Our first stop in Greece was King George Athens, a Marriott Luxury Collection property. After that we stayed at Hotel Grande Bretagne, also a Marriott Luxury Collection property, which I’ll be reviewing in the next installment. These are often regarded as the two best city hotels in Athens, though the latter is typically significantly more expensive.
What’s my take on King George, which is a historic hotel that has been open since 1930? It has an ideal location, beautiful views, and great service. I also love how it’s more of a boutique property, as it has just 102 rooms. However, the hard product and amenities are lacking, unlike at Hotel Grande Bretagne.
I paid 420 Euro for our one night stay at King George. Ford booked us through the Marriott STARS program, offering complimentary daily breakfast, a $100 property credit, a room upgrade subject to availability, and more. These benefits largely stack with the typical perks Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members and above receive
An award stay for our date would have cost 60,000 Bonvoy points. Personally I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, meaning an award stay would have cost the equivalent of ~$420. In this case I decided to pay cash given the ability to take advantage of Marriott STARS benefits, plus that I can usually get much higher value redemptions with my points.
King George has a pretty unbeatable location in Athens, as it’s right in the center of the action. It’s within walking distance of the Acropolis, Agora, Plaka, Thission, etc. The immediate area also has lots of cute hole in the wall restaurants and shopping.
Just as a point of comparison, the Grand Hyatt Athens has much more attractive pricing, but the location isn’t nearly as good, as there’s very little in the immediate area.
By the way, King George and Hotel Grande Bretagne are literally next to one another, and share a wall. So location isn’t a factor in deciding between these two hotels.
The lobby situation at King George is a disaster, plain and simple. I can’t emphasize enough that everyone working at the hotel is so nice, perhaps overly so, and that’s probably part of the problem.
The reception desk is right at the entrance, and there are only at most two “desks” where guests can be assisted. Both at check-in and during a subsequent interaction, I had to wait over 20 minutes before being helped. That’s ridiculous, especially for a hotel with just over 100 rooms.
It’s not that there were dozens of people in line, but rather it was just that helping each person took forever. The front desk agents would try to be really engaging with guests, ask about their trip, where they’re going, etc. And that’s great if other people aren’t waiting, but…
The other challenge was that I felt like there were a lot of non-frequent travelers (without exception, all guests I overheard were American) who just had endless questions. For example, I remember waiting while the front desk agent had to spend five minutes explaining to someone what a credit card authorization is, because they just couldn’t wrap their head around it.
Then there’s the other general lobby issue, which is that most guests were arriving from the United States in the morning hours, and their rooms weren’t ready yet. Everyone just wanted to plop down in the lobby, yet the hotel didn’t actually have much lobby seating.
The extent of the lobby seating is what you can see in the below two pictures.
There was also a small refreshment cart throughout the day with some juice and water.
Now, you’re probably thinking “well this is a boutique hotel, you can’t expect the hotel to have a big lobby.” Fair enough. The issue is that the hotel actually has a huge lobby. However, it’s used as a permanent art exhibit. I’m not sure who this is targeting, exactly.
And don’t even get me started on the art as such. Half of the art display was dry cleaning hanging from lamps. Seriously, this passes for art nowadays?
The exhibit even had seating that you’re not supposed to touch. You know what’s nicer than looking at seating? Sitting in it…
I had used a Marriott suite night award to confirm an upgrade to a one bedroom courtyard suite. My upgrade cleared five days before arrival, and we were assigned room 812K (all room numbers at the hotel end with “K,” and that’s to differentiate the rooms from those at Hotel Grande Bretagne, so you can charge stuff from outlets there to your room).
The hotel’s elevators are right near reception, and they go to all guest rooms plus Tudor Hall (the hotel’s restaurant).
Our room was on the eighth floor (the hotel has nine floors), and was at the end of the hall on the left.
Inside the entrance to the suite and to the left was the living area, which was… sparsely furnished. I was honestly confused as to whether a piece of furniture was missing, or if this was intentional, because there was a lot of empty space by the window. The living room had a sofa that could seat three, a coffee table, and a desk with a chair.
