Hotel Costa Verde

We came to this hotel yesterday for our last day and night before flying home. lastminute.com made a cock up and we ended up having to stay here.... we were told 4 star all inclusive. I'm not a moaner per se and this is the first review I have ever made but felt compelled to do so. It is the end of season here in Sicily. We opted for an all inclusive holiday. This morning after breakfast I fancied another coffee and so walked around to coffee bar. I wanted to sit outside as the views are quite stunning. The young girl serving at the coffee bar refused to give me a Cappuccino stating the coffee bar was not open until 10am. She advised us to go back to the restaurant to grab another drink. You are not allowed to take cups out of the restaurant and I did not wish to sit in the humid restaurant again. I sat outside for approx 10mins and decided to return to my room only to find the coffee bar serving coffee to Italian guests. I enquired about getting a Cappuccino again and was refused again. Apparently the coffee bar is only open for cash sales not all inclusive. I asked the young lady for her name and promptly went to reception to complain. Reception advised me it should be ok to have a Cappuccino anytime as I am all inclusive, telephoned the coffee bar. I overheard the receptionist say good day to a different named person that who I had just dealt with. The receptinionist advised me to return to coffee area, which I did, only to encounter the same rude young lady. I asked her if she had recieved the call from reception ( half believing that someone else, a manager had taken the call) she said yes she had taken the call.... this girl had given me the wrong name..... so she knew what she was doing was wrong.... perhaps she is just racist.... no lo so... I dont know. I speak a little Italian and overheard her speaking maliciously about me to the Italians at the bar. Even though our flight is not till 9.... checking out early. Never seen brussel sprouts for breakfast before either. This is a business hotel, not suitable for anyone looking for a cultural family holiday. It looks posh from the outside.... the views are stunning, but feels like a prison... attached photos of our corridor.... Avoid at all costs! You will be disappointed. Thank you to reception staff though.... they are the only ones with any manners here. Food... average Air con switched off Pillow flat as a pancake... weird flush on toilet.... difficult to use... would be impossible for anyone with arthritis. I just cant wait to get out of here.

We booked a great last minute deal through TUI ... then checked the reviews! We were immediately worried because some were really bad. However, this is a lovely hotel with great food, helpful staff who speak excellent English, nice room with spectacular sea views. The main downside of the location of the hotel is that you can't walk out of the grounds without getting a bus or coach. On the other hand, there's a bus to the local town a few times a day and a regular shuttle minibus to the private hotel beach. Excursions also call straight to the hotel entrance. So don't listen to the moaners - we recommend this hotel, especially if you can find a late deal!

We stayed at Costa Verde after losing our holiday to Zante with Thomas Cook. It wasn't our first choice and we were a little concerned by the reviews but determined to remain positive. This is a really nice hotel which is a little out the way and it is a shame you cannot walk anywhere from it but you can get a direct bus to Cefalu which is really lovely and we went three times. This hotel accommodates retired French and Italian guests. My husband and I are British and around 30 years old. Certainly we were not their target clientele and we did not engage with the evenings entertainment but this is usual for us as we enjoy our own company. On arrival the check in process was quick, they do ask for you passports and keep hold of them for the night which was strange. Our room was really good, incredible sea view. The mattresses are really quite firm though! The staff are super helpful and as soon as we tried a couple of Italian phrases (ciao, grazia etc they were really friendly, I have no idea where the idea of rude staff comes from.) The food isn't the best we have experienced all inclusive but that isn't to say it wasn't very good. There is such a great range of salads. Not many dishes are labelled which might be difficult for some. You get a bottle of wine with lunch and dinner. There are lots of complaints here about breakfast - you cannot get a "full English" the cuisine at this hotel isn't aimed at Brits, they are trying to run a business after all. There was plenty of nice things, lots of croissants, fruit, yoghurt, bacon eggs... The pool was lovely, it was chilly but that isn't the hotel's fault. Our only real gripes with this hotel was the limited drinks, no spirits and only one decent cocktail. It hardly ruined our holiday, the beer and wine were nice and cold. The other thing was that if you go at the end of season the pool bar, beach bar and outside restaurant do not really open so it's not as convenient to get a drink. All in all this is a good hotel that wouldn't be our first choice but we enjoyed our time there. A big thank you to the bartenders who were really friendly and helped us with our Italian!