Hotel Calla 2

Service, courtesy and experience in guest care: these are the three characteristics of this hotel, located near the center and equipped with every comfort. Spacious room, with air conditioning and Wi-Fi service, very clean and cared for every morning in every detail. Large breakfast room and excellent variety of foods and delicacies offered by the house. (Congratulations to Paoletta). Kind and welcoming staff, the two brothers Pino and Lello are polite, discreet and above all genuine, like this hotel which stands the test of time thanks to its kind soul.

My wife and I stayed 1 night with a guaranteed reservation. We drove our rental car nearly 300km from Otranto, stopping at Santa Maria di Leuca Lighthouse and Gallipoli, along the way. After parking beside the hotel, we met the receptionist, who spoke “Hotel English,” took our passports and gave us our key. We took the elevator to our #202. The adequate sized tiled room had a comfortable queen with nightstands, large closet, refer with small TV(no English), desk with chair, table, and easy chair. The fully outfitted bathroom had a tile shower with folding door. A large insulated French door opened to a terrace overlooking a street kept quiet with an electric shutter. Lighting and outlet over the desk were handy but it was necessary to unplug the nightstand light for a 2nd outlet. 2 bottles of water, plus a small bottle of wine with a bag of taralli were a nice touch. We walked 270 meters north to a convenient Despar supermarket that opened after lunch at 4:30 p.m. We had secure internet, no heat(not too cold outside), good hot water, a quiet night's sleep, and a nice serviced breakfast buffet in their bar/restaurant. We chose this 3* hotel for its location, needing a stop for the night between Italy’s heel and Sicily, and felt it was a good value choice for us.

At first sight, you may wonder quite what you have booked; the decor is very dated and mismatched. You'll find the odd flickering light and sticking door as well. However, for me, all of the positives of this little hotel meant I quickly over looked these things. The hotel is extremely clean; I feel this is up there as being one of the most important needs in a hotel. I couldn't fault the cleanliness at all. I am not the tidiest of people when staying away, but every day my room was meticulously remade and cleaned. There was a lot of effort but in by the cleaning staff and they did more than a 5 star job. The wifi is excellent in the reception area and is also available in the rooms. I did find that they wifi would drop out in the bedrooms, but this happened when a group of us returned and were all using the room wifi at the same time. There is excellent 3G signal if your Wifi drops if you are covered in your phone contract. The en suites do the job. The shower doors take a little getting used to and you do feel slightly boxed in. However, the shower has brilliantly hot water and excellent water pressure! That more than makes up for the doors! The bathroom is very clean, with a big mirror and great lighting. I agree with a previous reviewer when they said the beds are hard. I appreciate the mattress and pillows may say they mould to your body but I didn't really find this the case. I did get used to it after a few days but I didn't find much give in my bed. I had a large closet space in my room and liked that there were some clothes hangers available as well! There is a TV you can use in the rooms but I would suggest that you don't have the volume too loud. It is very easy to over hear conversations and the TV in the next room. This is one of the reasons I have rated the hotel as 4 stars and not 5. There is a huge breakfast available in the morning. They lovely staff are happy to make you any sort of coffee you would like or there is Americans available at the buffet. There are savoury items available but only a very small amount of hot items. The majority of this breakfast buffet is sweet food, such as cakes! There are eggs and yogurt there instead but you are limited if you don't fancy cake for breakfast. This is the other reason I am giving 4 stars instead of 5. I really enjoyed my stay and I do recommend this hotel. The price is great value for money. The only little extra I would have loved is a kettle in the room! The staff are lovely and super friendly as well!