To me the living room felt kind of like an apartment that someone was in the process of moving out of. On the plus side, we were brought some fresh flowers shortly after checking in, which added a bit of personality to the living room.
The bedroom was on the opposite side of the room, and while there was a door frame, there wasn’t actually a door, so you don’t have full separation between the spaces.
The bedroom had a comfortable king size bed plus a TV.
The minibar and coffee machine were also in the bedroom.
There was also a closet in the back corner of the bedroom.
The bathroom was a good size, but only had a single sink and a shower/tub combo. I also thought the toilet was oddly close to the wall.
The room had a courtyard view, as we expected. So there wasn’t much to see. That meant there wasn’t any street noise. Unfortunately the sound insulation at the hotel otherwise isn’t very good, and we could hear just about any noise in the hallway, including people opening and closing doors.
After checking in we were brought a lovely welcome amenity consisting of a bottle of water, some sweets, and a small bottle of Greek liquor.
Wi-Fi in the room was fast and free, and twice daily housekeeping was provided.
Tudor Hall is King George’s only food & beverage outlet, and it’s located on the seventh floor. It’s open daily for breakfast from 6:30AM until 11AM, it’s open for coffee from 11AM until 1:30PM, and it’s open for dinner from 6PM until 2AM.
This venue is simply stunning, in terms of both the design and views. There’s a large “formal” dining room of sorts, with the benefit of there being huge doors that remain open, so you really feel like you’re outside.
There’s also a bar area, as well as some seating near the fireplace if you just want to stop by here for a drink.
On top of that there’s a lovely terrace, with amazing Acropolis views.
If you stay at King George and have breakfast included, you can enjoy the buffet, and then supplement that with some a la carte options. The buffet is small but high quality, and has bread, pastries, cold cuts, fruit, salad, scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, etc.
Drinks were served by the friendly waitstaff. We had both filtered coffee and some freshly squeezed juices.
From the menu we ordered the Greek egg dish (strapatsada, essentially scrambled eggs with tomato and feta) and a vegetable omelet, both of which were good.
The restaurant staff also made excellent freddo cappuccinos.
If you do book a rate that includes a hotel credit, do be aware that this has fairly limited uses. This can only be used at Tudor Hall Restaurant. It can’t be used for room service (which I think is stingy), and it can’t be used for any of the Hotel Grande Bretagne outlets that let you charge to your room at King George (which is fair enough).
Since breakfast is included and the restaurant doesn’t serve lunch, that means you can primarily just use the credit for dinner and drinks at the restaurant. If you want a dinner reservation at a reasonable hour, you’ll want to book well ahead of your stay.
So we ended up just using our credit for some drinks, which we enjoyed.
King George Athens has a gym on the basement level, which can be accessed 24/7. The gym is pretty decent for a historic hotel like this, and has plenty of cardio equipment and weights.
There’s also a sauna.
As I mentioned above, King George and Hotel Grande Bretagne are right next to one another, and are both Marriott Luxury Collection properties. They almost feel like one hotel, but I guess they wanted to have two slightly different price points, so they decided to separate them out.
When you stay at King George you can go to any of the food & beverage outlets at Hotel Grande Bretagne and charge purchases to your room. You can also use the spa at Hotel Grande Bretagne, which is pretty impressive. I’ll be reviewing that hotel next, so stay tuned for how it compares, and to get a sense of some of the other amenities.
Without exception, every single person working at King George was friendly and eager to help. From the people at the front desk, to the breakfast staff, to the bellmen in front of the hotel, I have nothing but good things to say.
King George Athens has a lot going for it, like being a boutique property with just over 100 rooms, having great views and an unbeatable location, offering a tasty breakfast, and also having friendly service.
That being said, there are also some things I didn’t love about the property. Check-in and help from the front desk took forever, I wish the hotel had a real lobby rather than an art exhibit, our suite was oddly under furnished, and the hotel has a single restaurant that just serves breakfast and dinner.
