Do not believe everything the brochure tells you or get sucked on by the pretty pictures! This hotel looks great but it is miles from anywhere on a narrow, winding, extremely busy and dangerous road. The view from our room was either of the busy road or of the neighbouring house's garden, which resembled nothing more than a junkyard. On arrival we were informed that the Michelin starred restaurant was closed and that for lunch and dinner we would need to walk down the road to a sister hotel, which also turned out to be where the delightful pool pictured on the website actually is situated. The bed was too hard, the shower too small to bend down and pick up the soap in without opening the door, the sheets appeared to be clean but the bed linen and furnishings as a whole tired and in desperate need of an update. Everything in the minibar was free but then that only consisted of two bottles of water, one of fruit juice and a can of coke, there were no tea and coffee making facilities and nowhere to get a drink from because the bar was also closed.
When we braved the puddles and potholed road in the pouring rain to look for sustenance at the sister hotel we found the hotel equivalent of the Marie Celeste. The bar and restaurants there were either closed or unattended and the only signs of life were a couple of men shifting furniture, who ignored this pair of tired, hungry and increasingly frustrated travellers.
Back in our room, we too were treated to a serenade from the neighbour's Alsatian, although that conveniently drowned out the sound of the traffic and the men shouting to each other at the tops of their voices.
Contrary to a previous review, we passed a dozen or so more conveniently situated hotels as we drove to Monreale to visit the duomo, although who knows, they also may have had their very own vociferous Alsatian, non-existent pools and foodless restaurants!
- Baglio Conca d Oro
