Canaves Oia Epitome

We were very much looking to our stay at this beautiful property, but some of the hotel service level was lacking for this level of hotel and price point. As Hyatt Globalists and on honeymoon, there were a couple of details up front that didn’t set a great tone. For a 3 night stay, one night was through Amex FHR Deluxe Suite with Plunge Pool, and the remaining 2 nights directly through Hyatt for a Honeymoon Suite with Plunge Pool. Before arrival, the hotel was helpful providing information on activities and excursions in the island, and even had a detailed guest intake form asking for our favorite cocktail and flavor of ice cream. Upon arrival after a full day of travel, we were a refreshing sangria and a seat while we were checked in. The front desk informs us “we’ve upgraded you” so I though off to a great start, but it was technically an upgrade from the category room reserved for night 1 (to a Honeymoon Suite) but no upgrade for the remaining 2 nights (as I had already reserved a Honeymoon Suite Plunge Pool). In my experience with Hyatt-affiliated properties, Globalist status trumps the Amex FHR upgrade, meaning of course it’s the hotel’s discretion, but the whole presentation on the upgrade at check in was misleading. Small Luxury Hotel brands affiliated with Hyatt do tend to offer more limited benefits for Hyatt status perks, but it was not a great first impression. Regarding the information they gathered through the guest intake form, I guess they were just curious because we were never offered a cocktail or ice cream. Oh well. The Amex FHR benefits included $100 spa credit. The massages were excellent. One of the best massages in years. However, we noticed at checkout that they provided 85 Euro credit for the Amex FHR $100 spa credit benefit. Did they really not know the exchange rate has been about 1:1 for some time? Anyway, Amex took care of that nonsense. Not a deal-breaker, but these “gotcha” experiences add up, and not how we want to spend our time looking out for those instances. The breakfast was plentiful and delicious. Service during breakfast was very pleasant for the most part, and a few forgetful servers were scattered among the crew. The room was comfortable but a bit small, especially considering all the pictures we had reviewed of the property showing very open spaces both inside and on the villa patios.

We stayed at Canaves Epitome as our home base in Santorini. The hotel has exceptional views of the sunset that in our opinion rivaled the spots in Oia that many recommend, nicely done cave like rooms and the staff are excellent, always ensuring your needs are met.

If you don’t enjoy crowds this is the place for a perfect romantic trip. Room 503 gave us a beautiful sunset view that we enjoyed in the pool with a complimentary bottle of wine our first night. Dinner at the new restaurant was memorable. Breakfast is tremendous and the service is most attentive. During the course of our stay, the staff remembered us and brought wherever we requested. The second night we enjoyed a spectacular sunset from bed. There is no need to leave this resort for sunset watchers. The staff got us last minute reservations at Ammoudi Bay and we had the best seat in the house. You will need to take a 5 minute ride into Oia via the hotel’s complimentary shuttle service. We did walk it once but it was not pleasant given the small curvy roads. Our last night we decided to spend in Oia but we missed the private sunset view our hotel room provided. The hotel’s transfer service provided pick up and drop off which was nice. All the staff speak English and everyone always greeted us with a smile. The rooms are modern and thoughtfully designed right down to the control panels located on your bed to open and close the curtains (which block out all light!). The main pool is stunning but we never used it given how warm and clean our private pool was. Perfect for couples and honeymooners only.