Can anyone please help me to make sense of a weird incident that happenned in Greece

[Witchofzog]

This happenned a few years ago but I still don't know what it was all about.

So ds and I went to a Greek Island on holiday. He was around 14. For some reason the transfer coach took us to the wrong hotel which had a similar name and was part of the same chain, so the receptionist called a taxi to take us to the correct hotel

The taxi drove for a few miles then stopped outside an isolated house in the middle of nowhere and another man got in. He said he was the hotel manager and demanded to see our passports. It was dark by this point and I was blatantly freaked out so refused to get out of the taxi unless we went somewhere populated. The men took us to the nearest town but the "manager" tried to make me feel stupid saying I was in Greece and therefore safe

When we got to the town I showed our passports and we were then taken to our hotel. I never saw the "manager" again and strongly suspect he wasn't anything to do with the hotel

So what on earth was it all about? I was calm then but more freaked out now. It was just so odd

I’m intrigued by this - if you pm me details I can maybe try & find out how usual this is? I speak Greek not brilliantly & understand more than speak IYSWIM

If they had genuine bad intentions, they'd have confiscated your passports regardless of you politely declining to leave the car and done what they were planning to do anyway.
I don't think you've had a brush with danger, more a misunderstanding. It's the statistically more likely scenario and the wanting to see your ID to check you were the right people to be taken to the correct hotel came across as intimidating because of the time of day and language barrier.

I hope so Sagrada. It was weird the way it happenned though. You would think anyone with common sense would ask for passports before setting off. Not on an isolated dirt track

I will report back op!! X

very weird. you are right to be uncomfortable about it.

As an (albeit ex) holiday rep of many years in Greece, I have seen and heard many a strange tale, but never this!!! Very, very odd.

Maybe they were looking for someone else.

Hi Op just Pmed you as I’ve spoken to someone & just need you to read it thanks

Maybe the driver wanted to give his mate a lift and got him to pretend to be the hotel manager to legitimise his presence when he picked him up? I've been in many cabs in Crete (in-laws have holiday home there) but never heard of this. There have often been random girlfriends/mistresses and kids of the cab drivers in the front seat though.

IHeartArya is it something we better know as well?

That is so weird and would've frightened the life out of me.

No I’ve just made initial enquires but needed the ops name in case I was asked. I’ve no answers at the moment.

That sounds very odd. Well done for standing your ground.

Weird! Is there any way that you could have misunderstood what they were asking for? Maybe an address or hotel paperwork rather than passport?

I was terrified in a taxi in Venezuela once when a driver also pulled over and picked up someone else. If transpired that the driver was lost and his brother knew where the hotel was.

Iheartarya has been a star making contact with the hotel to ascertain if this is normal. So far it looks like the asking for passports definitely isn't.

It was definitely passports I was asked for. Which in itself would not have been a problem had it not been on an isolated dirt track in the dark. Hopefully the hotel will know what the crack was.

So Iheartarya has been in contact with the hotel again and because it has changed hands, none of the original staff remain. The current hotel staff were horrified at me being asked for my passport but stated that picking up extra passengers is the norm for Greece. Unfortunately they can't do anything now, understandably so, and no similar concerns have been reported.

So I am still none the wiser. But thank you @Ilovearya for being amazing and trying to get to the bottom of this for me

Only too pleased to help. Just a shame I didn’t get anywhere!