Dion Palace Resort and Spa

Where to start, ah, yes, this in no way can be a 5* hotel, it is rather 2* motel, but by the beach. Firstly, the rooms were not ready, we waited in the lobby bar for about an hour, and the receptionist was supposedly calling us when the rooms were ready. I went to the reception again, the girl who took my phone number even hasn't have handed it to the next shift guy, who also reacted like they didn't know of any guests are arriving, so he had to check again if the rooms were ready. Well at 4PM they were, they had to. We had to pay 100Euro, just like that, cash, because the government, they said, something about Green New Deal. EU cares about the environment... out of the review topic. It started with one of the rooms having AC that only blows air, but not cooling. Went to the reception, the guy said they will send someone. I waited for over an hour and went down to the reception to ask what happened with the technician, apparently there wasn't one onsite. So the day was practically gone with an hour left for the beach. I had to ask the receptionist to find another room. He kinda checked and agreed with me. Why would I need to ask for that though? So, I would stay in a sauna, if I hadn't ask? Well, the other room didn't have much better AC, it was barely working, pathetic... Oh, there is no elevator in that 5 star hotel, so I had to move my luggage downstairs and back upstairs, because the other room was on the left side of the lobby, so they practically have two second floors, a marvel of the modern architecture. The very first thing you notice there, that there are AC blowers in the lobby, but all windows are opened? What is the logic? At least in the perspective of a Green Planet and not wasting energy? The rooms have safe switches on the balcony doors, so to stop the AC if you open the door. Well my parents' room had the switch, that didn't eventually cut the the AC power, in my room that switch was bypassed. You can see the pictures of both "options". It seems it was a good building, that lacks in maintenance, now for over 10 years. You can see decay almost everywhere. The hotel lacks basic cleanliness. The room furniture is mediocre and way old. While the lobby, despite being full of more expensive however tastelessly arranged modern pieces of chandeliers and cheap paintings can lead to nausea being so ungraciously pompous. The TVs in the room are at least 15 years old and there were those curtain like thingies on the beds back boards, that look intimidatingly dirty and out of bounds. The doors... they don't have handles from outside...Is this a thing? Saving money from that? I locked myself 3 times. Pathetic! The bathroom, over all mediocre, I have never seen a bathtub faucets and drains situated like that, see the picture. Someone cut renovation expenses again, by saving from a pipe length. This 5star hotel?! There are a few other things, but I will stop wit the review here. Just to say though, the dinner included is a cheap cheap buffet. They don't have plastic cups, but they won't allow you to take your coffee in the regular coffee cups. Almost nobody speaks English. The "restaurant's" chairs are dirty, however they won't allow you to enter with shorts, like it's the French Riviera. On a positive note, the people from Dion and Litochoro are very nice, welcoming people and the restaurants and the other hotels are better, this one is an exception. I booked it trusting the platforms and was duped, the whole point was to be by the beach, well I paid for my naivete.

Overall a great experience and extremely friendly and helpful staff! Maria the receptionist was a great help with the check-in. Nothing to complain about the rooms, some offer amazing views of the sunrise and the sea. The food was mostly great, with good variety each day. The beach is exceptional, mostly sandy and really calm water, great for swimming. As an alternative, the spa and the swimming pools are very accomodating. We give our thanks to all the effort put in by the staff!