needed to speak up

[maggie]

for numerous weeks now, i have been coming onto this board. But a certain topic, that i now fill i need to speak about.

for the last five years i have travelled once a year to kefalonia, each time staying at the hotel pericles. However i find that a certain member of this board is not giving a good overall view of this particular hotel- apparently the member was staying at the hotel during which her room was broken into. I do have evidence that whilst something did happen, i feel that we arent getting the whole truth.

The pericles is a friendly, safe hotel. Each time we have stayed there the staff have upmost helpful, that includes the manager.

personally i thought i should - write this as i dont want people to get the wrong impression of the pericles for those who have booked and those who wish to book.

[ScouseAl]

Maggie

Welcome to the board, That is the beauty and the danger of internet holiday reviews.

The beauty is that people can provide their opinion of holidays they experience be it good or bad it's up to other holiday makers to read those opinions and make a choice of their own. The danger of it is that people with a grievance can post a bad report in order to give a bad opinion of holiday or hotel in an attempt to destroy a good reputation.

Personally I prefer to read numerous reviews of hotels that I'm interested in booking this will result in a trend so if you have 10 good reports and 2 bad reports on a hotel then I would suggest that the 2 bad reports were just unfortunate incidents and the majority of good reports need to be taken into account more than the 2 bad reports.

It would be interesting to read the post as I don't remember seeing it and would be interested to find out what allegedly occured.

Also I'm intrigued how you have evidence that something happened during another board members holiday at the pericles were you holidaying there at the same time? Maybe you could provide the evidence or supply those holidaymakers considering staying at the Pericles in the future with the whole truth??

Regards

Al

[kaz]

hello maggie - welcome to the site

likewise this year it will be our third visit to the pericles - we love it. We feel its in a great location, staff and stelios have always been very welcoming. Cant wait for our next visit (getting excited).

We love the area surrouding sami, its a great base also for travelling around sami.

Obviously i feel it upsetting that mich had a bad experience whilst at the pericles- but im more than happy in going back

[kaz]

oops silly me ....travelling around kefalonia ...

[Phil]

I have stayed at many places on Kef and like to read as many reports as possible before booking. However, reports are always subjective - and we all want different things from our holidays. It is usually best to read between the lines.

I have stayed/eaten at some great places which have had mediocre reports and I have stayed/eaten at some mediocre places which have had great reports. It is horses for courses. Someone who expects chips with every meal is going to give a different report than someone who prefers the local cuisine. Fortunately the Greeks are very accommodating and try there best to cater for all tastes.

Personally, I don't like loud music all day long - but some people wouldn't be able to cope with peace and quiet - we are all different

Phil

[cwm_ddu]

Hi Maggie and welcome to the board.

I'm glad you had the confidence to put your view forward on the accomodation you have stayed at for the last 5 years and it looks like your views have already been echoed.

Personally I must say that I have stayed not just in numerous locations in Kef but also a number of other Greek Islands and throughout the world and i would be the first in the queue to put forward my trust in the Greek people in general.

Only the last visit in May a young lady in her early twenties was adamant that her 18th birthday present, a watch had been taken from by the pool/bar area. I told her at the time if it was 'lost' in the area and found by anyone Greek it would be handed in (she doubted my confidence in the matter)........... 3 days later when she went into a local supermarket the owner pulled the watch out of the back of the till and told her it was found after she had left the shop in the area where she had been looking for medicine.

It was her and her families first time to Greece and she couldn't believe it......... as she said at the time, she wouldn't have seen it again if they were in their usual holiday spot in Spain.

[Phil]

I can echo what Cwm Ddu said about the locals on Kef (and Greece in general). Whenever we think we have *lost* or mislaid something it always seems to turn up.
Last year we were in a shop in Sami. I was buying a present for Monica and the lady owner put an extra gift into the bag before we left. We were all enjoying a few minutes conversation and I forgot to pick up my credit card. When we went back the next day the lady was so relieved to see us. She seemed to thing it was her fault that she let us depart without my credit card and insisted that we went away with another free gift.

It is a shame that the British (and most other nations) don't have the same attitude.

