Fragiskos Hotel

Don't stay here. They tout the location as being near the beach which is true but across a big gavel parking lot with no view whatsoever. This is a a cold concrete dorm which could be anywhere. The rooms were clean and quiet but everything in this place is designed to be as cost efficient as possible. Breakfast was a plastic joke. The reception was friendly enough but beyond that staff were rude if available at all. If you want any taste of the good things to be had in Greece go elsewhere.

Hotel Fragiskos is the biggest hotel in Matala village. But isn’t the most modern. It is located on good place. Its services are perfect. It has air condition, parking, bar, hall, dining hall with allinclusive. Only a hotel’s walls are weak and every voices and echoes are hear.

This hotel was the first of three we would be staying after our transAtlantic arrival and so we elected to go a bit less expensive than the others. It turned out not to be worth the savings. First the positive. The front desk agent I dealt with genuinely tried to help. After my first night was a disaster, he moved me into a new room that addressed nearly all my concerns, but it added a couple of new ones. The location of the hotel is fantastic, being just by the beach and Matala’s great shops and restaurants. We really liked Matala itself. The property itself is a bit run down but has great bones. With a bit of investment into rooms, facilities and services, it could be a jewel of Matala. But not yet. Checking in I was given one of seven rooms with an entrance straight outdoors. I am not referring to the balconies, which all of the rooms seem to have, but rather the main entry door, which was a frosted glass. This will be an important point, as I’ll note later. The room was small, but appeared to have been fairly recently refreshed and had a nice enough. I immediately noticed that the safe instructions made no sense, and after three trips to the lobby they still were not able to tell me how to use it. The TV also didn’t work — in fact I could never get the TVs to work at this hotel. The shower was rainhead and worked just fine that first evening. After dinner I was able to get to sleep fairly easily and woke up with the light through the door telling me I had slept through the night. Oh no. It was only 11:50 pm. The problem is that the frosted glass entry door on this particular room (and probably the seven others with frosted glass entry doors) lets light through and there is a massive outdoor light on the building across from it. Unable to sleep I was at least able to watch a movie through wifi that first night. I tried to take another shower but there was no hot water, either in the middle of the night or later in the morning. Mercifully I was moved to another room without the glass door problem, which solved that problem and this safe was easy to use. The TV didn’t work in this room either, and the wifi barely ever worked. Later I was told the hotel committed only to providing wifi in the common areas, which in 2021 is a bit weak. Beyond the room itself, the pool area was OK, as was the breakfast. There was a good range of breakfast items, but they got a bit repetitive. Oddly they didn’t have oil and vinegar for the salad items. Breakfast didn’t open until 8 am, and with no kettle or coffee maker in the room or coffee available in the lobby, you have to wait until 8 or go across the street to the cafe kiosk that opens at 7. I’d seek other options before staying here and would be very particular on which room to book if I did. But to Matala itself, which is intimate and charming, we’ll definitely come back. Hopefully by then, someone will have given this property some love.