Oliveto a Mare - Suite & Apartment

We really enjoyed the calm atmosphere here, especially being just 50 metres from the Residence's private beach. The grounds fit naturally into the Mediterranean setting, with olive trees and other plants. There was good catering for every meal, plus a few tables where you could chat, work, or relax with the kind young women who run the place. They’re also planning to open a hotel on the property in the same style.

Ch

We had a great time, and the staff made us feel welcome from the start. Excellent service!

We liked the location, pool, and pool bar, and the little studio with its kitchenette worked well enough for the two of us, even though it was small. We first stayed for 10 days at the end of June, then came back for another 13 days at the end of August and beginning of September because we’d enjoyed the first visit. The second stay ended with a very upsetting exchange with management. My sister, her husband, and their 9-year-old son came to see us. He is disabled and can’t walk. I kindly asked reception whether they could join us at the pool and sit with us on the beach under our umbrella, even if we had to pay. They said no. We made other plans and spent the morning on the public shoreline, leaving our beach bags under the umbrella. I did not use the pool or the hotel’s other areas, and my husband stayed home out of courtesy so there wouldn’t be too many of us on the beach. Only after I had paid, on departure day, an employee spoke to me rudely and accused me of bringing my sister’s family to the beach under our umbrella despite the ban. I was taken aback. I said that if there had been a charge for this alleged violation, it should have been raised at the time so everyone could explain their side, not after payment. The shoreline is public, not hotel property, and we weren’t even under the umbrella. The receptionist kept insisting impolitely that I’d been forbidden to bring guests to my umbrella, without listening to what I was saying. This also felt inconsistent with June, when our son was a guest and we had booked him a hotel suite. He wasn’t given the beach spot and umbrella he was entitled to, so he stayed with us under ours. There were three of us under it then. Was that acceptable, but this time wasn’t? The way we were treated really upset me. We expected polite, professional people, especially from a place that promotes relaxation and well-being. Instead, after a year of work I came on holiday and felt treated like a provincial swindler. The management came across as small-scale private owners running things in a provincial, inelegant way, rather than tour operators. That old provincial outlook still found in some of Cilento tourism is hard to shake, though fortunately it’s not everyone. We’ve been visiting Cilento for over 20 years, and it’s a shame that not all operators have improved the quality of what they offer. If they reply, I hope it won’t just be the usual claim that they’ve been doing this for decades. A four-star place should be something else entirely. Just apologize!