I do think Hotel Grande Bretagne is an all-around more compelling hotel, though it’s also typically much more expensive, and has more than three times as many rooms. The nice thing about King George is that you can stay here and still use many of the facilities of Hotel Grande Bretagne.
So yeah, as you can tell, I’m a bit conflicted about this property, hence the lukewarm review.
If you’ve stayed at King George, what was your experience like?
Thanks for the fantastic review, Ben. As always I love the detail, but the one detail I was most interested in from your photos that you didn't mention; what is the phone on the wall next to the toilet for?!
That lobby with the dry cleaning hanging is a freaking joke lmao. What the actual f*ck. Also, that suite entrance area looked sparse and horrendous. Athens is beautiful and at those rates, I expected way better. Sheesh
nothing like experiencing the local flavor and culture of a country, by staying in a US based hotel chain, totally insulated from anything local....
@ Fed UP -- Thanks for your valuable contribution...
Haha, see? All the more reason you should have searched for and taken the Aegean flight arriving in the afternoon, then you wouldn't have to join that group of tourists arriving early, with their rooms still occupied by the guests due to depart. ;) Sometimes I've arrived at some hotels at around check-in time (say at 15:00), only to find what looks like 2 whole busses worth of tourist groups literally camped around reception,...
Haha, see? All the more reason you should have searched for and taken the Aegean flight arriving in the afternoon, then you wouldn't have to join that group of tourists arriving early, with their rooms still occupied by the guests due to depart. ;) Sometimes I've arrived at some hotels at around check-in time (say at 15:00), only to find what looks like 2 whole busses worth of tourist groups literally camped around reception, because they couldn't check in to their rooms earlier. Can't remember now exactly where that was, but thankfully on basically all occasions the hotels resolved that issue by having separate staff for these groups to check in with, so we didn't really have to wait. By the way, I get it that since there weren't enough staff at King George, they should have refrained from engaging too much with the guests during check-in, but if that one tourist had no idea how to use his credit card, how would you feel if the hotel staff had basically told him off? Or how would you feel in their place? I'm sure there was a time when you needed help sorting something (anything) out. Perhaps you could have even offered to help the poor guy out yourself, while having your own room key issued at the reception, a win-win (but possibly somewhat intrusive to step up and interrupt).
@ George -- You're absolutely right that the hotel staff should help guests, that's their job. But that's also the case at all hotels, yet this hotel had disproportionately long lines. That's not to say they shouldn't help guests, but rather that they need to figure out a system to be able to help guests more efficiently.
Keep in mind that not everyone waiting in line at reception was trying to check-in or check-out, and...
@ George -- You're absolutely right that the hotel staff should help guests, that's their job. But that's also the case at all hotels, yet this hotel had disproportionately long lines. That's not to say they shouldn't help guests, but rather that they need to figure out a system to be able to help guests more efficiently.
Keep in mind that not everyone waiting in line at reception was trying to check-in or check-out, and some just had questions. Having to wait that long to get a question answered is unacceptable, in my opinion.
Hi You have mentioned that you like to take advantage of Marriot Star s Benefit v/s utilizing points for Room Booking.
I have about a Million Marriot Points & I hold Platinum Elite Membership.
Can you please guide how best to utilize them & throw some light on Star s Benefits.
@ Hemant -- Marriott STARS is a program available through select travel agents. When booking the standard flexible rate at a hotel, you can take advantage of certain additional perks. I have more info on the program in this post: https://onemileatatime.com/marriott-stars-luminous/
Hi Ben, I'd like to understand why you call the King George Athens a boutique hotel. To me, it is the opposite of a boutique hotel: - It is massive with 102 rooms (i know US hotels tend to be big, but most european city non-chain hotels are around 30-40 rooms) - It is a chain hotel - It has all the standardized amenities - Rooms are also completely standard
Hi Ben, I'd like to understand why you call the King George Athens a boutique hotel. To me, it is the opposite of a boutique hotel: - It is massive with 102 rooms (i know US hotels tend to be big, but most european city non-chain hotels are around 30-40 rooms) - It is a chain hotel - It has all the standardized amenities - Rooms are also completely standard - Service seems good but it is not like the owner came to bring you a welcome drink and arrange your plans. Boutique hotels are small, hyper-personnalized, on a small side (10 to 30 rooms) with unique features and tend to be independant. I am curious about your definition?
