heatherw970
Google
I discovered this hotel via iescape a number of years ago and loved it so decided that if I was ever to go to Sicily I would stay there. We initially booked a room with a sea view but the last one went while I was booking so we were in room 11 in the annex.||When we arrived we walked into reception and were so excited to stay there. We travel a lot and this felt like just our kind of place. The welcome was ok, not quite as friendly as I hoped and as our room was not ready, we left our bags and went out to find some lunch. On return we were shown to our room which was lovely but there was a little bit of a smell. walking into the bathroom it was clear that the smell was coming from here, it was a drain smell and really quite strong. Also the bathroom was really disappointing. It feet grubby and there was a lot of mould around the shower and also among some of the tiles. It was clearly a very old bathroom and left us with an 'icky' feeling and not really wanting to use it. The smell got stronger as the evening went on and when we came back from dinner that night also smelt very fishy and strong.||I went to reception either that evening or in the morning and spoke to one of the staff voicing my concerns and stating that I really felt that this bathroom really was out of alignment with the rest of the hotel and how it positioned itself. It also didn't match the general descriptions of the hotel and it's lovely bathrooms as this was definitely not a lovely bathroom. I asked for my comments to be noted. ||I was told that there was not another room to move us to. They said they would speak to the cleaner to see what she could do and they also said that because the weather was stormy then that sometimes caused the drain smell. This is a fact that should be communicated to anyone staying in a room where this happens and also someone staying in this room, room 11, should be warned in advance about that bathroom. If I had known that this was the state of it, I would not have booked. It ruined our stay to be honest as a bathroom is a part of the entire room you book and you want it to be nourishing and welcoming and somewhere you want to use. I don't think it was actually dirty and I said that , it was just so old that it looked that way and they cleaner was great and did all she could to make sure it was as nice as possible. The hotel informed me that this bathroom will be refurbished over the winter shut down period. Interestingly, there were some comments on reviews, on booking.com and also trip advisor that perhaps I should have read before going because then I probably would not have booked. However, I trusted iescape who I booked through and also the hotel description.||When checking out I asked if they would like to give me a refund due the smell and the state of the bathroom and I was offered 5 euros per night!! I felt this was rather an insult and told the staff member that. She was going to charge me for two small bottles of water from the minibar and I said 'really' so that got knocked off. It wasn't enough but I was told management would not offer more and having read the rather rude at times and off hand responses to feedback, I am sure that is true.||Ortigia and Syracuse are lovely places but this experience really coloured my enjoyment and the breakfast and staff are not as lovely as suggested in all the descriptions. I have to say though, finishing on a positive note, that dinner in the hotel was really excellent on the night we dined there.