Review by Da Pa on 20th September, 2012

Add your review
The furnishings at Opal are nice and modern and the rooms are large and spacious, for the price that you're paying (it's by far the most expensive accommodation) you would expect to receive that sort of standard, so it's nothing out of the ordinary. However, once you start to live there, it's the little things that make this a place to avoid. The staff are unfriendly and, in the most part, unhelpful. Often they seem disinterested, lazy and not willing to help you out. As a business, all they care about is taking your money and have no interest in looking after you beyond that point. All good businesses take care of their customers as it is in their interest to keep them coming back (in this case, perhaps for years two or three of a degree course) and to spread the word to their friends (in this case, classmates who may also take up future accommodation with Opal). Instead, they do not care. They take an age to fix anything that goes wrong (a case in point is that the electronic gate stopped working, so they just left it wide open instead - clearly good with security, then), they aren't willing to listen to you and do something ever so slightly out of their way that could make for a happy customer without any loss to the business, instead focusing on new bookings. Again, once they have received your money, they no longer care about your experience. They also pay no attention to booking preferences. I am currently at Opal for a second year, and they have ignored my preferences for both of those years (don't want to be ground floor, put on to the ground floor. Would like a mixed flat, put with all boys, and messy ones at that. Would like to stay in the same flat as last year if at all possible but, if not, only three people again, put with five. Finally, Opal is absolutely full of international students. In itself, this isn't necessarily a bad thing and you can still enjoy that, but it can also feel intimidating. Having been put in a flat of international friends from home who speak limited English (again, I refer back to the ignorance towards any booking preferences), I feel entirely out of place, they're noisy, messy, only ever talk Greek and subsequently I don't even want to go into the kitchen. I'm in for a nightmare year and, again, Opal could not care less having explained this to them. In summary, the rooms are lovely on their own, but the whole organisation is a shambles. Most certainly not worth the extortionate figures they charge.

Date visited: September 2011-present