Grand Hotel Vesuvio — Hotel in Sorrento

The good points; |1) facilities, large swimming pool so hubs could have a proper swim. I could sit around on the seated areas in the pool with or without bubbles. There were lots of sun beds and we made use of them.|2) Very clean & tidy, all through. Lovely rooms, we had one that didn’t have a view as such, it had a large balcony looking out over a green roof area & a garden across the way. It was in a quiet area which was fine. |The cupboard didn’t work to shut properly but that didn’t bother me, & I got panicky when I got locked in the loo at one point as the door was slightly skewed & the lock wouldn’t open until I put panicked extra effort. I didn’t lock it again & that was fine. |3) The cleaning lady we saw most days (Eleanor) was lovely, very polite & personable. Worked very hard. We showed our appreciation for those reasons. Our room was always immaculate. |4) There were some very decent friendly bar staff & some of the dining room staff also, put themselves out to make sure things were ok. A couple of people stood out as very good at their jobs, but I didn’t get their names. |The shuttle bus drivers were always great. Not an easy task, driving back & forth up those little roads. |5) There was one initial concierge who tried to be very helpful. ||Not so good points; ||1) I am allergic to oranges, I became suddenly allergic to them in my forties. I told the dining staff as it recommends if you have allergy to do so. |I could see fruit bowls full of them everywhere at dinner & breakfast. |No one seemed to know what was in any of the puddings or foods. Even though these items were rotated weekly so no deviations to foods really. I was always very polite and I’m not at all loud, I’d rather shrink than cause a fuss. ||Being allergic to oranges, means if someone peels an orange in my vicinity I can get severe breathing problems, & the oils that are in the air, can burn my skin also. Im ok walking beneath an orange tree, or around one, as I was fine in Sorrento town. |With that in mind, I tried my hardest to avoid the hotel oranges until finally I was offered a sweet after dinner, that I asked if it had orange in, they said no, I put some to my lips & realized it did have them in due to the tingling on my lips, I had to spit it into a hanky & swill with water. |I went straight to the concierge to explain that I had informed the dining staff but they didn’t seem to understand. I was scared by that time! |He took details & said he would explain to someone called Roberto. |The bar staff knew when we went there next night. They were fine, no oranges in my drinks. ||The dining room staff still seemed to think it was some sort of joke! I felt. |through the week I had to duck & dive, I felt like I was an inconvenience, & during my stay all oranges were still available to anyone. One guy even tried to sit me at breakfast, between two tables that had both picked oranges for their breakfast. How bizarre? I had to literally run away without making those customers feel bad or knowing. ||Bearing in mind, that we had both stayed at another hotel I won’t name it, (although I did give it a glowing review) in Sorrento 2 years earlier. As soon as I explained I had an allergy to oranges, the head waiter/manager, had all oranges from fruit bowls removed & replaced with other fruits. During our stay in that hotel, we were treated really well & I had no feelings of being any type of inconvenience. Just as a comparison. They would take our room number in the dining area & it was linked immediately to my allergy, they knew every ingredient in the menu & the head waiter was awesome in his job. Along with other highly trained waiters all looking to him for their guidance. || All this hotel (Vesuvio) had to do, was know the ingredients in their after dinner sweets, & remove oranges from fruit bowls for our duration. Replacing them with something else. If someone wanted an orange desperately they could buy one somewhere & take it to their room. It wouldn’t kill them to go without an orange, but it could have hospitalized me to be in that situation. ||2) finally, the breakfast given to us due to us leaving early morning was really bad. Firstly when we said what room we were in they should have known I was allergic to oranges!!!!|Secondly it had been in a paper bag & in some cartons on a shelf. Not in a fridge. |One carton had some square cheese slices & a couple of bits of ham! There were a couple of very rock hard bread rolls, probably from the previous breakfast the day before. As I said, not in the fridge, so more than a bit iffy. |Plus, I had an orange in mine & so did everyone else, just to add insult to injury? |When I questioned it, the concierge suddenly produced an apple. My husband threw it all away in disgust really. |We had something on the plane instead. ||To finalize, I would say, that if you are allergic to anything, I would avoid this place, particularly if it’s something severe or unusual. |The place itself is wonderful, great facilities, a small but decent gym. A large pool to swim in or relax. A decent bar area. Fantastic cleanliness and nice rooms. ||The minus points, seem to come from the dining experience which was on occasion, haphazard & for me, positively dangerous. ||There were two or three very curteous waiters, not sure what their names were, but when we left a tip I waved to one of them in the dining room. ||As advice? ||They need to appoint more experts, on the food, on wines, & also, one or two people should be constantly doing the sweets only, so that they are experts in that area. Instead of everyone trying to do it all, & no one really being an expert in anything. |Didn’t take pics of the room, but photos are my own from...

