Hotel Elma Park Terme

“Relaxing ”

We had a half-board package with Secret Escapes which included a 20 minute spa treatment and a boat trip around the island, stopping for an hour in Sant’ Angelo. Most of the hotel clientele are Italian, then some German and only a smattering of English people, but I guess this could vary at other t… more

We had a half-board package with Secret Escapes which included a 20 minute spa treatment and a boat trip around the island, stopping for an hour in Sant’ Angelo. Most of the hotel clientele are Italian, then some German and only a smattering of English people, but I guess this could vary at other times of year. Not all staff speak much English, but far superior to my Italian! The property is terraced into the hillside (over 140 easy steps from the bottom road exit to reception’s road exit at the top), affording great views over the harbour and sea beyond. SPA: I chose the 20 minute treatment for back, neck and shoulder massage; very good. The indoor thermal bath area downstairs is very pleasant. POOL: Nice outdoor pool area, decent pool temperature, sun terrace and plenty of loungers. Free towel use available daily from reception, but if you require a pool hat (supposedly mandatory but not enforced) it is €3. BAR: Poolside snacks and drinks available. However, male bartender is work-shy and not skilled; you could die of dehydration before he deigns to serve you. Try ordering a banana daiquiri; very amusing result. All other staff are fine. ROOM: not slick corporate boxes, having some local character. Ours had all we needed: very clean and freshly painted. Efficient aircon. Usual gripe about hotels of all calibres worldwide (designers please note) insufficient lighting in the room for makeup. Worst thing; very poor sound insulation. I thought my husband was snoring, but the noise was coming from next door! BATHROOM: yes the ubiquitous fixed hairdryer located in the bathroom (why?)! Fine if you have a buzz cut, otherwise useless for styling (especially in humidity)but you could use it to de-mist the mirror! Shampoo/shower gel combo and soap provided; nothing else. Shower over bath. Bidet. FOOD: Buffet breakfast. Excellent coffee. Lunch/dinner is substantial and made on the premises, in regional Italian style. The restaurant manager Gina is brilliant, hard working and she really looks after you. It’s a bit regimented though, with dinner served (not buffet) from 8pm to 9pm. To cater efficiently you are shown the menu choices at breakfast and you can choose to take your meal that day as lunch or dinner. This did make you feel tied to the hotel as you felt honour bound not to decide to eat out instead as you had pre-ordered and would be missed. All Italian dishes were excellent (especially enjoyed the salmon risotto), but some other dishes hit and miss. Roast chicken was more like a poor man’s casseroled chicken and I didn’t enjoy it. SUMMARY: Good location near port, amenities and bus routes. If you are looking for a beach scene there are better locations on the island. Hotel clean and cared for but dated, yet in some ways charming and of its place. Urgently needs to up its game in poolside service as it was a real spoiler to our relaxation and lets the hotel down. Also upgrade sound insulation between rooms. We enjoyed our stay and the staff were lovely, but I feel this hotel could get left behind by its competitors before too long.

less

“Rest and Relaxation on Ischia”

Have also just returned from a weeks stay at Hotel Elma booked through Secret Escapes UK and can relate to a lot in Stephanie’s review below. The hotel has a commanding elevated position above Casamicciola and affords great views of the harbour and surrounding coastline. The architecture of the hot… more

