Enjoyed my stay....

I stayed at the Electra Palace for 6-days earlier this month. True, there is no pool on the rooftop, but I didn't travel 7,000 miles to swim! The hotel was great and the view of the Acropolis from the roof was amazing. The location in Plaka is very convenient and you can walk to everything. Easy to get lost in the small, narrow streets though. The room was spacious and soundproofed and looked recently renovated. The front desk staff seemed nice. They were helpful and gave us directions, maps, called cabs, etc. The buffet breakfast wasn't anything to write home about. It was bland and the staff looked like they didn't want to be there. Overall my stay was very nice and I would recommend this hotel.

Quite Impressed! Really Enjoyed Our Stay

Thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this hotel. The room was excellent. Room#519. Fantastic View of the Acropolis, with balcony including table and chairs for dining or just a bottle of wine.

Great Plaka location. One the Northeast corner of the Acropolis. Not noisy! Six blocks from Benaki Museum, Three blocks from Sigtagma Square. Five blocks Roman Agora/Tower of the Winds. Easy walk (5 minutes) to main Plaka areas (we are walkers). We walked to all sites from here with ease!

We travel monthly somewhere, often international. The room ranks right up there with the best.

I really do not care if there's a pool. I can think of only one hotel pool I've ever been in--The Shangrila Hotel in Bangkok--man, was it hot! Too weird to walk through the entire hotel in a bathrobe! Just one of the things you take in stride in travels! Places are always changing, remodeling, etc.

We just returned. It looks like they are still doing some remodeling. We stayed 4 nights and then went on to Corfu for a week. We returned to Athens for a couple of nights before flying home. Stayed once again at this hotel. This time on the second floor. Not as great a view but still a very nice room. The staff is very helpful with arranging wake-up calls, even with a time change thrown in as a challenge, and had taxi service waiting for us at 4:00 am.

I ordered a chicken sandwich from room service one night. RS called right back to say, "The chef has informed me we have no chicken, we bring you turkey instead." I just laughed, it's just Greece, you take things in stride! If you are a veteran traveling, you understand.

There is no rooftop pool!!

Don't do it!!! We stayed at the Electra Palace in August of '04. The whole reason we chose this place was for the rooftop pool - to be able to cool off after wandering the Acropolis in 110 degree heat.

There is no rooftop pool!!

They persist in falsely advertising that there is a pool on the roof overlooked by the Acropolis - go to any web site and you'll see the photos! But it's an outright lie, we're not talking closed for repairs - it's been paved over for several years!!

They were in the process of putting a pool in the basement while we were there. But the deceipt did not stop there, we also had major rate disputes. We originally booked four tripple rooms but had changed one to a double before the trip - they confirmed this change to us via e-mail. Then when we arrived they refused to honor the change - even though we had a copy of the written confirmation from them.

Furhter, from the time we checked in they kept asking us to sign a rate change form - legitimately the rate was different our first night than the rest because of a season change, this was on our original confirmations - but what they kept trying to get us to sign had a base rate change also, in effect saying we'd pay an additional 50 euro more per night than we'd booked for! They hounded us throughout our stay to sign this even though we provided written copies of our reservations with the agreed rate!

Eventually they checked a big book of rates they have for different booking agencies and grudgingly agreed to the rate we booked at. We are still in a dispute with them over charging us for a tripple when we had a double. They claimed the booking agent had to tell them what the double rate was and they were in Russia and couldn't be reached (the manager said this with a straight face even though we'd just seen the big book of rates!)

Lastly, we had to have our room cards rekeyed 6-10 times a day - basically any time anyone else used their key! Physically it is a very pretty hotel but it is a total a mess. If you chose to stay here you will spend at least as much time keeping the staff from defrauding you as you would have spent in the imaginary rooftop pool!

The Pool is open and the location is great!

