Hotel Il Gabbiano

The rooms are quite basic, but for what we paid they were well worth it. They have sea-facing balconies, and there was enough parking. Great value for money.

The location is fabulous, with a large balcony and a great view. Reception staff were very friendly, breakfast was fine, and Morgana, the cleaning lady, was sweet and attentive with our son. Fresh bread would have made breakfast even better. The booking experience was awful, though. I paid a lot for a week in February for a summer stay, but got no confirmation. I called, emailed and messaged without a reply. Meanwhile, a friend got an immediate response when asking about a booking, so it seemed staff had seen my messages. We worried we might lose all that money and contacted the Italian police, who advised us to wait until the hotel opened in May. The hotel finally replied then, three months after I’d booked.

The location is very good, and the low price makes the dated rooms understandable. The cleanliness was harder to overlook. The room seemed clean at first, but after about an hour my wife had an allergic reaction. We checked and found heavy dust everywhere, including under the bed, behind doors and around the fridge. We asked at reception to borrow a broom so we could sweep it ourselves, but the woman at the desk just said she didn’t have one and didn’t seem interested. We cleaned it ourselves in the end and slept well. Problems happen, but how they’re handled matters. At least the bathroom was clean.

The staff were friendly, and we had no complaints about service or cleanliness. The views from the restaurant are great, and the other side of the hotel gets an amazing sunset. A few changes, like adding stairs to the road above, would make evenings easier. As it is, the place has a dorm room feel, with semi-hard beds. The water’s right there, but it isn’t a practical beach area. Getting to the beach we could see from our window meant taking a longer, winding route, and we wished several times for stairs up to the road. Breakfast starts at 8am. We had to catch a boat at 8:30, so we rushed our coffee and really needed another 30 minutes. Other breakfast choices were too far the other way, and coffee to go isn’t common in Italy. If we were in our 20s, this might be an affordable fit. It could suit college kids as it is, or stand out with some updates.