takemewithu

Arts, what's the name of the hotel where you stayed that only had one other room occupied? Theres really no particular hotel where we need to stay in all these cities we are overnighting in. We just want a clean, safe and well located hotel with ample parking for the rental. Of course, we would like to pay the lowest possible rates for the nicest room we can get. All of the hotels we booked are cancelable, except for the Aressana in Santorini. They are: Pension Marianna in Nafplio, Dellas Hotel in Kastraki and Pan Hotel in Delphi.

We are not uncomfortable with showing up at a hotel to book a room. We just don't want to end up at a hotel where we would not otherwise book if we had a choice. It also seems that, in general, we can get better rates if we just showed up with no reservation ( during low season )? Is this generally true, at least in the Peloponnese and Central Greece areas?

takemewithu

Mariha, thanks for your suggestions. We are seriously considering canceling our reservation at least with Pan Hotel and Dellas. The Nafplio leg is pretty much set at 5 nights so that reservation can stay. We got a rate of €65/nt all in with Marianna, which seemed like a good rate. Dellas is €52/nt all in. You think we can do better at these hotels, just a curious a question and have little bearing on booking ahead vs just showing up? Extra flexibility will be the driving factor with our decision. not to mention getting lost and dealing with "can't find our hotel" issue : =)

mariha2912

Those three areas have their fair share of groups of foreign visitors, especially on summer months and DIY foreign and Greek visitors all year around, although group tours run into winter too. I find rates reasonable anyway even on the busier periods.
October is not exatly winter and not exactly summer and you may be able to negotiate on rates a bit, just do not expect dirt-cheap rates that sometimes you get on the islands towards the very end of the season for long-ish stays. 30 euro per night is definateley possible if you look around a bit, but remember that although sites such as say booking.com cut a hearty commision, say 10-15%, price difference will not be great. Small family owned hotels such as the ones you mentioned, make a very limited profit and will not be able to reduce the price greatly. If say a hotel appears to charge 50 euro on booking.com, a 10-15% comes on 5-7.5 euros difference.

I would read up a bit in advance and check which hotels to have on mind and if there are any to avoid and I would not worry too much about it.
: )

artsnletters

In Kastraki I stayed at Bloutsos Rooms. The room was spacious and attractively furnished, but the bathroom was tiny and there was no shower curtain, so basically the whole room showers along with you. It was fine for me, I'm a single person and I didn't mind, but you might.

BTW, there are no addresses in Kastraki. If your hotel doesn't list directions, you find it by going to Tourist Info in Kalambaka and they will tell you how to get there. TI is on the roundabout in the center of Kalambaka, where the taxis are - I believe this is where my GPS led me when I entered Kalambaka as the entire destination.

takemewithu

Thanks Arts. Great info.

Heimdall

Greek bathrooms are "wet", with a drain in the floor in additional to the one in the shower cubicle. I would much rather use a shower without a curtain than one where the wet curtain clings to you while you are using it. How often do those curtains get thoroughly cleaned? Some of the better hotels, like the one I use on Antiparos, have glass shower doors.

clausar

Generally speaking low category and priced hotels have bathrooms like that.
Heimdall made a great point.. i wouldn't want to have the wet curtain on me while i shower !!!!

takemewithu

I will be more than happy to pay 10-20 euros more for a shower enclosure. Again, thanks for bringing up the topic on wet shower. Clausar and Arts,I know you've stayed at some of the hotels we've booked for this trip, can you recall if Dellas, Marianna and Pan hotels have this type of shower? I would be shocked if the Aressana in Santorini will have a wet shower : = >

artsnletters

My room at Pan had a hand-held shower in a tub with a shower curtain. Because of the tub and the ample space, the shower curtain stayed at the side of the tub and didn't touch me. Bloutsos was the only place I stayed where the bathroom was also the shower-room.

takemewithu

Arts, Thanks for the info on Pan Hotel. I know you just returned from your trip, but I look forward to your TR.

Rostra

<<<...than one where the wet curtain clings to you while you are using it>>>

I've used my ponytail hair elastics and slip-knotted the corners and then hooked something in the loop to weight it down.

Have also used small bungie cords to attach the handheld shower to the rod that holds up the shower curtain.