B&B Stramondo

I can’t believe how this B&B treats its guests. We’ve just returned from the worst experience of my life. The area felt unsafe to me after dark, with prostitutes on the street, lots of unsavory people, and petty crime. When we arrived, men were outside working on old cars and drinking beer. We had booked through agoda and had contacted the property several times for check-in details. We explained that by 9am the next morning we wouldn’t have email access because we had no internet connection, but the property didn’t reply. We pressed the intercom three times before a lady answered in broken English. It’s our fault we can’t speak Italian, and I apologize for that, but we still couldn’t get into the room for almost half an hour. Eventually, a man came over from across the street after talking to the owner on the phone. He apologized for not understanding us and kept saying WhatsApp, but I explained we couldn’t access WhatsApp messages until we had the internet code. We did eventually get into the room, without a proper check-in. While it was still light, I suggested to my husband that we walk into Catania, because I didn’t feel safe outside after dark. Just a few streets away it felt like a different world, with beautiful buildings. We made the most of our time there, then rushed back before dark. Back in the room, the bed collapsed as soon as we sat on it. I tried calling the owner on WhatsApp, but she didn’t answer. After I sent photos of the broken bed, she messaged to say she couldn’t come out and had no other rooms available. I was totally unhappy with the only solution, putting the mattress on the floor. I was scared to go back out in the area and look for somewhere else because it was dark. For over two hours I kept messaging and pleading with her to come to the property. She said she wasn’t in the area and would refund the money through agoda because of the problems. Then my husband went to the toilet and the toilet seat came off. I took photos of the bed and toilet and sent them to the owner and agoda. When we woke up the next morning, there was a lady at reception. I asked her to come see the damaged bed, but she just shrugged. I was in disbelief. We’d also been told there would be breakfast and luggage storage, but we decided to just get away. The lady said nothing about breakfast or luggage. We went to another hotel and paid to store our luggage because, after all the trouble getting into the room, we were really concerned about retrieving it for our flight. After getting home, I spent several days trying to get the promised refund. The owner went back on her word and didn’t refund us. Through agoda, she offered a total of 9 euros. The owner is totally dishonest. I have WhatsApp messages showing what she said. I’m disgusted with this owner. Please don’t make the same mistake and ruin your holiday.