Callia Retreat Suites — Hotel in Municipality of Thira

TRAVELLER BEWARE! This company stinks of unprofessionalism. We had attempted to book and stay here for three nights in Early September and the way we were handled was nothing short of rude and disgraceful.

We booked via their own website and was very happy with the hotel and price. We had booked a non-refundable room so was expectant of the money being taken from our account soon after booking. It hadn’t done in the subsequent hour after booking, which was strange, so we checked the booking… it had been abruptly cancelled.

We got straight onto the help email to be told there was an issue taking payment and that they cancelled the booking. The code given by the bank was 96 which indicates “the card issuer is having a system malfunction that is causing the transaction attempt to fail”. Unfortunate, yes, but our fault, no. A simple email and we would have paid with a different card. Could have been solved in seconds. But no, an abrupt cancellation without as much as reason. Very thankful I checked or we would have shown up in September to no room!!

Anyway, as the booking had been cancelled by Callia, we couldn’t update the payment details to a new card. We went to book the non-refundable room rate again and hadn’t they raised the price… of course they had says you! For this reason we booked the refundable room rate in order for the room not to be taken and assumed a simple back and forth email and the situation would be sorted. How mistaken we were!

13 emails later, mostly from us, I might add, as Maragarita on the email helpline doesn’t seem to reply unless you follow up with 3 chasers, we have been told by Christos of the front desk in an extremely rude fashion that, “it is their right to up the rate at ANY TIME!!!” and that they are cancelling the second booking, as we wanted to pay the original booking fee… well yes, that’s why we booked it!!

I understand it is companies rights to up rates but it is just extremely fishy the rate on my dates goes up by 15%, minutes after the booking had been cancelled due to a card issuer malfunction.

Extremely poor experience, the worst professionals we’ve dealt with in years of travelling, and would highly recommend you staying clear of businesses that run their hotel in such a manner. It’s not a coincidence how many negative reviews there are describing crooked behaviour. BE...

Beautiful hotel with amazing staff. Daily room clean, stunning pool and excellent location. Bar food, drinks and top charts music! We were offered a discount to pay in cash which was a lovely surprise at the end of the trip and the lady at reception was lovely. The front manager Chris was so friendly and introduced himself to us at the pool on our second day. We had a lovely time soaking up the sun at the pool on the lovely cabanas and loungers and had class paninis for lunch. Our room was very modern and clean and nicely decorated with a big bed. However, the room was right beside the pool and we had to keep our curtains closed the entire time so people couldn’t see in. I was a bit disappointed by this as it seemed all the other rooms were on the other side of reception in a separate building with lovely views and sofas etc outside their room. Considering I booked this months ago I was expecting a better room, it feels like we got the worst room because we were only staying for 2 nights… it was still lovely and we had daily room cleaning but we weren’t as comfortable as we would have been if we had been given a different room. We couldn’t sit outside or it was like we were at the pool sitting right next to people sunbathing… The breakfast was amazing, great options. I’m not that fussed on the continental style breakfasts but they had mini pastries, cheese, yoghurts, eggs, bacon, pizzas everything! All in all we still had the best trip and honestly didn’t want to leave. Great value for money and location is great just a 15 min walk...

Callia Retreat Suites was perfect for us on our trip to Santorini. It is about a 10-15 minute walk into the main town in Fira which has beautiful sunsets and plentiful food, drink and shopping options. Due to its location, the retreat is quiet and serene which is perfect to enjoy its beautiful pool, of which there were always plenty of lounger and seat options available. There was bar service available poolside with a food menu which was fantastic and reasonably priced compared to most bars in town - recommend the Pina Coladas! Christos and Margarita and their entire staff were lovely and friendly and provided fantastic customer service. Margarita helped us plan the perfect trip up to Oia to see the famous sunset. The team was very hospitable - Christos came around with some complimentary shots a couple of times which was fantastic. Rooms were comfortable and clean. Breakfast was great quality and variety each day was nice. However, I would say that the shower not having a door was mildly inconvenient as the bathroom floor would get wet. I would also say that the poolside could be quite slippery, even in shoes, and would suggest that visitors are notified upon checkin so they can be careful and that the surface be changed to something non-slip. Overall we had a fantastic stay and would not hesitate to stay here again should we ever be lucky enough to return to the lovely island...