Veranda View Hotel — Hotel in Municipality of Thira

Hotel is with good location, if come for leisure, go for it. If come for business, simply stay away. ||||I got the hotel reception booked a round trip taxi for me to meet up a merchant, I booked the day before and have mentioned that this is an important business appointment, ended up I missed the taxi and failed to attend the meeting!||||The reason is the reception staff pointed me a wrong direction. Firstly, I am not a local, I would not know where is the square, if simply telling me the square is pick-up point, would be a bit challenging as I don’t have time look up on google map under such tight schedule. Second, the staff told me the square locates on the left side, then I pointed to my left side to ensure the direction is correct, and she said yes.||||After I was walking around still couldn’t find my taxi, I returned to check if I went to the right place, again she said yes the left side, while I was pointing my left side again. Of course, again no taxi was there the second time when I went up there and I called the reception to check what happened, the lady said taxi left already because has been waiting for me too long…||||I went furious and rushed back to check what happened, found out she meant “her left side”, what the hell? I was pointing on my left side to make sure I got it right avoiding misunderstanding, and now you tell me is your “left side” not mine???||||My business meeting couldn’t be postponed as I need to catch my flight back home same day. FANTASTIC, it took me 22 hours to get here but failed to make it.||||After I complained my meeting was screwed up, the lady just said nothing she could not, she could help to call another taxi and it takes another 15 to 20 minutes. I was speechless, this is the first time, I expected the hotel would have car to take me to my meeting at once! Besides I nearly gone crazy, I contained myself to focus on handling the missed appointment, therefore I was fully concentrated on the email and calling the merchant’s colleague, without bothering the front desk anymore.||||If you simply come to spend your time, go for it. If you come here for business, stay away please. For business trip, go for the real luxurious hotels and email them you are a business guest prior arrival, they exist for reason as they must be very attentive to their guests, especially when they ask me while checking in, knowing that I am on business trip, they would be very alert, whenever comes to my request, they take very good care of me.||||Some guests are not random tourists, professional hotel would ask the guest his/her purpose of travel while check-in, the front desk asks for a reason, its not just meaningless survey! If for vacation only, and guests missed their tour or bus, they can wait for next one! If you are a merchant, time is money and you wouldn’t want surprise or carelessness happens on your itinerary, once the business opportunity is missed, then its a miss, even can reschedule, it gives a very bad impression and which is very destructive!||||Housekeeping and the concierge staff are fabulous, friendly and willing to help always (the lady Maria who cleans my room is perfect and all guys helped out on luggages are helpful and even showed me way to find my room as I was lost), but only reception staff. Maybe they got used to handle tourists on vacation only, even something goes wrong, still they can re-arrange for the guests and doesn’t matter as leisure guests are here to spend their holiday!||||Ps. My room is not a cheap one, a sea view room along the cliff during peak season, not super pricy but definitely not a budget hotel for sure. My one-way taxi to airport was waived by the hotel, but I don’t care about that 45 euro compares to what I have spent, in terms of time, money and effort to come all the way...

Arrived in Imerovigli from Perissa by taxi that stopped across from a church next to a small square. The entrance to Veranda View was a short walk down a side street, which seemed more of an entrance to a home than hotel. The property is small and the few rooms are below a main house above. My room was just below the stairway from the main walkway that winds around the building and continues towards the blue-domed Anastasi Church. A small balcony included with my room was just inside the small gate off the walkway that then led to the stairs down to the rooms. Taking up all of the balcony space was a small round table with umbrella and chairs where I sat to enjoy the view and welcoming drinks from the owner Antonia. A larger balcony in front of the rooms provided good views of the caldera, just like pictures that you often see of Santorini. It included a large round table with chairs and umbrella for shade that’s good for meals and taking in the views. Cushioned seats line the walls of the front rooms, which provided nice spots to enjoy the sunset and evening breeze. ||My room was small and narrow with bed on one end and bathroom on the opposite connected by a narrow hall. The room is limited to 1 person or 2 people at the most. The bathroom was reasonable in size and included a nice tiled shower. There was a large closet but no dresser or drawers. Glassware, plates, utensils, hotpot, tea/coffee and bread were provided along with complementary large bottle water in the mini-refrigerator. Room and bathroom were clean, well kept and nicely decorated. Room has AC useful during the hot day, though opening the window provided a cool breeze at night. Two adjacent rooms appear to be larger studio-like apartments that might be better for families or shared by couples. Maybe the only downside to staying here is that there’s no pool. ||A few restaurants, cafes, small grocery stores are within walking distance, but maybe not as numerous as in Oia, giving Imerovigli a more relaxed atmosphere. Bus stop to Oia is about a block or so away. You can follow the walkway that then leads all the way to Oia (nice and easy through Imerovigli but hot, dusty and harder for the last part to Oia – tip, take the bus). On the walkway before Skaros Rock is the Agio Georgios Church (yes there are lots of churches in Santorini), where you can enjoy the sunset without the crowds in Oia. Enjoyed my stay at Veranda View in Imerovigli where sunset viewing seemed just as good as in Oia but much less crowded and...

The photos and marketing are very deceiving. I would NOT recommend this place to anyone, especially if you will spend more than one night there. PLEASE READ:

The photos show three rooms and you are at the mercy of the staff or availability to choose what you get. We stayed in #1 -incredibly tiny with an awful layout for two people and two bags, it’s loud with stairs above it and a busy walking street that constantly has people with roller luggage overhead. The bed is too small (full size) and slopes to the middle. The internet rarely works and when it does is very slow (like 5 minutes to download a boarding pass). The larger room shown doesn’t have windows. And the other room is lofted and even more cramped than ours (we know this because we were offered this room after we complained, but realized ours was the lesser of two evils).

The terraces are not private. There really isn’t any privacy at all.

Another deception in the listing and in the billing is the affiliation to On The Rocks Hotel. Veranda View claims to be a part of this hotel but you will not receive standard things like room service. You will need to walk up/down 100+ stairs (300 meters) to reach the small pool/bar. You will not be offered towels. Daily housekeeping was included, but had a horrible chemical smell (cheap products) and needed to be aired out before we could re-enter the room. I was charged in two separate increments over a month apart by On The Rocks which i was not aware of and did not approve. I should have been charged immediately in full. It was a bit of shock on my credit card statement

It lacked basic details - no wine bottle opener, no bottled water (it is not potable in room), the robes were dirty, no outdoor seat cushions or really any attention to the shared outdoor space. No help with bags up the stairs at checkout, only check in.

We stayed for one full week. After speaking to staff throughout the week, finally the last day I gave the manager feedback and instead of hearing me out and making it right, he was quite arrogant and defensive. Nothing was done on behalf of management to make our stay better.

I would NEVER stay here and please do yourself a favor and find another place in this...