King George Athens is a Marriott luxury collection property. We stayed at Hotel Grande Bretagne, a Marriott Luxury Collection property, which I will review in the next part. The two best hotels in Athens are these.
King George is a historic hotel that has been open for more than 70 years. It has a great location and great service. It has just over 100 rooms and is more of a boutique property. The hard product and amenities are not as good.
We spent a night at King George. The Marriott STARS program gave us complimentary daily breakfast, a $100 property credit, a room upgrade, and more. Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members get perks similar to those of these benefits.
60,000 Bonvoy points is the cost of an award stay. I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each so an award stay would have cost the equivalent of $4220. I decided to pay cash because I can usually get much higher value redemptions with my points, as well as taking advantage of Marriott STARS benefits.
King George is in the middle of the action in Athens. The area is close to the Acropolis, Agora, Plaka, Thission, and many other places.
The location of the Grand Hyatt Athens is not as good as the location of the Grand Hyatt Athens is.
King George and Hotel Grande Bretagne are right next to each other. It isn't a factor in deciding between the two hotels.
The lobby at King George is a mess. Everyone at the hotel is very nice and that is probably part of the problem.
The reception desk is near the entrance, and there are only two places where guests can be assisted. I had to wait over 20 minutes before I was helped. The hotel has just over 100 rooms.
It wasn't that many people were in line, but that it took forever to help each person. If other people aren't waiting, the front desk agents will try to engage with guests.
I was challenged by the fact that there were a lot of non-frequent travelers who had endless questions. The front desk agent had to explain credit card authorization to someone for five minutes, because they couldn't wrap their head around it.
Most guests were arriving from the United States in the morning hours, and their rooms weren't ready yet, which is one of the general lobby issues. The hotel didn't have a lot of seating in the lobby.
Two pictures show the extent of the lobby seating.
A small refreshment cart had some juice and water.
You can't expect the hotel to have a big lobby, you're probably thinking "well this is a boutique hotel, you can't expect the hotel to have a big lobby?" It's fair. The problem is that the hotel has a large lobby. It is an art exhibit. I don't know who this istargeting.
Don't start me on the art as such. The artwork was hung from lamps. This doesn't pass for art nowadays?
You shouldn't touch the seating in the exhibit. It is nicer to look at seating. The person is sitting in it.
An upgrade to a one bedroom courtyard suite was confirmed using a Marriott suite night award. My upgrade cleared five days before I arrived, and we were assigned a room that was different from the ones at Hotel Grande Bretagne, so we could charge stuff from outlets there.
The hotel has elevators that take you to all guest rooms and the restaurant.
The hotel has nine floors and our room was on the eighth floor.
The living area was located to the left of the entrance. There was a lot of empty space by the window and I was confused as to whether a piece of furniture was missing or not. There was a desk with a chair in the living room.
The living room felt like an apartment where someone was about to move out. Fresh flowers were brought to the living room after we checked in, which made it feel a bit different.
There was a door frame on the other side of the room, but it wasn't actually a door, so you don't have full separation between the rooms.
There was a king size bed and a tv in the bedroom.
There was a coffee machine in the bedroom.
There was a closet in the bedroom.
The bathroom only had a single sink and a shower combo. The toilet was not far from the wall.
We expected the room to have a courtyard view. There wasn't a lot to see. There wasn't any noise on the street. The sound insulation at the hotel isn't very good and we could hear a lot of noise in the hallway.
We were given a bottle of water, some sweets, and a bottle of Greek liquor after we checked in.
There was free and fast wi-fi in the room.
There is only one food and beverage outlet in King George. It is open for breakfast, coffee, and dinner from 6PM until 2AM.
The design of this venue is stunning. There is a large dining room with large doors that allow you to feel like you are in the outdoors.
If you want to stop by for a drink, there's a bar area and seating near the fireplace.
There is a terrace with amazing views.
If you stay at King George, you can eat the buffet and get some a la carte options. The buffet contains bread, pastries, cold cuts, fruit, salad, scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, and many other items.
The drinks were being served.
We ordered the Greek egg dish and a vegetable omelet, both of which were very good.
The restaurant staff made great coffee.
If you book a rate that includes a hotel credit, you should know that it has limited uses. It can only be used at the restaurant. It can't be used for room service, and it can't be used for any of the hotel's outlets that allow you to charge to your room at King George.
You can use the credit for dinner and drinks at the restaurant since breakfast is included. You will want to book well in advance of your stay if you want a dinner reservation.
We used our credit to get some drinks.
The gym on the basement level can be accessed 24/7. The gym at this hotel has a lot of equipment and weights.
A sauna is also present.
King George and Hotel Grande Bretagne are both Marriott Luxury Collection properties. They decided to separate them out because they wanted to have different price points.
You can charge purchases to your room when you stay at King George. You can use the hotel's spa. I will be reviewing that hotel next, so keep an eye out for how it compares, and to get a sense of some of the other amenities.
Everyone at King George was friendly and willing to help. I have good things to say about the people at the front desk, the breakfast staff, and the bellmen.
King George Athens has a lot going for it, such as being a boutique property with just over 100 rooms, great views and an unbeatable location, as well as having friendly service.
There are some things I didn't like about the property I wish the hotel had a real lobby instead of an art exhibit, our suite was oddly under furnished, and the hotel has a single restaurant.
Hotel Grande Bretagne has more rooms than any other hotel, is more expensive, and is more compelling. King George is a great place to stay because you can use the facilities of Hotel Grande Bretagne.
I have a bit of ambivalence about this property.
What did you think about staying at King George?
All Rights Reserved © 2024
