Hotel dei Coloniali

The staff were friendly, but the room was dirty and the furniture was old and worn. There was limescale in the bathroom, mold in the shower, and the floor was so grimy that walking barefoot felt disgusting. It was also far too noisy to sleep without earplugs, and there weren’t enough outlets to charge a phone. Definitely not a four-star hotel.

I’d read older and newer reviews, and it seems they take the feedback on board and make improvements. They’ve added shutters that block the daylight well, after earlier complaints about the curtains. The hotel and room were clean, with no dust, mold or stains, and the bed was the most comfortable I’d had on our Sicily trip. The bathroom was clean and its fixtures were good, but the shower was old and cramped, and the drain couldn’t keep up. I had to turn the water off every two minutes to stop it flooding. Aside from that, we had a perfect stay, with nice people and a good location.

The breakfast room only seats eight, though there are tables outside if you don’t want to wait for an indoor spot. I appreciate that the hotel offered us another room after we objected to the first one, which was in much better condition and had no visible mold. Still, its fridge hadn’t been cleaned, and after housekeeping changed the sheets we found blood stains on them. In the first room, there was a bad damp smell and mold on the walls, ceiling, furniture and throughout the shower. The fridge there was stained inside and out. When we said we didn’t want to stay because of the mold, the receptionist asked whether we’d used the room, since it would need cleaning for the next guests. I’m shocked the hotel was willing to keep using that room. We’d first been given a key to a room that already had someone checked in, then moved across from the main entrance. We’d read online reviews beforehand, but nothing prepared us for what we found.

The shower water wasn’t warm, and when we asked for our money back, the owner got angry and told us to leave without compensation. The room was filthy, with dust, awful stains and hair on the bed, toilet and in the bathroom. There was mold in both the bathroom and bedroom, and the whole building smelled of it. They sprayed so much air freshener to cover the odor that it gave us a headache. Horrible experience. Don’t stay here.