Novotel Caserta Sud

Our United flight out of Naples was cancelled, so we ended up here for the night. The room was clean enough, but the stay was awful. At 10:10 a.m., before checkout, our key stopped working and we had to ask staff to reactivate it. A fellow traveler also said housekeeping entered his room at 9:30 a.m. without knocking. There was shattered glass on the windows just outside the entrance. The food they provided was pasta, hamburger patties that were still partly raw, potatoes, stale bread, and water. We were told to eat in a separate section for cancelled flights. When we tried to order a proper meal on the other side of the restaurant, staff kept directing us back to that section, and we had to insist that they let us sit there. At 10:30 p.m. they called our room to ask why we hadn’t eaten with the other stranded passengers, then said United hadn’t paid for restaurant meals. After their response to my review, I still don’t understand why they’d think it was pleasant to have to persuade staff to let us order and get a reimbursement receipt. They also didn’t deny that the food was scant and partly uncooked, and apparently hadn’t even looked at the broken glass outside. There seem to have been nearly ten years of one-star reviews from people left in the same situation. I can’t help wondering if this arrangement is a kickback scheme built around the EU-required hotel stays after airline cancellations. Half-cooked pasta with olive oil and raw hamburger may technically count as food, but I wouldn’t call it a meal. They might meet the letter of the law, but they treat people forced to stay there like second-class citizens. I hope I never have to set foot in this building again.

My flight in Naples was cancelled, so I had the misfortune of staying here. I can’t see how it earned four stars. The three-star hotel we stayed at near Amalfi felt luxurious by comparison. The place is dated, the room was just so-so, and the shower floor looked badly discolored and dirty. The food provided for the flight passengers was probably the worst of my whole trip, and the restaurant wasn’t any better.

Delta Airlines put me up here and covered the meals, but I wouldn’t recommend staying unless you’re on business and can eat elsewhere. The buffet food was disgusting. The hamburger patty came without a bun, and the chicken at lunch was dried out and over-fried. It felt like the hotel was scamming Delta Airlines with what it served. Yuck.

The bathroom was the real letdown: the shower hadn’t been cleaned properly, there was hair from the previous guest, and the caulking needs replacing. Other parts of the room were good. The floor was clean, the bed was comfortable and just the right firmness, with two pillows. There was another pillow and a spare blanket in the closet. The fridge was silent, and there were supplies for hot drinks, including instant coffee and tea. It was a very quiet room, which matters a lot to me since I can’t stand noise. The staff were really nice and helped me sort out a few issues. Being friendly yourself helps, of course. A bit of light and shadow overall.