Oia Mare Villas — Hotel in Municipality of Thira

The hotel has a wow factor for its position and takes your breath away, but is disappointing in other ways.

Getting to/from the hotel and main shops is an endeavour. The steps and hills you have to climb will make your workout pale in comparison. I would not recommend this stay for anyone who has a heart condition or is not physically fit (guest age was on average 20s to 40s).

The room was very basic: no wardrobe, drawers, and except for a face mirror in the bathroom, there was no mirror in the room. So if you've been by the pool all day you can't see if you've burned, or if you're getting dressed for dinner you can't see what you look like before you step out. The air-con only works when the card attached to the keys is put in the slot. In the peak of a Greek summer when you've felt like you've climbed a mountain to get to your room, you want the respite of a cool environment and it takes a while to cool down if the room was heated by the sun all day. Also, there's a bright light above the door that's on all night. It faces the bed and was too bright to sleep under. Luckily I always travel with an eye mask or I wouldn't have slept.

The food was limited to snacks; they had ham and cheese toast and similar items. Breakfast was fine: a buffet of options like mini hot dogs, eggs, yoghurt, honey, etc. It won't be your best meal on the island but was fine.

The staff was cordial but I walked away feeling it was superficial and insincere. This came through the recommendations they offered. The 1st night I asked for a restaurant with view, and I was specific about a table at the viewing point. I was assured this would be fine, but on arrival I was given a cramped corner that was not along the viewing wall. I left and when I consulted the hotel I was told that they can't control what the venue does when I get there. Because I had a poor experience, I asked them to ensure the bar I booked for the sunset view (Catch Bar) definitely had a prime viewing table. When I arrived, again I was given a corner table as far from viewing point as you can get. I was told that the other tables were for couples. (Not the first time I experienced single-status discrimination in Greece, sorry to say). I called the hotel but again they washed their hands of it. Finally: after days of heat, wind and sweating I treated myself to a hair wash and blow dry. I asked reception for a booking at a salon and prices, and ensured they understood this was a basic wash and blow dry. They booked at "Sophie's Choice" salon and didn't offer prices, but I know the prices in the Med and figured even with an Oia surplus, this might come to 30-40 euros. On arrival there was a price list with no 'wash and blow dry' but saw they do highlights for 70 euros so I knew I was looking at much less. Never did I expect to be charged 85 euros! I knew I was being taken advantage of as a foreigner, but was alone and paid just to get out of an increasingly tense environment. I later spoke to shop assistants about this and they were supportive and empathetic: they told me a wash with cut in Fira is 22 euros, and I was totally taken advantage of- and they would tell other islanders but they encouraged me to tell the hotel. Their response? As before. I told them that if they didn't know the businesses they referred had such practices, then fine. But once they know, they have a duty to avoid recommending them; otherwise they are acting as accomplices. Their response? It depends on your point of view. They were defensive and immovable. My Greek friends later said that the likelihood is either they're getting kickbacks, or that as it's a small island, these establishments are often owned by their friends or relatives; it was naive for me to expect them to place integrity over financial gain.

I posted a review on another site and received a harassing response from the hotel which borders on bullying, but I feel I have a responsibility to warn others. In light of all this,...

I am not sure where should I start with this property. This is the only property where we had the worst experience and also this was the one of the expensive properties we booked it for our trip. Let’s start with the good things View is 10 out of 10 and they do have private deck to see the sunset House keeping staff is superb

Now coming to our worst experience we had Room reservation is a full scam and they will show you 56 photos for the room type and they will try to give the worst room you can imagine. The reservation manager who looks after the reservations is so rude and has zero etiquette to speak to the customer. My suggestion is to not to expect the room you looked in the pictures as it all depends on the reservation manager’s mood to allocate the room. We had a lot of arguments on the room with the reservation team and Expedia and finally we got the expected room the next day Their breakfast is so bad. If your chef doesn’t know how to make the basic croissants then you should definitely start looking at your stars which you are very proud of. If I have to compare their breakfast with the 2 star hotel I had it in Venice then Venice hotel breakfast was superb Reception girl who did our onboarding don’t know the name - She is the 2nd rude person I met from this property. She has zero experience is talking to handle the customer and she also started scolding the house keeping staff in local language as the staff was just trying to help the customer

In summary. Worst customer experience and bad service

Updated after Mr George reply Here comes Mr George from his palace and telling everyone that everything is a lie If you see his response on most of the negative replies is the kind of same where he only talk about rude behaviour. As per his remarks, I am the most rude person he ever met then my Google reviews speak louder than his remarks. I am quite vocal about good and bad service. He can spend his own time to read my good and bad reviews

If he would have read my review carefully and calmly then the response should have been different

Firstly where he mentioned about rude with everyone then I would not have praised the house keeping staff and rest of the staff. In my review, I specifically mentioned about the two people - Mr George and the reception lady Secondly, he mentioned that Expedia rejected my request which is a total lie. I’ve the email apology from Expedia regarding this incident Now coming to your own receptionist being rude to your own house keeping staff. My wife and I stated her bad behaviour towards them

If Mr George says anything everything is a lie. Do you mean all the positive things I mentioned about your hotel as well.

My recommendation to you and the owner of this hotel is to firstly start giving respect to your customers and then expect the same.

I wish you all the best and god bless Mr George with some sense and calmness to handle...

To be honest, we are fine with the facilities of our room, but the service and handling of room reservation is just far from satisfactory.

I didn’t plan to write this until I read another review posted by Nishitha 4 weeks ago.

In the host’s reply to Nishitha’s review, it mentioned “For example that you would like to stay at a specific room of the booked room type , then you should had sent us an email with your request and we would do everything possible to fulfil your request”.

We booked this hotel 2 months before our arrival, and immediately afterwards we did send an email attaching a photo of the specific room we would like to stay at. (As the view and setting of Hot tub can vary a lot among different rooms under the same type.)

The response I got is “Regarding your request of staying at the prefferred room , we kindly inform you that all room allocations are being made upon arrival at the hotel , depending on availability... Consiquently , we confirm that you will stay at the room type that you have booked but we cannot guarantee that you will stay at the preferred room of the room type that you have booked”

When it was 1 week before our departure, I made this point again (requesting our preferred room), unfortunately it was turned down and the host only could guarantee a room of “Honeymoon Cave Suites with Hot Tub”

When we checked in, the room is not the one that we preferred. The receptionist was not helpful at all, saying all other rooms are fully occupied until end of this month and refused to make changes for our second night of stay.

There I confirmed with the staff that there’s NO WAY that we can secure any preferred room, no matter how early you made the booking or how specific your request is.

They just gave us an impression that they don’t actually care to entertain you. They just do things on their own style, like it or not.

Lastly the porter is rude especially when carrying our luggages down the stairs, which embarrassed us a few times when they almost hit other tourists in mid way. And on the day that we left, he started knocking the door 10 minutes before the checkout time and placed somebody's luggage inside our balcony, which was quite impolite.

To those who are considering this hotel in your future stay, please don’t expect too...