We stayed at Hotel San Michele in mid-August, and it was the second stop on our trip. We chose this hotel because of the reviews on Trip Advisor, as well as the pictures we saw of the pool and location of the hotel. The pics made it look like you could see all of the island from the pool....and are very deceiving. Don't get me wrong, there are some fabulous views from certain spots in the Hotel, one of them being the balcony on the 2nd floor, however, the Hotel is much more run down and not as vibrant as the pictures make it out to be.
We were pretty pleased with our room when we walked in because it was VERY spacious, the bathroom was a good size and we had a small balcony that overlooked the pool, which was very nice. Our friends (whom we were travelling with and paid the exact same price we did for the hotel) were not as lucky with their room. It was extremely old (including their TV with no remote) and their air conditioning stopped working in the middle of the night. Once they saw our room, they immediately complained, and were informed that they were overbooked and our room was actually an 'upgrade.' Management did promise them another room for the next two nights and they ended up switching the following morning. Their next room was a bit updated, but extremely small, but had a fantastic view of the sea. One thing to note- our bed was as hard as a brick and our friends had a bed that was sunken in...so both extremes, and both were extremely uncomfortable. Every morning we would share stories as to how horrible we slept.
Another thing we found extremely disappointing was the pool. We had booked Anacapri as the 'relaxing' part of our trip and were planning on spending a lot of time at the pool. Well, let's just say that after spending a few hours in one of the uncomfortable chairs, we only returned once more for a brief visit. The lounge chairs were reserved (and I'm sure they weren't cheap) and the ones available reminded me of cheap, plastic picnic chairs. We have had more comfort at pools in the US (in Vegas?!) and were extremely disappointed that this was not up to par.
The only thing that made this hotel Average was its location. It was a short walk to AnaCapri, which we LOVED. There were lots of stores to shop at and some great restaurants. One morning, my husband and I also did the Mount Solaro chair lift which we really enjoyed (although it looks a bit sketchy, it's pretty outdated and I was afraid it wasn't safe, but I'm alive and writing this review!). I also got custom sandals made by a shoe cobbler on the street, which was another highlight of our visit. Oh, and the best part of our trip was by far our boat tour with Gianni's Boat tour, but I am going to write a separate review up for that, because it was EXCELLENT!
If it weren't for the location this hotel would get a 2/5. I don't plan on staying here again. However, I would stay across the street at the Caesar Augustus, Relais & Chateaux Hotel. We had dinner there one night and were even more disappointed that we had to return to Hotel San Michele.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
