We had a lovely room with a balcony that faced the gardens in the west affording us great sunset views.
The hotel also has a nice spa and we availed of foot massages. The prices were reasonable and the service was good.
Break fast was great, loved the latte macchiato
Food overall was great
Poggio del Sole Hotel Is a hotel of contradiction with impressive and grossly unimpressive features. The hotel is very large considering its remote, rural location. The foyer area is enormous with a large comfortable lounge area. There are numerous large dining areas and you can also eat by the side of the large pool. The pool also has a bar so you can order drinks and snacks. The decor is tasteful with wooden reproductions of a variety of cactus plants including the prickly pear, a noxious weed in Australia but its fruit is used to flavour spirits in Sicily. All sounds very impressive and favourable so far.
So how do most people spend most of their time besides sleeping? Browsing the Internet on their phones and iPads. Whilst “free WiFi” signs are common in hotels, cafes etc., it is now a universal expectation. With this in mind, efficient internet connectivity is both mandatory and essential. During our two day stay, WiFi was generally unavailable. To make matters worse, the restaurant menu was only available electronically and there were no paper back up menus. Selecting a food choice from an invisible menu is a challenge. Understandably the restaurant staff seemed to be in a permanent state of stress. The food was very good but a prayer may be needed to get what you ordered.
Oh! yes. The rooms are large and have all the expected facilities except for drink making items. Large bed but with 3-stars for comfort. Large bathroom, hot water but wafer thin towels.
So lots of pluses, a few minor negatives and the WiFi issue may not be a regular problem (suspect it is), restaurants have atmosphere and reasonable food so just remember to bring a book to read for when your mobile device is inoperative.
We have had such a disappointing time at this hotel on the start of our tour around Sicily. From the minute we arrived the staff on the front desk and in the restaurant have been unfriendly. The hotel is quite remote and therefore you rely on being able to eat in the restaurant. Had the humiliating experience of being provided with a take away pizza we had to eat on a table outside whilst most of the tables inside were empty. Large groups take precedence. I don’t normally write reviews but have felt moved to do so on this occasion as we have felt so disappointed by our experience here, despite the food actually being v good.
A disaster. €300 for 2 nights & our rooms were never cleaned, the pigeons on the roof don’t let you sleep at night, pool dirty, broken sun beds, no food, not even a packet of crisps at lunch time but when we complained they brought us old fried food from the day before & a bad plate of pasta which they charged us €50 for! The barman doesn’t speak a word of English, no ice at the bar, tried serving me half a bottle of beer & doesn’t even know how to make a decent coffee - he literally got every single order wrong.
They apologised & tried giving us a 15% discount on another stay but none of us will ever come back here.
A real shame as you don’t expect bad coffee & no food especially from the Sicilians.
Although the hotel was clean and the staff friendly, it is located far from anything. That, in of itself, can be a good thing, if you want peace and quiet and get away from it all. The pool area is nice, although we could not fire out the lounge chairs! Breakfast buffet was the normal.
