Casa Vacanze Chiara

Casa Chiara’s amenities are basic, and in a fair comparison I’d rate the place three stars at most. It simply doesn’t feel like a five-star location. The flat has some real shortcomings: the shower was mildewed, though the water pressure was great, and the bathroom had no ventilation we could get working. There’s a ceiling exhaust vent, but it was covered in dust and grease, and we couldn’t figure out how to turn it on. When you enter, the place feels like a cellar. That might be nice in Sicily’s hot summer, but it wasn’t appealing at the start of April. The decor lacks personal touches or attention to detail, with off-the-shelf “enjoy the beach” decorations, a tangle of TV and electrical cables, and a garbage calendar from two years ago. The street-facing window lock barely works. Those things are acceptable in a basic place, just not four or five stars. The kitchen was advertised as full, so we were surprised to find no kitchen knives, just four very cheap plastic-handled butter knives to match the other plastic cutlery. There wasn’t a large serving spoon either, only a big black plastic soup ladle, pasta claw, and spatula. Everything looks as cheap as possible. There were no salt or pepper shakers. The cups, glasses, and plates were tiny, cheap white porcelain, more like a child’s play kitchen set than what I’d expect in a 4.85-star Airbnb. If you like the classic thick, heavy Italian espresso cups, bring one, because there aren’t any. There’s also no wine glass, which seems odd given there is a corkscrew. The only glasses were a German beer glass and a tiny breakfast juice glass, with no normal-sized water glasses. The “full kitchen” could certainly be fuller. The hosts’ replies when we asked about some of these things felt aloof and almost offensive. For the kitchen knife, they said they had already shown us the available utensils and that, for security reasons, they couldn’t provide any larger or sharper knives. I had no idea Airbnb had that kind of security protocol. Most other “full kitchens” seem to ignore it. When we mentioned there were no wine glasses, in Italy of all places, they offered to bring some “if you want.” They didn’t seem to think the lack was a big deal. There was no quick “Scusa arrivo subito!”, and I had to make another, more formal request. The exchange then got a bit ugly. We were told again that the security protocol meant no sharp knife, that nobody else had complained about the kitchen utensils according to their reviews, so they didn’t understand our problem, and that they had offered wine glasses and didn’t understand why we “still complain” if we didn’t want them. Somebody pinch me, I must be having a bad dream. The cheap, fluffy dish towels left fluff on everything when we dried it, so getting the dishes dry without leaving them covered in fluff for the next tenant was an interesting challenge. I hope this review means the “no one else had complained about the kitchen utensils” theme gets addressed, and I sincerely hope future guests are better provided for. On top of all that, we paid 26% more to stay at Casa Chiara than at the other 5+ star Airbnbs on our trip. From the three stars the place might deserve, I take one away because the hosts showed offensive disinterest in fixing the simplest things. Come on, you can do much better, and your clients deserve it too!