An Italian cool, art deco styled hotel located a short distance outside of Sorrento town centre.

The location in the hills allows fantastic views from the hotel bar, restaurant and front facing rooms. The vista reaches out across the Sorrento marina, the bay of Pompeii to Vesuvius and to the city of Naples.

I stayed with my family bed and breakfast for 10 days in July. The rooms are fully air conditioned and include a mini bar (chargeable) and TV with SKY TV showing international channels. Family rooms are spacious with both a shower cubical and a separate bath. Breakfast is a typical selection of cold meats, cheeses, cerals and pastries but also includes cooked sausage, bacon and eggs. A little tip for you: you can order your eggs fresh if you ask at the service counter and these will be brought to your table soon after. Reviews I have read here have suggested that the breakfasts are poor, but in my experience they are perfunctory with plenty available, if limited in choice. They are tasty however and served by friendly, helpful staff. Breakfast finishes at 10am prompt so be sure to be at your table in time to choose your food.

The pool area is family friendly and well maintained. There is both a large swimming pool (variable depth) and a smaller children's pool adjacent. The pool terrace is supplemented by a luscious green garden looking out over Sorrento, which has sun loungers and garden chairs to enjoy the views from. The pool terrace also has a bar area serving drinks and snacks throughout the day.

The main bar is both outside on a 1st floor terrace allowing you to enjoy the view, night or day and inside boasting large comfortable couches to relax on. The bar is well stocked offering a range of local beers and spirits as well as a wide range of international drinks too. The bar staff are friendly and can whip up a 'rusty nail' or a 'pinocolarda' all whilst chatting about the day. The evening entertainment is always live and offers a different singer or artist each night including a local crooner playing a rock guitar, a cool saxophonist playing contemporary tunes and a sultry Italian vocalist singing well known hits, all out on the bar terrace till 11pm.

The hotel reception offers pre arranged tours to all the main attractions, such as Capri, Pompeii and Vesuvius to name a few. The reception can also arrange transfers to and from Naples airport (approx €180 at the time of this review). Finally, the reception also manages the hotels free shuttle bus service that runs to and from Sorrento town centre though out the day. The bus ride takes around 20 minutes and is clean and comfortable. The service runs approx every 45 mins throughout the day and into the night. The last bus from Sorrento is at 23:15 each evening. Be aware that in high season this service is in demand so be sure to be at the collection point in good time.

I throughly enjoyed my stay at the Grand Hotel Vesuvio, friendly and efficient staff delivering a great service all with Italian charm and an amazing view to boot... what's...

This hotel single-handedly ruined our honeymoon!

TL;DR: Horrible staff, ant infestation, and personal items thrown out or stolen!

All the reviews for this place said it was great, but this couldn't be further from the truth. When we first pulled up to the hotel and got out of the car, we were lazily greeted by an employee who failed to offer us any help with our bags. As we began to unload, another employee of the hotel came outside and proceeded to yell at the first man. This quickly escalated into what can only be described as a schoolyard shoving match complete with screaming and insults, so not a great first impression to say the least.

The next morning, we awoke to find that our room had become a new home for a colony of ants. Apparently, this hotel has a serious ant infestation problem, which they failed to mention, and which was surprisingly missing from online reviews. When we confronted the front desk about the matter, they told us that "it's normal" and that we shouldn't keep any food in our room. The only food in our room was an unopened, completely wrapped bar of chocolate, but regardless - to claim that a hotel room having ants is "normal"? Maybe in a dump of a motel, but certainly not for a hotel of this price.

Now the worst part. Over the course of the previous week in Paris, we accumulated a number of significant souvenirs as gifts and future keepsakes to remember our honeymoon. Unfortunately, at some point during our stay in the Grand Hotel Vesuvio, our souvenirs went missing. We explained that the items were in a bag left out on the table in the room, but the staff insists that they did not see nor move the bag. So either the bag was mistakenly thrown out and they don't want to admit it, or someone broke into our room and stole it, which is obviously even more of a reason to steer clear of this place!

We tried to get some kind of compensation back through the hotel's insurance, but were informed that without a police report, that would be impossible. Of course, this all conveniently took place the night before we were scheduled to leave, so it was logistically impossible for a police report to be filed before our departure.

Through this entire process, the hotel staff had a lazy attitude toward the situation, seemily could not care less about our missing items, and refused to take any responsibility whatsoever.

As the beginning of the review says, the Grand Hotel Vesuvio and its staff ruined our entire Italy experience and has left a stain on the memory of our honeymoon. Please do not fall for the facade that this horrid place has constructed - do not trust...