@ Nicolas -- Check out this post, where I discussed this very topic, as it's a great question: https://onemileatatime.com/insights/boutique-hotel/
There's no official definition of a boutique hotel, and as a result we can all define that differently. King George is less than one-third the size of its sister property right next door, so at least by comparison I consider it to be boutique. You're totally justified in feeling otherwise.
So disappointed to read your review. The King George holds a dear place in my heart specifically for what you complain about -- their utmost desire to please their guests.
I arrived at King George on what was to be an overnight stay before going back to the States after 2 weeks in Greece. Somewhere on my last island hop in Mykonos, I contracted norovirus. I'd been throwing up all morning and arrived at King...
So disappointed to read your review. The King George holds a dear place in my heart specifically for what you complain about -- their utmost desire to please their guests.
I arrived at King George on what was to be an overnight stay before going back to the States after 2 weeks in Greece. Somewhere on my last island hop in Mykonos, I contracted norovirus. I'd been throwing up all morning and arrived at King George unaware of my illness, assuming I'd only gotten food poisoning.
The front desk insisted I have a doctor come check me out. After some stubbornness on my part, I agreed and subsequently received the diagnosis. The doctor warned me against taking an 8 hour flight back to the US in my condition. She said I needed at least 2 days. When I called the airline, they told me the earliest they would be able to get me out if I missed my flight would be 5 days. When I awoke the next morning unable to get out of bed, I realized my 2 week trip would need to become a 3 week trip.
Within 10 minutes of the doctor leaving me, i hot a call from the front desk to check my prognosis. When i told them, they asked if i needed any medication to be picked up. I did, and they immediately sent a staff member to my room to get the prescription, who came back within the hour with my medicine.
The staff checked in on me daily thereafter, had special soup prepared for me as I couldn't keep anything down and sent up fresh flowers daily with get well notes. I've never before received such attentive care.
After 3 days, I felt like myself again. A devoted explorer, I couldn't spend another day in Athens and rented a car to explore more of mainland Greece with day trips to various cities. I got a speeding ticket at one point. When I returned to the hotel and told the staff of my adventures plus ticket, they offered to go pay the ticket for me! I gave them the 30 euros and a staff member returned later with a receipt.
Given my experience with the lovely people at King George, it's unfortunate you've rated it so low. In all your travels, have you had the level of attentiveness from any hotel that I just described? I've had food poisoning or otherwise sick in Paris, Madrid, and Budapest, all while staying in luxury hotels. None showed me the level of care I received at King George.
@ Lilian -- I'm so happy to hear how well the staff took care of you. They really were lovely, and I can't say enough good things about them. I would feel the same way about the property if I were you.
I will say, staff at Hotel GB were also extremely professional, and I just think the amenities there were otherwise so much more impressive. But it's impossible to have a bad stay at King George in terms of service.
I can't deny GB was nicer. I had dinner there one night and had some spa services. But after how well the staff took care of me at King George, I will forever praise it.
I should add I went in January 2016, when it was still a Starwood property. Not sure if that would have changed your experience. I find former Starwood now Marriott properties aren't quite as generous.
I can't deny GB was nicer. I had dinner there one night and had some spa services. But after how well the staff took care of me at King George, I will forever praise it.
I should add I went in January 2016, when it was still a Starwood property. Not sure if that would have changed your experience. I find former Starwood now Marriott properties aren't quite as generous.
By the way, you had a horrible view. My room was facing the square, which made for a nice respite whenever I could get out of bed.
Is a European King bed different than an American King Bed? That bed was differently a queen.
To be fair to the restaurants you review, you may wish to include that your preference is to have your eggs well-done. I cringe at how overcooked the pictures of most of your egg dishes look and this would be a deciding factor against a restaurant/property if I didn't already know better.
