We stayed in the Massimo Plaza hotel for the first 4 nights of our 2 week self-drive Sicily tour.

It is in a brilliant location - opposite the Teatro Massimo, and 5 minutes walk from the Politeama, where the airport bus arrives (6 euro each - better than a taxi at 50 euro). Also most of the restaurants in the evening are around the Politeama, plus all the shops, so again it is a great location. And when you want history, the Cathedral is around 10 minutes walk the other way, and the Archeological Museum is just behind the hotel.

The front desk are friendly and helpful, though when we asked for more hangers (the room had 5, between 2 people on a 2 week trip!) there weren't any!

I think this housekeping is what lets the hotel down. Our room was nice and big, the bed was firm and excellent, and the bathroom (shower only) was modern and good.

But there is no breakfast room (I assume the hotel is small, and uses every room as a bedroom). The breakfast (no choice, and full of sugary custard brioches) was brought to our room every morning and put onto the small table there. But there were no plates for you to butter your rolls on (we had to use the saucers from the tea cups), so we left crumbs etc on the small damask tablecloth which was on the table. This was never changed!! Every day I would roll it up, to keep the crumbs, sugar etc inside, and put it out with the used tray, and every day we'd come back to find it unfolded, and put back on the table, filthy. That meant we could never use the table for anything else, because the sugar would have covered everything.

That was the only real problem. When we got our hire car the front desk explained that they have an agreement with the Garage round the corner, which worked very well.

Just back from Sicily and stayed for two nights at Massimo Plaza. Distinctly unimpressed. It is basically a business hotel, plain rooms and massively over priced. Staff are amateurs and not particularly helpful-our safe wasnt working and the lady who we asked about it was rather upset at having to get up off her chair. Noisy as well as is right on the street and stairway up to it is very run down. I cant believe they call it a 'independent luxury hotel'. All in all, do not go there.

If you stay in this hotel, do not get room 101 or 102. When I was shown into room 101, I thought it would be a quiet room because it overlooked a back alley and not the busy main road at the front. Wrong!! I have never had a worse night's sleep in a hotel. All night, and I mean that literally, there was a noise like an electric door opening and closing, repeatedly. 32 seconds of quiet, 5.5 seconds of noise, continuously, all night. I had plenty of time to count the seconds, so I know that is right. It was not incredibly loud, it was the repetitiveness that was so irritating. At 2am I even got out of bed to complain but of course there was nobody around at reception to assist me. I eventually managed to get to sleep about 4am but I felt terrible in the morning. Other gripes - the hotel could not/would not change a 50 euro note into smaller notes, it is 1 floor up from street level with no lift (elevator) so bad luck if the porter is not around to help you with your luggage, and there is no internet access. I was expecting a really important email but the receptionist would not let me check even for a second, just directed me to an internet cafe nearby where they only had 3 terminals and about 300 people waiting to use them. I know the hotel has the internet because that's how I booked my room!! But I wasn't allowed to use it at all, even if I paid for the privilege! Also for a tourist hotel in the middle of Sicily's largest city with 11 channels of Italian cable TV you would think they might provide 1 channel in English. No. If you don't speak Italian you are left with MTV or nothing. If it wasn't such a tourist area I would not mention it, but this is prime tourist territory in Palermo. On the plus side, the breakfast was served right when they said it would be, and the rolls were really nice and fresh. Warning - Palermo traffic is the worst in the world and what you think are one-way streets have buses on them travelling in the opposite direction from the rest of the traffic. Take lots and lots of care before you step in the road!! In fact, the traffic ruins Palermo and if you can avoid going there, I suggest you give it a miss. The Cappella Palatina is being restored and you can't see much there, so the only other sight worth seeing is the exterior of the cathedral (not the interior, which is dull). The cathedral at Monreale is interesting but it is a 20 minute bus ride away (depending on the hellish traffic). After staying at this hotel, I now understand why Palermo's best hotels are not located in the city centre.

A charming, small hotel in center of busy Palermo. Nice rooms and baths. Superb location for walking to all major sites. Driving in Palermo not recommended for faint-hearted.