Five start reviews are justified. First of all, location is great (even though there are no sunset views) What you get instead are beautiful views of the caldera and an amazing perspective on white washed Oia buildings, especially after sunset when the whole town is lit. For those early risers, sunrise from the upper deck is quite remarkable.
One more note about location… This place is close to main path that runs through Oia town which usually has heavy foot traffic.
However, to access Panos house, you need to climb about dozen pretty steep steps which is enough of a deterrent for most of the tourist exploring narrow Oia streets.
In fact we have not seen a single (curios) person passing by our house during our 5 day stay.
Many similar house in Oia have their jacuzzis directly exposed to people passing by (and you can’t really identify this issue by looking at the pictures) You could be sitting in your jacuzzi while having procession of cruise passengers two feet away from you while having unobstructed view of your “private” jacuzzi.
In contrast, Panos house gives you that privacy which is really hard to find in this price range.
Also, house came with incredible host Ned, who supported our needs throughout the whole stay.
From organizing airport transfers, car rentals (with better than advertised rates) local restaurant recommendations and tourist trap alerts. He is a real “local” that people recognize on the streets and walking “Santorini” encyclopedia.
He even made arrangements for us after we moved to another Santorini location which was managed by a different host.
This is a real find in Oia.