Bristol Park Hotel, Taormina > Reviews > Great Location - Shame about the Hotel (Basil!)

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Poor
Quality of Rooms	Poor
Standard of Service	Average
Quality of Facilities	Poor

Advantages:	Stunning views, well located .
Disadvantages:	Poorly run, shabby and poorly maintained

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

My wife and I returned on 09/09/2007, from a wonderful week in Taormina on the beautiful Island of Sicily.
A wonderful week marred by one thing - The Hotel Bristol Park!
We paid around £800 each for a weeks B & B at this establishment, provided through Thompsons. This Hotel passes itself off as a Four Star Hotel.

*** LOCATION ***
One of the greatest assets of this Hotel is its fabulous location. If you want a well located Hotel in Taormina, with great views of Mount Etna (the main reason we booked this Hotel), there won't be many better in Taormina. We had a room on the third floor with a 180 degree view of the sea, the town of Guarding Naxos below Taormina, and the town of Taormina itself. By far the most imposing part of the view though was Mount Etna - the view of this 10,000 feet active Volcano was magnificent. Most of the rooms located at the front of the Bristol Park will have similar great views but those at the rear will be looking at cliffs and other buildings.
There is a steep ramp leading up to the Hotel entrance door and quite a few steps to negotiate before reaching the Hotel which would make it unsuitable for less mobile people.
Ten minutes walk from the Hotel, and you are in the centre of the beautiful town of Taormina with its many bars shops and restaurants - this review is about the Hotel, but I totally recommend the town of Taormina as a holiday destination.
Before you reach the town, almost across the road from the Bristol Park is a public garden which is well worth a visit. Nice plants and some good views.
10 minutes in the opposite direction and you reach the bus station and cable car station down to Taormina Mare (the sea).

*** PUBLIC ROOMS ***
The reception area is the first room you come across in most Hotels and this is no exception. First impressions count a lot and this one lost points immediately. We arrived at the Hotel around 1330 hrs along with eight or ten other guests. We entered last out of our group and immediately walked into an uncomfortable silence with an old man (turned out to be the owner) behind the reception desk not communicating anything to anyone. After a few minutes of silence someone at the front asked what the delay was. The man behind the reception desk simply said 'Rooms not ready'.
We then sat about for over an hour until the rooms were ready. In there slight defence they did give us all a drink, but there was no choice and if you didn't want an alcoholic drink, tough luck!
Whilst waiting around the reception area, we had chance to scrutinise the decor. We knew it was in old Italian style which we like in an Italian Hotel. We didn't realise how old the decor was though, it had all seen better days. The reception desk was badly scuffed and generally grotty. There was a fancy lamp behind the reception desk which had the bulbs taped in with electrical tape. The wall paper may have looked good 10 years ago but badly needs replacing.
One of the brass bannister rails leading upstairs had come apart so had been stuck together with selotape - obviously a long time ago by the state of the tape.

All the public rooms had long passed the 'Shabby Chic' look and are now more 'Neglected Fawlty Towers' look.

The Dining Room (fortunately we were only B & B) was in similar condition. Paint peeling from window frames, wallpaper peeling in places and generally well passed it's sell by date.

*** HOTEL ROOMS ****
The first room we were offered was Room 301 on the third floor. It was a decent size and had a good view, but we knew as soon as we opened the door that we wanted an immediate change as the room reeked terribly of stale cigarettes. We don't smoke and had no desire to start on holiday.
Next room was room 305 which we ended up staying in. Again, a decent size and a stunning view. The room had a decent sized bathroom and a fridge but no safety deposit box. It had air conditioning which was on all the time but never cool enough.
The worst thing about the room was the shocking wall paper! It was a horribly patterned very loud paper which had also seen better days. The entrance hallway to the room was papered in a different, but equally shockingly loud patterned paper which didn't match the other or little else in the room.
Near the doors to the balcony, someone had patched up the ten year old paper with a new roll of the same stuff. Patched in just about the right word, as it wasn't matched correctly and we discovered late on in the week that the bit behind the curtains next to the balcony door had actually been nailed to the wall!
There was a reasonable sized wardrobe, a dressing table, bedside tables and two arm chairs in the room. The balcony was small but big enough, and as already stated with views to die for.
I saw in a few other rooms as we passed a few open doors at different times and may seemed to be decorated in similar fashion and were or roughly the same standard as the one we were given.
Certainly not good enough to call itself a 4 Star Hotel!

***FOOD ***
We only stayed B & B so can only comment on the breakfast. Certainly not the best fare on offer but most was adequate. The biggest fault was there was not enough choice. Everyday, it was scrambled eggs or boiled eggs (** note about boiled eggs - steer clear - they are obviously organic eggs as they were still covered in chicken poor - unbelievable!).
Fresh fruit was available everyday but it was always water melon, plums and grapes. Yoghurt, fruit juices and a variety of breads and cakes were also provided along with a few cooked meats and cheeses.
There are so many great places to eat in Taormina, I can't understand why anyone would want to stay anything but B & B.

*** STAFF ***
Staff generally are OK. Most were friendly and went about their business efficiently. The owner should keep himself away from the guests though, he has no people skills and made us feel anything but welcome when arriving at the Hotel.

*** CONCLUSION ***
Well located Hotel in a beautiful town - It probably has been a very nice Hotel in its day buy now does not deserve Four Star Status. It needs a lot of TLC and Euros to bring it up to scotch and a young dynamic management team to keep it there.
My advice is doing stay there until they do.