This is a wonderful hotel in the perfect location. It is a short walk to all the ruins, the metro, shopping and restaurants.

The rooms were clean and the bedding much nicer than other hotels we've stayed. The bathroom has a hair dryer and is large for European standards. The rooftop has a spectacular view of the city. The breakfast is more than adequate.

The staff is very helpful. One afternoon we decided to buy various things from the market instead of going out for lunch. The women from housekeeping that happen to be cleaning in the area went in the back and brought us utencils, plates, napkins, etc. They also brought out orange juice and cake.

We will stay at Arion every time we return to Athens.

Ok. Being 5 mins walk to Monastiraki, the location might not be any better. However at night, the hotel surrounding is far from pleasant. Get used to walking pass very dark and narrow streets and very old (some abandoned) shops. Those dark streets are not at all empty though, as there are lots of women hunting for business in the very near vicinity. (By the way, the church is not abandaoned as some people suggested here)

Staff was friendly, but not exceptionally (that was my expectation after reading reviews from this site prior to booking). It is afterall a 3* budget hotel so you get what you paid for. It is not a Hilton as such. Room is modern. However as I travelled in a group of 3, they squeezed an extra bed within hence very crowded. There was no proper air conditioning - the unit is only for heating with thermostat centrally set at 28C. It was very stuffy hence made sleep very uncomfortable. Of course one could open the window widely, but noise from outside, particulary if you got a room facing the road, plus the Greek lifestyle, made good night (1am to 6 am) sleep literally impossible unless you are extremely tired to ignore everything.

Breakfast is ok, nothing special, though selection can be limited. Breakfast room can get very crowded during busy time.

The Arion was totally refurbished on the site of an old hotel in 2004 for the Olympic games. I lies in an up and coming area close to Monastiraki station. You leave the station from the Athinas st. exit but not on to the main street but the opposite direction and follow the back street to the top and bare right where all the bars and cafes are. The area is still given over to small shops and business of every description but small boutiques, hairdressers etc are moving in and making it more trendy.
The Hotel is very peaceful and decorated in a contemporary style. The rooms and bathrooms are of a high standard and breakfast is included. There is a good left luggage room with changing facilities. I can easily reccomend this hotel.

I was here on business and for the meetings it was very convenient. It was clean and had flat screen tv's. The bathroom looked very new and was efficient. The hotel has a free breakfast which you can help yourself and was certainly enough choice. There is no evening meals but it's a couple of mins from many restaurants.

The area itself is a bit run down and I probably wouldnt have felt comfortable wandering around late at night alone, but it probably wouldn;t be unsafe.

It was good value in a good location if you don't want to splash out on the bigger hotels. The taxi was 35 euros from the airport but apparently that's very variable.