Hotel Villa Del Lauro

“Good location but not my idea of a boutique hotel.”

First I will say that the staff here were excellent, polite and helpful. However, the hotel is on three levels and there is no lift. The breakfast was good but continental only. There is no restaurant and no bar, though the staff will happily serve drinks in the small lounge. The WiFi is not up to … more

First I will say that the staff here were excellent, polite and helpful. However, the hotel is on three levels and there is no lift. The breakfast was good but continental only. There is no restaurant and no bar, though the staff will happily serve drinks in the small lounge. The WiFi is not up to the job. The city of Ragusa is on two hills and the main street one long hill. To get to any restaurant is at least 10 minutes fast walk up hill, and 20 minutes is more realistic. The hotel is on a steep narrow street and the only parking is on-street and limited. You need to be fit! Position wise it is well positioned for access to the town or to Ragusa Ibla, the older part.

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“Quirky”

A building used by old gentry - very grand. Very tight street for access but use of underground car park. Mine host had Basil Faulty tendencies but rest of staff super. No lift and many stairs ! Superb garden & pool. Breakfast served in gloomy atmosphere in grand stateroom.

“Arranged a rip-off taxi: extra 49 Euro charge!”

Hotel itself was very good: we were given a big room/suite (although it was a little dark), breakfast was fine in a lovely elegant room leading out to the well kept garden. Staff on reception, which was always manned, were helpful. However, big negative when we left: they arranged a taxi for us to … more

Hotel itself was very good: we were given a big room/suite (although it was a little dark), breakfast was fine in a lovely elegant room leading out to the well kept garden. Staff on reception, which was always manned, were helpful. However, big negative when we left: they arranged a taxi for us to go from Ragusa to Siracuse which we knew would be expensive. They had a published list of prices on the reception desk and they told us it would be 140 euros. As it was also a public holiday, they mentioned that there might be a 15% surcharge. I enquired the night before to confirm the cost and they said it was Ok, no surcharge. Taxi arrived, was fine, taxi driver polite although did not really speak English. On arrival at Siracuse he charged us 189 euros, 49 (35%) above the expected price. As we didn't have the language skills to query it, we paid up. While I appreciate that the taxi company is not the direct responsibility of the hotel, I emailed them that night to inform them of the excessive overcharging of the taxi. The issue is for me that there was no response at all from the hotel. I didn't expect that they could do anything anyway, but a response would have been polite. Up until checking out, the staff had responded swiftly to queries, so we definitely got the impression that once you pay and they have your money, they couldn't care less. Left a bitter taste; would not want to return to this hotel

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