Sofitel Athens Airport 5 stars

We have stayed at the Sofitel Airport Hotel several times in years past. It is by far the quietest airport hotel anywhere. The beds & pillows are very comfortable ensuring a good night’s sleep. If that isn’t enough, the staff is wonderful, proactively helpful & very welcoming. Highly recommended. We will stay there again

We arrived at the hotel late in the evening and had dinner an hour before the restaurant closed. Service was fast and food quality was surprisingly good. Dinner was on the expensive side because we had to pay for it ourselves without any airline vouchers. We then get to our room and what a pleasant surprise. The room is absolutely quiet despite its close proximity to the airport. Lighting was superb, room was clean and the layout of the bathroom was very functional, clean and spacious. Water pressure on the shower heads was very strong (both the overhead rain shower and the hand held unit) and hot water was steady. So far so good. The lack of drawer (found only one small one next to the safe) was the first inconvenience. We attributed it to the trade off to attain its clean line design and the nature that it is an airport hotel. Most people would have very short stays and would not need many drawers. Then came the air conditioner or the temperature control panel. It was initially turned off. OK, I turned it on. Temperature was set at 25C or 25.5C. Intuitively I pressed the down arrow a few notches to a cooler 23.5C and went straight to bed. A short while later, I woke up because it was still very hot. I went over to check and it was again 25.5C. I lowered it again to 23.5 but it bounced back to 25.0 C by itself shortly. Not just that you could not set it to a cooler temperature but the air conditioner would kick in and out between the narrow range of 25.0 and 25.5. Right, it kept clicking and creating noise. It drove me nut. I stood in front of the panel and was determined to make it work. I finally found a little trick by holding the up and down arrows at the same time for a few seconds until a "key" logo showed up on the panel. It seemed to work and I went back to sleep after a good 30 minutes struggle at 2.00 AM. Then came the bathtub. I tried the shower stall the night before and wanted to check the bathtub out. Water only came out from its built-in powerful handheld unit. I could not figure out a way to get water to come out from the faucet. There was a knob on top of the faucet but it wouldn't work at all. I called in my wife to help but it still wouldn't work. We gave up in the end. Please note that we have been to many hotels in America, Europe and Asia and we know how to use different water faucet designs. The hotel has good potential to become a great hotel with the good appointment inside the room. Management needs to provide better instruction to customers to operate these crucial amenities (room temperature control and water operation)

Although it was brief stay the staff as always were helpful and friendly

The staff was welcoming, friendly, helpful and provided great service. The rooms are always clean, and the beds are so comfy. The business lounge was very nice and well stocked with a good array of hot and cold food.

We are ‘long time’ returning guests of the Airport Hotel. We feel the standards of service have never been better. Such excellence does come with a price, and in particular the dining/ breakfast options seem extremely expensive.