In keeping with my 2016 resolutions about being vocal about things that displease me…well lets see how this goes. I try hard to keep my blog positive and thought long about whether to post this about my stay in Athens. I planned a trip to Greece last summer with my sisters. I booked pretty much all the hotels, flights and researched most of the activities me and the girls were going to be doing during our trip. With this in mind, for our stay in Athens I wanted to be fairly central without blowing out the 3 different budgets I was catering for. But I also wanted the views and comfort too.
Having booked several other places I then made the final cut down to Radison Blu in Athens. The hotel was greatly located. Not too far from places to eat and station and the rooftop pool with views of The Acropolis had me sold. The room was great for three people, we were well received at reception and staff were helpful on the ground level. It seemed that’s were the great service starts and stops.
So where did it all go wrong?
It all started the following morning when we when up for breakfast. We sat down to a beautiful table with views of the Acropolis while we waited to have our orders for breakfast taken. Granted it was a buffet breakfast but hotel drinks and made to order foods like eggs had to be ordered. We watched table after table get served within a minute of people sitting down but we were yet to see anyone approach our table. We called the waitress over and ordered coffees and proceeded to pick up some food from the buffet. We shrugged this off to the waitress being preoccupied. BUT when this happens 3 days in a roll during your stay and you watch tables with people who were there before you and those that came after you all get offered tea and coffee and orders for food are table and the only table with 3 black people is ignored you start to question things.
We were far to busy enjoying each other’s company to bother having to go down the road of creating a fuss when we had full days of exploring ahead of us but then the weird behaviour during ours stay doesn’t end there. One of the days we decided to make use of the roof top pool and chill there in the early afternoon. We got there and ordered drinks, which as soon as they arrived, the waitress proceeded to ask for immediate payment because she would due to finish her shift in 10 minutes. We pay for the drinks and go back to enjoying the Greek sunshine. Thirty minutes pass, 1 hour passes and the same waitress is still around and still serving around the pool. Oh guess what no immediate payment is requested for the other guests.
Considering the experience we had at breakfast during our 4-day stay and watching how the only table with 3 black girls was ignored 3 days in a roll. With that, I couldn’t put the behaviour of our waitress by the pool down to just coincidence.
Would I Come Back?
So would I stay at Radisson Blu hotels again, yes – I am actually staying at Radisson Blue when In Paris next month. Would I stay at this particular Radisson Blu hotel in Athens? That’s a big question. The room wasn’t free, nor was it cheap, like any hotel you stay at, you still expect a certain level of service. Although I stated that the room, the views, and facilities in the hotel were great, including that of the staff in reception. Watching our table be ignored 3 days in a roll while every other table was served almost as immediately as people sat down at the table was definitely questionable. Had there been other tables with people of other races other than white, I would be more inclined to believe the reason we were ignored was just a figment of my imagination. It appears thats wasn’t the case so with that I probably wouldn’t stay there again. And no, this didnt ruin my holiday. I went on to have an amazing time in Santorini which you can also read about on the blog.
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| Obviously not phased by the service! |
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