Divani Palace Acropolis

David Um5 months ago

1/5

The incidents occurred in Oct 2023. I thought about reporting it at that time, but I didn't want to shoot off a one-star review without giving myself time to cool off and giving the establishment time to apologize. They didn't say sorry, I got too busy, and it all got buried by other priorities. What prompts me now is that I just returned from Athens and stayed at a different hotel, so now I have some reference point and feel I can fairly write this. Disclaimer: I do not dispute any of the other positive reviews for the Divani Palace Acropolis. At the same time, please consider the particulars of my situation when you are looking for a hotel in Athens. Bottom line: The Divani Palace Acropolis is a terrible hotel for large groups. In my case, I organized a group of 13 couples to stay within visible range of the Acropolis. I give the location 5 stars as it was a pretty view of the Acropolis from the bar on the roof. I give five stars for the rooms themselves, although to be honest, I can't remember the rooms. My gripes begin with the elevators. They are absolutely tiny. You can hardly fit yourself and your luggage. Back in October, one of the two elevators was broken. So now you have one tiny elevator servicing 26 people that came together. This is why I say the hotel is horrible for large groups. The reason why I give it one star for service, is the reaction of the hotel to the elevator being out of service. There really wasn't much reaction. They did apologize it was down, but words do no justice to the nightmare of going up to your rooms one or maybe two at a time, when we are completely exhausted. Guess what, when we left there was only one elevator working again. Any sense that this hotel is 5 star should be discarded immediately. Maybe small details are 5 star. But if 5 star means a hotel humming along at the height of customer service, then this hotel doesn't have it. Next, the dinner which we had paid for was almost inedible. 26 of us were directed up to the rooftop bar where there was a very small buffet. They had run out of all the fresh salad, and had two mystery meat and sauce dishes. They had some nice looking desserts, but we were hungry for dinner and the mystery meats were dry. To be perfectly honest, our group suspected this dinner was left over from lunch. We complained, and the management promised to do better the second night. Well, it was hardly any better. There was a third entree and some fresh vegetables but once again those mystery meat and sauce dishes reappeared. So maybe they weren't leftovers, and this is the standard of their food. I don't think our group is very picky. We come from five different cities all around the United States, plus two countries in Eastern Europe and one country in Asia. We are used to different kinds of foods from around the world. I know the Greeks are known for philosophy and not food, but it really was difficult to eat. This time, we went to a different hotel and the food was much better, confirming that the Divani Palace falls short in food. One tip: don't get the buffet; rather, order off the menu. We saw others getting yummy looking burgers a la carte from the menu. If the management had offered such a thing to us, I might not be writing this review now. Once again, you can trace negative reviews to the inadequate responses of those in charge. And I have to mention that one member of my group, the wisest among us, strongly suspected racism; that if we were white, they would never dismiss our complaints so flippantly. In conclusion, if you have a group, high tail it elsewhere. Regardless, beware of "star inflation" regarding this "5-star" Divani Palace, which was less than "divine" and certainly no "palace."