I was going to ignore this Airbnb experience and not write a review but I just had an amazing experience in Athens and honestly the bar is way too low for “super hosts”. In summary, the best things about this place are the great location, the balconies and it is very clean. Every review mentions the amazing balconies but since I wasn’t planning on sleeping with my family on the balconies, I expected a little more. The bed in the main room is terrible (ikea foam bed) as per the listing there were no fans, there is a small ac unit in the living room that doesn’t cover the rooms. The nights are warm! There is only a mini fridge and a very large toaster oven with 2 burners on top which they call a stove. In terms of beach essentials, you get 2 beach towels but you can buy all the rest nearby or rent chairs at the beach (starting at 20€ a pair). The listing said there were a few more beach essentials so it was annoying to have to go buy/rent. Those are the main points about this place, if you’d like an in depth reason for why I wouldn’t stay here again then keep reading, otherwise that’s the review!
Full disclosure, we knowingly stayed at this 3rd floor walk up with the kids so we could have wine and a beautiful view after they went to bed! We did get to do that so that was great. The thing that bothered us though was that the hosts were inconsiderate and they seemed to want to get extra money wherever they could or hook up their friends at our expense. That’s a terrible feeling to have on vacation. I feel like hosts should be HOSTS, take care of you as guests, give you tips so you don’t get overcharged.. things like that.. not try to make a buck. First, we asked if they could advise us how to get to their place and they said they’d arrange a taxi for us, it would be 20€. It seemed high for such a short distance and we said no thanks we would make our way. We then asked the taxi company and they said that trip costs 10€. After that, some of their recommendations cost us more than expected and so we were just getting annoyed. Then, the icing on the cake, my 3 year old son bumped into one a terra cotta vases on the balcony and broke it. *We reported it and of course offered to pay* but based on their actions we just knew they’d come back with some RIDICULOUS price. I was 100% right - this is straight from the email - “Unfortunately, these clays are a bit expensive. I'm very sorry, but it will have to be replaced.
I visited the shop that sells them , and took some photos to show you how much they cost. Also I will send you the address of the store and if you like you can go to check it.” THAT WAS THE REPLY TO US TELLING THEM WE BROKE IT. THE SPEED IN WHICH THEY WENT TO CHECK AND PRICE OUT NEW POTTERY WAS TRULY ADMIRABLE. So they send us photos of *supposedly* similar vases, much nicer and way newer than the one we broke and surprise surprise they are 130€-180€ !!! but “they’re ok” if we leave 130€. I saw on threads that you can request a receipt for proof that they paid that much but of course they didn’t have it. The vase they had was so old it practically disintegrated in our hands and you could tell it was painted over several times over the years. They should really share that such luxurious and expensive clay pottery is around!! We don’t trust these people at this point so my husband goes to check out the shop because we want to feel better about handing over that much money. At this point though, we’re like what are we supposed to know regarding vases on their island and for all we know this is their friend’s shop! It’s just all so annoying. So the shop guy says yep, 180€, shows us one and we get back to the hosts and say ok we will send them a payment through Airbnb so there’s a receipt. We only communicate this way. They do not like this and have the audacity to get upset and ask us, on our vacation, without a car, to go purchase it and schedule the delivery! I have proof of all this. So at this point with 3 sick kids which they know about, they expects us to take time to go pay for the nicer vase they picked out at their favorite shop! Inconsiderate and annoying! We said we’d just leave cash and we did. In hindsight we got robbed of ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY EUROS FOR AN OLD TERRACOTTA VASE but the fact is we broke something and it didn’t feel right not leaving anything. We took out all the garbages, swept, undressed the beds, left it impeccable as we always do (and took plenty of photos as proof) but we were ready to be out! Between the kids being sick and the fear that they would try to get us to pay for something else (like the one shower head that never worked) - We were ready to go!