Hotel Athenaeum InterContinental, Athens

...office tower rather than a hotel though. It's a very large hotel with over five hundred guest bedrooms over nine floors.

Checking In:
On both occasions it was very easy to check in and out again, the receptionists were all efficient, helpful and spoke excellent English. The reception area was also very well staffed with four staff members around at any one time to minimise queues.

The Room:
Very impressed with ...
...soap.

Hotel Facilities:
These aren't excellent in my opinion. The swimming pool is outdoor only and only for summer use. Internet access is very poor, I believe 24 Euros for unlimited wireless access or 5 Euros per hour. Considering that I have stayed in four-star hotels with unlimited free usage both using wireless and a business centre I think that this is very poor. There is a beauty spa but having look at the brochure in my ... more

I?ve had the pleasure of staying here on two occasions recently, both two night stays, both for work purposes so of course I wasn't paying for the room!

First impressions:
The lobby is very wide and atrium style. As you walk across the marble floor there is a weird blue statue of a man and on your right escalators going downstairs. There are also a vast number of chairs and tables. To the left is the spa and a couple of boutique type stores. It does look more like the foyer of a prestigious office tower rather than a hotel though. It's a very large hotel with over five hundred guest bedrooms over nine floors.

Checking In:
On both occasions it was very easy to check in and out again, the receptionists were all efficient, helpful and spoke excellent English. The reception area was also very well staffed with four staff members around at any one time to minimise queues.

The Room:
Very impressed with the room on both stays. On my first stay I had a green themed room followed by a blue themed room. The double bed is very comfortable and the whole room is clean and has a fresh smell. There is a television with all the usual Greek channels plus BBC World News, Sky News and CNN in English. They also have music channels where you can select a CD to play, which is stored on the system. Unlike other hotels there is a charge of around 8 Euros per CD, which I felt was shocking! I was also dismayed by the charges of the Mini-Bar, which charges around 4 Euros for a small bottle of water and a 5 Euros for a small cookie. The alcoholic beverages were even worse of course. I bought any snacks and drinks I needed from my trip into the centre.

The half of the room nearest the window (which had a view of the Acropolis) was marble effect floor rather than carpet, and had a sofa, glass coffee table with a couple of glossy Greek tourism magazines, and a writing desk and chair. There was also a kettle with Lipton teabags and Nescafe coffee sticks. There was air-conditioning but even on full blast it was still quite warm. On opening the window the room became a bit noisy. At least the blackout curtains kept the room darkened.

The Bathroom:
Very clean, but showing it's age a bit. There was a white fluffy bathrobe and slippers, which is always a plus point, bathroom scale (not so good!) and lovely Korres toiletries and a hygiene kit containing face pads, cotton buds and a mini sewing kit. It's nice to see that the Inter-Continental is using a natural, Greek brand. This consisted of Aloe and Soapwort shampoo, Achillea conditioner, Citrus shower gel and Vanilla Cinnamon Body Milk-which smelt good enough to eat! There was also a Milk bar of soap for stressed skin, that was suitable as a hand soap and a facial soap.

Hotel Facilities:
These aren't excellent in my opinion. The swimming pool is outdoor only and only for summer use. Internet access is very poor, I believe 24 Euros for unlimited wireless access or 5 Euros per hour. Considering that I have stayed in four-star hotels with unlimited free usage both using wireless and a business centre I think that this is very poor. There is a beauty spa but having look at the brochure in my room it is quite expensive. There are several bars/restaurants/cafés on site but again, all expensive. The roof top bar is very pleasant however. There is also a small gym that I didn't use.

Room Service:
There is of course 24 hour Room Service. Moderately expensive but quite extensive. Rather than have breakfast in my room I got up early and went into the centre where I found an excellent Irish pub tucked away. I was able to have a large, all day breakfast for 10 Euros which is much cheaper than the hotel one and more than likely much tastier. On one night I ordered a room service margarita pizza. I think that it was 13 Euros. It was actually quite tasty and very rich and cheesy and was delivered in less than 30 minutes. The next night I got myself a large Subway sandwich, cookies and drinks instead which cost about 6 Euros!

The local area:
It appears to be in an area of social housing. There is a small supermarket nearby and apparently a diner type restaurant too which one of my colleagues ate at. Otherwise, catch the free hotel mini-bus into Syntagma Square. Ask at the reception or the concierge desk but they will give you a timetable with a map on the downtown area. The bus runs generally every hour and drops off and picks up at the bus-stop by McDonalds (classy!) From here you will be able to walk to all the tourist sites or use public transport. This is also in the heart of the shopping area. You can also use the bus/tram/metro/taxis to get into town and all around Athens, the helpful hotel staff will be happy to assist. It's about a 10-minute ride into the centre.

Prices:
The average cost appears to be around £170 per night although if you shop around you can probably get a much cheaper deal.

The bottom line:
A luxurious hotel, not that centrally located but the free mini-bus service is excellent. The facilities aren't great and in general it is quite pricey!

(As an aside, if you want to go to the Irish pub I mentioned here it is:http://www.jjoyceirishpubathens.com/james%20joyce.htm It's highly recommended by myself!)
 

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