Castelbuono Vacations from $1,631

The staff was amazing and very helpful. They moved our room after our first night because the people in the room above us were so loud we could hear everything. The rooms are nice but have some drawbacks: in order to have your windows open to get fresh air at night, the room is flooded with all the uplighting surrounding the hotel. The windows have wooden shutters inside which means in order to block out the light, you must close the windows and then close the wooden shutters. Either turn off the floodlights at night or provide some curtains. The walls are also very thin and you can hear everything in the room next to you. We couldn’t get any of the TV apps to work so only had access to Italian TV. Did a fun (but very long) cooking class. The pool area is interesting but not inviting. It’s in a corner in the main area of the courtyard and faces 2 walls so there is no view. Also not very private. There is no lobby bar or any soft seating to relax anywhere. There is also not a set restaurant at the hotel - you have to do a cooking class or a private chef cooking for you (which would be nice but it’s in the cooking class/breakfast room so you have to experience it while a class is going on beside you). It’s a very pretty hotel but not really designed for the best experience for guests.

In the middle of everything

TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE 8AM, I submitted 3 bags of laundry and asked for Express Service so my clothes would be retained at the end of the day. When I returned to the hotel, at about 11PM, I was told that my laundry was not returned and was told they would expedite my laundry the next day and should arrive at 11AM. The next day I left the hotel and returned that afternoon. When I got to my room I noticed only 1 of 3 bags was in my room. I went to the front counter and noticed that my other two bags were hanging on a front counter rack. Silvano, a front desk person, refused to hand me my two bags and said they were for another room. I showed him the photos of the laundry order sheets which completed and told them they were mine. He said they would have to check the order sheets and laundry and would be brought down after. I returned to my room and waited for my laundry. Because it was not brought down, after 30 minutes I went back to the front counter. At that time Silvano said it was in the process of being brought down. I went back to my room again and waited for another 30 minutes but my additional laundry never arrived. I went back a third time spoke with another person, Dennys, and showed him my photos. He agreed and said Silvano may not have understood due to language differences. I pointed out that I would not have the photos of the order sheets if they weren’t mine. I followed Dennys to Room 3129 (not my room) where he retrieved my clothes.

We enjoyed our all inclusive holiday at Grand Palladium Sicily. We stayed at signature level, but I don't think it's really worth it to pay extra - there is a separate pool for signature level, but we couldn't get a sunbed there due to guests reserving them with towels early in the morning. There is a separate restaurant for breakfast and lunch for signature level, but the main buffet is bigger. I could not fault the setting, cleanliness, and staff, but there are a few negatives to mention: More vegetarian options are needed at all the restaurants, it was quite lacking. There should be dedicated smoking areas instead of smokers allowed to smoke anywhere, as someone stinking out the outside bar with a cigar ruins the enjoyment and atmosphere of those areas. The in-room entertainment is very poor .. only news channels, or paying €7 for a film, and finally the app also doesn't work half the time, which is frustrating as it's needed for looking at menus and making reservations. So, mostly great, but a few things which could be improved. The beach was nice although stoney (but we knew this when booking). The hotel should enforce evicting people from sunbeds left unattended with a towel on for 30 mins so that everyone can have a chance to sit by the pool. There are signs up that say this will happen, but no one is actually doing it.