OK property

Arrived with the hotel shuttle early evening. Was offered help by the concierge, but since it was only a small cabin trolley bag, politely refused it. Since there was no one in line at the front desk, was attended to immediately.

First thing I was asked if I had 2 reservations, which was true a week ago, but since I cancelled the 2nd reservation a week before my arrival it looks like the hyatt system is not 'talking' correctly to the property.

As a basic GP member and first time at the property, I was given a brief rundown of the facilities and breakfast (included in my room rate). Was also asked about my preferred room - just received a standard room.[more on this later]

The room provided was on the same floor was the reception (hotel has only 3 floors). It was in the 3rd building if I counted correctly with a small patio. First thing I noticed when I entered the room was that it had reeked of smoke. I checked the sign and it was indeed a non-smoking room, but clearly the former guest smoked in or smoke got into the room and remained. Called down to inform the reception (same person who checked me in) and was told to wait. After about 5 mins, was told that instead of the King bed room, they only had twin beds available in the new room. Waited nearly 15 mins for the new keys to be delivered.

The new room was in the 2nd building (same floor) - sadly it was without a patio and just a window with a view blocked by a tree (luckily since it's winter - there were no leaves) - in summer not sure if anyone would have any view except for the leaves.

Room was of reasonable size, the only positive about the room was the large bathroom (both tub and walk-in shower) with a separated space for the toilet.

There was a bottle of 1l mineral water provided complimentary (but you get this only once) - a dissapointment in my opinion, as I would have expected a new bottle everyday. There is no tea/coffee making facilities in the room. There is a fully stocked minibar - not sure how the prices are since I did not find a pricelist.

Water pressure was good and the towels were nice and soft. In general the room was ok in maintenance. One thing I noticed was that the shower and area around the toilet (close to the walls) were infested with ants. However since it's winter, I think they all die due to the cold - so am curious how it is in summer. Everyday after washing them away in the shower the next morning you see again a number of dead ants (a few still crawling). At least I did not see this anywhere else in the room - so was ok with it.

Internet: was provided complimentary throughout the property, however it is painfully slow especially away from the lobby area. In the room I had always problems loading even simple sites and sending photos via whatsapp was painfully slow. They are however in the process of upgrading the internet (this was on a paper in the room).

Club Olympus: Used this facility once and the staff here was in my opinion the best among all the hotel staff. They were friendly and always ready to help. They provided a quick tour and rundown of the facilities when they knew it was our first visit. The sauna/steam room facility is on a smaller side, the pool and other gym facilites were good in my opinion.

Concierge: I would rate them the 2nd best after the staff at the Club Olympus. They arranged all the shuttles and all other information - including if you want to rent a car (partnered with Sixt - another great service from them and you can pick and drop off your car at the property).

Breakfast: I had the pleasure of having the breakfast on New's Year and this was the only day that it was a special breakfast - with champange and smoked salmon as part of the selection [I noticed that if you want this Champange breakfast - you pay an addition 20 Euros above the standard American breakfast]. On the 'normal' days, the selection is limited to the expected layout - for me it is at least a good thing - not everything is in the buffet spread, but you have to order it (without additional charges) - which is good to avoid food wastage. The bad - I was never informed about this until when I started to notice other guests having other items.

Dinner: I had dinner on New Year's eve at the restaurant. The quality, quantity and presentation of the food was good with a good selection of wine. In my opinion the price was acceptable. Not sure how busy is the place normally - but on the day it was rather empty - I guess it was due to the 140 Euro New Year's eve dinner. Service was good.

Another option for food is at the Lobby lounge - the menu is more on the casual side and it was always busy for the 3 evenings I was there.

Hotel is about 5-10 mins ride from the airport (traffic dependent). Other than that it is basically in the middle of nothing - unless you want to buy a car at the dealership next door :) Noticed that this is not the only 5 star hotel with such a location.

I would say if you want to be mobile and have more freedom, I would just rent a car to get around.

The hotel was packed during my stay - most probably due to the holidays. The main customers were a mixed of Greeks and Eastern European (rich ones) from the cars you see parked atthe property. Although packed - the staff still managed to get things moving as expected.

However if I did not get a good BRG, I would say that the property is overrated and overprice for what is on offer. Would I return, yes if I can get a good price.

Just to add: 2 items which I ordered via the Hyatt Concierge email received - airport shuttel and bathrobe - both failed. Upon arrival (after providing my flight number), there was no one waiting for me - I had to call the hotel twice to ask about the shuttle. I am not sure if it's a property specific issue or Hyatt IT issue. Did not pursue it, but it indeed did give a bad impression on service.

Other than that, with my limited experience within the Hyatt properties, I would rank this property low-moderate from all the different points.