fly co to see the yanks

if you have a printed confirmation that says "suite," you're fine.

why worry yourself before you get there? what's the worst thing that could happen....the hotel could say there is an error, put you in a nice regular room, and then you take it up with Customer Care when you return. knowing starwood, they will make things right. and, you were only booking a regular room to begin with.

why sweat it? it's vacation, right?

mario33

I checked the rates for the next two weeks, and it showed a rate of Euro195 per night for the cheapest room on a 2 night stay.

Should I be worried with my Euro103 prepaid rate at the Hilton ?

david55

My partner would say it is because I...." have nothing else to worry about."

In hindsight maybe I am not so worried as I was a bit bragging about my good fortune.....

bigjim

I am soooo jealous. Congrats!

And by the way, thank you for posting. It caused me to go back and check my reservations for July 2-4. I originally thought that I had saved 60 euros until I realized that I had only listed 1 person instead of 2. Rate jumped by 40 euros when I changed to 2 people but still saved 20 euro over my original reservation!

omh

I think nothing can happen for you, with your reservation you have made a
contract, I'm not a lawyer but If you have a contract with a price for a
achievement, the hotel have to give the room for the price to you

haveric

anyone have a clue as to why this hotel is 100% booked for the middle of September 2005?

I've tried getting rates for 9/13-9/17 and 9/20-9/23, and i get zero availability

bigjim

People wanting to stay in the hotel?

There is availability on the 15th, 16th, just not the 13th and 14th. Also, 9/20-9/23 appears to be wide open.

cdeptula

September is a major holiday month for Greeks and is the month of many festivals and events. August is also a very popular month to be in Greece, so this may explain the limited availability for your selected dates...

david55

( This is our first stay in what would be considered for us a "deluxe" hotel....usually opting to stay in $200 a night places....)


We arrived in Athens by way of Delta's flight 132 from JFK and was met by a driver where we were taken to the Grande Bretagne. The place is opulant and expensive!!. ( a bowl of sherbert is 16 EU.....24 hours of internet access is 20EU.) At first they refused to acknowledge our acropolis view room saying that it was a request and not part of the reservation. I luckily had printed out the Starwood reservation from the internet which said "Acropolis View Room"....it took them 15 minutes but they found us one....with a huge balcony to boot!...( I gave the receptionist a tip and I think she was more embarassed than pleased....should I have done that?) .Our room rate is 340 EU a night including breakfast with the fourth night free for a deluxe room.This is by far the most beautiful and service oriented hotel that we have ever stayed in....our large room is lavishly furnished and overlooks the Acropolis and Parliment building....the spa, which is free to guests of the hotel is amazing....I almost feel that it is too much for us.... we walked down to the lobby tonight to have a coffee in the garden room and realized that we would be the only one's without a jacket and tie.... we left.... feeling a little disappointed and out of place....a little like "hicks" from the countryside" perhaps we should have stayed at a more modest hotel.....but we looked at this as a once in a lifetime experience.

bigjim

Have a great trip David. I'm looking forward to a full trip report as we will be there in July. Do you guys have a room or a suite? Anything of note to the room itself?

david55

We have a deluxe room.... but with a double balcony ( twice the size of any other I can see....) We asked for a non-smoking room but none was available with the view. Although when we checked in they showed us several rooms
( smoking and non-smoking) and to be honest with you the smoking ( the one we choose) smelled fresher then the non-smoking). There is every amenity you can imagine in the room.....only a few TV channels though in english and they charge you for music.( 6 EU for 24 hours.) At turn down service they put little rugs by the bed so that your feet touch fresh linen when you wake up.... the spa is amazing and I suggest you bring a bathing suit to take full advanatage of its facilities ( we did not...but will try to buy one in the Plaka today).Heading down for our first buffet breakfast.... I would suggest you email or call the hotel direct if you made reservations off the internet and they have any specific room descriptions included ( ie view). The hotel when we checked in said that these are "requested" and not gauranteed even though it was printed on the internet confirmation...I had to raise a little hissy fit to finally get the type of room I thought we had reserved......

JOUY31

I am lucky enough to stay several times a year at the GB; although the rate is always above my daily allocation, I am glad to pay the difference and enjoy it. I agree that, at times, especially in the evening, it can seem formal. But that should not stop you from enjoying, even without a jacket, which I do, some of the time. The spa, with the indoor swimming pool and the steam rooms are really great, as is the rest of the hotel. Having a glass of Champagne, with fresh strawberries, in the winter garden is so enjoyable ...

david55

We returned to the Grande Bretagne yesterday after a beautiful 10 day drive throught the Peloponesse. As is any entry into Athens by car, and this was no exception, by the time we arrived at the front door of the hotel the four of us were pretty hasseled. The front desk staff was so accomodating and took pity on us ( probably because of our rather stressed out appearance) and gave us extraordinary rooms even though we were paying low rates.... My partner and I had booked a deluxe room ( 245 EU) with a request for an Acropolis view....he gave us our deluxe room on the prestigious 6th floor with a sweeping terrace over looking the square, the parliment building and the acropolis with a view all the way to Pieraeus.....the terrace ( so huge in fact that the four of us our having breakfast on it ) is only available to about 6 rooms in the hotel so we feel very lucky... the trade off is that the room is smaller then our first and the bathroom is about a quarter the size of our first....but the terrace......our friends who booked a jr. suite for an unheard of rate of 305 EU a night got upgraded to a 3 room suite with butler, flat screen TV in the shower and boxes of chocolated through out their room....

This hotel is really first rate.... we all agree it is the nicest hotel we have ever stayed in ( our friends are much more seasonal travellers then we are).

Anyone have any questions about this hotel I would be happy to answer them.......

EWC-JMU

Great! Went by the Grand Bretagne several times last year while in ATH and it looked to be just ridiculously nice. Not to mention the location. Take that Hilton! From what I saw, the Hilton ATH does not come close on either count.

PITflyer2

Based on your previous posts and recomondations we will be staying there three nights on our honeymoon in August. We cannot wait, although we booked a Deluxe Room, we requested an upgrade with an Acropolis View, hopefully we will be able to get it since it is our honeymoon. However your room with the terrace sounds just awesome!!!!