We stayed two nights at the Electra Palace before leaving Athens for Santorini. We loved the location at the edge of the Plaka, convenient for seeing the ancient sites and walking to Plaka shops and tavernas. Very nice bathroom. Room was a little tight for the three of us, but still a nice and comfortable room. We found the staff to be excellent, and the whole place is attractive. The rooftop pool is gone, but they have a very pleasant indoor pool, exercise room, and sauna available, and good place to relax after sightseeing. I enjoyed having a drink in the courtyard, or the bartender will deliver your drink to the roof terrace, where you can watch the illumination of the Acropolis in the early evening. One of my best moments was the bartender mixing me up a fruity drink, and bringing it to me up on the roof. When he saw I needed an ashtray, we went down to get one for me, then back up with not only the ashtray, but a glass of water and plate of figs and almonds. So I sipped my drink and ate figs and relaxed looking at the Acropolis! I wouldn't expect a real American style bacon and egg breakfast in Greece ... but make sure you try to yogurt and honey and fruit and bread - it's unbelievably good. We were very happy with this hotel all around.

Nice rooms...very bad service

My bride and I stayed at the Electra Palace for 4 nights. The good points are that the rooms (esp bathroom) are nice and up to North American standard. Also, it has a perfect tourist location, close to shopping, the acropolis and nightlife.

With that being said, we will never stay at this hotel again. The reception staff was rude and very unhelpful. Breakfast was mediocre and again we had poor service from the waiters (all they have to do is bring you coffee).

Considering the wonderful service we had in Mykonos and Santorini, it was hard to let the poor attitude displayed by this hotel roll off our backs.

Bottom line, try to find a better place. We will.

Loved the Electra and Athens

We spent 5 nights at the best Hotel in Athens. The staff was wonderful, considerate and informative from the first moment we arrived up to our departure. Granted there was no pool, but there was a beautiful view from from the balcony.

The Electra is located so that you have access to the Plaka shopping, resturaunts, and the Athens Metro (take the Metro).

Thank you to all the Greeks that made our stay in Athens WONDERFUL! and thanks to the Electra Palace Hotel and staff.

P.S. The food is great.

Still no pool but Hotel great

There is still no pool at this hotel. We could see one being opened or renovated in the basement but no sign of one on the roof. There is a new wing being built so it may be on top of that.

Otherwise we really enjoyed this hotel. The location is great being in walking distance of the Acropolis. The Plaka area is full of great restaurants and tourist shops. We really enjoyed being able to trot out and enjoy all the restaurants close by.

Our room was small but very comfortable. Proper black-out curtains on the room and a nice balcony with views of the Acropolis. The balcony is sunny all day but to see the sunset take the lift up to the 7th floor and then the stairs to the rooftop. Should be nice in the summer.

Staff at this hotel are top-rate. Very friendly but informal at the same time.

Very good hotel

A very fine hotel with all the amenities. Recently renovated and very comfortable. Helpful and friendly staff. Great location for tourists.

Good sized rooms, clean, up to date fixtures, etc. Everything is first class. Business services could be improved. Would be helpful to have WiFi installed in the hotel for internet access or a small business center.

Five out of five

The Electra Palace was the best find in Athens. Location in Plaka is the best, pool was up and running when I was there, rooms clean and ours had a great view of the Acropolis. Make sure you ask for it. Food very good and bar warm and friendly. Didn't find a bad thing. On our return to Athens even though we stayed at another hotel we hung out at the Electra Palace.

No Pool!!

We just got back from a week in Greece. Our first stop was the Electra Palace Hotel in the Plaka. Although the location is good the famous advertised pool with a view of the Acropol was nowhere to be seen.

Turns out that the pool was not yet made. Although on all the sites it said the hotel was re-opened after extensive renovations, (gearing up for Olympics 2004) the truth was that the lighting fixtures had not been fixed, there was no pool and there was on-going drilling behind the reception desk when we were trying to check in. Rather a big disappointment especially as we were not warned of this and the lack of no pool at the time of reservations and only found out when we were looking around for it. Apparently the pool will open in a few months.