"This is hard, as the hotel itself was very aesthetically pleasing, spotlessly clean and some members of staff were nice (the drivers especially) But there was just something we couldn’t put our finger on, which made the experience quite average - I’ll let you read what we thought and come to your own conclusions!
Unfortunately due to delays we arrived at our accommodation after midnight to no food and one small bottle of water in our room, each. Our room was really beautiful, lovely comfy bed and with a stunning view (only had one plug socket though which made things tricky). We had a great night sleep the first night, but then sadly a very noisy family arrived in the room next door to us and as the walls were so thin they woke us up every night after midnight shouting and banging doors. I even ended up in the corridor telling them to shhh! I called reception and they didn’t seem to care. I spent the rest of the holiday sleeping with ear plugs in and a podcast on.
Breakfast was mainly sweet pastries and a small selection of fruit, cheese, meat and hot egg dishes. Probably to be expected as I kept having to remind myself this is a pretty small hotel.
On our first day we went down to the beach and the member of beach staff asked us where we’d like to sit and we chose a sun lounger on the front ‘row’ by the sea. I chose the hotel based on the fact that it had a private beach and that free sun loungers were included in the Jet2 package. The next day we went back to the beach and as we made our way to the same position that we were in the day before a different member of staff shouted across the beach the equivalent of “oi, where do you think you’re going?” He asked our room number and then we were then told that as we were Jet2 customers we were no allowed to sit just anywhere we fancied: we could only sit on the next few rows away from the sea and where he put us. I know this doesn’t sound like a big deal but I *really* love the sea, sitting near it and swimming in it. We live in the Midlands as far away from the sea as you can get, so this is the deciding factor when booking our holiday. We contacted our Jet2 helper and they quite abruptly told me that we were told when we reached the hotel that that was the case, but I can assure you that we absolutely were not, plus it doesn’t say anywhere when I booked that we would have no choice about where we would sit. The other Jet2 customers that were staying there were also similarly in the dark. The better sun loungers were reserved for people paying, often from outside of the hotel. The member of staff told us that we didn’t get the good loungers because we didn’t pay as much. If I’d even had the option to upgrade, I would have. So I was already a little bit unhappy, but then midway through our stay, with no explanation, half the beach was cleared of sun loungers and parasols so ended up sitting as far away from the sea as it was possible to get. With no explanation other than apparently that’s what The Boss told the member of staff to do.
Another point to mention is that no late checkout was offered even though we asked and offered to pay. There is no shower room or anywhere to change so our last day was just spent sitting in reception until our pick up at 5pm.
So, sun lounger-gate aside, there are a few good points about this hotel: the free shuttle up to Meta and into Sorrento was SO helpful I can’t even explain - it’s a very steep hill you’d have to negotiate otherwise! Sorrento is lovely and we went a couple of times. Also, the drinks and food in the restaurant are very good quality (if not a bit pricey - we found Sorrento restaurants to be as good and cheaper) however we did see the kitchen staff smoking which is a big no-no! After that we ate out.
In summary, the hotel building and location are very nice, but it was just lacking in that level of care for customers and nice little touches that I would have expected from a family run hotel."
