Villa Calipso

Hi. I haven't actually stayed at this hotel so I can't say much about it. What I can tell you is that after doing much research and looking at their website I booked to stay there. I got a confirmation email back and in the text of that, which isn't easily seen, there was this statement; 'We regret to inform you that services of the Mondello Palace Hotel (redception, parking, pool and restaurant) are not available due to renovations.' Luckily cancellation was relatively simple but I was panicked that they had taken my money and booked me in when they are undergoing rennovations. Please be aware. I do not see anywhere where it stated that this is happening.

We asked our agent to book this hotel based on the pictures online and its amenities. When we arrived, there was a gate across the parking lot entrance. We had to find a way to get into the lot through another smaller gate that was luckily unlocked. The outward appearance of the hotel was horrible. Weeds overgrown, no cars in the lot, all doors locked, and it looked like windows were broken. We managed to find an unlocked door so we could go in. No one in the lobby, plastic on all the furniture and tape on all the glass. The place looked condemned. Hearing voices from above me, I followed them upstairs where I found a lady who told me they were closed (via google translate) and they did not have a room for me. After voicing my concern for several minutes and pleading with her because we had nowhere else to go, she finally walked us back outside and down the street to a small building that looked like a 2-story house. They showed us to a room inside that was nothing like what we expected. No hotel amenities, no view of the sea, etc.. Not at all what we expected or paid for. The room also had an odor. I called the manager to explain that we were leaving due to the bait-and-switch that we felt had happened and they immediately stated they would not do anything about it. This all occurred in early June of 2022 and we are still trying to get any response from them in hopes they will refund us. I even offered to pay for one night if they would refund the other 2. No response. So, I have no choice but to pursue this hotel through other means and write this review. This was a very disappointing situation and even more disappointing response from the hotel. The hotel was closed, and they knew it was closed and they never contacted us ahead of time so we could deal with it. They waited for us to arrive, stuck us in a small building in a stinky room and hoped we would just deal with it. This was horrible and I will tell the story as many times as I can if it prevents others from being put through a similar bait-and-switch by this hotel. I had no choice but to find another hotel while my wife was crying over the situation and then get a taxi to transport us to the new hotel. And I never asked for anything but a 2-night refund for my 3-night reservation that we were not able to enjoy.