Awa Kafara

Luxury in nearly every corner!

I booked the seafront AWA Kafara apartments for my family of five. Back in March, Carla from AWA messaged me on WhatsApp about technical problems with the apartments and suggested their hotel in a town more than two kilometers from the sea. I thanked her and declined because without a car we couldn't get to the beach. The owners kept pressuring me to change the booking, so I told them to report the problem to Booking.com. Then, in May, less than a week before we were due to arrive in Sicily, they told me the apartments would be closed and that I had to cancel the booking myself. I again asked the hotel to contact Booking.com, but they insisted I cancel. I tried to work things out with them, without success. When I asked Booking.com to step in, their consultant agreed that I shouldn't accept the owners' WhatsApp requests because Booking.com was the official channel between me and the hotel. She called the AWA apartment owners, who still hadn't officially reported any technical issues, to explain the situation. After several days of discussions with the hotel, things were settled just three days before we arrived. That wasn't the end of it. Our bathroom floor was dirty and covered in hair when we got there. I had to clean it myself because the maid didn't come until after breakfast. Our room was above a garbage dump, and the smell lasted the whole stay, even though we asked the hotel to remove the trash. Breakfast was unpredictable: some days there were only sweet things, other days salmon and scrambled eggs. I brought tomatoes and olives so I could have something fresh. There was no staff at the pool, so guests had to clean it themselves. The next day staff were preparing for a party and doing repairs, which disturbed guests trying to relax. The hotel also couldn't keep us for our whole stay. We had to move to another property 40 km away for the final night. Nobody on the staff offered to reimburse our car rental, which was 70% of the total stay cost and made the vacation much more expensive. Without the car, we couldn't have reached the beach or the other property. The hotel never apologized for pressuring us a few days before arrival, trying to get us to cancel the booking, or leaving us with a dirty bathroom. The only compensation they offered was one dinner during our stay. I strongly advise against booking with the owners of Awa Kafara Apartments, Principe Alogna Hotel & Spa, and AWA MONDELLO unless you want to waste a lot of time and money. P.S. It turned out the villa had been rented in the spring, so there hadn't been a breakdown. Another reason I think cheating customers always comes to light!

Waking up, opening the windows, and finding yourself in such a magical location is wonderful. The house is lovely, comfortable and quiet, with everything you need for a perfect vacation. It was very clean too!

A top city.