Hotel Alpha

"The food served to you a rarity in a four star wars exceptional, always a good choice. The staff were attentive and very polite and professional. A gala night added to our memories."

"I booked this hotel expecting a relaxing holiday, but the reality was incredibly disappointing. Hotel Alpha completely hides their dining policies on their website and booking platforms. If you book a half-board package, they will force you to sit indoors for every meal. In 30-degree heat, it would have been nice to sit outside, but the outdoor patio and pergola are strictly forbidden for half-board guests and kept empty for a la carte diners. This hidden rule feels incredibly deceptive.The staff were completely unhelpful and dismissive during our day-to-day interactions, and they were verging on rude several times. In fact, because of their poor attitude, we felt there was absolutely no point in even complaining to them about the issues we faced.They also failed to mention information and provided unequal service. For the first 3 mornings, we were never told about the different options for hot drinks, so we assumed there was only the filter coffee left out on the counter. On the 4th morning, we overheard a waiter offering other guests a wide selection of different hot drinks. Because this was never explained to us, we were unsure if these other drinks came at an extra fee. When we first asked for ordered coffee, we were given a receipt, which is why we were unsure if this was payable. When we asked the receptionist about it, she saw fit to laugh at our question and state that no, they were included in the half-board package. We repeatedly heard staff offering this service to other tables throughout our stay, yet it was never offered to us. Because our transfer was very early in the morning on our final day, we noticed that the hotel had proactively provided takeaway breakfasts for some guests, but this was omitted for us as well as several others.The food itself was terrible; this was the worst hotel food we have eaten. There was no fresh food available for breakfast. It was served as a buffet, and that is where they offered recycled leftovers from the previous night's dinner—and sometimes even from two nights before. They were regularly serving leftover dinner vegetables and potatoes for breakfast, alongside leftover cakes and pastries. If you want to eat stale, recycled food, you will be ok, but otherwise, there are no good options. For dinner, it was equally clear that we were quite often being served leftovers from the night before. The total lack of care was confirmed when we found a long blonde hair in our food.The issues extended to our room as well. We had a severe ant infestation all over the balcony and in the bathroom. One morning, my flosspick was completely covered in them. The room also suffered from a broken shower door handle on the inside, meaning I would have to tiptoe to push the door open from the outside, as well as faulty electrics, where the fridge would frequently turn off until we noticed and had to fiddle with the plug to get it working again. We asked to borrow an iron, which was provided with a small board. The first iron did not work at all. The second one they gave us heated up very slightly but was entirely unfit for purpose.Despite paying a premium to stay near Sorrento, the combination of substandard hygiene and maintenance, recycled food, broken amenities, and an unsupportive, borderline rude staff made this a miserable experience. Save your money and book somewhere else that actually respects its paying guests. Sorrento is beautiful and other than the dire hotel we managed to enjoy our holiday."

"Our stay started disappointing and got progressively worse. Loud music was played directly under our balcony until gone 11:30 on our second night, which was the second consecutive night of music. When asking to complain about this the following day at 7am, we were shrugged off and told there’s no more music under our balcony. The noise did continue for the duration of the stay. Whilst out for the day, we received what’s app messages asking to use the ironing board (we were not advised that there was an ironing board) and to call reception each time we wanted to use it as the hotel only had one ironing board. Along with a message to come to reception for a discussion following our complaint, we politely asked for an ironing board and to be left to our holiday. When arriving back at the hotel after the mornings complaint we were bombarded with calls asking to come to the bar for a drink. We politely declined. The following day on our return after a day out reception asked for a chat to which we replied that we’d raised it with booking.com due to feeling very uncomfortable with the amount of unsolicited calls and messages. There were many ants and bugs all around the pool area, and the grass area was long and unkept. We asked to change the pool towel once and were told any other changes would be a €5 pp charge. The room was not cleaned during our stay, the same sheets were remade, the floor was not mopped, the bath mat was filthy, and a general level of uncleanliness. Booking.com responded to my message and advised that the complaint had been passed to the hotel. The owner of the hotel then asked for a chat whilst we were checking out, he argued with everything noted above, with our guests overhearing our conversation, stating he didn’t know what the issue was and that he refused to believe that the sheets had not been changed (however I had cut my knee and a small bit of blood was on there from the first day), the ash tray on the balcony still contained mess, the bathroom had stains on the storage unit, and the shower tray along with black mouldy grout. He asked for us to have a meal there but as it was our last evening and the level of uncomfortableness, we felt being in the hotel we proceeded with the reservations we had in sorrento. Luckily we asked to check out the evening before as when leaving at 6am, there was no one in reception (we were advised it was manned 24 hours a day) and had to leave the room key on the desk. Additionally, prior to our stay we received four phishing emails, which was slightly concerning but was advised no data leaks had occurred. For the multiple thousands we spent on this hotel for our first anniversary, we were bitterly disappointed in the appalling customer service, atrocious hotel and would not recommend this to anyone. We would advise this to be one star, not the four advertised."