@ pbmchenry -- I didn't state any preference for how I wanted my eggs prepared when ordering.
If I'm understanding his point correctly, it seems to be that the omelet in the photo looks very well done (overcooked?) and you still considered it to be good. He seems to be saying you need to include some kind of disclaimer as to your food preferences when reviewing food, which seems kind of weird, especially given that he seems to be able to make his own judgment based on the photos.
If I'm understanding his point correctly, it seems to be that the omelet in the photo looks very well done (overcooked?) and you still considered it to be good. He seems to be saying you need to include some kind of disclaimer as to your food preferences when reviewing food, which seems kind of weird, especially given that he seems to be able to make his own judgment based on the photos.
Anyway, I imagine such a minor thing as how well-done eggs are cooked is not going to be a determining factor for 99% of hotel guests.
The whole point of having few seating options is to keep the tacky tourists from camping out there, waiting for their rooms to be ready when they arrive on early overnight flights.
@ thurstontravel -- Okay, that's all fair enough, but those "tacky tourists" are also their paying guests. Who are they there to serve, if not the guests?
It’s too bad the restaurant was booked. The food and service for dinner are better at the King George than at the GB.
Even with the Euro and the Dollar being almost equivalent, and I'm not sure it was when you went, this place looks underwhelming and not worth €420 a night.
Nowadays hotels are way overpriced, I used to book St Regis Singapore for 170 USD Tax included a night last year, with breakfast and Stars credit. This year, they want to charge me 500 USD pre-tax a night without breakfast and stars.....
If the hotels are meeting their occupancy goals (and by all accounts, many are completely full) then they are, by definition, not overpriced. Just expensive.
It would have been helpful if you had discussed exactly how the property executes Bonvoy elite status benefits and recognition since a rate through Stars doesn’t cancel or override Bonvoy elite status benefits. Luxury Collection is on of those weird Marriott brands.
Moreover, was there a pre-arrival email? What about a concierge? Was there an in-room coffeemaker? How about a butler or porter? Did they provide newspapers? Those are the things a discerning customer...
It would have been helpful if you had discussed exactly how the property executes Bonvoy elite status benefits and recognition since a rate through Stars doesn’t cancel or override Bonvoy elite status benefits. Luxury Collection is on of those weird Marriott brands.
Moreover, was there a pre-arrival email? What about a concierge? Was there an in-room coffeemaker? How about a butler or porter? Did they provide newspapers? Those are the things a discerning customer pays attention to in reviews.
It is difficult to find a difference between the average Autograph Collection property and the average Luxury Collection property.
In general, many of the Autograph Collection properties are more modern whereas many of the Luxury Collection properties are older and more vintage in terms of decor — but necessarily in a luxurious shabby chic kind of way.
I think there are some legitimate luxury Luxury Collection-branded properties in Europe and Asia that rival the best St Regis or Ritz-Carlton properties, but in North America the brand is seldom nicer than a better than average JW Marriott.
Before Bonvoy in 2019, the handful of Luxury Collection properties with club, executive or concierge lounges had to provide access to elites whose status afforded lounge access at Marriott brands excluding Ritz-Carlton. That’s no longer the case, though strangely Autograph Collection properties continues to fall under the lounge access benefit.
Stars and elite status just stacks....
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- I think I covered many of these points, but let me recap.
As far as Bonvoy elite benefits go, I used an SNA, I was offered 4PM check-out, and I could have received breakfast as my welcome amenity if it wasn't already included (but it was, so I instead chose points).
There was no pre-arrival email. There was a coffeemaker, pictured in the review. There was a concierge. I...
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- I think I covered many of these points, but let me recap.
As far as Bonvoy elite benefits go, I used an SNA, I was offered 4PM check-out, and I could have received breakfast as my welcome amenity if it wasn't already included (but it was, so I instead chose points).
There was no pre-arrival email. There was a coffeemaker, pictured in the review. There was a concierge. I was offered newspaper delivery at check-in, but that's not how I read my news, so I declined.
