We booked this hotel based on the nice website. We aspected a nice four star hotel with nice bedrooms, swimming pool, etc... We were very disappointed when we arrived in this hotel. The hotel surroundings were not clean, the poolwater was not clean, all over the beach there was garbish (which was still there the next morning!). The room was unacceptable. The rooms you see on the website are not the rooms you sleep in! very basic, the bathroom is certainly not four stars worthed, and very noisy. We didn't sleep very well because you here every one who walks in the night in the corridor to their own room. We were very happy we only booked 2 nights in this hotel and we only slept in this hotel and made trips in the beautiful Mani area during the day. There are lovely little hotels in the Mani-area where you will have a nicer and cheaper stay! The rates this hotel charges are really overpriced for the accomodation you receive.

PROS: Quiet place, good facilities, SPA, friendly staff, good breakfast, clean rooms
CONS: bad service, bad and expensive cuisine (breakfast excl.), terrible matresses

Ok. We had stayed at this hotel 20 years ago and liked it a lot. It was new then. Since then family had told us of bad experiences there but we thought they were exaggerating. Unfortunately, they weren't.

The location is very nice and the beach is nice there. I suspect the beach service is as bad as everything else at this place but didn't stay long enough to find out.

We arrived at the Filoxenia with great anticipation one sunny June afternoon having driven down from Athens where we had stayed at the lovely Arion in Voulegmeni The Arion is a 5 star place, but keep in mind, the Filoxenia is advertising itself as a 5 star place also. We were psyched to bring our 2 teenage daughters to what we remembered as a lovely, laid back beach resort. We were not expecting luxury but were expecting clean, nice, airy, and bright.

As commented by another reviewer, there were no porters to help us with our bags from the car. The front entry steps were dirty and stained with chewing gum? Bird droppings? Don't know.

Through the dirty glass rotating door (which is not big enough to wheel a normal suitcase thus, thus trapping you,) the entry lobby was dim despite the bright sun outside, dusty, dated, and decorated with stuffed animals of all things, and cheesy wall paintings. (WTF?) But we thought OK, whatever, and spoke to the young female clerk who was very nice. We then schlepped our bags outside, across the pool area,over a couple electric cords, thru another soiled entry door, and into and adjacent building, and up a flight of concrete stairs to get to our rooms.

They were horrid. One reeked of mold. Both were small-ish and rather shabby. The bathrooms were like something you would see in someone's not very nice apartment, and ours had hair in it, and the tub was ringed with mildew. No window, no ventilation, old white tile, NO shower curtain (just a plastic liner!!) awful towels, nasty little complementary toiletries which were wet. I took a shower after our long dusty drive and it was one of the worst I've had,

When I got out, I checked on my husband on the balcony with the scenic view of the abandoned building, and good views of everyone else's balcony, due to the fact they are only a couple feet apart with no privacy dividers. We had asked for, and were happy to pay for, ocean view or seaside rooms. He wasn't too happy either because of the birds. There are swallows everywhere, they had nests in every right angle corner of the building, there were droppings everywhere, and one bird had actually FLOWN INTO HIS HAIR while he was sitting out there smoking.

So we went to reception (back down the concrete stairs, out across the pool deck, don't trip on the electric cords, back past the stuffed animal)s, to the reception desk. We told the clerk ( in Greek) that the rooms weren't what we were looking for and we needed to be upgraded either immediately or the next day. We were willing to spend one night in those rooms but no more. We were told the place was FULL and there were NO other rooms available. We told them we would have to leave if they could not change our rooms. They said they couldn't do anything for us, despite the fact we were wiling to pay for any upgrades.

We then had to go out to find a better hotel, rather than being able to go relax on the beach!l We went to the Elite, where we had also stayed in the past, and made a reservation to check in the next day if the Filoxenia failed to make things right,.

As an aside, the Elite was awesome, a night and day contrast in every respect to the Filoxenia, so glad we changed, had a great experience there and will return this year.

After dinner we went back to the Filoxenia and bedded down for an uncomfortable night. The next day the manager was there and we again made our case to him. he was obstinate and unhelpful in every respect.

Anyway, we gave these folks a chance to make things right or give us a refund of our prepaid 4 day stay. They refused to do either. We had to check out the next day, go to the Elite, and spend the next 8 months contesting the thousands of dollars of our money that the Filoxenia tried to keep for nights that we did not stay there.We eventually got our money bakc, but feel that they spoiled a night and part of a day of our vacation, and tried to rip us off.

By the way, the one night that we did sleep there was bad, the beds were subpar, and the air conditioner were very loud, what you might expect at a budget hotel

It was also not cheap.

We've stayed in a lot of beach hotels plan and and fancy everywhere from South Beach to Jamaica, Aruba, Bahamas, New England, and various spots in Greece including some very simple places years ago in the islands, and some fancy places more recently. Our verdict on the Filoxenia: Terrible place -- run don't walk!

We stayed here for our wedding anniversary early April and I loved it. We had a balcony overlooking the green lawn and the smell of that damp morning grass reminded me of back home in NZ. The rooms were big and comfortable although the big double bed did turn out to be just two singles put together.
Kalamata has so much going on and it is close to the Mani. Great for a day trip. It had a big bath and it was warm, quiet and clean. Good choice of buffet breakfast too. Right on the beach and within walking distance of the main town tho we drove down there and walked along the front.