Grand Villa Politi Hotel

This is a "Grand " Hotel in the 19 th -early 20 th century tradition founded in 1866: a lot of personnel, heavy furnishings, beautiful gardens and location in the heights of Syracuse with a definitely modernistic touch, a large and beautiful pool. My room was the Winston Churchill Suite, among the most expensive in the hotel named after the former British Prime minister who stayed there in the mid-1950s and truly enjoyed his stay. The breakfast is indeed a "grand" affair with waiters and maitre d's covering the magnificent dining room and serving customers in a "grand" fashion. Unfortunately these performances are marred by a lack of focus on customers' feedback. My own example is a good illustration of not listening to the customer: my suite's bathroom, magnificent like the rest of the suite, featured a very intricate shower system which worked well but whose enclosure leaked really bad. I had to use a lot of towels and eventually bathrobes (part of the towel set) to soak the escaping water. I informed reception of this situation first thing the next morning and eas told it would be taken care of. I took again a shower that same night and the original leakage continued. NOTHING HAD BEEN DONE despite my stressing the urgency of the needed repair. Grand Hotel Villa Politi is indeed a glorious place on its face, but when you scratch the surface its age and wrinkles show up. More attention needs to be paid to what the customer says.

Pool area is very good plenty of loungers. Rooms are small showers are tiny. We ate in the hotel one night food was good. I feel it lacks atmosphere the bar area is very spread out. Staff were very helpful and breakfast was ample. Not a lot around I kept my shutters closed as the view was really wasteland.

The staff in the hotel were very friendly and on-site parking was helpful. The terrace and pool were lovely additions for the hot weather. The hotel clearly wants to maintain its historic presence but the rooms can be scruffy and were poorly maintained with crumbling paint/plaster. The shower in our bathroom was tiny (even for a small person) and the doors would come off their hinges when closed. The plug sockets by the beds also did not work. This was disappointing for the price of the rooms.