Note: We started writing this on our second trip to Greece following the Pandemic. Greece was among the first international destinations to reopen and we took full advantage!
A platform (landing or jumping off) to and from Greece!
Many of us have become accustomed to the pervasiveness of the Holiday Inn brand from IHG Hotel group. I know in my 60+ years of traveling this aquamarine globe I certainly have.
Something that we may not always consider when we reflect on this well known brand is breadth of service and quality. If you are bound for or from Athens Greece, this establishment is worth your consideration. One key feature for my Soulmate Judy and I was availability of an Airport shuttle. And we were pleasantly surprised by the breadth and quality of services. The Athens Holliday Inn surprised us with a 24/7 shuttle that picks up on the hour at east end of the ATH terminal, and departs the hotel to drop off every hour on the half-hour at the departure doors.. This was very important to us as we flew in on American Airlines yet we were flying on to Crete independently on Agean Airlines the next day. For that leg we bought business class seats on Aegean Airlines as we couldn’t find flights through to Zcrete on AA at the time. So we booked the https://www.AA.com and https://www.Ageanair.com flights separately as, to our dismay, Aegean is not an AA partner (they are a United Airlines partner). Yep we broke the cardinal frequent flyer rule drummed into me many years ago by one of my best managers… (who i believe is a triple million miller with American Airlines by now while I’m working on my second) “…stay within your core airline family.” Unfortunately in this instance we could not as an AA affiliated carrier didn’t seem to fly to Crete.
So there we were arriving early into Greece on one day and departing in the afternoon of the following day. Yep we could have stayed at the Sofitel Athens Airport. but let’s get real, we don’t do this for money or on salary. We are retired for gods sake. We travel because we love to experience new places and we do so on our own $/euro (at least as on the penning of this post) so a hotel at half the price yet with a free shuttle, my disabilities (mobility and a chair sleeper), and our strong desire to avoid renting a car at the Athens airport, well Athens Holiday Inn was just the ticket.
Since we go to lots of places we tend to try to sample local hotels when it makes sense so we tend to use https;//www.hotels.com and accumulate free nights on their rewards program across a diverse set of hotels, rather than focusing on just one brand and booking directly. E.g. in Hungary we used to use Danubius Hotels and stay at the Hotel Gellert, (now closed, it has been sold and is being remodeled as we write this) and more recently at the boutique Buda Castle Hotel. In other locales we stay in other places, although on our upcoming Edingurgh trip we start our drip at a Holiday Inn… who would have guessed.
It took us a couple of minutes after exiting customs and immigration at Athens International airport to figure out how to get to the parking lot where the hotel shuttle would collect us (user head gap…). In other-words it was easy. We only needed to exit the terminal, turn right and walk/roll/stagger to the end of the building… The shuttle driver was waiting there with the white passenger van with the “HOLIDAY INN” sign on the side. He was very helpful in collecting us including my brand new ATTO Sport mobility scooter 32Kg, loading us up, and getting us on our way to the Holliday Inn Athens Airport.
When we pulled up outside the lobby, the driver quickly offloaded our luggage and started ferrying it into the lobby. I deployed the ATTO scooter and quickly learned that on slick tile even what looked like a moderate slope was a bit too slippery for the scooter. This was not a power problem, it was simply a traction problem. The ATTO has a single drive wheel in the bow so the single wheel couldn’t get enough traction on the slick slopped tile. Quickly, the driver gave me a brief push and we made it up. Yeah I know i could have just deployed in its “cart configuration” and pulled it up. But hey this was a new toy, I’m a big kid, and needed to play with my new toy.
We arrived early for check in and we knew it. We were fully expecting to have to find something else to do for several hours. Despite this early arrival, the counter folk at the Athens Holiday Inn quickly accommodated us. They found a suitable room and checked us in 4-5 hours early. Having just arrived on a direct flight from Philadelphia (on which I failed to sleep), this was great! we got to the room and promptly sacked out for a few hours.
The facility had a Restaurent and Bar of which we took advantage for dinner and drinks and breakfast the next AM.
The shuttle on the outbound to crete was as convienient and the driver as helpful.