Received: Wed, 02 Aug 2006 16:26:35 GMT
Dear Aliki,
I just wanted to tell you that we had a very
lovely time in Greece and want to thank you for all of your help in making the
arrangements for us. Everything went according to the way it was planned. The
car we rented was a good choice for us and we had a pleasant experience on our
driving trip. And we even got to visit my cousin John Fotopoulos in Argos!
Here is some feedback that might help you in planning trips for others.
(This is just some inside information to help you with your job.):
1) I
would NOT recommend the Eltheon Apartments in Santorini to others.
We
had a good location and adequate space but the place is not being kept up very
well. There is just an elderly couple that run the place day-to-day and they do
not really care if you or satisfied or not. They were very pleasant people,
however, they are not in any position to help you if you have a problem.
On the outside it looks nice and the pool is clean and pleasant. But the
rooms are not cleaned as well as they should be, the kitchen area was unusable
in the state it was in, and the bathroom REALLY needs to be updated. The
bathroom was very unpleasant - with rusted plumbing and dirty, moldy corners.
The first day I knocked off a porcelain soap dish in the shower area by just
touching it lightly; the back was so rusty that it just broke off the tile and
shattered on the ground. Even the metal pieces shattered because they were so
corroded and rusty! This gives you a feel for the place. Still we managed to
have a nice time in Santorini.
2) I would definitely recommend the Hotel
Ippolyti in Nafplion to others. It was a beautiful place and a wonderful
location behind the harbor area on a pedestrian-only street. It is very well
maintained, clean, and the people were very pleasant. Even the little swimming
pool and surrounding courtyard were like a small oasis.
3) I would also
recommend the Hotel Pelops in Olympia to others. This was definitely a good
choice for us. Again, great location, clean and wonderful people running the
facility (family-owned and operated). They let me use their internet connection
in their front office when I asked them where I could find an Internet Cafe to
do my work. In general, the town of Olympia was wonderful and we were sorry we
had not planned to stay another night.
4) We were also sorry we had not
planned to stay overnight in Delphi (or the town just before it). It was
beautiful up there and the drive to Olympia later seemed to rushed to enjoy the
beautiful ride. Athens to Delphi to Olympia was okay, but we should have taken
an extra day for this part of the trip.
5) We found out that Ossios
Loukas is closed in the afternoon. We stopped to have lunch and then went to the
monastery. Had we known it closes in the afternoon (2-4 pm??) we would have
changed our plans. We were disappointed. So, if any of your clients plan on
visiting this monastery (or others), let them know that they should check the
hours ahead of time.
6) We found out we needed/wanted to rent a car once
we got to Santorini and looked around us! We arranged to get an automatic car
for three days from Halaris Car Rental in Firostefani. They were very
accommodating for our needs and brought the car to Imerovigli for us. On the
last day my husband picked Mr. Halaris up on the way to the harbor so he could
drive his car back AFTER we were dropped off. Otherwise, it would be difficult
to get to this out-of-the-way harbor they have built. Very nice people! I don't
know who you use for car rentals in Santorini, but you should look into doing
some business with these folks.
7) Hotel Cypria was nice, too although
they did not have any "room with view" as promised when we got there and didn't
know anything about it, either. We were in the newer part with two adjoining
rooms and were very comfortable. When the "room with view" became available and
I took a look, I realized we were much better off in the rooms we already had.
The older part is smoky and tired-looking.
8) I hope you do not send
your clients to the Minoa Palace Hotel in the area east of Iraklion. Because of
a booking error, there was no room available for us at the Arina Sand Hotel were
we stayed for 3 weeks. So, we were sent to the Minoa Palace for 1 night. It was
the only uncomfortable and unpleasant experience of the entire trip! What made
it worse was the staff and management were also extremely poor in their customer
service skills. No airconditioning in our room, sweltering in the middle of the
night, had to move ourselves to another room (with cot mattress, luggage, etc),
and then found out later that there was no effective airconditioning in the
second room either. Manager told us nothing could be done because they were a
big chain and we had already paid. We could not understand this total lack of
regard for our legitimate complaints.
Thanks again for all your help,
--
Eleftheria T. Karapas
