Athenaeum InterContinental Athens

We have just returned from a 4-night stay in the Intercontinental Athenaeum, and I truly don't understand some of the negative reviews that have been published. We were met at Reception with one of the team from Guest Services, who escorted us to the Club Lounge to complete the check-in for our 2 rooms. During the trip up to the Lounge, she explained that the Lounge was actually closing that day for the next 10 days, as part of the hotel's ongoing refurbishment program. This was a great disappointment, as the Club Lounge with Acropolis views was one of the reasons that I booked the Intercontinental ! In retrospect, I would have booked the Crowne Plaza instead, had I been aware of this plan. Nevertheless, we checked in and made ourselves comfortable, and then began our Greek adventure. We did all of the tourist things that we had done previously, only this time with friends who had never visited, and in between we used the hotel as a stopping-off point, specifically in the relocated Club Lounge in the ToBar area of the ground floor lobby. Despite this area having no particular charm or ambience, the staff were exceptional throughout, and really did do their best to ensure that we had an enjoyable experience. In particular, Artemis, Eleni, Pemy and Marina were fantastic; friendly, helpful, pro-active and genuinely keen to help at all times. On our last night, we visited the Premiere Bar on the rooftop, and despite the fact that we were the only customers, the 2 guys on duty ( David and Christos) were absolute stars. They were funny, respectful and accommodating, all the more so considering they were dealing with some drunk Scottish tourists !!! So, ultimately we had a fantastic time in the Intercontinental Athenaeum, but this was entirely thanks to the staff ... the loss of the Club Lounge really should have been a deal-breaker, but the staff did their best to recover the situation.

We stay at Intercontinental quite a bit and this one is not bad bunt nothing exceptional. It appears to have been quite grand in the past but now not so much. Location is a little out of the way and not much in the way of shopping or dining within walking distance but cabs are always available snd fairly inexpensive. Rooms are large and clean. Same for the bath. Bed felt worn out and had little support. Nice selection of international TV. Reasonable prices for the rooms but cafe seemed expensive.

Stayed at the Intercontinental Athens in March 2025 with friends for my birthday. While I've generally had positive experiences with Intercontinental properties, this stay was disappointing and left much to be desired. The primary issue was the lack of attention from the front desk staff. Despite providing prior notice of our late arrival, we were mistakenly marked as "no-shows," which resulted in unnecessary confusion and a substantial delay at check-in. We had to spend nearly an hour resolving this issue at the front desk, significantly impacting our already exhausted state. Additionally, as someone booking through IHG with a clear entitlement to room category upgrades, it was frustrating to have to argue repeatedly with the front desk staff to receive the proper benefits. Despite booking five rooms, the staff initially attempted to limit upgrades to just one room, despite clear availability in higher categories. This unnecessarily contentious situation soured our experience further. Service overall was noticeably slow, except for the concierge and restaurant teams, who provided excellent and efficient service which is why this review still gets three stars. Unfortunately, this stark contrast highlighted the underperformance and dismissive attitude of the front desk staff even more. Given these experiences, despite my general appreciation for Intercontinental hotels, I cannot recommend this particular property and will not consider returning.

I wanted to share my recent experience of our stay at your property in Athens. To date, my spouse and I have stayed at InterContinental properties in Miami, Rome, Washington DC, Tahiti, New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco, Atlanta, and now Athens. In all my years of travel I have never ever been so disgusted and disappointed with an InterContinental property than I have with Athens. The hotel is an unmitigated, derelict dump of a property. It should be completely gutted and renovated, if not demolished. We arrived yesterday at approximately 1:30pm and proceeded to the check-in desk (there was no separate Ambassador check-in desk by the way) and they advised the room was not yet ready. At 1:30pm. As an Ambassador guest we are supposed to have a guaranteed early check-in. Every other InterContinental property I've been to this has been the case. The check-in desk advised it would only be a short while until the room was ready, and they would prioritize the room. To keep this somewhat brief, we were waiting in your abomination of a hotel lounge/ lobby until 3:45pm at which point my spouse headed over to the check-in desk to inquire about the status of the room. They said it would be another 20 minutes because housekeeping was vacuuming. What then were they doing for the last 2+ hours? At this point my spouse began searching for other hotels. I then asked to speak to the GM. I was greeted by a young blonde who was very nice, however, her only consolation to us was to offer lounge access. Why wasn't this offered to us upon check-in when the room wasn't ready? Again, we are Ambassador status guests. We then headed up to the lounge, which was an embarrassment quite frankly. I've seen nicer elementary school dining halls. After waiting a few minutes, I was then called over to the lounge desk to check-in yet again. And finally given my room keys. At this point it was 4:15pm. Perhaps this sort of abysmal service would be accepted at a Holiday Inn or Motel 6 but this is an InterContinental. I'd go so far as to say it was far and away the WORST hotel experience I've ever had. The food in the lounge was rubbery and inedible. The bell staff at the hotel entrance was completely useless and never offered to help us out of our cab upon arrival nor upon leaving this afternoon. They never asked if we needed assistance calling a cab. And once we arrived in the room we had a view of the roof of the entrance. Do you treat all of your Ambassador guests this way? No upgrade. No early check-in. What am I paying for then? We weren't given any sort of priority. In summation I'm seriously considering canceling the Ambassador program altogether. We had an incredible experience at the Conrad in Istanbul and quite frankly it's a FAR superior product. I briefly considered booking the InterContinental Istanbul and after this disastrous experience I'm thrilled I didn't. I sincerely look forward to hearing from your corporate office as this particular property has zero business carrying the InterContinental flag. It's not even worthy of a Red Roof Inn. My spouse was fearful of catching bed bugs it was so revolting.

Good business hotel at the convenient location. Lobby is nice. The personnel is very attentive and professional. Location is close to the historical sites and convenient for driving. The only negative thing that the hotel and rooms are quite old, but good news that they now make renovations. I hope it will be bigger TV sets in the rooms and new furniture! Breakfast is good with the variety of the local cheese.