Golden City Hotel

Do NOT Stay here!

Sorry, this is a long post and I really don’t want to sound like a complainer, but there’s a lot to comment on... its actually pretty comical now. I will start by saying the hotel lobby was nice and welcoming, and the room was not really bad other than a slightly uncomfortable bed and it being small (although small is to be expected in Europe, there was barely room for the bed). The room was clean, and the hotel did not appear run down. The problems were in the hotel management. My wife and I stayed here 7 nights and had problems the entire time. I was sick when I first arrived (of course not their fault) so I spent most of the first day lying in bed. This was difficult though since I was on the floor below the rooftop restaurant with paper thin floors, I could hear EVERYTHING going on in the restaurant like they were in my room. Once I was rested I got up to take a shower, but the shower head was broken and sprayed water everywhere but where I wanted it. After taking a shower, I picked up the phone to order room service only to find both phones were not working. So I grabbed my key and headed down stairs. I realized I forgot my wallet so I tried my key in the door but it didnt work and I was locked out.... until I realized I could just push the door without even turning the knob. I thought maybe I just didnt shut it all the way, but after playing with it awhile I found my door would not even latch let alone lock leaving it for anybody to just push open. The problem with the door was that the door jam and the actual WALL were broken... the entire wall moved when I tried to close the door!! So I headed down stairs to ask for a new room with everything in mind (shower, phone, door) since fixing the wall wouldn’t be a simple visit from the hotel handy man. The response I got from the hotel staff was an annoyed "If that’s the case, why didn’t you tell us earlier?" (I just found out) Nothing was done to resolve the problem. I was assured a technician would be up the next morning to fix the phone, but nothing else was mentioned. The next day we went to breakfast in the rooftop restaurant. (not even good food here to cheer me up). When we returned to the room, we saw our door was standing wide open!! (I know we shut it because I spent 10 minutes TRYING to latch it). My laptop and some other stuff were still out since I figured we’d only be out for breakfast, and I had the "do not disturb" sign up. We went in the room and shut the door and I was about to call the front desk but the phone still did not work. About 5 minutes later, our door swung open with no knock, no notice, not even the use of the key (obviously the hotel knew the door didn’t latch). A crew carrying a letter for the "GOLDEN CITY" sign outside our balcony just pushed our door open and barged in without notice like the room were not booked, continued out to the balcony without a word and of course again left the door wide open! They spent the next 30 to 45 minutes trying to remount the sign, while one of the guys on the crew kept leaving and coming back always leaving the door open for me to shut it. I went back down to the lobby and told the person at the desk, but they were very unapolagetic and said there was nothing they could do. And I could not get my money back so I could go to another hotel without the hotel manager (who I asked for constantly but was never there the entire time). The next day we spent our time around the city and in Plaka, so no complaints during the day since we were not there. However that night when my wife and I were in bed and about to get some sleep, I heard a beep from the card reader on our door. (of course the key wasn’t needed since you could just push the door open) I thought maybe it was housekeeping although it was an odd hour for housekeeping that late, so I tried to say "no thank you" and got out of bed half naked to try to catch the door before it opened, but it was too late. This was not housekeeping though, a man with luggage came into the room with his wife in the hallway behind him. He apologized and left when he saw me in the room half naked and confused. It turns out, they booked my room twice, gave another couple the key to my room and told them it was theirs! Too tired to go down to the lobby, I waited until morning to again ask for another room and add to my complaints. The response I got about the other couple being booked in my room and using a key to get into my room while I was in bed was "Everybody gets a key card for their room. They all look the same, but they only work in their assigned room. You can try your key in another room and it will make a different noise and wont open the door. They probably just accidently used their key in the wrong door." I told him that was not the case, that they were booked in my room and had the key for my room. He said, "How do you know they had the key for your room? They were probably just mistaken, dont worry nobody will go in your room". I told him I know because they came in my room and he said "I don’t think anybody else went in your room, they probably just used the key on the wrong door" I told him I saw them open the door and enter the room as I was standing there half naked. He still didn’t believe me, but sighed and told me he can get me another room, but I had to wait till the next morning since all the rooms are assigned already. He told me he would assign me a room and get everything ready for me so all I had to do was go to the front desk and tell them I was ready to change rooms. The next morning, there was a different person at the desk and I told her the person yesterday morning assigned me another room and that I would like to change rooms. She had no idea what I was talking about and said there was nothing in the notes about me changing rooms. At first she said there were no rooms available, but after awhile of searching she found one for me. So we moved into the new room and amazingly the door actually closed! However the room was much smaller (although I didn’t think it was possible). Seriously only 5 steps from the end of the balcony to the door. (2 of those steps were in the entryway). There was a bed jammed in the room with probably 10 inches between the bed and the wall on each side. Then a desk on the wall at the foot of the bed that was so close it was almost impossible to pull the chair out enough to even sit at the desk since it hit the bed. Once we got in the new room, there weren’t too many complaints (other than size) and the fact that I wanted to talk to a hotel manager about everything that’s been happening since the other hotel staff didn’t care, but every day I asked the hotel manager wasn’t in but would be in the next morning at 10am. Surely enough he was not in the next morning at 10am. One other thing to note... Internet access is horrendous. There is Wi-Fi (I’m not sure if it’s actually there for guest room use or not, but it is from the hotel) but they only use one access point for the entire hotel and it’s on the 4th floor.... so reception is horrible if you get any at all. There is also a "cyber cafe" in the lobby that consists of 2 computers, but they charge 5 Euro for 20 minutes of use.

nice place

we we’re only there for 2 dats and the stay was very comfortable, the staff friendly and the rooms adequate...I, m not sure about the noise of the traffic while eating breakfast in the atruim, nor the prices of the food in the restaurant, but over all i liked the place and would stay there again..

be very careful if you’re travelling on the metro, i had my wallet stolen, and my friend had her bag slashed. all in a matter of seconds!

Not so impressed but good enough to recomend

Could be better if location were other, don’t dare to get there by Ommonia metro station äfter dark, try Metaxourgio station instead. Very noisy neigborhood.