Hotel Moka - Athens, Greece 

Scammed + Dirty, Smelly Hotel only Ideal for Budget Travelers
Posted: Tue, Oct 30 2007
I stayed at this hotel after arriving on a very early morning flight from London. I confirmed and re-confirmed the hotel reservations with the manager and she provided great advice about not getting scammed from the taxi drivers in Syntagma Square. However, it was her own staff that ended up scamming me in the end (more below). Pros + Located w/i about 8 minutes of Omonia Square + Cost wise, a cheap place Cons - Room type reservation not honored - Smelly, Dirty bathroom - Water leaks all over bathroom - Cigarette smoke within room and seeping in from all over - Breakfast comprised of coffee, cheese, and ham - Manager is thoroughly rude - Staff won't help you out if you get scammed So back to the original story. We were told by the manager that if the taxi driver tried to charge us too much, to inform the current desk manager and call the tourist police. When we arrived from Syntagma Square and were quoted a fare of 20 Euros, we balked (we reconfirmed this was a scame when going 8 miles a few days later in a taxi cost us 10 Euros by taxi). We asked the desk manager to call the tourist police and he refused telling us we should just pay the guy 15 Euros. But because of the fact that Syntagma is so close, we should have paid maybe between 3-5 Euros. However, with nobody else around to help us, and a threatening taxi driver, and now a duty manager telling us to go along with the scam we paid the 15 euros. I contacted the hotel manager to tell her what happened and she turned the situation around and blamed me for not contacting the tourist police. I told her I had asked the duty manager for his assistance and he wouldn't help. I never heard back from her again. Moral of the story: I wouldn't trust the people who work there, or the establishment. Maybe you'll get scammed by more than 10 Euros ($15) or something worse. Don't count on the staff to help you out. They also didn't give us the room we had booked and paid extra for - but we didn't want to argue any further at that time of morning. The "hotel" overall is not worth it...

nice hotel, good value
Posted: Fri, Sep 28 2007
We ( Belgian couple, 50+) stayed 6 nights in Hotel Moka (----) in April 2006 and are very pleased we chose this budget hotel. We booked two single rooms, found them large enough (with a comfortable double bed), and well equipped (TV, minibar, hairdryer, airco, shower, WC, ..). The rooms were thoroughly cleaned, beds made up and new towels provided daily. The staircases and the elevator smelled of soap every morning. The hotel is situated a mere 300 m from the magnificent national museum and all the busses & trolley’s passing there, about 500m from Omonia Sq. and the Metro-station. Breakfast is served on the roof terrace: it is not more than a glass of juice, a hot beverage, three slices of white bread, with cheese, ham and honey but it costs only €5; there are other breakfast facilities two streets away. The same terrace is open until 11pm for coffee or drinks at reasonable prices; there is no other common room. Most of the guests we saw were calm Greek businessmen, although the last night there was a noisy Greek school on a city-trip. The ladies at the reception desk are polite, very friendly and helpful and they speak good English. We do recommend this nice hotel if you cannot afford the Grande Bretagne :).

Not too bad
Posted: Thu, Aug 23 2007
Overall, not too bad for the price. We stayed here twice on our way too the Greek islands then again when we came back to Athens. Both times we found it pretty much the same, the rooms are basic but clean, second time we had a little terrace which was nice. The showers were pretty crap, the breakfast was gross, worst we had in two months of travelling, and the staff were not very friendly. On the plus side the rooms have aircon and there is a lift. Also a little bar on the top floor with good priced drinks. Also a convinient location. Would stay here again.