Palazzo Daniele — Hotel in Gagliano del Capo

Summary: My wife and I stayed at Palazzo Daniele for four nights in mid June 2021. Palazzo Daniele is housed in a stunning building with beautiful interior design. However, while great to look at, it is - sadly - not all that great to actually sleep in. The food is very disappointing and service sub-par, especially given the hotel’s prices. The experience is best summed up by Palazzo Daniele’s own tag line: “Questa casa non è un Albergo” or “This house is not a hotel” … though probably not in the way intended by the owners/management. On the plus side, the cleaning team did a great job and the barman was fantastic.

Some thoughts regarding the food: • Good food is important to us. We had booked the hotel specifically on the great reviews of Palazzo Daniele’s kitchen and had planned to book their special “for the romantics” dinner as well as taking a cooking class • Already the first lunch signalled that we had made a mistake. The food is not bad… its just not good. We ate better in every single hotel/restaurant during our 2-week stay in Puglia, including small local trattorias where primi cost 10Euro on a fried egg. Again, the quality was lacking. I had better brioche at Milan’s train station. Same for the coffee. The milk is UHT, rather than fresh. No herbal teas, not even basics like peppermint or camomile. The fresh fruit juice was nice. • Pastries – tasted like ingredients were fairly low quality. The fruits did not taste of anything and were used only very sparingly. Any pasticceria would have done better job.

Some thoughts regarding service: • On the plus side, everyone was very nice and the ladies in the kitchen have so much spirit that you just have to smile • However, for a hotel in this price category, the guest should be able to expect professional and attentive service. In this case, it was neither. It felt like it was the first day or week for a lot of the staff. Given COVID it is understandable that staffing is a challenge. But if a hotel is hiring very inexperienced staff then it should make sure to given them training/supervision rather than leaving them to their own devices. • There appears to be a low level of attentiveness to the guests. The first person to ask us about our stay was the reception lady during the check-out process.

Some thoughts regarding the rooms • Beautiful, but hard to get a good nights rest • Noise insulation is non-existent. If it was not the street noise or the village party that was keeping us awake, it was the music from the pool area or simply the guest coming/going to their rooms.

Some thoughts regarding cocktails: • Besides the design of the hotel, the only reason to visit at least for an evening (with the current bar keeper). He was very kind, attentive to the guests and professional.

After raising our concerns on checkout, we were offered – and accepted – a modest discount on our food purchases. While the gesture is appreciated, it in no way compensates for the low point of our...

Our stay at Palazzo Daniele fell short of expectations and was the only disappointing stay of our month-long honeymoon in Italy. You are best off staying elsewhere at an owner-operated hotel and visiting Palazzo Daniele for a drink. My suggestion to owners would be to spend less time on publicity and social media and more time on improving the guest experience.

The property is clearly run as purely an investment and a way to show off their interior design, not as a place of hospitality; yet they charge 5-star hotel prices. The Palazzo is beautifully restored in a way that retains its old character and looks great for design magazines and Instagram, but it’s not a good place to actually get any sleep. The windows are very old and do not offer soundproofing from what is a surprisingly busy village. Even with the windows and shutters closed, we could hear traffic all night and in the early morning hours. There is a village concert every weekend right outside the front doors of the hotel with amplified music by what seems like an American wedding band. Even with earplugs, there is no chance of sleeping before the band wraps up well after 1am. The doors to each room are very old, and we could hear other guests going to and from their rooms and the hotel’s front door buzzing open each time anyone entered or left.

Pros: -We had a fun cooking class with Chefs Donata, Sonia, and Jeremy. It was the highlight of our stay. Would recommend staying in a different hotel and booking this class if you can! -Breakfast was available from 8am-noon. The focaccia, quiche, and sweet pastries made by the kitchen were especially good. However, the prices for any additional cooked items were outrageous ie €4 for a single boiled egg. -The grotto shower underneath our room was unique and fun. -The front desk staff was helpful with making dinner reservations.

Cons: -Terrible sleep due to lack of soundproofing. -At the price point and level of hotel they’re trying to achieve, you’d expect management to be visible and ensure guests are having a good stay. This was not the case, and we’d echo another reviewer about staff not being trained and left to their own devices. -Overpriced restaurant menu. The kitchen staff is talented and passionate about food, but the prices charged by the hotel are very high, bordering on plain greedy. We noticed the olive oil they serve at the tables is a generic one sourced from the broader EU; it’s not even a local olive oil from a region with abundant production! Seems an unnecessary way to cut corners, especially given the menu prices. -We received a parking fine after parking on the piazza in front of the hotel, as advised by the front desk. It is unacceptable for the staff to not be properly trained by management on the parking rules in the...

I paid premium rates for a room at Palazzo Daniele expecting the bathroom shown in the listing. The photos and description were misleading: the actual bathroom is completely different, with the shower located down a flight of stairs in a separate room — something never disclosed in the booking. To make matters worse, there are no photos of this type of bathroom on the hotel’s own website either, so there was no way for me to anticipate what I was actually booking.

The bathroom we received was reminiscent of a U.S. roadside motel, with the level of cleanliness, the poor appearance, and harsh, scary lighting that made it feel like a dingy basement. The hotel even admitted the photos online were wrong (blaming a booking partner), yet refused to offer any fair resolution.

Sadly, the problems didn’t stop there. The room itself had multiple issues: • Electrical problems and lights not working properly • Incorrect WiFi information provided at check-in • Dirty floors with a visible layer of dust that transferred onto our luggage, shoes, and feet • No luggage stands provided (I later requested them and was only given three for five pieces of luggage)

What made this experience even worse was the complete lack of management response. Despite raising these issues during my stay, no manager ever came to speak with me, apologize, or attempt to remedy the situation. I saw the manager several times on the property, but they avoided me entirely — never acknowledging me or addressing the concerns. When the booking platform contacted the hotel on my behalf, the manager still refused to do anything.

At this price point, the bare minimum expectation is attentive service and accountability when things go wrong. Instead, I received misrepresentation, a poorly maintained room, and dismissive treatment. Until this hotel corrects its listings, fixes basic maintenance and cleanliness, and trains management to actually respond to guests, I would strongly caution others against booking here.

All such a shame because the property is pretty and the surrounding town has a charm I would have...