Villa Pina Antico Francischiello

“Basic rooms and hotel with an authentic feel”

Basic rooms with old decor and tiled floors but very clean. Room 107. White towels changed every day and comfy clean bedding. Bed hard however. Bathroom big, large shower area. Large windows overlooking the sea and Capri. Good soundproofing as you don't hear the traffic from the busy road. We broug… more

Basic rooms with old decor and tiled floors but very clean. Room 107. White towels changed every day and comfy clean bedding. Bed hard however. Bathroom big, large shower area. Large windows overlooking the sea and Capri. Good soundproofing as you don't hear the traffic from the busy road. We brought our own kettle and cups for an early morning brew. Meals served in the lovely restaurant over the road, so you need your wits about you when crossing. The hotel is family-run, could do with renovation but if you want an authentic Italian experience with a clean room and good food then I would recommend this hotel. Thank you for an enjoyable stay.

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“Dated, Damaged, Strangely Charming, very long review”

There is a strange charm about this basic hotel, which keeps guests coming back, not for the friendly warm welcome that awaits, there is not one, or the acknowledgment you are a repeat customer, don’t expect it, forget contacting the hotel before you get there, no response we tried twice, another g… more

There is a strange charm about this basic hotel, which keeps guests coming back, not for the friendly warm welcome that awaits, there is not one, or the acknowledgment you are a repeat customer, don’t expect it, forget contacting the hotel before you get there, no response we tried twice, another guest said they tried got no reply, definitely not for the standard of the room, or amenities, on offer. No swimming pool, a hot tub is located on the roof of the restaurant above the rooms not allocated for Tui UK guests, (did not see anyone use it while we were there, except an Italian restaurant guest dunking her poodle type dog in, after it had toileted, outside those rooms), one advantage to not having one of these rooms, plus footfall of restaurants guests outside your room, may also get noise from restaurant. You can of course still use the hot tub, should you feel the urge. I would personally get rid of it, it was out of use, when we arrived and repaired a few days later. There are sunbeds, no umbrellas and table and chairs, up there, bring your own beach towels. Great views out to sea and to Capri, better than from inside the restaurant. Downstairs from the restaurant there is a small peaceful garden with table and chairs, couple of sunbeds. Be aware while going onto roof or down into garden, steps are steep, and hand rail is not the best, bit rickety. Restaurant is on one level. Forget the picture on Tui website, it is a picture of one of the rooms above the restaurant, given to direct hotel booking or Tui guests not from the UK your room is across the road in what is the Hotel Villa Pina. Rooms are very basic, lift to second floor, not attic rooms, while cleaning is everyday, it is very basic, bedding was not changed in 2 weeks we were there. Guests leave books outside room on a table. Reception is a bit confusing, it is in the restaurant, not the hotel, large table, as you enter restaurant, with bar, and where room keys are hung behind a counter, Some of the owners live across the road at the Hotel Villa Pina. It is not unusual to see the owners, even though it is in the restaurant, smoking while sat around the table, supposed to be no smoking. The room door key is very heavy, you used to get another smaller key to lock the hotel door, now it is left open. The hotel comes with dated, damaged furniture, not very well cleaned in places. There are no public toilets at the actual hotel, only toilet is in your room or in the restaurant. Room 114 no balcony, sea view, along with view of the bins, broken shower handle came off straight away, seemed to have been broken a while. Water leaked out of shower onto floor, reported not fixed. Safe in room would not open took full day just to have someone replace a battery, then got locked out, battery failed? ended up being given the master key, had to hand back a couple of times, not sure what the reason was, you really do need to have a safety deposit for your personal belongings ie passport. Key had to be handed back the evening before we left. Light was not working above bathroom mirror, again reported, not fixed, wonder if these are still broken? Fridge in room, you could either use this, or watch TV not both, lack of sockets and do need adaptors. Early departure, leave the hotel room key in the door, or in room as restaurant (reception) across road was locked (not told this). We had to come back across the road and up the stairs, to leave key. Expected restaurant/reception to be open as breakfast began in about an hour’s time. We did get a packed breakfast the night before, you need to ask for this, as not offered, pleasantly surprised with contents. Your room may also be shown to someone else while you are out, it happened to the couple next room to us (ours was probably too broken, no balcony and bin/sea view), turned out to be the man from Expedia because he dropped his wallet. Transfer time can be around 2 hours. Tui, a rep did attend for a welcome meeting, never been to Italy arrived 2 weeks before the season started, while Tui UK got a hotel rep, Tui Sweden guests did not, they did get the rooms above the restaurant, no road to cross, for breakfast. Don’t expect information from Tui, both Ap, website, hard copy or human to be correct, or even accurate. Welcome meeting day and time, different information given from all. (There was no Tui noticeboard or information pack on arrival at hotel). Tui does about a 30 minute walk around Sorrento, couple of