Phil

[Michelle]

Well as it was me who was burgled and have video evidence of the fact that the lock on our room was faulty as well as a translated police report (and original Greek version) which state entry was gained via a window with a faulty lock, I resent the implication that I was somehow to blame for being burgled (or the other couple who were also burgled come to that) also I resent the fact that you feel you did not get the whole story. Â*Whole story in a nutshell: Â*On the night of 17th June 2007 at approx 11.30pm we locked the windows on our room, we went to sleep, we woke up in the morning of 18th June at 7am and found someone had got into our room due to what the police later found was a faulty lock on the window, we found that certain items had been stolen. Â*

I have said that the Pericles was OK as a hotel, the pool was nice, the breakfast was good, the rooms were basic but OK, Nina the receptionist was fabulous, the location was good, I joined in the entertainment - winning the quiz and singing lots of songs on the Karaoke. Â*I love Kefalonia and have visited many times and am booked to return for our second annual trip (as is our usual programme) in September. Â*

I would have returned to the Pericles if ever I wanted to stay in a hotel again, but for two things (neither of which is the burglary as it was not the hotelier's nor Thomas Cook's fault that there are people who enter buildings and thieve) :

1. The lock on our room was faulty and there was a reluctance to fix it
2. Â*The attitude of the rep and the hotelier following the incident in that they showed no compassion at all - and even laughed at us when we first reported it.

I had no reason to stage a mock burglary - I had plenty of money in the bank which I was able to call on if I needed it, plenty of people back home who could have helped us out, even people out in Kef at the time who could have helped if we were in dire straits - which we were not. Â*Besides, if I was to stage a burglary I would have lost more than 90 euros a couple of pieces of plastic and a pair of trainers for the insurance claim (which incidentally I've never put in as it was so insignificant I didnt feel the need to bother with). Â*We had a £600 camera, £400 video camera and £200 mobile phone for starters that we could have added to the list of lost items let alone a £2000 engagement ring and plenty of other bits and pieces. (I do have evidence that these items were the only items reported missing on the police report for any doubting Thomas which I'd gladly scan in and send as proof)

As we like staying in villas usually and this was the first time in a hotel for a number of years, we were surprised that we actually found ourselves saying that we would go there again with the children, however this opinion changed following the burglary and the attitude of the rep and hotelier.

I have never in my life complained about a holiday or any aspect of it and I have been travelling as an adult for 22 years and have travelled extensively on both long and short haul trips staying in a vast variety of classes of hotels and other accommodations. Â*I like to enjoy my holidays as I look forward to them and plan them well and even with the problems caused on this occasion still was determined to get on and enjoy our holiday. Â*Unfortunately having spoken to the other lady that was burgled since we both returned to the UK, she was not able to do the same and found the whole experience very disturbing to the point that it completely ruined her holiday.

I have read reviews of the Pericles which are good and bad (before and since I stayed there) but didnt let the bad ones put me off and still went there anyway with the philosopy that i would make my own mind up. Â*I disagree with some of the points from the bad reviews feeling they are somewhat harsh. Â*My experience was what I relayed and we are all entitled to do that - thank you for relaying your experiences of the hotel and I hope that you have another enjoyable visit this year.

I did however wish to alert anyone putting children in the family rooms (which is what we were in) to the fact that their windows could have faulty locks (in a check of locks throughout the hotel following the burglaries it was discovered that a number of people had faulty locks on their rooms) I felt it would be a tragedy to do nothing about it and to hear of some disaster following our return involving a child - something I was not prepared as a parent to have on my conscience.

Forgive me for going on (not at all like me Â*:) but I also couldnt resist the need to speak up in defence of myself, my partner and the account of our experience. Â*

I am interested to see what evidence you have that I havn't told the truth - i'm prepared to share all of my evidence that I am telling the truth with anybody who wants to see it, I would hope that you would value your evidence as highly as I value mine and feel able to do the same. If our account of events is being construed as untrue I would be very, very interested in finding out why, how and by whom.

All we asked for from the hotel or rep was a drink of water knowing we had money coming and knowing that we could survive without food for a day, this we were refused. Another couple holidaying with us insisted on lending us some money as they were leaving the next day we did not want to do this as they would have left before we had means to repay them, however they insisted and practically thrust the money upon us. Immediately we returned home we sent them the money back (we couldnt wait to get home to do this!) and as a good will gesture we repaid them the same amount in pounds sterling that they had lent us in euros - so we paid a bit of interest on the loan - hardly a gesture you would expect from someone who is dishonest. I'm sure Bob and Hazel would back me up on this as we have stayed in touch with them since.

[cwm_ddu]

Just wondering, was the video evidence taken before or after the video was stolen?

[Michelle]

The video wasnt stolen Â*:-/ Â*I was saying that if our intention was to make an insurance claim we would have added the items like the video camera, camera etc to the list of missing items. Â*

Just can't think what we would have gained by lying about a burglary - it's baffled me! Not only that but its upsetting to experience a burglary and to be made to look as if we have lied about what was an extremely distressing experience does not evoke good feelings. When I showed Rick the thread he just said "dont bother responding with details just tell em to 'go away' (not his exact words!) as they dont know what they are talking about, it happened to us and we know what happened so who gives a "darn" (again not his exact words!)" But I felt I had to respond with the details. Cos I'm like that! :-[