Suite Hotel L'Oasi di Riaci

The suite was spacious and clean, the staff we met were friendly, the pool was lovely and quiet, and parking was useful. The peaceful setting and nearby beach suited us, though the area around the hotel wasn’t as nice as Tropea town. If you want quiet, it works well. We wanted more going on, especially a bar open later than 7 p.m. The main disappointment was the lack of an on-site restaurant or proper café. The website gave the impression lunch and dinner were served in a restaurant, but there’s only a beach café at the Marco Polo site. Reception seemed to mean that place when we asked about dinner, but it was booked until our last night. We asked about a table then and never heard whether one was available. Before booking, we suspected the lack of a substantial bar and restaurant might be a problem, but the website had led us to expect something. There’s a small bar by the pool that sells truffles, but no club sandwiches. Breakfast was poor: hot food wasn’t hot, and the choices seemed limited to different cakes and pastries. There were other issues too. The rooms weren’t well equipped, with no robes or slippers, too little toilet paper (we ran out twice), not enough pillows, and only a limited supply of tea and coffee. There was no information about the hotel or local area in the room or elsewhere. Reception controlled the air conditioning, making the room controller nearly useless. A cooing sound, probably from the plumbing, came from the front of the building every minute, got worse in the morning, and carried on through the night. My request to tighten the toilet seat was forgotten, and after asking twice for extra pillows, I still had trouble getting them. There was no iron in the room, and I felt some reluctance to provide one because laundry service was offered instead.