Check In

Check in was pretty easy as we arrived in a rental car and parked in their free lot.  The lot is a short walk from the reception area, which is down a walkway and then down some stairs.  They held us to the check in time however, as we arrived at like 10am, and did not get into the room until around 2.  Staff were pleasant.

Location

Location here is the one great thing.  You get phenomenal views from the room and even better from the porch area, where you can sit and have breakfast in the morning.  Honestly though, you can get these views from the public walkway up above the hotel. Imagine a walkway with shops and stuff on each side, and on the caldera side, there is a roped off area with stairs that lead down to the hotel.  You can stand above and see the caldera just the same (which about 10 million people do each day).  Now, you don't get to sit in the room and sit at breakfast and enjoy it, but you are paying a real premium for that.  It is right in the center of Oia, which is nice, and it makes for a nice area to be and walk around although it gets overrun with cruise tourists and buses.  

Service

The service was very good.  The staff were always friendly and helpful, except on the last night, they called to ask what time we were leaving and said they would have someone be at our room at 0815 to get our bags, and at 0830 we just took them ourselves up the stairs to the car.  They offered to get someone to help, but we had a schedule to keep and at that point I did not want to wait.  No complaints about the staff or service.

Room

We originally got room 22, which was a basic Pure Suite, which is what I think the accurate metric is, as this is what you would get barring an upgrade.  The room had a small jacuzzi, about 2x7 or so, right in front of the door on a small patio.  The room itself was about 300-350 sq ft and was just a long hallway into the cliff side, with a small bathroom.  The shower was so small that the shower head hit the door when you opened it, although you could stand inside and shower.  The room had no iron that we could find, and there was a small barely useful hair dryer.  There was a couple of small bottles of shampoo/body wash combo, which I am used to seeing at more of a Holiday Inn style place, although my wife said the stuff was actually pretty decent.  There was also a small assortment of items you could pay for, like hair gel and sunscreen.  The bed was fine, nothing super luxurious but not the worst ever.  The TV had no broadcast channels, only a LARGE assortment of free movies to watch.  

After they cleaned the first night, they used some chemical which left an overpowering smell in the room and was burning my throat.  Normally this kind of thing does not bother me, but I could literally smell it from 6 feet outside the room with the door open.  After leaving for a few hours and opening the door for an hour did nothing, I told them it was not going to work and they moved us to 23, which appeared to be the next level up room. 

23 was nicer, as it had the jacuzzi next to the edge of the porch, so you could get a nicer view from inside it, and the room was a little bigger with a bigger shower, but otherwise the same.  The hard product was nothing impressive in any way. 

Dining

The only meal we had here was breakfast as it was included.  They give you a menu in the room and you fill it out and hand it in each night and they bring breakfast to your patio table each morning at the requested time.  Each day they brought ours right on schedule and there were no errors each time.  The breakfast is fine enough, but we ate everything at least once in 3 days.  It was good quality but nothing incredible.  Some yogurt with various items, omelettes of various options, avocado toast, pastries, watered down OJ (why?), a pancake (yes...1) and some stuff like coffee etc.  Not bad at all, but not to die for (PH Vienna, PH Shanghai).  

Overall

Basically, this was a nice enough place.  The service was good and friendly, and the view amazing.  That said, that is about all it has. Breakfast was not bad in any way, but was not amazing or incredible or anything.  The room hard product was average at best, the rooms are small (understandably), it lacks some basic high end amenities in the room, and really has nothing going for it beyond the views.  Now, maybe if you have the best room they offer, it might be better value, but you are not getting that for 40k points.

For me (and most), 40k points is basically $600-$800 in value, and the rooms I saw were going for that much or more while I was there.  Honestly, just a real waste of an ENORMOUS amount of points.  Was it worth 2 nights at the PH Shanghai or PH DC or Andaz Liverpool?  No way.  The breakfast I had at the HP Amsterdam Airport was about as nice and was a buffet, and the room was nicer, sans the view and it cost me 100 euros.  I have pretty high expectations for a place marketed as a true luxury property, especially one that charges the commensurate amount of points and money and this just does not come close. 

If you do not mind paying through the nose for the view and that is all you want, then this place is great.  Otherwise, stay at a cheaper spot (even some of the SLH properties can be had for $300 or less I saw and that is through Hyatt with their rip off pricing) and rent a car (which I highly recommend anyway).  At 20k points I would go back, even at 25, but that is it.