Diodorus Luxury Experience

非常棒的體驗！

Worst experience in Sicily from the first minute when we booked this hotel/villa. We was staying there for 3nights. The staff doesn’t speak english-just some basic words and was very difficult to communicate. We booked a room for three persons but what we got was far from calling a room it was like a cave, where the actual window was at the toilet. Because of a bad ventilation (no windows i guess) was always a strange smell and moister- shower and sleeping area was in the same room. We had no place to hang the towels or even to unpack the luggages. One of us had to sleep in small bed beside which was super uncomfortable.After the first night we noticed that we have a lot of ants in room and we informed the staff about it, when we showed the pictures to staff the girl just laughed-asked did we eat inside And said sorry. They was ‘cleaning’ the rooms daily(changing towels and making a bed) but it showed up that even after showing pictures they didn’t even washed the floor and we continued to live with ants 😀 Variation of breakfast is far from luxury, croissants tasted like it was baked 2 days before serving on a table, the bread which italy has so tasty, was like the cheapest bread you can find in a super marked without expire date on it- you know what i mean🫣 Probably if you dont speak italian you dont get any service at all- one day we was the only ones in a hotel- so good luck asking for a glass of vine or something else because noone was around from lunch until evening. It felt like we was ignored or even avoided since the other guests left the place. The last morning before we was checking out we we was eating and drinking coffee and one of the staff girls was smoking inside lobby- same place where the guests eat-it was an electronic cigarette, but guys cmon when you pay 200euro per night or even more(depends on a room you choose) it should be at least something luxurious and it was-swimming pool and the garden, nothing more, believe me, very overpriced hotel, not worth money at all.

Set in the hills near Agrigento, this is a modern “villa” with rooms ranged around an (unheated) infinity pool. The staff, all local people, are very pleasant, attentive, and keen to improve their English but very inexperienced (my sense was that none had ever stayed in a hotel or had training experience in “hospitality” though I didn’t ask). That said, although locals, the staff had little knowledge of tourist attractions in the nearby towns. Access to a guidebook would help them. Our room was good in parts. A lack of space for clothes made it necessary to live out of suitcases. 50% of us found the bed uncomfortable but over a few days this improved as we negotiated additional pillows. USB power-points were not working. There was a fridge (useful for perching a suitcase) and one comfy chair with table. There was no wardrobe but a short rail (with space for about 5 hangers) stood atop the bedside table. The lack of nightlight was an issue. The bathroom was spacious with everything laid out on small tables but the lack of hooks for hanging wet towels and other things irritated. A charming touch was the toilet which was flushed via a classic overhead cistern though the mechanism needed tweaking with each use. The helpfulness and willingness of staff to prepare drinks meant that the absence of kettle etc was not a major issue. Breakfast is the only meal offered. It is a basic buffet with lots of sweet pastries - though I prefer to put my own jam into my croissant (plain, unfilled was not available and the request was not even understood) and some savouries with sugary cereals and yoghurt. Eggs were available but a challenge for the staff. The presence of builders installing a hot-tub was an irritant but proved enthralling for the staff. Settling the bill proved challenging. They couldn’t provide a written/printed bill or receipt (due to alleged IT problems) and, owing to a lack of WiFi I could not pay with a card. In the end had to arrange direct electronic payment to their bank. In conclusion, the Diodorus Luxury Experience scored two out of three (Diodorus and Experience) though, on reflection, I’m not sure about the Diodorus.