Hotel Cerere — Hotel in Capaccio Paestum

Positives |1. Parking for the apartments is right next to the apartments.|2. There is a decent sized swimming pool that we had access to next to the apartment so we didn’t need to use the bigger pool that was used for weddings.|4. The pool we used was a 1 minute walk from the apartment and wasn’t busy.|5. The bedroom was of a good size.|6. The kitchenette was functional. |7. It was possible to wash our baby in the bathroom, although tight the shower was big enough to put our travel inflatable baby bath in the base.|8. Beach was very nice as long as you sat in the 3rd row of chairs it was free.|9. The smell of eucalyptus trees on the way to the beach was nice.|10. The sea was a 10 minute walk, even with the baby and the heat it was easy to do and didn’t use the shuttle bus once.|11. Local shops are limited but good enough. (Didn’t find any baby formula though)|12. The staff were as accommodating with questions as my no Italian and their broken English allowed.|13. They let us settle our bill the night before we left as we were leaving early and they said there would only be a skeleton staff.|14. Using toll roads it’s only about 1 and half hours from Naples airport. (Don’t leave “avoid tolls” on like I did initially as that drive wasn’t fun and took and extra hour)|15. Toll was €2.10, I used cards and this worked every time although the transaction on a Sunday didn’t appear on my statement for 2 days, all other days the toll came off the card immediately.|16. We used the big pool in the photos once. It was nice and the baby liked it on a day when there weren’t any weddings.|17. Paestum really was very close and fully worth a visit.|18. Pompeii was only about an hour away with a €2.10 toll each way.|19. Decent safe in the bedroom, could fit my 13” laptop.|20. Hair dryer in bathroom was ok.||Negatives|1. The large pool was closed for weddings between 12:30 and 15:30 and not cleaning as we had been told.|2. We weren’t disrupted by the weddings but they were every day from what a guest staying in the main hotel said.|3. No kettle in the apartment.|4. No iron in the apartment.|5. Massive sink in a small bathroom was a bit odd.|6. The shower, glass door runner always jammed and had clearly been “repaired” at some point. The kitchen tap and the shower water are connected so don’t use them both at the same time or the temperature gets very severely affected.|7. The apartment only had a single free bed linen change which did not include a room clean.|8. There was a €40 charge to clean the room which included towels and bed linen change|9. The AC only went down to 21°|10. The large AC unit outside between the apartments and the car park was very noisy and could be heard in the apartment at night.|11. Reception staff had better English than I have Italian, not really a bad point but a bit difficult as I have no Italian. I used google translate a lot.|12. Breakfast was very limited. We only had it once. Our friend staying in the hotel brought her own in the end and had it with us.|13. Parking exit gate required you to get out of the car and press a receipt buzzer. I can understand this on the way in but the way out wasn’t very helpful as the buzzer was then on the wrong side for the left hand drive hire car so you had to get out.|14. The beach was great but there wasn’t any restaurants/food directly attached and what was available at the other beach restaurants was nice but don’t use google for their opening times, we spent our entire time missing food.|15. The local bar on the other side of the road was very noisy reasonably late. We weren’t affected too badly but if we had been in the apartments close to the road it would have been annoying.|16. Don’t leave the doors or windows open in the apartment whilst cooking as it stops the AC from working and they may even have to come and reset it.|17. Not a hotel negative but car rental related, the Avis/budget car rental desk is not In Naples airport arrivals hall, it is about a km away, should have trusted google maps on this one and not the broker.|18. Again not the hotel’s fault but mosquitoes are vicious in the area. Didn’t get bitten in the room but did...

