Palace of the Normans

Loved the pool, the beach and the staff, they were super nice. Grazie mille

This hotel was beautiful, but to call itself luxury is a bit of a stretch. The differentiating factor between luxury and non-luxury hotels is not just in the quality of the facilities, but in the service - and that’s where this hotel was lacking. There was no one to help with bags, €5 charge for pool towels, no food or beverages or even water available outside of breakfast, no one asking if you needed anything, literally the service level was nonexistent. The staff were perfectly pleasant, just not there to provide you with anything except the bare minimum. The little things that feel luxurious don’t cost a lot - free coffee pods in the room, towels and water at the pool, a glass of prosecco to apologize for the noise - but they go a long way in differentiating the true luxury places from those that are merely pretending. There was also a big event with dancing and DJ and loud music that ran till midnight that we were not informed of until we arrived. No apologies were given, we were told “it’s just a meeting”. In a hotel this small, where the sound carries through the entire space, perhaps hotel policy should be that events need to buy out all the rooms and not just the public spaces. I’m sure the people in gowns would prefer not to have guests in swimwear doing cannonballs into the pool anyway. They get an extra star for the extremely sweet cat Sergio who was single handedly bringing all the warmth and service one would expect from a luxury hotel.