Electra Hotel in Athens

So far this has been a horrible experience. We have been traveling for over 27hrs., was not picked up by the private transport service so we had to spend 165 euros to travel from the airport to the hotel. This is NOT the hotel's fault. However, when we finally arrived at the hotel to check in @11am we are told that rooms are not ready until 3pm!!! We were forced to sit around in their lobby until then. Yet sitting in the lobby I witnessed at least 3 other guests who had just arrived after us, checked in and were quickly given their rooms. I expect better service and more consideration from the staff than we original received. While waiting I quickly wrote a review about the experience, which I received a prompt response from the guest relation person. The guest relation person, stated that the other guest were "prebooked" and that their policy as well as ALL the other hotels in the area have a strict 3pm check in policy. Really? Update: when checking out we asked the on duty clerk about this "prebooking" service that guest relations person had talked about in her response and we were told that they had no knowledge of it nor did they ever hear about it, yet they couldn't offer any explanation as to why other guests were allowed to chk in before us prior to their 3pm chk in policy! Also per Google and other sources, the industry standard world wide for hotels and turning a room over should be between 20 to 30mins tops. Why it took them 3.5hrs is unexplainable by the guest relation person, unless of course they have an anti-American policy to go along with their other nonsense policies. Shameful and ridiculous. In addition, the guest relation person failed to address this point as to why they dont fall under normal hotel industry policy of turning over rooms. This is certainly NOT a 4 star rated hotel, and its very far from it. That's what we are going to report back to our travel agent so she can find better accommodations to future clients. Update: We returned to this hotel (no choice) after our 9 day cruise. We arrived at 1030am., and this time I had my wife who is Latin (doesn't look anything like a typical American, and we stayed outside) go up to the front desk and check us in and to our amazement she was quickly provided with our two rooms. Really!!! What happened to this steadfast unbroken rule of a 3pm check in? 2days later when we finally checked out at 7am, we were treated very respectful and professional. I felt that the hotel was trying to redeem themselves by going the extra mile. But you know what they say, first impression is the one that always tends to stick, so in that case they failed. The guest relations person continues to defend their so called steadfast 3pm policy. As a frequent traveler for over 34yrs both domestic and international, I am very aware of the standard check in policy that the majority of hotels have, but never have I had to wait 3.5hrs for a hotel room to be turned over by the staff. Especially when the hotel staff knows the customer has been traveling for over 27hrs., and is waiting in their lobby!!!. The other point I would like to make is the recent statement from the guest relations person regarding that they don't use Google etc.. to change their procedures (or something to that effect), well you better, because in this day and age that's what the majority of people are using to make their choices on where to stay and if your staff cant managed to turn a simple room in 30mins., then you are just failing as a hotel and you should start hiring a better housekeeping staff. The fact that your little hotel has been in business since 1965 is amazing in itself and reading some of the complaints that I found on Social Media you really should start thinking about changing some things. The fact that you boast about having a 4 to 5 Star rating just tells me that a lot of these over the top reviews are perhaps suspect, false, made up by you, your own employees and/or their family members.