IKIES Santorini — Hotel in Municipality of Thira

Ikies Santorini was supposed to be the highlight of our trip, our little dose of luxury at the end of a three-week trip across Italy and Greece, our honeymoon. However, Ikies felt short of our expectations. Reading the comments, a fellow traveller mentioned that 60% of the price paid is for the view, and we cannot agree more.

We originally intended to book the Fisherman/Sailor rooms as they were bigger, but the patio of the Gardiner room - the smallest of the hotel - sold us on our decision given that it gave access to the most beautiful patio of the hotel where we saw ourselves drinking wine and enjoying our last few days in Greece with the best views of the caldera and Oia. This was the highlight of our stay, as the views were absolutely stunning and we could not recommend this aspect of the hotel enough. The hotel patio for all three rooms - Fisherman, Sailor and Gardiner were very quiet, very quaint, and so relaxing.

However, the Gardiner room felt short of our expectations. In line with other comments, the room felt slightly outdated and the bathroom especially did not feel like a 4-star hotel. The glass walls of the shower have huge gaps with the walls, resulting in water going everywhere on the floor - even with being very careful. In addition, there was a hole in the ceiling through the tiling work where ants were going back and forth. The first day, we found ants everywhere in the room - including the sheets. We mentioned this issue to them, showing the videos we had taken, and they said they would clean the room and fill the hole, but all that was done, from what we could tell, was adding bug repellent to the hole. We complained once more, and they mentioned the maintenance guy would come back the following day: nothing happened. We understand that the rooms are built within the cliffs, and we understand that we are bound to find insects in rooms, it happens. However, the whole simply needed to be filled with a small piece of drywall or plaster and that would have fixed it for good.

Regarding the reception, the service offered was not in line with a 4-star hotel. Artemis was the exception, offering absolutely fantastic and genuine service, greeting us every time we left or came back to the hotel, and being attentive to all our needs. The food was highly priced and was not exceptional with the exception of the breakfast options which were delicious. On our last day, we took the breakfast to go and were quite disappointed. The box included an hard-boiled egg, a small water bottle and a sandwich with a piece of sliced cheese and a piece of ham. No butter, no nothing. Just these three ingredients. Compared to the absolutely amazing and delicious breakfast options served on the patios the previous days, this just felt odd. Again, the Gardiner's room goes for $500-600USD a night.

On the positive side, we spent our afternoons enjoying the pool which we were the only one to use. Though I am pretty confident the hotel was at capacity, we only saw three couples during our stay, and always had the pool and patio to ourselves. The views cannot be beaten, and we truly hope that the other rooms in the hotel are much better. The privacy was one aspect that we truly appreciated at Ikies. I am hoping that Ikies can take these suggestions into consideration as they do have an amazing product, a beautifully located hotel and so much potential. There were just a few...

We just completed a 4 night stay in the Antiquarian House, 2 adults, 2 grown children- 18 and 22 yrs old.

You can't beat the views or location. It was the perfect spot- out of the super busy Oia traffic but just close enough to walk in very early or late evening to see the sites. The views were breathtaking and picture perfect for sunsets!

The room itself could use just a touch updating, but were in very good condition. We had to wrestle with the AC a couple of nights but figured it out. We never called for help (our fault), so probably should have sooner than later. But we did get it functioning correctly and the AC was very welcome at night and during the hot days.

Also, you have to know going in that 'privacy' is a concept anywhere on the caldera side. Rooms above other rooms, so you hear and see people everywhere while you sit on your 'private' balcony. There are no other options no matter where you stay if you want to location and views. The Antiquarian House is the last landing of 3 total rooms in this particular part of the hotel property, so traffic from 2 rooms crossed this patio in order to exit. A little annoying at first, simply because I wasn't prepared. We got over it really quickly and people were extremely respectful as the passed through. But, you could be sitting for a meal or lounging in the sun and have service staff and guests walking back and forth across that beautiful patio all day. That is a reality that isn't advertised appropriately in my opinion.

The food was great! This part of our vacation was the tail end of a 2.5 week tromp through Europe and we were beat. Our goal was to simple relax at this point and were pleasantly surprised with the food options and quality. The breakfasts were enormous and luxurious! We opted to have several lunches and dinners in on our patio during our stay and enjoyed each and every one of them.

The staff was super accomodating and speedy! They worked so hard to deliver high service and it was very much appreciated. Thank you so much for making our stay such a memorable and enjoyable event! We...

My husband and I just spent 3 glorious days and 4 nights at this absolute gem of a hotel. Every single staff person went out of their way to welcome us and to make our stay a perfect and relaxing time. Christina in the reception was always there and offered a lot of helpful information and caring assistance. Her best recommendation was the in house dining. The breathtaking view that every balcony/patio has makes this a wise decision, but the amazing food makes it the only place we ever wanted to eat for dinner! Our room was immaculate and roomy (we stayed in the Cook’s Suite that had 2 floors and 2 full bathrooms). There was a refrigerator filled with liters of water and a complimentary bottle of delicious Santorini white wine. Nespresso machine, teas, coffees, wine and water glasses, etc all provided. The included breakfast is simply perfect as you choose your food from a very large menu the day before. As I mentioned, the food is incredibly delicious, the two in-house chefs are masterful and top notch. Every ingredient they use tastes fresh and home made. Even the jams tasted homemade! Our final evening meal was delightful. Grilled shrimp, Greek Salad, Arugala and fig salad in a Parmesan “nest”. But the grilled vegetables and halloumi cheese stole the show; it looked like it should be on the cover of a culinary magazine, but it tasted even better. I have a photo of that final dinner with the sunset in the background. It’s a photo that I will turn to, just to remind me what a fabulous experience we had at this beautiful and perfect place. Just one more thing, the owner was one of the nicest people we got to meet in Greece. He described how he and his family had recently renovated the property. The quality of the work that he did is evident in every corner of the hotel. We will miss the lovely staff, Christina, Fred, Kostas, and the many others who were so kind and helpful, too many to name here. We hope to...