Hotel San Teodoro

We stayed three days on a Newmarket tour, moved on to another location, then came back for one more night. The setting was lovely, the rooms were nice, the food was good and the staff helpful. Early in the evening, we enjoyed watching swallows swoop through the blue sky. When we returned three days later, they were all gone, and I wondered what had happened to them and their fledglings. I hope nothing was wrong.

The front desk team knew the area well and gave us great suggestions for places to eat and local sights. Liscia Eldi and Natalya deserve a special thank you for making us feel so welcome. When I lost my cell phone, the staff understood how important it was and responded quickly to help find it and bring it to me. The hotel is also well placed for driving to major sites, beaches and restaurants. I can't say enough about our stay. A humble thank you.

The location was a problem from the start: the hotel is far from San Teodoro, and charging €10 to get to the center felt like taking advantage of guests. The young woman at reception was kind, but the other staff seemed unhappy to be there. The food and service left a lot to be desired. The buffet was average, with dry cakes more than once, and the €4 orange juice seemed to be a bother to prepare. At dinner, the starters were cold, the lamb ribs seemed frozen, and the seadas we ordered as a typical Sardinian dish tasted burnt and like old oil. We'd tried seadas at a typical restaurant before, and this one was quite different. The only meal we enjoyed was the pasta. The man working in the cafeteria made bitter coffee and a cold cappuccino, and the machine looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in years. He was cold and never smiled, even when I tried to chat; we saw the same thing from him at dinner. The restaurant was usually empty, and I wondered if a warmer welcome might have brought in more people. The wine list looked good, but our chosen bottle wasn't available and we were given something else. For a four-star hotel, I don't think that was acceptable. The bill was too high for the quality of the food and service. Only a few staff members improved the experience. We won't be back, and this didn't feel like a four-star hotel.

The hotel grounds were pleasant, the staff nice, and the place very clean, though some of the crockery was cracked and dirty. Breakfast was good for continental options, but the bacon was rubbery. I had to ask for tea bags during my stay, and on the final day there was no hot water urn, mugs or tea bags. Only the coffee machine was available, with little butter and no salad. You'll need a hire car because of the location; walking to town or the beach along the busy road isn't possible. The hotel runs a minibus to the beach and offers beach and pool towels for €10 per person per day. Tourist tax was €3 a day.