times a week, highlighting a couple of places to eat/drink, you get 2 free drinks, small measurers the last offered ending at the Foreigners Club. You have to make your own way to Sorrento, and locate the start of your tour yourself. Suggest if you are planning going into Sorrento, tag onto to one of these, don’t make a special trip as it is disappointing, that is if you can find the right place and time to pick up one. Best advice if you want information on getting around, speak to other guests, don’t expect the buses or trains to run on time, bus stop is right outside of hotel into Sorrento, or Massa across the road, both can be walked depending on your level of fitness, and how much time you have, your adventurous spirit. Be aware other people, not staying at hotel use the bus stop, outside your hotel, there is a couple of seats and ash tray. Taxis are expensive often in excessive of 40 Euros one way from Sorrento, buses do not run late, and not a good idea to try and walk back, especially in the dark, as uphill all the way on the road. Would not try footpath. Food - half board, Breakfast cold buffet, tea or coffee, some days fresh fruit most days not, cereal, bread rolls, all basic. There has been an improvement on the choice, since we last stayed around 10 years ago. There is no local, shop, or other place to eat near the hotel, the beach is a steep walk away, and the hotel is outside the area of Sorrento, in case you missed the hotel location Massa Lubrense, it is the area not the town of Massa, which is 30 minutes walk or 10 minutes by bus, all about. Evening meal, 3 courses, choice of 2 options for starter, and 2 for main course, dessert is often from food trolley wheeled in, choice of cakes. The food did go from excellent to a couple of not so nice dishes, mainly fish, owner not happy when told, and said other guests enjoyed it, they left it. The egg omelette, served a couple of times, was rather bland, not to standard of other food served. It would be nice to know, some people do not like this idea, what choices there are for the evening meal, just if it is not something you like, gives you the option to eat out, and let the owners know, plus there are set times for breakfast and evening meals. I suspect the set menu, for Tui guests is dictated (asked at breakfast, was told it was not ready until lunchtime), depending on what is used up at lunchtime, the remainder is put on the menu for the evening meal, nothing wrong in taking unused ingredients to make a meal. The owners take great pride in their restaurant, expect not to be able to sit at the front, with views out to Capri, reserved for outside patrons (can get very busy at times, large families, coach trips), or those other guests yes Tui UK are treat differently (this was in place before Brexit, so cannot use that as an excuse). Previous posts are accurate about this. A thought though, you get the window seat, with the view, then other patrons decide the sunset view is worth a look, and you are surrounded by people leaning over you while you are trying to eat, so not getting the front row does have it advantages at times. When it comes to the restaurant you are definitely placed well behind other guests, an example was one evening a band was set up, when enquired what time the music started, the waiter just answered with jokes, they waited until we left, before they starting playing, so we were not given the opportunity of being allowed to listen to music while we ate. On another night we were ushered back out of the main restaurant to the back room (while it is nice there, no views it would have been nice to have been informed, instead of being ushered out, when we went to take our seats, which were empty, like we were the poor people, better dressed we all were, and with better manners (they do like you to eat at the same table each day) and yes they knew they had a booking for the evening, and no the party of Americans did not take up all the room, so we could have been accommodated in our back to the room seats). For some reason there is not a list of what the charges are for drinks, other than wine menu (cheapest house wine was 25 euros, asked), and then not house wine, so you will have to ask, keep a record we were under charged, did tell her when we paid on the last night, the room tax had been forgotten and so had some water, she seemed surprised we had told her. Drinks can come in more expensive than other places. They do not like you paying as you go ie at the end of the day. Having a list with prices of soft drinks, wine by the glass, beer and house wine bottles, it is the little things, perhaps adding a small snack menu for guests arriving at lunchtime, or just being at the hotel during the day. Don’t expect any information to be voluntarily offered to you by the hotel. Water 3 euros a bottle, wine and beer 8 euros, cannot recall cost of soft drinks. The owner may post a comment what do you expect for the price you pay, see previous posts, in anticipation of this response, the hotel makes the deal every year with Tui, you can pick up for around the same price a room in other hotels in and around Sorrento, with more facilities, on offer better standard of room, swimming room, but as mentioned there is a strange Fawlty Towers charm, to this hotel, and it gets you out of Sorrento, which can be hectic. Well now you know what the hotel is like, as said before it does have a strange charm to it. The owners could benefit from fixing what is broken, not asking for the hotel to have a full refurbishment, if the rooms were all gutted, suspect the hotel would loose that strange charm it has. After reading this, rather lengthy review you should have an idea what to expect, and decide to book for the adventure that awaits you. If anything it is an experience, love it or hate it, the hotel does keep drawing you back.

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