Have also just returned from a weeks stay at Hotel Elma booked through Secret Escapes UK and can relate to a lot in Stephanie’s review below. The hotel has a commanding elevated position above Casamicciola and affords great views of the harbour and surrounding coastline. The architecture of the hotel is a bit brutalist 1970’s concrete block style but you only really see this when viewing the Hotel from the harbour and do not get that sense when you are in it, as the public areas are more modern and the overall sense is of the great views to be had from the outside pool balcony area, the dining room and bar terraces and from some of the rooms especially, if like us, you get one of the balcony sea view rooms in the main reception block above the swimming pool. Yes the internal room decor is slightly dated but the room we had was very comfortable and spacious enough with an entrance area for storing suitcases and shoes, with the functional bathroom off here, then main bedroom with efficient air conditioning, a fridge for keeping water, a wall safe, enough storage and plenty of power points including a couple close to the desk and mirror. And the Wi-Fi worked well in the room for us but perhaps because we were close to reception. We also found cleanliness to be high throughout and especially the room service. I know we visited outside high season and perhaps not representative of July/August but neither pool areas were that busy during our stay and we experienced no problem getting two loungers, even on the elevated AstroTurf pool terrace with its commanding views. The Therma spa pool area is again a bit dated in decor but still very relaxing, and again we only ever experienced about half a dozen people maximum utilising the internal thermal area when we were. The treatment area also on the lower floor in contrast is very modern in design and facilities and the massages we went for (booked through reception) were very good. The food was interesting. Breakfast is standard continental with the usual additional Italian pastry and cake selection. Other meals were a buffet antipasto followed by a first and second plate which were ordered at breakfast from that days menu. The first plates were consistently good with very good pasta dishes and the risottos were excellent, proving again that only Italians can cook this dish well. The second plates however were very hit and miss and more miss than hit in our experience. We learnt to stick with the meatballs or grilled fish if they were an option The good thing was that on half board you could choose to have either lunch or evening meal thus allowing you to choose the first plate for lunch and then be free to experience a local restaurant in the evening which, due to the downhill back pedestrian hotel entrance, are never more than 10 to 15 minutes’ walk away. The service levels we experienced were in general very high. Always helpful in reception and Gina, the aforementioned maître d, is an absolute star, and the rest of her staff at dinner worked hard to please. But, as it was for Stephanie below, the weak link was the barman who took over in the afternoon and evening. He refused to entertain our broken attempts at Italian and insisted drinks were not available when they were clearly there in plain sight. And god forbid you asked him to prepare a cocktail from the bar menu unless you wanted to experience a new invention not yet known to man. We too decided to avoid him and started taking our pre and post dinner drinks in the small friendly bars of the main cobbled shopping road of Casamicciola, a mere five minutes stroll from the hotel back entrance. Not only did we experience friendly service in these, but the drinks were lower cost too, so our gain and the local bar keepers gain was the hotel’s loss. We did experience the local busses and crowded they indeed were, but they do get you about the island for a fraction of the price of the local taxis. The castle is worth a visit as was the excellent Poseidon Thermal Spa complex and the wonderful Giardini Botanical Gardens in Forio. Best to buy bus tickets from reception in advance and then use the quieter bus stops when turning right at the end of the road from the hotel back entrance.

less

“Quiet Getaway”

Just got back from a 5 night stay here. Organised by Secret Escapes. Where to begin... the most positive thing was the journey there and back. Precision timing, we cannot complain. From London it took a total of 8 hours to get there, Drive to Gatwick, two hours before take off. Flight, two hours f… more

Just got back from a 5 night stay here. Organised by Secret Escapes. Where to begin... the most positive thing was the journey there and back. Precision timing, we cannot complain. From London it took a total of 8 hours to get there, Drive to Gatwick, two hours before take off. Flight, two hours forty. Picked up at Naples airport and driven to the port (20 mins). Tickets given and helped to the correct gate. Journey to Ischia approx (45 mins). Met again as we embarked from the ferry and driven to the hotel. The hotel was fine, a little tired, but clean. We had a wonderful Double sea view and balcony. Room cleaned every day and give fresh, clean bed sheets. Well done to the ladies ‘that did’. Reception was always friendly and as helpful as they could be. We used the courtesy bus several times, good idea as the buses around the island are few and far between. Oh and when they do arrive there normally packed and most uncomfortable. ‘Never seen so many people packed into a bus!’ The food was ok, we had half board. I didn’t bother with breakfast, my partner did. Basic continental. Whilst I’m on the food, we must mention Gina, what a star. One of the greatest and friendliest member of restaurant staff you will ever meet. She was also brilliant at English, great when you only have limited Italian. She personally tried to tempt us to stay at the hotel for the evening meals. We did this on three occasions, Tuesday ok, Wednesday fantastic ( it was the ‘Gran Gala di Ferragosta’ an absolute feast of seafood and fish). Outstanding food and organised Gala. Next time we ate here was on the Saturday night before we left Ischia. Back to ok/ basic. The bar... The bar area and service let the whole place down. We requested Brandy with our late evening coffee every night. We finally got ‘Romagna’ on our last evening. The bar was full of empty bottles including all their advertised ‘Brandy’s’, assortment of ‘Whiskeys’ No ‘vodka and fresh lime’ the young man who served or attempted to serve us was not helpful and pretended he could not understand us. This really upset us on more than one occasion. He let the hotel down and we dreaded seeing him at the bar. We even called on wonderful Gina to help us on more than one occasion when he said there was no rose win left, when clearly there was! He even pretended not to know what water was, really, when ‘Agua’ was written on the bottle!’ Would we stay again? Sadly not this hotel is a struggling 3/4 star and takes a long time to get there. Apart from ‘Gina’ there was nothing else very special there.

less