Review: King George Athens, Marriott Luxury Collection

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.

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.

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).

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!

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.

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.

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.

It’s too bad the restaurant was booked. The food and service for dinner are better at the King George than at the GB.

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.

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.....

Stars and elite status just stacks....

What card are u using, 16.5% return is insane...

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.

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.

Is a European King bed different than an American King Bed? That bed was differently a queen.

@ 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.

@ pbmchenry -- I didn't state any preference for how I wanted my eggs prepared when ordering.

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.

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?

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.

Thanks you

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).

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.

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.

@ 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.

@ 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.

@ 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/

@ 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?

@ 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.

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...

@ 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.

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

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.

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?!

Many hotels have them so that you can pick up if you get an unexpected call.

Hi Ben - I'm wondering about the AC at the King George, as I'm going to be in Athens in the middle of July. Any insights?

Thanks, Chris