I must reveal one of my favourite tricks with hotels. Haggle over the price, get it as low as possible and then, when it's time to pay, pull out the plastic. Smile sweetly at the receptionist and then say, in your best Sunday-going-to-meeting-voice "Do you give a discount for cash?" It works nine times out of ten ;)

...so I got an excellent rate for my two nights in Oscar.

Oscar is a big hotel which seems to specialise in groups. It's on the edge of the centre of Athens, across the road from the Larissa train and metro station. My room was a double, bit cramped but with comfortable bed(s), a shower/bathroom which was clean and a t.v. with an excellent choice of nationalal and international stations.

Airco worked fine, albeit a tad rattly. Kids were staying on the same corridor but they weren't particularly noisy and settled down well before 12 p.m. Not that it would bother me - I'll probably sleep through Armageddon.

Breakfast is buffet-style with a wide selection of warm and cold dishes. Choice of fried or scrambled eggs, bacon (bit greasy) and diverse sorts of bread, sliced and rolls, and cold local meats, cheeses and conserves . I've had a lot worse in 5 star hotels! Personnel in the dining room were very helpful and friendly. The maitre d' looked a little stern but turned out to have a very sharp sense of humour.

As I said, the price/quality/hospitality ratio was highly satisfactory and for a tourist hotel Oscar is great value for money.

It ain't downtown but literally, turn left out of the door and you're in the Larissa metro station where there it's possible to buy 24-, 48 hour and 7 day passepartouts for the whole Athens public transport network.

I stayed here with my son this month, while the strikes where in full effect. Not the best time to visit Athens. One day the sites where closed, the next day public transportation was on strike and the day after that the sites where open again, but public tranportation and taxis where on strike.

The hotel wasn't in the safest of neigbourhoods when you are a woman travelling alone with a six year old. But the staff gave me great tips on how to get somewhere and where not to go. They where very nice to me and especially my son, who got so much smiles and attention from the staff (and even a present from one of the staffmembers working at the reception desk). One day when it was difficult to go anywhere they even let us order pizza in the room, and gave me a 50% discount ticket for the pizzaplace.

So it was an adventurous trip, but the staff made it so great for us! They were incredibly helpful. And the city itself is beautiful!!!

The hotel:
We had a spacious room with two seperate beds. The breakfast was good for the price. The swimming pool on the roof was great, we did a bit of sunbathing there while looking at the Acropolis. All in all a great experience!

Stayed here in June on an EF Tour with hoards of high school students. Noticed a wide range of rooms and functioning appliances like Air Conditioning. For example one room had a door that swung in to the bathroom and would hit the toilet before the door fully opened. Some rooms had AC that worked other just the fan from the AC worked. There are rooms with anywhere from 2-4 beds. This hotel seems to cater to the high school age tour groups. Multiple tour groups coming and going. This can be a concern as there is only one very small elevator to the upper floors. Take the stairs at your own risk. Very Narrow and the doors open out into the stairwell from the upper floors. If someone is opening the door about the time your reach the doorway, you could easily be knocked down the stairwell. The highlight of the hotel is the rooftop swimming pool. Beautiful views of the Acropolis at night. There is also a rooftop bar. The hotel is centrally located and the staff were hurried but helpful. Be sure to check out the little souvenir shop adjacent to the hotel. By the way, don't purchase the Wi-Fi, it works just fine in the Lobby!

Awful hotel , arrogant staff ,breakfast had been sitting in the trays since the Acropolis was built ,and the rooms needed a huge freshen up .