Hotel Califfo

We were a little worried by the reviews we'd seen, but we didn't have much to complain about. Mariane looked after our room, and it was always very clean and tidy. The reception staff were nice, and the bus stop is right in front of the hotel, so getting the bus was easy. Breakfast was good. We would've liked a bit more choice of savory items and for the menu to change more during the week. One issue was the rule against eating food in common areas unless you'd bought it there. The restaurant didn't have a wide selection, and the sign explaining the rule wasn't clear or easy to see. Still, I recommend the hotel 🥰

I stayed for a couple of days, and the staff were friendly and did a great job. Breakfast had a good variety, but there was only one coffee machine, so sometimes the queue got long. Califfo is a bit far from Cagliari. If you arrive late at night, you might as well stay at an airport hotel and take the bus or train during the day. When I arrived at 01:00, a taxi to Califfo cost me 70 Euro. In the daytime it costs 5 euro. The PF bus is great. Download the ”BusFinder” app, buy a ticket, then validate it on the bus. A ticket costs 1,3 Euro. If they catch you riding without one, the fine is 54 euro. Enjoy your stay. ”cientodieci” :)

The reception staff made check-in quick and easy, which initially gave us hope for a good stay. That changed as soon as we entered the first room: it reeked of cigar smoke and was unbearable. We went straight back to reception and, thankfully, were moved to another room that smelled clean and normal. Even with the better room, the hotel seemed badly neglected and in need of serious refurbishment. The pool area was gloomy, and the gazebos looked as if they hadn't been cleaned or maintained in years, more like something for a junkyard than a 4-star hotel. The room used an old-fashioned key instead of a key card. The bathroom was disappointing too. The shower was cramped, and its wall mount was loose and barely worked, so we had to hold the shower head by hand. Breakfast was easily the worst hotel breakfast I've ever had. The choice was very limited: bland shop-bought cakes, just one kind of ham and cheese, cold boiled eggs, and runny, strange-looking scrambled eggs with a strong unpleasant smell. The juice was unremarkable, and the instant coffee was even worse. It came from a water urn that seemed not to have been cleaned in ages, and tasted and smelled terrible. At least our room was cleaned every day, the towels were changed on the third day, and the air conditioning worked well. I was surprised there wasn't an iron in the room. When I asked at reception, they said I could leave my dresses with the cleaners in the morning to be ironed for an extra cost. That policy was ridiculous. On holiday, you can't always decide in advance what you might want to wear that evening. When booking, the website's 4-star rating and appealing photos of the rooms and amenities had impressed us. The actual condition, lack of proper amenities, and dreadful breakfast were far from what was advertised. I wouldn't recommend staying here until significant improvements are made.

The cleaning crew seemed to be the only ones doing their job properly. The hotel was clean, and I left the cleaners a small € tip, so that's why I gave it 2 stars. The photos are heavily curated, and the hotel definitely shouldn't have 4 stars. The rooms are poorly equipped, with no kettle or tea like most hotels provide, and there was no information about the reception number. There was no Wi-Fi in my part of the hotel. The receptionist said they were "working on it," but that seemed like a poorly executed lie. Other reviews said the Wi-Fi had been out for months. Dinner was disappointing too. The fish fillet and fries looked like they came from the frozen aisle at a supermarket. The reception and bar staff also had questionable attitudes.