Regarding your point about Luxury Collection lounge access, are there Luxury Collection properties that do have lounges but don't provide elite access? The properties with lounges are few and far between, so I'm curious.
My wife and I stayed at the King George in late May just for 2 nights. Overall, I think we were equally nonplussed by the hotel. As you said the location is excellent, the staff is very friendly, but the rooms weren’t terribly impressive (we had a view of the square, which was nice until Sunday morning when there was a massive loud event that woke us up bright and early) and we weren’t granted...
My wife and I stayed at the King George in late May just for 2 nights. Overall, I think we were equally nonplussed by the hotel. As you said the location is excellent, the staff is very friendly, but the rooms weren’t terribly impressive (we had a view of the square, which was nice until Sunday morning when there was a massive loud event that woke us up bright and early) and we weren’t granted our Marriott suite upgrade (they claimed they were fully booked). The breakfast buffet was good, but nothing extraordinary. For what it’s worth, my wife tried to order a green juice on three consecutive mornings, and they brought her the wrong juice every time (and were quite apologetic, but we just kind of found it funny).
I will say that the staff is willing to bend over backwards for you. On the day we left, the event in the main square (mentioned above) closed down all traffic and we needed to work our way to the airport for a quick flight to Crete. The bellman must’ve walked 20-30 minutes with us to get to an area where we could get a cab, in very high heat and in his overcoat, wheeling both of our suitcases and two personal carry-ones (I kept offering to take some things, but he kept insisting). I think we must’ve tipped in 20 euros for literally going the extra mile with us.
Other than that, I wouldn’t say the hotel is worth the price unless you really, really want to be in that exact location.
I have stayed at both properties and agree with allthe points in Ben's review. And I know this is vague - but the Grande Bretagne just "felt" better. It is one of my favorite hotels anywhere, and the King George is just good. Great going to the rooftop restaurant /bar and enjoying the view - a highlight, and eating at any place local. I even got a haircut a few blocks away - awesome location!
I’m a long term hyatt globalist and there is no way I would stay at the Hyatt as a tourist. I loved the Bretagne. The location was perfect. Did not love the KG (stayed there before the Bretagne).
Have to agree with the Hyatt comment; it's a beautiful hotel with great meeting facilities and friendly people, but the neighborhood leaves a lot to be desired. I actually liked the breakfast at the King George better than the Grand Bretagne, but have to agree the rooms at the King George lacked pizazz. The common areas, though, were pretty spectacular. Leave your bags and wander through the Plaka while waiting for your rooms to be ready.
So the redemption exceeded your valuation but… are you saving your Marriott points for the apocalypse?
@ Stvr -- It didn't exceed my valuation. I would have redeemed $420 worth of points, vs. paying ~$435 (based on exchange rate at the time). By paying cash I earn a minimum of 23.5x points per dollar spent (as a Titanium member paying with a Bonvoy credit card), so that's the equivalent of a 16.5% return on spending. That means paying cash really only cost me ~$363. That doesn't factor in the $100 credit through Marriott STARS.
What card are u using, 16.5% return is insane...
@ LEo -- It's a 16.5% total return on Marriott spending. It's 10x base points with Marriott and 7.5x bonus points for being a Titanium member. Then it's 6x points for paying with the Bonvoy Brilliant.
We stayed at the Grand Bretagne last month and saw the King George. I didn’t realize it was also a Marriott Luxury. We had our SNAs clear for the GB, but we had to change nights last minute so we didn’t get the SNA’s back, which was a real disappointment. We loved the GB so I can’t wait to read your review.
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@ Stvr -- It didn't exceed my valuation. I would have redeemed $420 worth of points, vs. paying ~$435 (based on exchange rate at the time). By paying cash I earn a minimum of 23.5x points per dollar spent (as a Titanium member paying with a Bonvoy credit card), so that's the equivalent of a 16.5% return on spending. That means paying cash really only cost me ~$363. That doesn't factor in the $100 credit through Marriott STARS.
@ Fed UP -- Thanks for your valuable contribution...
@ pbmchenry -- I didn't state any preference for how I wanted my eggs prepared when ordering.
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