320jonathanf
July 17, 2024
Sunset Hotel was probably the biggest let down of our entire trip. From the moment we arrived, we quickly noticed that we would not be receiving the level of hospitality and service that we were spoiled by from other stays. We pulled up to the Sunset Resort after a 2.5 hour drive from Taormina (SD, FS), and had a difficult time locating the parking garage. I had parked out front and sent my wife in to ask for help and some questions, and she came back to the car stating the front desk wanted me to go in. I had gone in, and the front desk quickly ran through the hotels amenities (breakfast), parking, beach access, et al. I had asked if someone would be helping with the bags, the gentleman at the front desk said there is an elevator in the garage that will take us straight to our rooms. Not particularly the answer I had hoped to hear, but OK, we just had a long drive and I wanted to get the car unloaded and onto the beach already. We get to the room, and it is very very small. Which is fine, however the room is really the bare minimum when it comes to creature comforts and amenities. It is very difficult to travel to this resort with many bags. We each had 1 carry on, and 1 checked suitcase, and had to move furniture around in order to be able to open our bags in the room. The room itself is quite warm. They do not provide any complimentary water/refreshments in the room. They also tell you that you are limited to ONE towel per person for your entire stay, and that additional towels will be charged to your room at €4 per towel. The real problems start at night. We learned that our balcony was right up against a giant flashing ferris wheel, and a theme park. If you are this side of the hotel, you will have noise ALL night long. Screaming of adults and children, flashing lights, a DJ and Emcee. Luckily there is a black out shade, but even our White Noise apps on our phone weren't enough to drown out all the noise. Then at 6 am, hotel construction starts. This I have to believe was in the room right next to ours, and literally up against our headboard. They are demo'ing the room and you hear crashing of hammers, material, glass, drilling, sawing. We woke up to these noises everyday at 6am. We complained to the front desk and they had told us that they already provided us with an upgraded room, and this room was supposedly superior to the room we had booked. We were also assured that it would not happen again, and that the workers were not supposed to begin until later in the day. This is all a bunch of BS. We heard them tell this same exact story to other guests who were complaining about their rooms. To make matters worse, construction happened everyday at 6AM, regardless of our complaints, and many times they told us this was a big mistake and they were not supposed to start working yet. The room was relatively clean, and the cleaning girls were very sweet and nice, but we instructed the front desk that we did NOT want any cleaning to our rooms