Positives Parking for the apartments is right next to the apartments. The apartments are 2 minute walk from hotel main reception. There is a decent sized swimming pool that we had access to next to the apartment so we didn’t need to use the bigger pool that was used for weddings. The pool we used was a 1 minute walk from the apartment and wasn’t busy. The bedroom was of a good size. The kitchenette was functional. It was possible to wash our baby in the bathroom, although tight the shower was big enough to put our travel inflatable baby bath in the base. Beach was very nice as long as you sat in the 3rd row of chairs it was free. The smell of eucalyptus trees on the way to the beach was nice. The sea was a 10 minute walk, even with the baby and the heat it was easy to do and didn’t use the shuttle bus once. Local shops are limited but good enough. (Didn’t find any baby formula though) The staff were as accommodating with questions as my no Italian and their broken English allowed. They let us settle our bill the night before we left as we were leaving early and they said there would only be a skeleton staff. Using toll roads it’s only about 1 and half hours from Naples airport. (Don’t leave “avoid tolls” on like I did initially as that drive wasn’t fun and took and extra hour) Toll was €2.10, I used cards and this worked every time although the transaction on a Sunday didn’t appear on my statement for 2 days, all other days the toll came off the card immediately. We used the big pool in the photos once. It was nice and the baby liked it on a day when there weren’t any weddings. Paestum really was very close and fully worth a visit. Pompeii was only about an hour away with a €2.10 toll each way. Decent safe in the bedroom, could fit my 13” laptop. Hair dryer in bathroom was ok.

Negatives The large pool was closed for weddings between 12:30 and 15:30 and not cleaning as we had been told. We weren’t disrupted by the weddings but they were every day from what a guest staying in the main hotel said. No kettle in the apartment. No iron in the apartment. Massive sink in a small bathroom was a bit odd. The shower, glass door runner always jammed and had clearly been “repaired” at some point. The kitchen tap and the shower water are connected so don’t use them both at the same time or the temperature gets very severely affected. The apartment only had a single free bed linen change which did not include a room clean. There was a €40 charge to clean the room which included towels and bed linen change The AC only went down to 21° The large AC unit outside between the apartments and the car park was very noisy and could be heard in the apartment at night. Reception staff had better English than I have Italian, not really a bad point but a bit difficult as I have no Italian. I used google translate a lot. Breakfast was very limited. We only had it once. Our friend staying in the hotel brought her own in the end and had it with us. Parking exit gate required you to get out of the car and press a receipt buzzer. I can understand this on the way in but the way out wasn’t very helpful as the buzzer was then on the wrong side for the left hand drive hire car so you had to get out. The beach was great but there wasn’t any restaurants/food directly attached and what was available at the other beach restaurants was nice but don’t use google for their opening times, we spent our entire time missing food. The local bar on the other side of the road was very noisy reasonably late. We weren’t affected too badly but if we had been in the apartments close to the road it would have been annoying. Don’t leave the doors or windows open in the apartment whilst cooking as it stops the AC from working and they may even have to come and reset it. Again not the hotel’s fault but mosquitoes are vicious in the area. Didn’t get bitten in the room but did everywhere else. Baby cot not free....

I’m not usually one to leave reviews but I felt incredibly compelled to leave one for Hotel Cerere. We booked a package holiday with an airline and once we arrived, we were greeted by hotel staff who had friendly smiles. One lady checked us in and requested I send my hotel voucher across, absolutely no issue. She then showed us to our room and gave us a wifi code. The wifi was shocking, but being on holiday we didn’t care too much for it. We tried to turn the air-con on and eventually figured it out (all doors/windows have to be closed, it says this in the manual left in the room) but the air-con didn’t actually cool the room down, just the area by the door and it still only blew air out at 24°C, even though we changed it to 20°C as that’s the lowest it said it would go. When a 4-star hotel promises air-con, you’d hope it would work. We went to the pool outside the main hotel which was nice and came up to just below my shoulders (I’m 5ft 9inches). The next morning, we went downstairs for breakfast, the waiting staff were nice and there was a good selection of pastries, cheese, bread and an omelette station (this is the same everyday). The beach is about a 10 minute walk away, and although there is a shuttle we weren’t informed of times or how to use this service. We explored the other pool which is near the residence, and we definitely preferred this one, completely down to personal preference, but it was deeper (my 6ft3 partner couldn’t touch the bottom) and we could properly swim in this pool, it also had a diving board. Our room also got cleaned everyday by the cleaning staff who were absolutely lovely, I cannot fault them. This is unfortunately where the positives end. The communication from the front desk staff was not great, the food you could order from the pool bar was not good, and we felt judged every time we walked through the lobby like we didn’t belong there. When it came to checking out, we got to the front desk expecting to pay for the drinks from the mini-fridge and the tourist tax, however we got told to pay nearly €1600. As said previously, we had booked a package holiday and had already paid for the room through our holiday team. The front desk staff didn’t seem to understand this even though I had sent them the voucher that they had asked for! Eventually another staff member got called in to deal with the situation and it was eventually sorted but it was not how we wanted to end...