Hotel Airone Isola d'Elba

It's clean, with a large, lovely area to relax in. The calm beach and children's pool make it a good fit for little kids, and the staff are attentive and nice. You do need a car to get around, so the location isn't ideal for that. A baby cot is an extra $15 per night, though breakfast is included.

Breakfast had plenty of choice and was good quality. I especially liked the omelette made by one of the friendly gentlemen. Fish could perhaps be another option. We didn't have dinner included and always ate out, though we did get drinks by the pool, which had a beautiful view at night. We stayed nine nights in a family room, recently renovated and at a good hotel standard, similar to Novotel. The cleaning was consistently excellent, which matters a lot when you come back from the beach. Everyone on staff was friendly and professional, especially the veteran lifeguard by the pool, who was easygoing and even drove us to our beach outing. The pool area worked really well with our two younger children. It was our third visit to Elba, but our first time staying in a hotel. I can recommend this one for families. Good quality for the price, and from here most beaches are within 20 minutes, with Portoferraio just five minutes away.

The beach was dirty, and inside the room it was unbearably hot. Even after the maintenance man said he'd fixed it four times, the temperature wouldn't come down. The wifi didn't work either, so we had to use a neighbor's hotspot. We had the “do not disturb” sign up on the second day, but a cleaning woman came in through the back door anyway, saying it was time to clean. I told her no, but she kept coming farther into the room while I covered myself with a pillow because we'd just woken up. She tried to go into the bathroom. When I said my husband was in there, she waited with me until he came out so she could leave extra towels and toilet paper. Somehow a little girl also got into our room through the locked back door. My husband and I were only talking, luckily. Both doors were so difficult to close that it took both of us pushing to get them shut. This was the worst part of our honeymoon, and the worst stay of my life. I was desperate to leave, so we found another hotel down the road and checked out that morning. We didn't want to spend our time there arguing with them. I usually stick things out, but this was beyond horrible.

Breakfast was fine, but exactly the same each day. The pools were okay for children, though they use salty seawater. The beach beside the hotel was filthy, smelly, and so unappealing that we didn't see anyone swimming there during our stay. One night, the whole hotel smelled of sewage. We stayed five nights and came away disappointed. Their website says ferry tickets come with a 20% discount, but staff told us those codes weren't available to people who booked through booking. They also treated us badly for booking that way. We had called to reserve a room for two adults and a child. They said it was their last room and promised to send a quote, but never did. I then booked through booking at the same price they'd quoted. When I added the child on the site, it offered two rooms rather than one larger room, so I chose a family room at the quoted price. On arrival, they charged another 150 euros for the child. We paid exactly what they'd quoted by phone, just through booking, yet staff shouted at us and threatened to call the police. I would never return.