited, they didn't do anything about our situation. When I tried to follow up, the older man ignored me and when he finally spoke, was very rude. I asked for their names to report them to the manager in the morning. Georgia was nice enough to give it to us, but the gentleman refused and then gave us a fake name (we know because he gave us a fake name for Georgia too and called her Maria). Since we couldn't get a name, I wanted to take a picture to show the manager the next morning, and the man threatened to call the police! As we were walking back to the elevator, the man condescendingly says something to the effect of he's acting this way because "we're not polite." I've never seen or experienced this in my life before. Horrible customer service is an understatement. People working the front desk should be there to help people, not parent them or threaten to call the police on them for asking for a double bed on their honeymoon. Avra Hotel needs to train their employees on at least basic customer service skills or close shop. And definitely don't advertise a particular room if you don't have enough of it....

The hotel location is very far away from the city center. I would have given evaluation 4 over 5 for this hotel but what I have seen from the hotel management was horrible. Before booking in this hotel, I have noticed that almost all the reviews are for people staying only 1 night and I tried to search anyone who stayed more than 1 night but I almost didn't find! Despite of this fact, I have reserved for long period 7 nights but I discovered that I have made big mistake by reserving 7 nights. I have met unacceptable problems. One of these problems was that the housekeeping staff took out the key from my room without my consent which made the AC to shutdown and a very expensive chocolate box was melted due to this bad action and when I complained to the reception they replied me that this action is normal to save electricity. The very bad thing is that I found another guest in the hotel who faced the same problem but they didn't do with him the same thing as he was "American" This chocked me to see a clear discrimination according to the nationality.

I was so angry to see such discrimination and I requested many times to contact the responsible manager but the reception staff insisted that I send an email to the reservation manager called "Vasilis Tzinoglou" I sent many emails to this person but he was very impolite in his replies and he insisted to deal with me in a cold and impolite way of speaking and although I have requested many times to talk to a responsible person he was so cool replying that I have to write what I need.

After they saw me so angry from this negative attitude of "Vasilis Tzinoglou", the most big disaster was that the reception staff told me "The manager is informing you that we can give you back your money and you can leave the hotel"

What a disgusting way of communication?

I have never seen such bad behaviour from any hotel around the world.

I don't recommend anyone to stay more than one night in such hotel having this kind of...