"This location was booked for us at the end of an extensive tour of Italian and Sicilian cities and historical sites. By the due date we were really ready to have six carefree days of R&R - or so we thought!
For starters, the "wellness and spa" aspect was confined to three days per week. The private beach was only accessible, even just to walk the beach, on payment of €15 per person per day! We didn't even see the beach.
On our date of arrival, we had been restricted by timetables to either noon or midnight arrival. Glad we took the 07:30am bus option because the onward connection to the hotel would have been nigh to impossible to achieve at a late hour.
We arrived in Agrigento at 11:30 and a bus service was the most practical option. We took the bus and were left at the nearest stop. This is where Mr Google intervened, sending us on a long way around to the venue. It was noon, 30 degrees and the sun beaming down, with us two seniors trying to find the hotel and two 20kg cases and backs on tow. The area was deserted and the pathways were overgrown and damaged.
We challenged Mr. Google and found a shorter route, backtracked a bit and then faced the final part of the journey, described as mostly flat and 330meters. It was more like 800 meters with the first have on a 40 degree steep incline on a rough road surface. We had no choice, so we got on with it.
One can imagine the state we were in when we arrived at the locked main gate. We were exhausted, our clothes soaking wet and perspiration dripping from everywhere.
Our greeting was barked at us, "your room won't be ready until 3pm, you will have to wait outside". I simply asked if there was anywhere we could shower and change, even in a room the was not yet cleaned. An abrupt "NO" was the response. So, without any attempt to help with directions, we ended up having to find the pool area and parked ourselves in a shaded terrace where other guests were sitting. We couldn't buy anything because all had to be charged to the room, which we also did not have, I called our operator's concierge service to see it anything could be done to shorten the 2.5 hour wait in the condition we were in.
I fully accept that we were early for check-in, but I don't think any other hotel would treat new guests in such a dispassionate and rude fashion in such circumstances.
Our room was miraculously ready for occupation by 2pm. The accommodation was reasonable but not what one would expect from the grand surroundings and corridors en route. It had a tiny shower, loose & broken toilet seat fittings and a safe that was already locked! The shower drain was partially blocked and the aircon was switched off. I reported these to reception but not all were attended to.
The welcome pack only contained the list of TV channels, a room service menu and a comments card. No directions, guidelines, rules/ opening times etc.
The actual complex was expansive, as we found when we showed ourselves around. The majority of the facilities inside were vacant, bars not open and large rooms unused.
The business focus appeared to be on short stay tour groups, American and German while we were there. The Americans were vocally critical of the restrictions and the charges, one saying, "If they are going to nickel and dime us, there is no chance of us, or our friends, paying return visits!". There were also private functions held within the complex alongside the visiting tourists.
In the absence of a document, I asked the receptionist for a breakdown of the rules and standard information. She reeled off a list but omitted the one that had been criticised poolside amongst the Americans i.e. not being allowed to bring food into the complex.
Guests had to book for lunch and dinner daily. We had dinner there on our first night which was singularly unimpressive. The same menu was still in place on the third night so it was not attractive. The alternatives, however, were very few unless you wanted to taxi there and back. (Note: Taxi fares are calculated from where the taxi travels to collect you to where you are dropped. The taxi could have to come from Agrigento and have a €25 charge already accrued before the caller enters the cab).
The alternative to having to walk down the hill and back up again, was to take an adjacent unlit dirt road, onto a main road without sidewalks for a 20 minute trip to two establishments. It was dangerous to attempt venturing there on foot, and even moreso when the daylight faded. We dined for three successive nights at the Dune Club at the base of the hill, which we both enjoyed.
We never got to find out why quite a number of the properties on the surrounding access roads had high walls and gates, some with cantilevered razor wire frames atop the walls.
Lunch and dinner were held in an open area close to beach level. There must have been 80 plus steps to reach it and more challenging getting back up to the bar & hotel. There was an alternative roughly paved with granite stones at quite the gradient. We only found out, on our last day, that a golf buggy was available to get around the complex and this was it access to the sea level base of the complex.
What was very evident was the danger level in using the steps once daylight had faded. The installed lighting did nothing to adequately help negotiate the steps and landing areas in either direction.
Breakfast was not something to look forward to. Depending on what the staffing levels were, you were lucky to get a decent selection from the buffet from 9am onwards. The hot dishes had already been decimated but not replenished unless a guest requested. The tour groups would have had early breakfast at pre-set tables to one side of the room but there seemed to be a problem as to who cleared the tables of dishes and who cleaned the table and reset it, that and getting some sort of proactive replenishment of the buffet. Guests, including ourselves were left standing to get tea (because the on-site boiler was failing), coffee (because that had to be ordered and made in the kitchen), food (was particularly slow to emerge and even then only one or two items were replenished). I actually witnessed a guest asking for cutlery and he was handed the uncovered items blade and tines first. There were obviously complaints because there was a team of people who were actually trained, the following morning but the food situation prevailed.
Bearing in mind our main requirement was R & R, we were largely on our own around the pool during the day. The Lifeguard was also the pool maintenance man, poolside cleaner, sunbed and parasol attendant, as well as helping out as a waiter. He was kept busy and was always very pleasant and was a much better waiter that some of those dressed for that part.
The tour buses arrived back in the mid afternoon and unloaded onto the poolside., comparing notes on the days activities.
Taking responsibility and/or ownership of a problem reported appeared alien to the hotel office /reception/management staff. It was quite evident that the leadership was fostering an unpleasant environment and each member of staff had always passed the issue reported to "a colleague" and that was their job done. We had had problems with wi-fi reception in our room, despite repeaters being outside each room door. I had one specific task to perform at some point within our the first three days which is why I raised the issue early in our time there. Despite repeatedly explaining what the problem was, no action was taken. One male receptionist shouted at us when we checked the status, why, because he was having issues at this terminal, and still no remediation was evident. One actually suggested that I come down to reception in the early hours to do what I had to do (linking with a time zone 6 hours behind Italy)! All because they believed that resetting the router cured all but obviously did not! It was only when we met with the manager, with the receptionist interpreting, on day 4, that she called in support and the problem was fixed almost immediately throughout the complex. Having said that, just after 08:30 on the following morning, it was gone again. I expect that some member of staff did something, like unplugging or switching something, and corrupted the network again.
Another issue was that we were both getting bitten by something during each night. The response we got was "it must be a mosquito" - yes under both sets of bedclothes? We soon got through our supply of anti-histamines. Thankfully, we had them because the nearest pharmacy was an hours roundtrip. That, and the frustration with the wi-fi and associated staff attitudes, was the last straw that made cut our stay short and we asked our operator to source alternative accommodation for of last two nights of "R&R".
We don't know what the outcome was but I suspect that it was far more serious, if attended to at all, than a giant and silent mosquito and his mate!
Our operator arranged a meeting with the manager, alluded to earlier, and was confident that some concession or upgrade or attention to the issues would be forthcoming, but we had to seek her out. She had little or no English but the receptionist was there to be the fall guy and she made many apologies and took responsibility as she was obviously tasked with doing. I won't say she was not listening but she certainly had no solution in mind other than calling the wi-fi technician in, three days too late for her business. She ultimately offered us a complimentary drink at the bar to apologise for the shortcomings of the hotel. There goes that sense of ownership I noted earlier. More akin to a borstal than a hotel!
We left - probably two days too late, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt. Obviously the low point of an otherwise great month-long adventure in Italy to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary."
