Hotel Sporting Club

My family stayed for two weeks and enjoyed every minute. The food, hotel, location and scenery were all great. I’ve seen a lot of unfairly bad reviews, because our experience was the opposite. The internet connection was the one drawback, since it wasn’t reliable. I’d stay here again if I returned to Sicily.

The private beach was the one good part, although many of its sunbeds were broken. Breakfast was the worst I’ve had: very limited, no variety, no vegan choices or allergy options, and no vegetables beyond whole tomatoes. There was only toast, no fresh bread, and it surprised me that there was no olive oil or olives in Italy. Nobody seemed to care. The hotel is right by the railway, so noise-sensitive guests should know that. Staff generally didn’t speak English and weren’t helpful. The exception was the reception team, whose girls were really nice. This didn’t feel worth four stars at all.

The private beach is spectacular, housekeeping was fantastic, and the receptionists and breakfast staff were lovely. Most employees don’t really speak English, though. The hotel policies are frustrating, but the staff themselves were great. You really need a car here. There are no walking paths to town, taxis cost €35-€100 each way, and the hotel has a strict rule against outside food or drink. I wish that had been posted on booking.com beforehand. We stayed for 14 days, and the first couple of days were a complete disaster. You need to budget around €200-€500 per day. That was far too much for a two-week stay, though it might be nice for a short one. There’s one restaurant, and the customer service seems hit or miss. On our first visit, they left us waiting for 60 minutes, brought the calamari 30 minutes later, then served our pasta more than 25 minutes after that. When we called the service terrible, they said, “it’s hard and complicated”. The second time, we went with a fabulous Danish couple in their 80s and got spectacular service. We’re in our late 30s and had been among the only tables to tip, so I’m not sure why we were treated poorly when we were alone.

The location is the only good thing. The bar service was awful: the woman there was looking at her phone and didn’t notice us waiting, and we waited a long time for just one drink. Nobody spoke English except the girls at reception, who were the only ones who were nice and helpful. The other staff didn’t seem to care about guests trying to spend money at the bar or restaurant. I think this was my first and last visit.